The Link 2002-11 - Motorsport Club of Ottawa

November 2002
2002 MCO Executive
President and
Ontario Race Organizing Rep.
Ron Woltman
H: (613) 831-8682
C: (613)75 863-5360
ronald.woltman@hrdc-drhc.gc.ca
Hotline
(613) 788-0525
Website
www.mco.org
maintained by Rob Microys
Hosted by
Anjura Technology Corporation
General Meetings
Vice-President
Louis's Steakhouse
1682 Cyrville Rd., Ottawa, ON
FirstTuesday of every month
All are welcome
Directors
M.C.O.
P.O. Box 65006,
Merivale Postal Outlet
Nepean, ON K2G 5Y3
Bennett Leckie
W: (613) 822-1765 x124
leckierb@hovey.ca
Open Wheel
Rick Miskiman
H: (613) 592-0696
rick_miskiman@yahoo.com
Closed Wheel
Steve Greiner
W: (613) 599-8821 x121
steveg@photonicscontrol.com
Rally
Craig Hamm
H: (613) 727-3192
W: (613) 596-7107
kchamm@sympatico.ca
Membership
The LINK is the official publication of
the Motorsport Club of Ottawa. The
opinions expressed in the LINK do not
necessarily reflect those of the LINK
Editorial Staff or the Club's Executive.
Though all efforts are made to ensure
that facts stated in the articles herein
are accurate, the individual
contributors should check the
a c c u r a c y o f t h e i r articles prior to
submission.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS:
18th day of every month.
Patrick Weightman
H: (613) 831-3749
family.weightman@sympatico.ca
Treasurer
Robert Benson
H: (613) 837-2051
ben1544@rogers.com
Secretary
John Powell
H: (613) 835-2910
mgb296@hotmail.com
Solo-II
Another month, another issue. And what a
month. Lanark Highlands Rally and
several offs are now behind us, hopefully
never to be seen again.
I've discovered a great new site on the web
that I'm sure will suck hundreds and
hundreds of dollars from my wallet.
Check out http://www.sae.org. Then,
check out all the fancy books that they
have for sale... I'm in trouble now... :)
With the Solo II series completed for the
year, and my summer car parked, it's time
for me to turn to the world of TSD rallying
for entertainment ('cause god knows, there
ain't nothing on the teevee...) and I urge
you all to join me. Having participated in
a couple of rallies this summer, and
working several others, I've got to hand it
to the Rally Group, they're doing a
fantastic job. Special kudos go to Craig
Hamm for keeping it all together as the
Rally Director. Thanks Craig!
Cover Photos: Jim Morrow's Mini
Prepped for Car 0 duties (photo by Jody
Shay / Seko/Morrow during demonstration
day in St. John's (photo by Craig Hamm).
Cars were released 30 seconds apart on
the 1.14km course. The Alfa has just
crossed the finish timing line.
Karting
Paul Swinwood
W: (613) 237-8551 x133
p.swinwood@shrc.ca
Ontario Race Committee Rep
Cindy Armstrong
H: (613) 489-2725
cindy.armstrong@sympatico.ca
Greg Kierstead
H: (613) 274-3942
W: (613) 765-9167
gregkierstead@rogers.com
Club Merchandise Co-ordinator
Solo-I Liasion
link@mco.org
Mark Atos
H: (613) 274-2710
mark@markatos.net
Jeff Graves
H: (613) 838-8348
jeffgraves@sprint.ca
November 2002
Editorial Exhaust
Warren Haywood
whaywood@mec.ca
LINK Editor
Motorsport Club of Ottawa
Founded 1949
Founding Member CASC 1951
Incorporated 1953
1
November 2002
MCO Rally Group
Report
for Nov. 2002
Craig Hamm
This is my last monthly article as
Rally Director for 2002 (yay!). I
hope I kept the membership up to
date on our rallying activities.
We've had a busy year, hitting
many milestones, and planning for
more in 2003. OK, off we go.
Greg Brady and Steven Frankovitch competed in their P4 Impreza
at the National event Rally of the
Voyageurs Sept 27-28, and finished 12th of 30 starters (15 DNF's).
This also placed them 5th in P4.
Without stealing thunder, I'll defer
to the team to tell their story,
which sounds like a real rally adventure, in another article (hopefully in this issue). Suffice it to say,
finishing this event was an accomplishment in itself, and finishing
events with no major damage will
take you up the ladder. So, congratulations again! See you at Tall
Pines.
The HSL Rallysport Golden Pine
Rally ran on October 5th, out of
Golden Lake, ON, with 6 teams
competing. Jodie Shay, the annual
organizer for his home turf event,
did a splendid job of finding great
roads, some of which reached
down into Rally of the Tall Pines
roads! A wind storm the previous
night blew down many trees of
which several had to be driven
around, or through chain-sawed
openings, making every turn a little
adventure into the unknown. This
is what I like about rallying. It was
a poor turnout, again, though we
had one more team than last year.
Ironically, our longest event, on
some of the best roads around, has
the distinction of being the only
rally that attracts some of the best
competitors in the province! This
year we saw the return of Louis
Carbardos, navigating for Jaroslav
Bartman, and Doug Logan navigating for Peter Watt. All of these
competitors have organized provincial level events, and Yokohama
Winter Series events. They came
they conquered. Once more Louis
won the GPR, this year being only
12 seconds out (6 early, 6 late)
over 4 hours, 10 min, and 36 seconds. This narrowly beat Doug
and Peter, who totaled 0.5 minute
in accumulated penalties. Yours
truly came 3rd with a whopping
2.7 penalty, rounding out the top
three overall teams. Warren and
Nancy Haywood had trouble with
an excess of lead (Pb) on the gas
pedal, and won Novice with 5.4
minutes, all earlies! Scores are
published in this issue. By random
draw Doug Logan won a Hella
Maplight provided by our sponsor,
HSL Rallysport, (after Jaroslav
graciously returned it because he
didn't need one). Class winners also walked away with farm fresh,
free range, eggs from Jodie's family Golden Pine Farm. An annual
GPR tradition it seems! Many
thanks to Steve Regan and the
band of HAM radio people that assisted us at controls giving us the
backbone of the rally. All who
went will tell you it was worth the
relatively long drive to Golden
Lake. Notably absent at this year's
GPR were our friends Tony Lai
and Jane Lennox. We have all
been thinking of you and our hearts
and best wishes are with you.
While we have been quiet, you are
not forgotten.
As we approach the 2003 rally season in the club, we need to update
our series regulations. The rally
series rules and regulations for
2002 were to get us established,
and to enable a series to run. They
have fulfilled that purpose quite
well I am pleased to say. However,
as we grow and mature as a reborn
rallying group there can be some
tweaks and improvements. If you
want to propose a change, please
do so in writing, as soon as possible, and send them to BOTH: Rally
Competition Coordinator, Corey
Groves
at:
cgroves@javapress.com; Rally Director, Craig
Hamm: kchamm@sympatico.ca.
If you do not send your proposed
changes to both they will not be
considered. Also, you can discuss
what you want in these forums, but
you have to submit the proposal to
us. The forums will be officially
disregarded as far as proposed rule
changes are concerned. If you propose a change, think carefully,
word carefully, and try to provide
the rationale for the change. The
current regulations are online at
http://www.mco.org/download/rall
y/2002TSDRegs.pdf . Deadline is
end of October.
Finally, the first event of the 2003
season, Mississippi Valley Rally, is
approaching and is coming together under the stewardship of Alan
Ritchie. A night rally of 220km
(approx), on Nov. 9 th, this rally
covers a lot of territory, but is never too far from civilization running
near Smith Falls, Almonte, Carleton Place, and other Mississippi
Valley destinations, but always
keeping to the backroads. So, no
excuses, this will be tons of fun!
Last year we had 11 teams, let's
hope for at least 15 this year. The
roads and weather can be a real
mix in early November, and night
always adds a new dimension to
the drive, again, the adventurous
spirit of rallying.
On October 19, Peter Starowicz
ran the the 3rd annual installment
of the Lanark Highlands Rally.
Starting in Almonte, this was a
fundraiser for the Lanark County
Therapeutic Riding Program. Annually many of our members come
out to see the fall colours in Lanark, drive the amazing roads, and
support the local charity. At the
end of the day the community wins
because the after-expenses go to a
local charity that is helping people
with special needs. I look forward
to the organisers' report in next It's been a lot of work, but it's been
month's Link. Thank you to all a pleasure. See you at the rallies.
who make it a success.
Craig
2
November 2002
Mortimer Mutterings
by Nigel Mortimer
jumped into his Jetta (nicknamed
Baby) and off we drove to Hamilton and surrounding area to view
said cars. Not being too optimistic
we were towing my trailer! Imagine
our surprise when we returned to
Ottawa at 4am Sunday morning
with a red 91 VD in tow.
As some of you know, Lew MacKenzie and I, and occasionally my
son Adam have been racing in Formula Ford 1600 this year. We competed in all of the Ontario region
F1600 series races, and in addition
Lew has raced in the Montreal GP Needless to say it was quickly morand Toronto Indy pro formula ford timerised to bring it up to snuff and
every time I drive it now I hate It
races.
!!!
At the start of the season we took
Lew's 1991 Van Diemen to Tapp Unfortunately we have had a few
Automotive, here in Ottawa, to run DNF's on Lew's car through no
it on the chassis dyno. As a result of fault of his, just bad luck. As we all
5 hours on the dyno and changing know that's racing, sometimes the
parts and settings we proved what elevator and sometimes the shaft.
we already thought we knew and Lew scored a bunch of third place
were extremely pleased with the finishes, awesome stuff at any age.
peak HP and wide torque band. We have had no engine failures and
Things were looking good for the no crashes, oh yeah Adam did tap
the wall once at Mosport. All in all
season.
it has been an awesome season
As we suspected Lew was flying, which was made all the better with
turning a best of 1:29.5 at Mosport, our awesome crew of Bennett, Herb
which is scary fast in a formula ford Henning, Debbie Henning, Jeremy
with your butt one inch off the Hamilton, Drew Wilcock and last
ground. We even have it on video but not least Wendy.
to prove it (thanks Drew), and yes
you get a whole new perspective on As I now own 3 formula fords it
seemed only reasonable to sell one.
life doing this.
So, I called Rob Peters and made
I did the first two weekends in my him an offer he couldn't refuse. For
lovely, ex Paul Tracey, 85 Van Die- those of you who don't know Rob
men and went faster than I did he retired from the series about six
when I used to own it twelve years years ago. So he should be a force
ago. The reason I retired then was to be reckoned with in B class next
everything I read led me to believe year. We now have five B class
that after 40 you are incapable of drivers here in Ottawa so things
racing anymore. Hey wait a minute look good for future fun.
didn't Fangio quit when he was 46
after his fifth world championship? Unfortunately Mt Tremblant just
So Lew is 62 and I am 50 and we cancelled their f1600 race due to a
are referred to as "Masters" not old! track rental error and now I have all
this unused adrenalin coursing
Typical of race drivers, at the be- through me and I can't race until
ginning of the season I said I was next year now!!!!
just going to have fun and bring
back some old memories. Then a Mortimer Mutterings,
couple of 1991 Van Diemens came
Grand Prix
up for sale, which I mentioned to
by Nigel Mortimer
Wendy, and she said go ahead and
buy one. God I love that woman, Now that the race season is over I
she understands my irrational have time to relate my tale of our
thought processes! So on Saturday experiences at the Grand Prix this
afternoon Bennett Leckie and I year. Lew was entered in the For-
3
mula Ford support race so off we
went to Mecca to visit the formula
one gods. For the uninitiated the
support racers have to park at one
end of the track and the F1 guys at
the other. This means that the cars
have to be pushed or driven or towed to the other end where the pits
are. This is a stop start routine,
which takes about 45 minutes, and
experience taught us that formula
fords overheat at this speed. So
most of us use ATV's to tow the
cars, and we old experienced people tow a trailer, which holds our
tools, tires and crewmembers. It also means we get to do reconnoitre
laps on the ATV, which can be a lot
of fun as it appears that I currently
hold the lap record for both ATV's
and ATV's towing a trailer. This according to my crew who were seated on the sofa in the trailer and
waving to the crowds. A word of
advice to those who wish to attempt
this feat, pump up the tires on the
ATV.
The good news concerning being
paddocked with the other racers is
that this year the Vintage Can-Am
cars were there. Oh my god I've
died and gone to heaven!!! There
were McLaren's, Lola's, and a 91730, oh my god, man down, medic,
cardiac arrest!!!! Oh yeah and when
they start the earth does move.
Lew was doing well, everything
was going smoothly and we were
having a ball. The crew even had
time to buy memorabilia. I'm sure
Lew was thinking he should hurt
the car in some way so that we
were kept busy instead of sitting
around chatting with the spectators.
While Lew was qualifying I got to
talk to him on the radio while
watching his progress on the Ferrari
pit monitors. I don't speak Italian
but it didn't seem to bother them
when they offered me Jean Tod's
seat to watch from.
On Saturday evening after Lew had
taken the crew off to Barracks and
Bennett had to drive back to Ottawa
continued on page 12...
November 2002
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4
November 2002
MINUTES OF
MEETING
M.C.O. Executive Committee
Sept. 18th 2002
Louis's Steak House,
Ottawa, Ont.
PRESENT
Executive: Ron Woltman, President; Bennett Leckie, Vice-President; Rick Miskiman, Open Wheel;
Steve Greiner, Closed Wheel; Greg
Kierstead, Solo II; Mark Atos,
Link Editor; Warren Haywood,
Club Merchandise Co-ordinator;
John Powell, Secretary.
Members/Guests: Richard Muise,
former Link Editor; Sam Mandia,
Wendy Mortimer, Club banquet.
ABSENT WITH EXCUSES
Executive: Bob Benson, Treasurer;
Craig Hamm, Rally; Jeff Graves,
Solo I; Paul Swinwood, Karting;
Rob Microys, Website Editor; Pat
Weightman, Membership;
NOTE The position of Public Relations Director is still vacant.
The meeting was opened for business at 6:40 p.m. by the President.
Minutes - September General
Meeting
Due to the close proximity of The
Link deadline, the Secretary
asked those present to review the
minutes in person. Some small
corrections were made.
Club Merchandise
- Ron Woltman suggested that
Warren Haywood bring items to
the next meeting for display and
sale as it could create interest.
- Warren noted that there is a list of
articles in The Link for just that
purpose, bit it is not a full inventory.o Rick Miskiman suggested
that we keep an inventory of
some of the merchandise, such as
golf shirts, as a cost to the Club at
a $14.00 threshold, in order to
show what's available.
5
- Bennett Leckie commented on
senger.
the benefits of merchandise gifts - This topic was closed with Jeff
to workers, such as exposure.
Graves suggesting that we should
have Club business cards availaSolo II
ble for distribution, and Rick
- Greg Kierstead raised the possiMiskiman adding membership
bility of having the last event as a
forms to this.
charity event, and suggested Oct.
13th.
Annual Awards Banquet
- There was a general discussion
Sam Mandia and Wendy Mortiregarding prospective charities,
mer were present for this topic.o
including that they should probaRegarding meal options, Wendy
bly be car- or safety-related.
explained the choices, and that a
- Greg then asked if the charity
buffet is approximately $5.00 less
should receive all the proceeds or
than a sit-down supper with more
just the profit, noting that Solo II
choice. After some discussion it
is currently in the black. Rick
was decided to choose the buffet
Miskiman said that we should
with the larger selection at
cover our costs and donate the
$19.95 per person (not including
profit.
servers' tips and taxes), with Sam
- Regarding how to use such an
and Wendy to decide the menu
event to promote the Club, Ron
with the help of Bennett Leckie.
Woltman advised that we should - Regarding tickets, points raised
contact Shannon Lee (?) Manwere what other costs would be
nion for advice.
included, and that there should be
- Ron then asked for any objections
no complimentary "sponsor" tickto the idea, and Mark Atos stated
ets. There was also a discussion
that his only concern was that the
on ticket price, and $25.00 was
charity chosen should have a
suggested by Bennett Leckie.
presence in Ottawa.
Ron Woltman suggested $30.00,
as he was concerned about coverCapital City Car Show Solo II
ing all costs, which was approved
Richard Muise, the organiser of
by those present. Sam Mandia
this event, gave a briefing on this
will look after ticket design, inevent, after which there was a
formation shown thereon, and rediscussion, as follows:
lated matters.Later in the meeting
- We have been asked to sponsor a
there was a discussion on trotrophy for FTD at a cost of
phies and worker points forms;
$35.00. The general feeling was - Bennett Leckie will be handling
yes if our name was on the troadministration, etc., for Club trophy.
phies and the Worker Points
- There was an involved discussion
forms. The Trophy Committee
on crowd control issues, includwill need the trophies and forms
ing the use of coloured wristbefore the end of October.
bands in the "hot" area, numbers - On the question of having a Kartallowed inside, and the admission
ing trophy for this year, we will
of competitors' family, friends
need input from Paul Swinwood..
and crew.
On a question from Rick Miski- Also discussed was allowing
man regarding cost, Ron Woltspectator rides in competing cars.
man estimated that it would be
Ron Woltman asked if the Show
about $35.00. He added that we
had event insurance, and that we
should see what Paul says, and
should see it as well as be willing
get one if it can be done equito show ours. We should also detably.
termine if there would be a fee
for rides, and on the liability
question, it should be the driver's
choice regarding carrying a pas-
November 2002
The Link
Solo I
Mark Atos reminded those presJeff Graves gave a brief end-ofent that the deadline for the next
season report including an exissue is September 18th, and he
planation of the Top Gun Shootneeded articles. Experience with
out, and that the CASC Solo banDelta Printing has been acceptaquet date is November 2nd.
ble so far, with the costs for the
September Link at $303.00 for Membership Policy Review
approximately 250 to 260 copies.
John Powell noted that the report
has been sent out to members of
Treasurer
the Executive Committee for
Bob Benson was absent, but subtheir review. The report will be
mitted a brief e-mail report (atdealt with at a future Executive
tached), which included the folmeeting.
lowing:o Current disposable income is $32,133.05.
Incorporation Papers
- Link expense since Nov. 1st 2001
Steve Greiner reported that the
are $6,521.11.
amended paperwork has been
- Insurance costs since Nov. 1st
submitted, and that we now have
2001 are $7,980.00.
our corporation reporting number.
- Solo II net income to date is
$1,382.75.
- Ted Powell Summer Trophy Other Business
Races currently shows a net loss - Ron Woltman gave a brief acof $1,102.80, but marshal excount of his discussions with the
penses of $585.00 (budgeted) and
new owner of Le Circuit Mt.
accommodation subsidies of
Tremblant and the possibilities of
$2,670.00 are still outstanding,
running an event there next year.
leaving a potential loss of - He also noted that there should be
$4,357.80. Transport Canada has
a memorial notice in The Link rebeen billed for $1,500.00, which
garding the recent passing of Juwhen paid will reduce the potenlio Haig (?)
tial loss to $2,857.80.(Sec. Note:
Accommodation (worker) subsi- The meeting was adjourned at apdies were to be paid only on re- proximately 9:50 p.m..
quest, with a deadline of (?).
Hamm, Rally; Jeff Graves, Solo I;
Greg Kierstead, Solo II; Paul
Swinwood, Karting; Pat Weightman, Membership; Mark Atos,
Link Editor; Warren Haywood,
Club Merchandise Co-ordinator;
John Powell, Secretary.
Members/
Guests:
Richard Muise, former
Link Editor; Jean MacGillivray,
Club Display; Jim Morrow, Lanark
Highlands Rally.
ABSENT WITH EXCUSES
Executive: Steve Greiner, Closed
Wheel; Rob Microys, Website Editor.
NOTE The position of Public Relations Director is still vacant.
The President opened the meeting
for business at 6:40 p.m..
Note: This meeting was moved
from it's normal date of October
15th at the request of the President.
Club Display
Jean MacGillivray asked members to provide photographs of
the year's events and other materials of interest for the Club Display at the Annual Awards Banquet.
Rally
(Belatedly) Prepared by John Po- The principal item of business was
well, Secretary, MCO, Oct. 2nd a major incident that took place at
2002, revised Oct. 9th 2002.
the Lanark Highlands Rally. Apparently a competitor went offTel. 613-835-2910; e-mail - route, and while speeding to try to
mgb296@hotmail.com.
make up time, lost control of his
vehicle and wound up in a ditch.
The crew left the vehicle to get
MINUTES OF
help, and the driver was subseMEETING
quently charged by the O.P.P. with
M.C.O. Executive Committee leaving the scene of an accident.
October 22nd 2002
Damage to the vehicle was extensive enough that it will probably be
Louis's Steak House,
Club Mailbox and Hotline
"written off". This was a single
Ottawa, Ont.
Ron Woltman indicated that he
vehicle incident and there were no
would like the Club mailbox to PRESENT
injuries. A general discussion folbe cleared and the Hotline to be
lowed concerning potential Club liupdated more frequently.
Executive: Ron Woltman, Presi- ability, preventative measures, and
dent; Bennett Leckie, Vice-Presi- possible disciplinary measures as
dent; Bob Benson, Treasurer; Rick follows:
continued on page 14...
Miskiman, Open Wheel; Craig
Annual General Meeting
Regarding the Election of Officers, Bennett Leckie reported that
we don't yet have a full slate. We
need one Director and possibly a
replacement for the President.
On a related matter, it was reported that Pat Weightman is very
busy, and while he can handle the
input of membership data, he
would like some support for general administration.
6
November 2002
What's Up in Our Racing World Special Edition
Photos From Targa Newfoundland
Beachy Cove Elementary School. Lunch was
here on the first day.
Alfa Romeo 2300B Mille Miglia Spyder.
One of three made in 1938. Reportedly
worth $1M. The Alfa lost a cylinder on
the last day, but managed to run the
last two stages on five cylinders.
MCO member Kate Richichi starts Maine resident John Cassidy IV's ProRally Impreza at
Bay Roberts. MCO member Steve Carrick
navigated John to an eighth-overall.
7
The unseen downhill left joining the visible portions of this road claimed the first
competitor, a Sunbeam Tiger. Many
teams went through that corner more
sideways than planned for.
This mini ran in the trials (TSD) competition.
The people who entered it won a free entry,
and were loaned a car by their boss, who ran
the Healy that crashed on the first day. They
offered the car back, because the navigator
had had enough of being cramped in a Mini
all day.
Datsun 280Z of Jack MacDonnell and Carson Rasmussen run the Gander street stage. The 280Z
would crash out on the last day.
November 2002
Tom McGeer
Hella pod lights on John Cassidy's Impreza
The winning "1967" Ford Mustang Fastback of Len
and Gayle Cattlin of Australia. This car had four-wheel
disk brakes, air jacks, carbon fibre intake, and an interior that looked like a WRC car. Built to the limit of the
more-liberal Targa Tasmania rules, it was usually fastest in each special stage.
This beautiful and rare Healey
Silverstone would crash out on the first
day of the rally.
Commentary by Craig Seko, photos by Craig Hamm
Line-up at ceremonial finish on George
Street in downtown St. John's. In
foreground is the Acadian Canso of Jud
Buchanon/Peter Wright
Each day finished with a car show - and
a car wash manned by the local high
school. Here Doug Mepham's Volvo
P142S is washed in front of Clarenville
arena. Doug and Jim Kenzie finished
fourth overall.
8
November 2002
Miscellaneous
Rumblings II
John Powell
1. Morrow's Mini
Remember my recent rant about
fake retro cars? I said in that article that I wasn't sure about the new
Mini being a true retro car, but
from what I knew about it then, I
gave it a conditional pass. Well, a
couple of months back Jim Morrow let me have a look at his new
Mini in the parking lot at Louis's,
and when I first saw it, it was like
meeting an old friend. The same
squat, cheeky appearance, but a little larger and more rounded, and
perhaps more sophisticated - little
Mini all grown up! A closer look
at the exterior confirmed my feeling of "deja vu all over again."
What I had not sensed with the other retro cars, I sensed here. This
was a Mini. The styling was updated and it had larger wheels than
the old (1st generation?) Mini, but
it was a Mini nonetheless.
On lifting the bonnet (oops, hood),
the engine compartment was much
more crowded. But remember that
the 1st gen Minis only had the tiny
BMC 'A' series engine and a fourspeed transaxle, with no anti-pollution gubbins. The 2nd gen has a
1.6 litre engine, six-speed transaxle, and is burdened with lots and
lots of anti-pollution stuff - tubes,
hoses, little black boxes, etc., etc..
The trunk was similar to the 1st
gen, small and square, but which
could carry a surprising amount of
stuff, if you knew how to pack.
The interior showed the same efficient use of space, with a similar
layout but updated styling, and
much better seats. What pleased
me when I sat in it was the sense of
familiarity; it was almost like going home again.
I didn't get a chance to drive it, but
from the way Jim described it, the
car can be thrown about with the
same gay abandon (no, not that
kind) as a 1st gen, but with more
power and speed. And there are
9
two really big plusses for the new
Mini. The first is that it was built
by BMW, so build quality should
be much better. The second is
that it will be serviced by real car
dealers, not the old shady hole-inthe-wall garages that masqueraded
as BMC dealers, and which
plagued the owners of 1st gen
Minis.
In the final analysis, this is the car
Alec Issigonis would have built if
he had been around today to modernise his original design. It is true
in all essential respects to the first
iteration, and is a true retro car. It
is a Mini!
2. An Electric Issue
Now I don't go on a rant very often
(Yeah, right!), but this one's about
a real shocker. I just got my
monthly Hydro One statement and
near fell off the chair when I
opened it - $266.16!! It was partly
due to the quarterly meter reading
catch-up, but the real answer to the
high cost came when I checked the
rate per kilowatt/hour over the last
few months. On July 5th , just after the opening of the electricity
market, the rate was 3.196c/kWh.
It now sits at 7.447c, an increase
of 233%, with a high on September 5th of 7.928c/kWh, a whopping increase of 248%!!
When the present provincial government, the Republican Party of
Ontario, deregulated, dismembered, and otherwise deflowered
Ontario Hydro, they promised us
that the magic that is the "free market" would deliver lower prices.
Now they say that higher prices are
due to a lack of generating capacity. Well, who's responsible for that
state? Who appointed a bunch of
political hacks to mismanage the
old Ontario Hydro while paying
themselves quite handsomely,
thank you? Who had the chance to
make the old system work properly
again, but were blinded by political
ideology? Three guesses and the
first two don't count!
Hang on now, you say? Republican Party of Ontario? Yup, that's
what I said. This is really worth a
Political Science essay, comparing
classical liberals with conservatives, reform liberals and socialists,
but I ain't got the time or inclination. Suffice to say that there's
hardly a traditional Canadian-style
conservative in the leadership of
any so-named party in Canada today, except perhaps for Joe Clark
and a few of the Conservative parties in the Atlantic Provinces. The
rest are American-style or Thatcherite classical (18th to mid 19th
century) free-market liberals, who
call themselves conservatives because their classical free-market
liberal political cousins and idols in
the U.S. Republican party also call
themselves by that name. The
irony is that most of these classical
liberals really do think that they are
"conservatives."
In practical terms, what this means
for us is that our racing budgets are
going to take a beating this winter
when it comes to utility costs.
How so? What heats your garage,
if not directly then indirectly
through fans and pumps? And
what about your power tools, lighting, air compressor, welder, and so
on? Think long and hard about this
when our premier with the slickly
styled hair comes to call next provincial election day!
3. Climatology 101 for the CASC
It's now the Thanksgiving weekend, and the racing season finished
two weeks ago. This is a good
time to think about future CASC
race scheduling, particularly the
start and finish dates. But first,
some personal observations about
November 2002
our climate that are germane to our often with dangerously high heat
discussion.
and humidity, severe thunderstorms, high winds from micro
For the last twenty five years I bursts, and ultimately tornados.
have lived on a farm, and actively The west brings us Colorado lows
farmed on a part-time basis for 18 and Prairie Clippers, with periods
of them. This has made me acutely of rain or snow, depending on the
aware of the weather, as it dictates temperature. The first of these
a lot of what you can do, and systems is generally slower movwhen. Jobs tend to be classified as ing, and the latter usually a faster
indoor or outdoor, and changes in spring pattern. Finally, the north
the weather can lead to a lot of brings us Arctic highs, which in
shuffling of priorities. So knowing summer normally means clear,
what to expect can be critically im- dry air and pleasant moderate
portant. Talking to the Aold- temperatures, but in winter, they
timers@ about the weather brought can bring a killing cold.
me a wealth of information, as did - The problem is that none of this
reading and personal observation, is entirely predictable. In some
from which I have formed the fol- tropical areas, you can almost set
lowing conclusions:
your watch by the arrival of the
Monsoon rains. Not so here.
- The global climate is indeed With the variety of geographical
changing, but that's nothing new. features within a thousand miles
If there's one constant about our or so, not a great distance in globplanet's climate, it's that it's not al terms, and the diversity of
constant! History, both natural weather patterns, all it takes is a
and human, has demonstrated that slight shift in the jet stream or the
the climate has constantly shifted stalling or speeding up of highs or
over the eons, from ice ages to lows to produce a change in, or
global warming and then cooling prolongation of, the current
again. The Vikings would never weather conditions. And often on
have reached and settled Green- short notice. It's a Southern Onland, let alone Newfoundland, had tario truism that "if you don't like
it not been for several centuries of the weather now, wait five miglobal warming, and when the cli- nutes".
mate turned cooler again, the settlements failed. Then there was So what does all this have to with
the "year with no summer" in the the CASC's scheduling of races?
early 19th century, when it Well, like farming, auto racing is
snowed in July in Northern Eu- extremely weather-dependant, even
rope, and the crops failed.
for road racers who race in the
- The climate of the lower Great rain. The big problem surfaces
Lakes area, including Southern when we try to race in the snow.
Ontario, is extremely variable, No one makes 'R' compound snow
with weather systems arriving tires, yet CASC insists that the seafrom all points of the compass. son opens in a month when lateFrom the east we get Atlantic season snow storms are more comstorms and hurricanes, with heavy mon than not. All it takes is one of
precipitation, and when their cen- those slight shifts, with cooler temtres cross the Appalachians, peratures and a low, and "poof",
things can get very nasty indeed. April showers turn into a blizzard
Witness Hurricane Hazel of the of wet, heavy snow that collapses
mid '50s. And if combined with a tents, and often more substantial
temperature inversion in the win- structures as well.
ter, well, we all remember the recent ice storm. From the south Six months later, the season ends
comes the warm, humid unstable on the last weekend in September,
weather from the Gulf of Mexico, and poor October lies empty and
forlorn. Not that October weather
is always idyllic, it isn't. It's often
wet and cool, much like most of
May, but other than occasional
light late-month snow showers, any
significant accumulation is quite
rare. And I don't ever remember a
race-ending dump such as we had
at Mosport this spring, and I've
been around for a few decades!
In the early days of CASC, there
were those at the helm who perhaps were a little more conscious
of our climate. The season usually
started with a Drivers' School in
early May, then an open practice,
with the first race meeting on the
third or fourth weekend. In the
fall, the last race was generally the
BARC Thanksgiving Speed Weekend on ... well, the name tells you.
I think that for the 2003 season,
CASC should move the schedule
back to a May start for on-track activities, and have it finish on the
second weekend in October. In the
late '60s we had schedules of 13
and 14 race meetings within this
time period, plus two Drivers'
Schools, so fitting in a 12 race
schedule should be no problem.
And as I said earlier, I'm writing
this at the start of the Thanksgiving
weekend. The weather is cool with
some morning fog, and a mixture
of sun and rain is expected. Not
the best, but doesn't it beat a 6"
dump of wet, heavy snow?
Note: I was thinking of submitting
this to CASC myself, but with the
way I've been pestering them over
my race licence and medical, I'm
probably not too popular there
right now. So, if there's any likeminded person reading this who
would like to use any or all of it to
further the cause, please feel free to
do so. I was thinking perhaps of
someone on the ORO or Race
committee. (Hint, Hint.) And of
course, I'm not being totally altruistic on this. Starting in May
would give those of us with poorly
heated garages (me) an extra
month of car prep without getting
too much frostbite!
10
November 2002
...Continued
4. I Wonder how I Wander ...
I was giving my lawn it=s final cut
before winter the other day, I hate
to say grass because a lot of the
green stuff mixed in there isn't, and
while going around and around,
my mind began to wonder about
things. Actually, the more accurate
description would be just wander
about, but ... Well, I began to think
about racing lawnmowers, and how
their competitions are somewhat
artificial. For example, they don't
race while cutting grass. In fact,
the blades are removed for "safety"
reasons, and a counterweight or
flywheel substituted. This concern
with "safety", however, doesn't extend to ROPSs (roll bars) or seat
belts, despite the fact that such
have been standard equipment on
farm tractors for several years now.
Then, for some strange reason, my
mind leaped from racing lawn
mowers to racing drivers and their
lawn mowers. This, of course,
spawned yet another "you know
you're a race driver if ..." list, as
follows.
When cutting your grass with your
riding lawn mower, you know
you're a race driver if:
- You think of each turn around the
lawn as a "lap".
- You begin timing your "laps".
- You begin measuring your
elapsed time to completion of the
race, er, job, while still producing
a cut that will satisfy "you know
who".
- You start experimenting with tire
pressures, blade speed, ground
speed, cutting depth and lines
(cutting pattern) in order to improve your times.
- You move on to investigating engine mods for your Tecumseh or
Briggs & Stratton, and fully-adjustable independent front and
rear wishbone suspension, with
Eibach springs and Penske
shocks.
that old tree with the roots that
stick up and slow you down, for
example. It's almost dead anyway, isn't it?
- You move on to more major track
improvements "If I take down
that old garden shed, I can
straighten out about five laps, um,
passes. All that's in it are some
old planting pots and the wife's
gardening tools."
On second thought, you'd better
leave the last one alone - you'll be
safer with the old chain saw and
stopping at the one before!
5. Is that all there is?
Well, our season's over for the
year, and it ended the same way as
it started. Our first Solo I was the
regatta on the Shannonville Lakes
in June, and ended in the rain again
on the Sept. 27th Test Day at Mosport. I was hoping for a dry track
to scrub in the new shaved RA1s,
and perhaps get my lap times down
a bit more, but it was cool and wet
enough that this wouldn't have
worked. In fact, even if they had
already been scrubbed in, there
was enough rain and puddling that
using them would have been a bit
dicey anyway. It wasn't all bad,
however, as we had a better handle
on the full tread RA1s that we use
for rain tires than we did at Shannonville, and the car felt much better. How I beat the 'A' family average and got that 100 point run at
the Shannonville Regatta is still a
mystery to me. The rest of the 'A'
group must have been having even
more trouble than I was.
The Test Day was a bit lonely in
the closed wheel sessions, as only
three or four cars usually went out,
including me. This, and the rain,
proved in fact to be a benefit. I
was actually one of the faster cars
in each session, and with the lack
of traffic, it allowed me to concentrate almost totally on my lines.
The rain also forced me to concentrate, and took my mind off trying,
sometimes too hard, to improve my
- You begin contemplating minor lap times. This led to several imtrack improvements - taking out portant discoveries, and confirmed
11
a previous one.
The first discovery, when I bobbled in turn one, was that the RX7
is as "catchable" in the wet as it is
in the dry. The second was that, if
you're not too gentle in applying
the throttle in the wet, you will get
lots of sudden power oversteer.
This surprised me a bit, as I was
told that rotaries are not "torquey"
engines. The third was that when
you're heel-and-toeing you have to
really time your downshifts properly or you'll lock up the rear end going into a corner, which ain't good!
The fourth was that the wipers are
totally useless at the top of the
back straight, as they lift almost
completely off the windshield, and
confirmed was the fact that the
windshield de-fogger is totally useless! I had to make at least one pit
stop in each session to get the inside of the windshield cleaned - I
spent the rest of the time wiping
what I could of it with my gloves.
The most important discoveries involved turns two and four. As
mentioned in previous articles, I
was having a hard time with the
new lines in those turns, and they
are new. When you widen a piece
of track in a corner you open up
the arc, which changes the entry
and exit points and moves the apex
out laterally. In a double apex corner like two, it also moves the
apexes closer together to some extent. My subconscious mind had
been telling me turn in on visual
clues that were no longer there, and
to take the lines that I learned from
many laps on the old narrower
track, but my conscious senses
were continually in conflict with it.
This resulted in erratic lines that
were sometimes close, but more
often not. Those who are involved
in staff training know that such entrenched behaviours are why retraining is usually much more difficult than beginner's training. Well,
my re-training was aided by having
to cope with the circumstances of
the day. By having the opportunity
to apply myself to the task without
November 2002
worrying about passing or being
passed, and conditions which forced
me to slow down a bit, I was able to
block out my subconscious mind. I
then found new markers, and where
to set up before the drop off for both
corners in order to get the proper
lines. This was reinforced, again
due to the lack of traffic, by being
able to practice those lines for long
series of laps without a lot of interruptions. I was able to hit the apexes
with a fair degree of consistency,
and my memory of the way the track
used to be is now just that - a memory.
So our season ended well despite the
weather, and while I wasn't overly
concerned with lap times, I was told
we were doing consistent 1:51s, and
without really booting it. Which
wasn't too bad, since I knew exactly
where I could have gotten the extra
speed if I had been racing. For the
rest of the weekend we relaxed and
watched the everybody else race
(lucky sods!) in the dry, and met a
few RX7 fans. It's funny, all I have
to do is just park the car at the track,
and they come out of the woodwork
in droves. Some of them will prove
to be valuable resources, if I decide
to do some up-grades on the car in
the off-season. So now it's time to
catch up on all the chores around the
place before winter, including getting the tractor and snowblower running, trimming back that
l-o-oo-n-g cedar hedge (ugh!), and to
plan and dream about next year.
...continued from page 3
for a commitment, I was sitting
around with Wendy chatting to
Graeme Peppler. Graeme gets a
call from the crew chief at BAR
and invited to come to the F1 garages and meet. It turns out he was
Graeme's crew chief when he raced
formula ford in New Zealand. I immediately offer my company,
which is gracefully declined by
Graeme, as it is impossible to get
into the garages unless properly accredited. I of course knew this but
hey it was worth the asking. So I
offer to drive him to the garages on
the ATV to meet his buddy. So
here we are zipping along beside
the rowing basin and as I approach
the armed guard at the gates to the
garage the said gates to heaven
open up and we are in !!! Graeme
leans forward and says how the
hell did that happen, and I quickly
reply, shut up we're in. So we nonchalantly park at the back of the
BAR garage and ask to see the
main man, who promptly appears
and asks how the hell did we get
in. Graeme explains and introduces
me as his old famous crew chief.
I'm not happy about the old bit but
by this time who cares. We are given the guided tour and introduced
around and get some great insight
as to working in F1. The technology is awesome and all the guys
came up through the formula ford
ranks so there is a common bond. I
had to keep reminding myself to
breath and later we all told stories
in the BAR hospitality area while
sipping Perrier. Needless to say it
behoves me not to repeat some of
the things I learned over the next
few hours, but I can say it was one
of the highlights of my life. I can
also say that I learned some interesting Italian terminology and gesticulations when the flag girls were
practicing marching past the Ferrari mechanics.
Ottawa Lynx at Jetform Park
www.ottawalynx.com
http://www.plus1performance.com
Proud sponsor of the
MCO Solo-II Timing Board
Sponsor of the MCO Solo-II season
6. Parting Shot
Happiness is finding out that your
new car insurance agent has a full
aero kit on his family Taurus wagon.
MCO General Meetings - 7PM, First Tuesday of every month
Executive Meetings - 6:30PM, Third Tuesday of every month
LOUIS' STEAKHOUSE
1682 Cyrville Road
(613) 741-2130
From the 417, take the Innes Road exit (by 417 Nissan and Costco)
all are welcome!
12
November 2002
FOR SALE
1972 BMW 2002
- standard
- white
Make an offer
Call Marc Guertin 722-8719
MCO: The First Fifty Years
Only $35 for this important book!
Plannning for a delivery of 300 numbered copies. It is a hard-covered coffee table style book
recounting the long history of motorsopts in Ottawa and the regions. With 150 pages, everything
and everyone is included. Don't miss out on your copies!
There is still space available for sponsorship as well. For $20 you can ensure your name is in the
book by sponsoring a page of your choosing. Full or partial page ads are open.
Contact Sherissa Microys at (613) 822-7204 or e-mail s.microys@rogers.com
13
November 2002
...continued
- Ron Woltman asked if someone
could review the instructions to see
if they're too difficult. Craig Hamm
responded that competitors are told
that if they go off-course they
should take the penalty and not
speed to make up time. He also
stated that he is considering
instituting time allowances, as is
done by the SCCA.
- Rick Miskiman asked if there were
insurance sanction issues against the
Club, and are there remedies available to protect us.
- Jim Morrow proposed that a disciplinary committee be instituted with
the possibility of banning an offending competitor from Club rallies,
and notifying RSO and the CASC.
Ron Woltman responded by asking
if the Club had the authority to impose sanctions.
- There was a discussion on sanctions
against an offending competitor, and
it was agreed that such should be decided by a committee. Paul Swinwood briefly explained how similar
situations are handled in Karting,
and it was subsequently decided that
the Rally Group should institute it's
own Disciplinary Committee, with
the right of appeal to the Club's Executive.
- Ron Woltman asked to see a copy of
the Incident Report, and there followed a brief discussion in which
Craig Hamm outlined the training of
rally organisers and officials.The final Rally item was a proposal by
Craig to institute an award for Club
members who participate in Performance Rallies. It was decided
that this proposal was worthy of development.
Treasurer
Bob Benson gave the following report
(amounts rounded to the nearest dollar
by the Secretary):
- The bank balance stands at
$37,185.00, with the book reserve at
$4,895.00. Revenues and disbursements to date have been $95,530.00
and $90,074.00 respectively, giving
a current positive cash flow of
$5,455.00.
- The Ted Powell Summer Trophy
Races currently show a positive balance of $395.00. There is an outstanding $550.00 expense for marshalling, for which an invoice has
not yet been received, but which was
included in the event budget. The
outstanding exposure for workers'
subsidies has now been cancelled as
the time limit for claims has expired.
- In response to a question, Bob noted
that our insurance costs to date total-
led $8,080.00.
- A review of CASC and RSO ByLaws and the CASC Policy Manual
- Ron Woltman reminded those presshowed that there is nothing publishent to submit the revenues and exed which prohibits member clubs
penses for events, etc., as soon as
from offering whatever types of
possible. This will facilitate the
memberships that they wish, providtimely preparation of the Club's Annual Financial Report.
ed that affiliation dues are paid
- Rick Miskiman asked if we had stawhere appropriate.
tistics on the revenues and expenses - The MCO By-Laws only provide for
of each discipline in order to develFull and Social memberships. If any
op spending envelopes for the comother type of membership is to be
ing year. Bob replied that he keeps
offered, our by-laws will have to be
such data by event only.
amended accordingly. The only recommendation in the report was that
Solo II
the executive consider this issue and
- Greg Kierstead gave a brief account
bring any proposals before the memof a recent incident involving a combership.
petitor in a recent Solo II, his kart, - Although outside the original scope
and a light standard. There will be
of the report, a discussion on the
no repercussions involving the Club.
current status of the split of affiliation dues between RSO and CASC
- Possible alternate venues for next
was included, as this issue has an afyear were discussed due to the effect
fect on membership policy and adof noise limits. It was suggested by
Paul Swinwood that Minto might
ministration. A review of the mihave sites available, and he would
nutes of RSO Executive Meetings
investigate. Another member, who
and e-mail correspondence found
that, at the time of writing the report,
shall remain nameless, also suggestthere was a great deal of confusion
ed that we contact JDS, as their
over what the agreement, if any,
parking lot will soon be largely vamay contain, that no-one has seen
cant.
the text of such agreement, that the
only instructions we received early
Winter Driving Schools
in the process were verbal, and that
Paul Swinwood outlined his recent
both PMSC and TAC are also splitdiscussions with the Ottodrome.
They will provide a classroom, toiting dues. There is an agreement belets, plowing and flooding, but they
tween CARS and CASC, but RSO
would like one that is similar beare planning a full winter schedule
tween themselves and CASC. The
of other events. We can have the
report suggests that member clubs
former Tree-line Course, enlarged
ask that both CASC and RSO sit
with more depth to the north. They
down and negotiate and publish a
will work with us on such matters as
formal agreement on the issue befencing and crowd control.
fore it becomes more divisive at the
Annual Awards Banquet
club level.o There was an on-going
discussion throughout the presentaBennett Leckie advised that tickets
tion of the report which re-examined
must be paid for at least one week
the principal points, especially those
before the event, and Ron Woltman
relating to the split of affiliation
asked that someone verify that full
dues. The report was then accepted.
information is available on the Club
website. Bennett also announced
that there will be door prizes, proba- Election of Officers
bly including some Club merchan- Bennett Leckie reported that the members standing for election to date are
dise.
Ron Woltman, Bennett Leckie, Rick
Miskiman, Greg Kierstead, Richard
Membership
- Pat Weightman reported that our Muise, Pierre Bartot, and Craig
current membership in both catego- Hamm.
ries now stands at 258.
- Ron Woltman asked for a break- Other Business
down of members by affiliation staExpenses were voted as follows:
tus, which Pat will provide before - Ron Woltman - accommodation and
the CASC meeting.o Jodie Shay will
mileage for the CASC Annual Genassist Pat in some of the administraeral Meeting.
tive duties, and on a related matter, - One person (yet to be named ?) mileage for Karting meetings.
Pat would like a copy of Access/Office 97 for electronic file transfers.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:20 p.m..
Membership Policy Review Report
John Powell gave an overview of the Prepared by John Powell, Secretary,
report as follows:
MCO, Oct. 24th 2002.
14
November 2002
MINUTES OF
MEETING
M.C.O. Monthly
General Meeting
October 1st 2002
Louis's Steak House,
Ottawa, Ont.
PRESENT
Executive: Ron Woltman, President; Bennett Leckie, Vice-President: Rick Miskiman, Open Wheel;
Steve Greiner, Closed Wheel;
Craig Hamm, Rally; Jeff Graves,
Solo I; Greg Kierstead, Solo II;
Mark Atos, Link Editor; Rob Microys, Website Administrator; John
Powell, Secretary.
Members: Sufficient members
were present for a quorum.
ABSENT WITH EXCUSES
Executive: Bob Benson, Treasurer;
Paul Swinwood, Karting;
Pat
Weightman, Membership; Warren
Haywood,
Club
Merchandise
Co?ordinator.
NOTE The position of Public Relations Director is still vacant.
The President opened the meeting
at approximately 7:05 p.m. and the
following business was conducted:
General
Ron Woltman opened the meeting
by welcoming guests and noting
that this was the second month at
the trial starting time of 7:00 p.m..
He asked members to consider
whether or not this time was acceptable, and the trial would continue to allow time for objections.
Treasurer
In the absence of Bob Benson, Ron
Woltman gave a brief up-date as
follows:o The Club is solvent and
we have five figures in the bank.
- Accounts for the Ted Powell
Races are not final yet as some
invoices are slow coming in. Not
all workers' subsidy applications
are in yet, and the Executive is
taking that as an indication that
15
by last minute requests for memthey will not be submitted. He
bership renewals and cards.
closed by stating that the race
Members must remember that the
meeting is close to the breakposition is voluntary, and Pat
even point.
- Ron then asked if there were any
Weightman, the Membership
questions regarding the Club's fiSecretary has a business to run,
nancial management, and Jim
as well as a family to look after.
Holtom asked if our bank balance
Pat will do his best, but with this
endangered our non-profit status.
and the volume of business due
Ron replied that the Executive
to the size of the club, members
was aware of the situation, and
can not expect that last minute rewould be watching it.
quests will always be accommo- Mark Atos then noted that the
dated. To help Pat with memberwindow for applications for
ship administration, Jody Shay
workers' subsidies was now
has volunteered to be his assisclosed, as noted in Ron's article
tant.
in The Link.
- Regarding a note from CASC,
- Ron closed the discussion by statRon Woltman advised members
ing that Bob Benson will stay on
that, at 211 members, MCO is the
as Treasurer.
second largest club in CASC, behind only VARAC, at 293 memAnnual General Meeting
bers. In response to a question
- Bennett Leckie advised members
from Rick Miskiman, he advised
of the Annual General Meeting
that the total membership of
and elections next month. Rob
CASC currently stands at 2,072.
Microys will again chair the elec- - Rob Microys explained that he
tion portion, and we are lacking
had an informal talk with Gunthin nominations as we need one
er Schmidt, CASC Race Director,
more Director.
on the topic of the direct affiliation of members. He was told
- Pat Weightman will be returning
that this could be considered if a
to Membership, with Jody Shay
couple of the larger clubs were to
as assistant, and John Powell will
push it.
return as Secretary.
- Ron Woltman stated that he
would be willing to step aside as Rally
President if someone else came - Craig Hamm outlined the upcomforward, as it is good for the Club
ing rallies including the Golden
to have new leadership from time
Pines Rally, the Lanark Highto time. Club Banquet
lands Rally, a charity event for
- Bennett Leckie reminded memthe Lanark County Therapeutic
bers that Club trophies must be
Riding Program, and next seareturned for this year's awards. o
son's first rally, the Mississippi
Worker Points forms are due the
Rally.
middle of the month. The awards - The Yokohama Winter Rally Sercommittee is Cindy Armstrong,
ies has lapsed due to the lack of a
Ron Woltman, Rick Miskiman,
coordinator. Some rallies may
Jim Morrow and Bennett Leckie.
continue as Regional events.o
- The banquet will be on Nov.
Craig then outlined the valuable
16th, with tickets available from
assistance of the HAM radio
Sam Mandia, Wendy Mortimer
clubs, and the advantage of using
or Bennett Leckie. The tickets
them in rally communications.o
will be $30.00, with a buffet and
He gave an overview of the Tarprizes. Ron Woltman noted that
ga Newfoundland and the support
this is $5.00 less than last year.
it received from the local population. Craig Seko finished 7th
Membership
overall and 2nd in class, and
- Ron Woltman explained to memGlobal TV will run a segment on
bers the problems being caused
the event on January 25th 2003.
November 2002
- The Yokohama Winter Rally Series has lapsed due to the lack of a
coordinator. Some rallies may
continue as Regional events.
- Craig then outlined the valuable
assistance of the HAM radio
clubs, and the advantage of using
them in rally communications.
- He gave an overview of the Targa
Newfoundland and the support it
received from the local population. Craig Seko finished 7th
overall and 2nd in class, and
Global TV will run a segment on
the event on January 25th 2003.
- Craig closed by reminding members that MCO has been invited
to run a stage of the Tall Pines
Rally on Nov. 22nd to 24th , and
that workers are welcome, and also informed members that details
of all of the foregoing are available in The Link.
Memorabilia Auction
Mike Lowe gave an overview of
the items to be auctioned after the
meeting, and that proceeds would
go to the 50th anniversary book
fund.
The meeting then broke from 7:50
to 8:00 p.m. for members to stretch
their legs.
13th , to be a charity event if possible.
- Greg also gave an up-date on the
noise complaint issue, noting that
we had good relationships with
both the Ottawa Lynx Stadium
and the city's By-Law department. He also outlined details of
the compromise reached with the
city and the complainant.
addressed if it becomes an issue.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:00 p.m. on a motion
by Nick Berry, seconded by Jay
Saslove. There then ensued a mad
dash for the Head Table, as members were eager to part with their
hard-earned cash in exchange for
valuable automobilia, cunningly
gathered in the U.K. by Mike
Lowe, thus enriching the book
The Link
fund to a copious degree yet to be
Mark Atos repeated the ever-con- determined.
tinuing editor's cry for Link articles.
Prepared by John Powell, Secretary, MCO, October 9th 2002.
Open Wheel
- There was a brief race report Tel. 613-835-2910;
which included Sam Mandia's ex- e-mail - mgb296@hotmail.com.
ploits in FV and various impressions on the improvements to Le
Circuit-Mt Tremblant.
- Regarding the unfortunate death M.C.O. Ontario Solo-I
of Julio Haig, Cindy Armstrong
Results
reported that there is no firm
news yet on what contributed to
the incident or what happened. Event 1, Mosport DDT, May 18, 2002
Brian Leslie 3rd place BSS1
She cautioned members that any
information now available is just Event 3, SMP Fabi, June 15, 2002
speculation. She has also inBrad Merkel 1st place A2
formed CASC that we need accuJohn Powell 1st place ASS1
rate, up-to-date information in
Mike Avelar 2nd place B3
Matt Cornford 2nd place CSP
our area, as there is no coverage
in the local media.o Members
were reminded of the CASC elec- Event 4, SMP Nelson, June 16, 2002
Brad Merkel 1st place A1
tions and Worker Awards, inforJohn Powell 3rd place ASS1
mation for which is various web
Matt Cornford 4th place CSP
sites including ours and that of
CASC.
Event 5, Mosport DDT, July 6, 2002
Solo I
Jeff Graves gave a brief account
of the final two Solo I events on
the Pro and Nelson circuits at
Shannonville, the upcoming Top Winter Driving Schools
Gun Shoot-out at the Mosport - Ron Woltman has asked Paul
Swinwood to talk to the Ottoschool track, and informed memdrome people, but hasn't heard
bers that the Solo banquet will be
anything concrete yet.
held on Nov. 2nd .
- Bob Armstrong will again be
Chief Instructor, and Bennett
Solo II
Leckie
will look after track prep- Greg Kierstead gave a run-down
aration.o
Cindy Armstrong asked
of the Regional event and the
about
the
insurance implications,
successful Capital Invasion Solo
and
Ron
replied
that we will have
II, including the mess at the latter
to
pay
insurance
on the events.
event left by the prior Molson
As ASN lost money as insurance
concert, which largely had to be
broker this year (2002), we're not
cleaned up by Club members.
sure what the effects will be.
Richard Muise added that there - There was some discussion on
were 10,000 spectators at the
how we classified the events and
event.
the implications. Are they com- There are two events left on the
mercial, for profit, educational or
schedule, with the last, on Oct.
fund-raisers? This point will be
Brad Merkel 1st place A2
Greg Kierstead 1st place B2
Brian Leslie 3rd place BSS1
Jeff Graves 2st place C2
Matt Cornford 2nd place CSP
Event 6, Mosport DDT, July 7, 2002
Brad Merkel 2st place A1
Greg Kierstead 2nd place B2
Jeff Graves 1st place C2
Event 9, SMP Pro, August 10, 2002
Brad Merkel 1st place A2
John Powell 1st place ASS1
Ian O'Halloran 4th place CSS1
Jeff Graves 3rd place CSS2
Bruce Pratte 4th place CSP
Event 10, SMP Nelson, August 11, 2002
Brad Merkel 1st place A1
John Powell 1st place ASS1
Ian O'Halloran 5th place CSS1
Jeff Graves 3rd place CSS2
Bruce Pratte 4th place CSP
16
November 2002
March 2001
Zeroing the End of Rally or Leg
Craig Hamm
After a rally team has passed the last hidden checkpoint, they are instructed to reach the end of rally, or Leg,
and to request a time-in at the finish control. They don't care when you actually arrived! What's that all
about? It's not that hard, actually, but here's the ultra-extended gory detail.
Many teams find they did very well driving the route mostly on time, improving their skill all the time at each
rally, only to throw a good result away in the parking lot at the end! It's no way to win, and it's a worse way to
lose. Sometime, look at the rally results for an event with a lot of competitors. The Experts will have lots of
zeroes, especially at the end of the leg, or rally, at the finish control. As you move into Novices and Beginners the trend is to getting oddball scores at the final "ask for your time in" finish control. This is understandable, but preventable.
The routebook is typically structured like this:
-Instruction(s)
-Checkpoints here and there (not marked in routebook!)
-Instruction(s)
-Elapsed Time (ET) section to the Finish.
The easiest way to zero the finish control is: find the last on-route checkpoint, then drive away at your outtime at the CAS ('commence average speed') that was in effect when you found that checkpoint (normal procedure), obey some route instructions that may have different CAS's, then note your time at the beginning of
the ET section to the finish. Get to the finish control before the elapsed time has passed, and ask the marshal
for the time when the elapsed time is due to end. Theoretically, without calculations, you should get a zero, as
long as you know what time you started the ET, and you managed to maintain CAS prior to that. Note that the
ET section is always a liberal allowance of time that enables you to drive at legal speeds to the finish control,
safely park, do some calculations, and walk inside to the marshal who will ask for your time-in. You usually
have a few more minutes to spare if you don't get lost, so stay calm and you can zero the end of rally (or leg).
If you can't hit those average speeds after the checkpoint, or you don't want to, you can do some math. What
about those calculations? Let's try an example.
Here is a routebook excerpt for the end of a rally:
34.46 2.1 TR onto Concession 8, CAS 50
36.70 2.24 AL onto Phibbs Side Road., CAS 72
42.12 5.42 SA, Johnson Rd., CAS 42
45.00 2.88 Pause 45 seconds. R onto Highway 15, ET 11 minutes to EOR
48.85 3.85 L into Petro Canada gas station. Ask the marshal, inside, for your time-in. EOR
The abbreviations are:
TR = tee right
AL = acute left
SA = straight ahead
R = right; L = left
ET (or CET) = Elapsed Time, or Commence Elapsed Time.
EOR = end of rally
What you don't see in your routebook is the LAST hidden checkpoint of the rally, after the acute left (AL) onto Phibbs Side Rd. which is located at official mileage 37.00 km.
The sequence of events is:
1. You make the acute left and find the CP at 37.00 km. No matter what any of your odometers say, this is the
official distance of this checkpoint. The time that the rallymaster expects you to ask for your time in depends on THIS official distance at the LAST checkpoint!!! This official distance MUST be on the sticker
you received. It is usually the number next to "Dist" And should be close to your odo (if you didn't get lost,
slippage, etc.). Here is an empty sticker:
17
November 2002
2. Your sticker has your official time out from this checkpoint. Let's say that it is "Time out 4:56:00"
3. At 4:56:00 you drive away from the checkpoint and resume your CAS 72 for the next 2.24 kilometers.
Keep following route instructions. When you enter the ET section you know there are no more checkpoints
and the navigator should get busy calculating the time-in.
4. Calculate how long it should take to go from the CP to the instruction following it. Translation: How long
does it take to travel 42.12-37.00 km = 5.12 km at CAS 50?
T1 = distance/speed = distance x(60/CAS) = 5.12km x (60min per hr / 72km per hr)
= 5.12 km x 1.2 minute/km
= 6.144 minutes (use DECIMAL minutes to the end, try to carry 3 decimals)
5. At 42.12 km you had to change your CAS to 42 kph until you reach the ET section. How long will it take
to go from Johnson Rd to the ET section at Highway 15?
T2 = distance x (60/CAS) = 2.88 km x (60/42)
= 2.88 km x 1.4286 minute/km
= 4.114 minutes
6. Now you reach Highway 15, and you need to add a pause of 45 seconds (the driver does not HAVE to
pause, but you must account for it!).
T3 = 0.75 minutes (that's 45 seconds = 45/60)
7. Now you are officially due to arrive in 11 minutes from the turn onto Highway 15.
T4 = 11.0 minutes
8. So, now just add up all the times:
Total time = T1 + T2 +T3 + T4 = 6.144+4.11+0.75+11.0 = 22.0 minutes.
Remember to convert from decimal minutes to minutes now if the number isn't on an even minute. It would
also help to recheck your math if you don't have an even minute here as most rallies end on even minutes.
9. Add this to your last CP Out-Time: 4:56:00 + 00:22:00 = 5:18:00 (most finish controls end on top of the
minute).
If the time 5:18 has not already gone by on the clock, you are doing well.
10. Say you actually arrive at the Finish Control, at 5:14:20. You have 3 minutes and 40 seconds to reach the
Finish marshal and request a time in. This usually only a 30 to 60 second walk away.
11. At the finish control table say the to marshal "My time in is 5:18" Collect your ZERO.
If you are CLOSE to being late and are in a lineup at the finish control, yell out your time-in to the marshal!
Get witnesses! Do apologise afterwards (but you got your rightful zero, hopefully).
If 5:18 has already passed, and your calculation was correct, you are indeed LATE, and you should immediately ask for the current time as your time-in to minimize the damage to your score!
This was a lengthy explanation to what is generally not a difficult task. However, I hope the detail helps you
get more zeros!
18
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mainst@magi.com
Table of Contents
Coming Events
MCO Rally Group Report for November . page 2
Mortimer Mutterings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3
Mortimer Mutterings, Grand Prix . . . . . . page 3
Minutes of Executive Meeting, Sept . . . . page 5
Minutes of Executive Meeting, Oct . . . . . page 6
What's up in Our Racing World . . . . . . . . page 7
Miscellaneous Rumblings II. . . . . . . . . . . page 9
Minutes of General Meeting, Oct . . . . . page 15
Solo I Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 16
Zeroing the End of Rally or Leg. . . . . . . page 17
November 2 2002
- CASC-OR Solo I & II Banquet in Toronto
November 5 2002
- MCO Annual General Meeting, Louis'
Steakhouse
November 9 2002
- CASC-OR AGM & Awards Banquet
- Mississippi Valley Rally (First event in the
MCO
2003
Navigational
Rally
Championship)
November 16 2002
- MCO Banquet and Awards Ceremony,
Louis' Steakhouse (Cocktails at 6, dinner at
6:30. Tickets $30 / pp, See Bennett Leckie,
Sam Mandia or Wendy Mortimer for Tix)
November 23 2002
- MLRC Rally of the Tall Pines, Bancroft
December 3 2002
- MCO General Meeting, Louis' Steakhouse,
7:00 pm
Grassroots Motorsport in the National Capital Region since 1949.
Affiliated with Canadian Automobile Sport Clubs - Ontario Region (CASC-OR),
Rally Sport Ontario (RSO) and ASN Canada FIA