June 15th and 16th, 2002 Shannonville Motorsport Park
The weekend started off looking bad as we left Toronto at 1:30pm on Friday, weather wise. To start off, traffic was terrible getting out of Toronto and after getting to the fringes of "civialization" it began to rain....sometimes hard.
As the organizing club for the weekend, HADA, had booked the entire Shannonville track for lapping on Friday evening and as we approached Shannonville the weather started to look promising. When we arrived we decided the first proirity was to get our tent set up and unpack the cars, it started pouring down rain. Now this made the entire senerio interesting as I personally had never lapped in a full size automobile (as opposed to a go-kart) on a track in the rain.
The lapping evening was interesting to say the least. With a lot of registered people not showing up or deciding not to run because of the weather and the rest of the people being cautious with the conditions, there was never a big line to get on the track. There was standing water at various spots on both Nelson and Fabi circuits and this made for some awesome lessons in car control, spending most of the time in the corners with the rear end sticking out (we drive front wheel drive cars, eh) and dancing under braking at the end of the straights. The evening went without major incident, thankfully, because everyone was using that extra little bit of caution.
Saturdays Action Front Data Recovery Labs Solo 1 Championship Series Event #3 (organized by Hanif Premji) on the Fabi track, started off with HADA and Chief Timer, Victor Del Col, running around getting everything set up and running in the rain. The Shannonville people were pumping out the 16 inches or so of water at the apex of turn 3 and about 9:30 gave up and set up cones about two thirds of the way across the track to keep people from floating away if they got to close to the apex of the corner.
After the failed attempt at getting the water drained from turn three, the track was opened up with a hour of open lapping (most needed to figure out all the new race lines, avoiding the deepest part of the water laden track). After lapping and communications problems between the tower and the marshalling stations, not to mention trying to grid the people who were taking shelter wherever they could from the rain, the event got underway, a little late, but underway never the less.
Due to the number of brave souls (50 drivers) and the conditions, the event was shortened to three runs. With the exception of the torential downpour (while I was at the hairpin marshalling) and the time problems as a result of the downpour, the event ran smoothly with no major off courses. Considering the conditions, with turn three and turn 5b being entirely covered in water and water against the curbs at the apex of a couple of other corners, that was a major accomplishment.
The event was followed by a BBQ, sponsored by Northern Motorsports, prepared by the HADA first lady, Debb (who couldn't make it to the track on the weekend), and Q'd up by Sonia. Everyone got fed in a timely fashion, with no long lines and good food. It's amazing how great a BBQ is after be soaked and miserable all day. Good food, good company!
Sundays Action Front Data Recovery Labs Solo 1 Championship Series Event #4 (organized by yours truly) on the Nelson track, started off looking a lot more promising, weather wise, than Saturday. Although, my gut feeling came into to play and we did get a downpour in the early afternoon.
The Shannonville people were out with their pumps again on Sunday morning, pumping out turn one, which was mostly covered in water, and the backstretch, which a river was flowing across. The track was opened up for an hour of open lapping at 9:05 and first runs were started at 10:30. There were 40 competitors (due to 14 no shows, thanks to the weather I'm sure)
The first run group had a few incidents, including a BMW 328is lightly hitting the barrier outside of turn 5. A couple of cars had to be pulled out of the lake (that wasn't there the last time I was at Shannonville) or the mud outside of turn 5. Fortunately no serious damage and more importantly, no injures.
With the exception of the above mentioned downpour, the afternoon was in drying conditions and lap times dropped with every session. By the end of the afternoon the track was dry with the exception of the river flowing across the back stretch (caused by the fact that Shannonville employees were still pumping turn 3 on Fabi and the water was running down one of the connecting access roads towards and across the Nelson track).
Other than the above mentioned incidents, Sundays event ran smoothly and on time, getting a full 4 runs, ending with 45 minutes of open lapping, that was brought to a close because of lack of interest and the fact that it started raining.....again!
After this past weekend, I was beginning to think that my feet would be permently water logged and would never again feel dry or I was turning into a fish.
All considering, it was a great weekend and myself personally quite enjoyed the challange of driving in adverse conditions (yep, I am a sucker for punishment) and am looking forward to the next track adventure and the next Solo 1 weekend that I have signed up for!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
This page was last updated on July 2nd, 2005
