Hey Thickos,
Perhaps this should be titled "The Great Canadian Conspiracy"... or...
"Everything's less in Canada"
650 + miles and 14 hours (had to stop to sleep an hour) in the Team
Thicko Land Barge got us to Mosport on Thursday evening. It rained the
entire drive... from 4:00 in the morning to our 6:00 PM arrival.
Registration was laid back to say the least, and indicative of the more
"relaxed" approach taken by the organizers of this event.
Team Thicko London broils were the meal of choice Thursday night.
We pitted with Rick (AKA Dr. Dreadful) Gurolnik, his lovely wife Jan,
and their twins David and Roberta. Up the hill were Vaughn (AKA Drew
Carey... Mr. McMosport), Mike Rosen, and further up the hill, Paul
Fitzsimmons and Danny Nuehaus (seems like we've got to work on some
additional nicknames).Rick Cook was there with the Team Thicko Anderson
Special.
The track was a total hoot... especially if you like very fast corners.
The chances of spraining your sphincter with the serious pucker factor
is quite high the first few times around. I followed Mike Rosen around
in the Vay Special... cool car, great history, fast engine... and no
brakes. Fortunately, brakes don't come into play much at Mosport.
3 laps into the first practise session, I started to develop a miss. The
miss came on at 7000... in a 1/2 lap it was present at 6500, and soon
missed at everything over 5000 rpm. This event gives you massive amounts
of track time. In between sessions, we'd systematically try various
remedies. Check the plugs. Check the wires. Swap the coil. Swap the
condensor. Finally, while trying to get my car an Roger Garnett's car
charged between sessions, we discovered what I thought was the misfire
problem. My motorhome was connected along with about 40 others to a
utility pole with 6 20 amp breakers on it. Roger's charger was only
putting in 6 amps. When we disconnected from the pole and ran the land
Barge generator, the charger was putting out 6 amps. I didn't know the
exchange rate applied to AC current as well... but we were probably only
getting 90 volts or less from the multiple long extension cord, multi
user runs. Perhaps a Canadian conspiracy? Or do 120 volts US equal 85
Canadian?
Saturday I had the pleasure of co-driving Roger Garnett's freshly
painted, newly reassembled, Florida green, right hand drive, 948 Bugeye
in the 1 hour enduro. What a delighful car to drive. Goes where you
point, never surprises you... and with the addition of a better
breathing head and some higher compression, would be seriously fast.
When you rarely drive a right hand drive unfamiliar racecar, you find
yourself looking right instead of left for your rearview mirror. Left
hand shifts weren't a problem, (well...maybe 3 or 4 times), but I did
find myself crowding the apex rumble strips on some of the left-handers.
Rick Gurolnik drove his 356 in the enduro, and gave the 911's hell.
So, with a serious battery charge, I set out on Sunday's warm up with
the intention of practising the correct shift points, and to take these
very fast turns in the correct gear, as I'd had to loaf around the
track in higher gears to stay out of the missfire range. I started to
feel good about how the car was really "honkin" around the track. So...
what do expect happened now that I was pushing it? No... not a spin. An
axle... yes indeed, an axle. I missed the qualifying race while swapping
out the now broken, super heavy duty competition gary Speckman supplied
axle.
In the race, Mike Rosen in the Vay special were having lots of fun, with
a copuple of passes back and forth until I got wide in the marbles of
the hairpin, and lost about 6 seconds waiting to get back on track. At
the end, I was lapping this big old Allard for the second time. I caught
him right before coming on to the main straight. My pass was a little on
the ugly side, and I had a very poor line coming on to the main
straight. I got it sideways (... like that never happens),
over-corrected, had it snap back and forth what seemed like forever...
although it was really somewhere between 4 and 6 times...and saved it.
My kids said the track announcer was calling this portion of my little
adventure with... "here comes Wm. Severin Thompson. from Lake Villa, IL,
ready to take the checkered flag and...Oh.. he's lost it... no, he's got
it...no he's lost it...no... HE'S GOT IT!!!". What fun.
Other observations...
I'm not sure if a little more "no-misfire" seat time might help me catch
the fast green Bugeye, or if I'll have to visit the horsepower store.
Canadians take 5 things very seriously...
Drinking
Racing
Golf
Hockey
Drinking
A set of brake pads could last 10 years at Mosport... you really only
use them coming into the hairpin.
The Monoposto guys sure wreck a lot of cars.But they look good doing it,
don't they?
I was told my inside rear tire is 10" off the ground on some of the very
fast turns... seems as though the rear end is just too stiff.
Tracktime at Mosport is plentiful. Bring extra tires. Bring cheap US
gas.
Customs was a total non-event.
The price was right.
We'll be back.
Thanks to all you Canadian Thickos... it was fun.
Wm. Severin Thompson
Flounder
Team Thicko
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