Competitors from the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship gathered at Mosport on September 1st and 2nd to compete in the President’s Trophy Races, organized by the CRDA. The weather was beautiful all weekend long with the odd cloud making an occasional appearance.

During Saturday’s qualifying, Alain Lauziere, driving the MINI Original Parts Cooper S managed the 3rd best time, still getting adjusted to a new suspension set-up. The two fastest qualifiers had problems of their own after the session, as the pole-sitter was disqualified for being underweight and the #2 qualifier failed to report at impound. As a result, they were both moved to the end of the pack and Lauziere would start the first race from the front, assuming the extra five points for starting with the fastest official lap.

For the first race on Saturday, the MINI’s fastest competitors had to deal with increased traffic, Lauziere sailed through a relatively easy win, managing to establish a new track record in the process: “It’s nice to be back In the winner’s circle” commented Lauziere. “I’d like to thank all my team-members for their hard work; they worked really hard this morning to give us a perfect car”.

The Sunday race proved very spectacular as Lauziere and Foote, in his Honda Civic, exchanged the lead multiple times during the race and were nose to tail pretty well from the start. After numerous laps of very close driving, including the odd exchange of fender and bumper paint, the race ended in a side by side move for the last 3 corners, where the Octane MINI drew the outside of the last corner, ending the race with its 4 wheels in the grass, unfortunately not the fastest way around. The #47 MINI would have to settle for second position this time around.

Throughout the weekend, Lauziere was able to increase his lead in the championship by 21 points, now having a cushion of 112 points overall ahead of the second place contender, driving another Honda Civic.
Octane Motorsport would like to thank their sponsors and partners:

-MINI Original Parts
-M7 Tuning (M7tuning.com)
-Simone Performance Imports
-Castrol Canada (Wakefield)
-GranSport brake pads (Satisfied Brakes)
-Birchmount Collision
-Graphic Mart
-DuPont Automotive Finishes
-MINI Original Accessories
-Vibrant Performance
-MINI Financial Services
-Pneus Touchette
-Wheel & Tire Zone
-Cruiseamerica.com

Octane Motorsport is a privately owned and funded racing team based in Montreal, Québec.

 

pictures by Mitchell photography:

 

Sunday's video:

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?doc...40643724865201

 

Wow Alain, that was a great movie. I hope others will take the time to watch THIS one, because it's worth watchin. (and no, Alain did not ask me to post that.. )
Packed full of stuff You really have this Mini going. To lazy to look it up again, so ... what motor/drivetrain mods are you alowed?

 

Congrats on a great race!

 

Great video. Thanks for sharing

Congrats on the win!!

 

Thanks Greg, Gnaster & minimarks!

Rules are online: http://www.touringcar.ca/competitorinfo.htm. I'm lazy too! Induction system (S/C and intake) must be OEM. Rest is pretty free. Doesn't mean there's much done! We went faster than the Koni car for the first time last week-end. Not bad considering we use the small (by rule) 205 tires....

We figure the rear wing is worth about 6/10ths at Mosport and we gained another 6-8/10ths with the frt KW shocks. Surprisingly (at least to us...) the wing cost us very little in top speed. Now we just have to install the rear shocks, which is a PITA because the top adjusters is where the cage comes. We'll try also install the M7 splitter shortly. We'll have to modify it because the rules prevent that it protrudes from the bumper....

Anybody have input on how to install remote adjusters for the top of the rear shocks (like a brake bias line may be ?)

 

Pretty slick movie. Good tight race, he sure did like to become wide when you were pushing hard.

Good racing and great to see you and the MINI doing so well.

 

And I couldn't return the favor. He took my passenger side mirror off when he pushed me off the first time in 5....that's why I was a bit hesitant in some corners. I couldn't see him.

 

Damn exciting Alain!!! Did you have words with the guy afterwards? I'm no racer, but it's hard to not get a little fired-up...

Did you you have a loose rearview mirror? I saw you adjust it a few times... Maybe a good time to try one of those panoramic mirrors? Sorry for all of the questions...

Congrats Alain!

 

Alain, did you see this behind you!??
Watch the entire Vid!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umKts91xtlA

 

what a great find, greg.

 

Alain

Good race footage, you showed great control in not just pushing that Honda out of the way. Congrats on your finish, good to see your points lead continues to grow.

Greg ..how did you find that video??

Mark

 

CONGRATS ALAIN
Now I'm really pissed I didn't make it up there. Got a phone call to help move a relative. I now you run 2 more times @ Mosport but I think I'm at Nelson Ledges and Watkins. Can I get the dates again.

Good Luck
Larry

 

Nice, Alain! Congratulations! And, thanks for sharing, too.

 

I did see the video. I knew something happened when a few seconds after being close he was gone. Saw a side mirror on the track the next lap. Couldn't figure out how it happened. That was during the Saturday race.

 

Larry, Thought we'd see you. It will have to wait!

Here's the schedule:

Sep 15/16 Mosport International Raceway

Sep 29/30Mosport International Raceway

 

Yes I talked to him. Congratulated him. Just have a very good memory When you're in it for the championship, you have to be careful. It's a long season.

The mirror thing happens all the time. Throughout the race, you tend to lower yourself after a while. Just need to readjust the mirror. Ran out of space to fix it propely the first time. Finished it the second time around.

I don't like the winks. Makes you lose your depth perception in my mind. But they have advantages.

pbraun: Thanks!

 

I think it was Greg who brought this to my attention:

http://www.allviewmirror.com/

Just another option to contemplate... I actually have a Wink now. I'll get the All View after I replace my windshield...

Congrats again, and thanks for the vid!

 

That Race 2 video is fantastic! I'm only at the 6:22 mark and its amazing how much that Honda has had to change his line to block you.

OK, watched it all. Wow, kept off the top of the box by a couple of nimrods who didn't like being passed. The Honda does need to replace his bumper, though.

What was real curious was that Neon that took your mirror off. So fast in a straight line yet such a dog in the corners. Driver or car or both?

 

[quote=TonyB;1735854]I think it was Greg who brought this to my attention:

http://www.allviewmirror.com/

Just another option to contemplate... I actually have a Wink now. I'll get the All View after I replace my windshield...

quote]

Like that !!

 

There's a lot of oil on the track. Could be an issue to a beginner. You just need to know where not to go. He mentioned his tires were showing cord after the race. I believe the mirror was folded the first time I was pushed off in 5 by the Honda.

 

Alain:

Great Video . . .
It's funny how the videos don't really show how fast and 'hairy' Mosport really is. The video makes it look like a leisurely Sunday drive!

That left hand, long radius sweeper after pit exit (#4?). . . you don't need a 6 pt harness. You can hang on to the seat with 'butt' pucker!!!

Looking forward to going back next year.

I guess it time for me to start posting all the videos from this season (lazy . . ). I'll get them converted to digital and start posting them. I guess you recommend Yahoo as the place to post them?

Congrats on the weekend results . . !

Randy

ps: I've got some JCW pads in the works. We will test at Miller next weekend.
I think we found out what caused the brake problems at 3r. . .

 

Randy, actually I think Google is the best for vids as it plays back in a larger format. Though I really wish you guys would get some file space and post them so they can be veiwed with windows media. This way they can be transfered to DVD and I can watch'm when I'm on the treadmill.

 

Car must be ready....