Canada represents at Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen 2003

As we first did in 2002, we decided to bring my Civic to EMRA's “Fall Foliage Tour” event at the Glen. The weekend consists of a sprint race on Friday, a sprint and a 2-hour enduro on Saturday and time trials on Sunday. This year, I was sharing the car with Carl “BBQman” Wener, my friend and racing buddy. We worked out a mutually beneficial arrangement where TRAC would prep the car and Carl would get to drive one sprint and co-drive the enduro. This arrangement did not, however, include a tow vehicle and trailer, so we found ourselves driving the car the 550 km to the track. Carl was also bringing his ITR to the event to run the time trial. There were also 5 other Quebec road race cars (Roberto Guerra, Yves Bedard, Martin Hamel, Jean-Sebastien Lafleur, Alain Demers) and 7 other time trial cars from Quebec (most of them much faster than we were) joining us for the weekend, leading to a full on Canadian asssault on the event. We managed to pawn off the transport of our tires (16 just for my car) on JS Lafleur, who had borrowed a closed trailer.


The car still shiny and clean before its first race

The weather forecast was for cold all weekend with rain Sunday and possibly late Saturday. We arrived Thursday night and I stuck my homemade number and class decals on the car before turning in. I was scheduled to run the Friday event. We got to the track Friday morning and changed the tires, taped up the headlights, pulled the passenger seat and uncapped the Supertrapp. Result: instant race car. I headed out for my practice session and the car felt good. The only other time I'd been to the Glen, I only had a 92 hp 1.5. This year, I had a blisteringly fast 125 hp 1.6 in the car. My best lap last year had been a 2:34, while Carl had done a 2:27 with his ITR in the time trial. My goal was therefore to get down to 2:27 over the weekend with the new motor. During the session, I eventually got stuck behind a big Alfa Milano, which had much less handling and braking than I did, but tons more hp and torque with his 3.0 liter V6. Not wanting to pass too aggressively in the practice, I was stuck beind him for a while as I couldn't get close enough on the straights to pass him in the twisties. Right from my first hot lap, I decided I could take turn 10 flat out as I had last year. It turns out I could, but let's just say it was a little hairier this year with the extra 33 hp... I was making up tremendous ground on higher powered cars there all weekend. The session ended after only a few laps and I pulled into the pits. I was not too happy with my performance of sitting behind the Alfa for most of the session. When Carl told me I only ran a 2:32, I was even more pissed and was cursing myself for wasting the session.

My next time out was for qualifying. I tried to get some open track but found myself again stuck behind another car, this time a 1st gen RX7 which had more straightline speed than me. Fortunately though, he seemed to be lapping alot faster than the Milano and I didn't mind following him for awhile. As there were no cars close behind us, I backed off for one lap and then gradually caught him up on the next lap. I was preparing to back off again for another hot lap when he graciously waved me by. I ended up with a 2:26.0 while the RX7 had a 2:26.9. I was happy with the session as I had already surpassed my goal for the weekend as far as lap times went. However, in class, I wsa only 3rd out of 4, and the 4th guy had not even qualified at all, which meant I was more like 3rd out of 3. The other two qualifiers in ST1 were a 2nd gen RX7 and a Datsun 280 Z and both had qualified in the 2:23's. The non-qualifier was a Saturn wagon. Carl seemed impressed with my times and I wasn't too worried about position in class, as I know my car was underpowered for the class. This is always the risk you take when you do an engine swap. We were also quite impressed with the 2:15 clocked by our buddy in his ex Speedvision Mustang.


Matt Bookler's lethal weapon

Carl was to get his first stint in the car in the student race which was also a practice for anyone who showed up (to get more participants to create a race-like atmosphere for the students). When Carl came in after five laps, he was actually quite astounded that I could get any kind of decent lap times out of the car as he thought the handling was less than confidence-inspiring. The car felt nowhere near as precise as his Integra (which had double-adjustable Koni's). He also thought the steering was very vague. Basically, he was less than impressed with te car after his first few laps.


My car beside the Yves' Golf, who was lapping 2:17 with a stock VR6)

In the afternoon, I lined up for the 12-lap big-bore sprint race. There were a couple of Craftsman trucks and many Mustangs in front, but that was not an issue for me as I figured they would only lap us once in 12 laps. At the start of the race, I had a good little battle with the red RX-7 who tried to take me on the inside of turn one but failed as he was off line. I managed to use a blue Mustang as a pick and pass it and the car behind it in the downhill braking zone for turn 6. I believe I passed 3 cars on that lap and was passed by one other. After a couple of laps, I was catching up to the 280 Z. I knew I was turning faster laps than I had in qualifying, but I knew it would be tough to pass this guy. I began to hound him a little and finally got the pass in 6, only to realize that he was slowing down with a problem. I think he DNF'd with brake problems, maybe because of some pressure from a certain white Civic? I got into a battle with a CRX Si and Integra who caught up to me (one had spun and that's why he was behind me, the other, I don't know). The Integra was clearly faster, but could not pass me so easily. After a couple of laps, he made his presence known with a little bump drafting at almost 120 mph in the long straight. Later that lap he made the pass and I was left fending off the CRX. On the last lap, I had fuel starvation in turn one and the CRX got by. I managed to get the positon back at turn 6 (turning out to be my trademark passing area) only to lose it again when the engine again cut out at the crucial uphill in the toe (turn 7). I finished behind both of those cars, who were not in my class (they were actually in a slower class). All in all it was a good race and things went smoothly, except for the fuel starvation. When I came into the paddock, Carl was ecstatic. He told me I was lapping in the low 2:24's, which far exceeded my expectations. Then someone told me I had won the class, which did not make sense at the time, as I had never passed the RX7. It turns out that the driver who qualified the RX7 was not the one who raced it and that it had started from the back of the grid and never caught up to me (he was lapping around 2:30) and I had indeed won the class. It felt a bit hollow though as 2 drivers from a lower class passed me on the last lap, but I figured a win is a win and besides, I was lapping 2:24 with a beat up 88 Civic that I drove to the track and which is riding on 46$ shocks and 150$ springs. I couldn't complain.



The Canadian area of the paddock, complete with flag "borrowed" from the Glen Way Motel

(see part 2)

part 2

The next day was Carl's turn to do a sprint race. The weather was similar, but a little colder. Carl headed out for the practice and was starting to get the hang of the car. It was different from his own, but he would be able ot drive it. When he went out to qualify, we knew everything would be alright as he did a 2:26 as I had done the day before. Our friend JS with the Mustang blew his engine up quite spectacularly in that session. A quick deal was struck and JS would co-drive the B18 powered EG Civic of Roberto Guerra (who had not planned to do the enduro at all).

Before his race, I went out in the enduro qualifying us and put us 14th on the grid with a 2:26. I was only a hair faster than JS in the black Civic, which was surprising, as Rob had been lapping the car 6 seconds slower than Carl earlier in the day. Put it down to experience ont he track (Rob had none, JS had co-driven my car last year). The front end of my car seemed to be gripping less, possibly due to the cold. Carl and I were finally on the same page though.

In the Saturday sprint, Carl came up with a second place and another trophy for the little car that could. All that was left was the enduro.


Matt rubbing it in, posing in front of Martin Hamel's GT2 Civic with his trophy (the result of beating said Civic)

We decided to start the enduro with the same 205-50-15 Toyo's we had been running all weekend. They were supposed to serve only for the sprints, but we figured he had enough rubber for the enduro left in them. They were almost slick, which is the sweet spot for these tires. The enduro featured some very quick Hondas from our group and a quick A3 Golf, also from our Canadian crew, not to mention Matt's very quick EG Civic. We filled up the gas tank until even the filler neck was full to try to make sure we could do the full hour on one tank. Carl went out and easily pulled away from Rob who was right behind him on the grid. He eventually ended up sandwiched between a pair of Spec Miatas in front of him and a pair of Spec Racer Fords behind him. He swapped positions with the 2nd Miata several times, and the faster SRF eventually passed the whole group. He was in the groove and consistently lapping as fast as he had in qualifying, even hitting the 2:25's at one point. He came into the pits at about the halfway point and we fueled the car. As I strapped in, a member of our crew who was checking the tires noted that we had corded the right front. Since we had no other tires of this size, we decided to change both fronts for much fresher 205-60-13's. After spending a couple of minutes with this change (the crew was very efficient, even though a couple of the guys were crewing for a friend of mine, they helped with my tire change), I was back out on the track. I was afraid the car would feel less precise on these tires, but they were fine. Had I known they would feel as good as the 15's, I would have started the race on them. I was running 2:26's as Carl was. The only cars that lapped me in my stint were the fast Hondas and Golf of our friends (200 hp cars).


Refueling Rob's EG in the enduro

One of the MG's hit the wall at the exit of turn 11 (just before the start-finish) and the race was temporarily stopped. I figured this would help with fuel conservation. I was worried that the car hadn't been as full after my pit as it was when we overfilled it before the race. We headed out for the few remaining laps and I was having a blast, as we were allowed to begin racing as soon as we exited the pits and the whole field was bunched together. I ended up catching Rob's black Civic with JS at the wheel, who was having fuel starvation. I also caught up to the Spec Miata that had been battling with Carl earler on. We had a good battle and I was finally ahead of him when fuel starvation reared its ugly head. I realized it was onyl in right handers and changed my approach to these turns: instead of coming in at medium speed and accelerating through the apex, I would pitch the car in at a speed at which I couldn't come on the gas even if I wanted to and then only accelerated once the car was pointing in a straight line. This seemed to work everywhere except the Toe of the Boot, which was hopeless. We got the flag for the last lap and I was ahead of the Miata until the engine once again cut out in the Toe and he passed me. I managed to catch him up and planned to pass him on the inside of the next turn, a right-hander that was a little tighter than 90 degrees but that had a lot of room on exit if you early apexed it. As I moved over to the right to set up that pass, the Miata driver, who had been aggressive but fair all through our battle, slowly moved to the right as well. I guess he figured he would take the tighter line to force me to take an impossibly tight line. I waited until the last second and then pulled hard all the way back to the left side of the track, where there was now just enough room to pass him without driving on the grass. I passed him and was on the right line for the turn! At this point, with my excess of enthusiasm, I locked up the brakes in the braking zone and went off the track. I still had control of the car and would have brought it back on the track (losing the position) if it hadn't been for the gravel trap. I stuck the car deep in the gravel and watched all the people I had passed in the last few laps drive by to take the checker. I was pissed at myself because the problem was not that I braked too late, but that I braked poorly and locked up the tires. I figured it wasn't that bad, since I only lost one lap out of 40-something and that we would still have a result for the enduro. During the trophy presentation, we found out that the result was another class win (I don't know how...) as we still had 42 laps completed. We could not believe it. This little car that we drove to the track had racked up three trophies in three races, 2 of them for class wins. We were only 15th overall out of 31 cars, but we learned a few things (as we do every year) and expect to be back with a better package next year.


Car was dusty after my foray into the gravel trap. Notice the 13's on the front and 15's on the rear


Canadian crew

I highly recommend the EMRA and this event in particular to anyone within a 10-hour drive of the Glen, as the organization was top-notch and the racing was clean and fun with very few incidents. I was also glad to meet the two Matts and Jeff, all representing for Honda. I'd also like to thank Carl and TRAC racing for all the help and the good times. I hope to see you all next season.

Vincent Basile
ST1 Civic #44

Seem like a nice weekend. Was really fun to read this good summary.

Damn I'm already missing the summer...

Sounds like you guys had a blast. I can't believe you remembered all that detail!

Good runs!

Wow sounds like alot of FUN !!
Good job *tu*