End of season success for Octane Motorsport MINI
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End of season success for Octane Motorsport MINI
Ontario Touring competitors gathered once again at Mosport International Raceway during the September 30th/October 1st week-end for the season finale: Celebration of Motorsport 2006.
This was a low-pressure week-end for the Octane Motorsport team as the championship title was secured during the previous week-end of racing. Weather would play a factor in the final outcome of the races as rain was predicted throughout the week-end.
The Octane MINI, running with John Cooper Works tuning kit, managed a 4th place during the dry qualifying session. This may seem like a disappointment, considering the range of our success this year, but we have to remember that our MINI is now running over 200 lbs heavier than it was at the beginning of the season, a legacy of the series’ reward weight program where weight is added after every good result, in order to equalize the field.
The end of day race was postponed to the next morning as the track was closed due to a severe accident in which a formula car driver was involved.
Heavy rain poured throughout the night, but stopped early in the morning as competitors started arriving at the track. Tire choice would become a critical factor. With the sun starting to peak through the clouds and the wind picking-up, it was not a matter of “if” the track would dry, but “when” would it happen.
All of our competitors and over 95% of the field decided to start on dry tires, as the track was still damp with a racing line starting to be noticeable. We chose to go wet, as we knew that with the cold weather, it would be difficult to generate enough heat from the tires on a damp track, plus we had nothing to gain on dry tires, as some of our competitors were clearly faster this week-end.
As anticipated, we had a good start, moving to second position by the first few corners. By lap 5 we were in the lead but the track started to dry quite rapidly. With 2 laps to go, our closest competitor was aggressively moving closer and the last lap was a close bumper to bumper race with the Original MINI PARTS sponsored car managing barely to hang-on to first place in the last few corners. An extra lap and things would have been different. Our overall finishing position was seventh, out of 26th competitors.
Starting positions for the afternoon race were determined by the finishing order of race #1, so we were positive about our chances, but also realistic, knowing what we saw in practice and qualifying.
The dry race was uneventful from our perspective as the reward weight took its toll on our performance. The Octane MINI was still able to finish the season on the podium with a respectable 3rd place finish out of 11 competitors in class.
Octane Motorsport’s list of sponsors and supporters include:
-MINI Original Parts
-M7 Tuning (M7tuning.com)
-Simone Performance Imports
-Castrol Canada (Wakefield)
-GranSport brake pads (Satisfied Brakes)
-Birchmount Collision
-GraphicMart
-DuPont Automotive Finishes
-MINI Original Accessories
-H-Sport
-Vibrant Performance
-MINI Financial Services
-Wheel & Tire Zone
-Pneus Touchette
-Coopersport.ca
Octane Motorsport is a privately owned and funded racing team based in Montreal, Québec.
This was a low-pressure week-end for the Octane Motorsport team as the championship title was secured during the previous week-end of racing. Weather would play a factor in the final outcome of the races as rain was predicted throughout the week-end.
The Octane MINI, running with John Cooper Works tuning kit, managed a 4th place during the dry qualifying session. This may seem like a disappointment, considering the range of our success this year, but we have to remember that our MINI is now running over 200 lbs heavier than it was at the beginning of the season, a legacy of the series’ reward weight program where weight is added after every good result, in order to equalize the field.
The end of day race was postponed to the next morning as the track was closed due to a severe accident in which a formula car driver was involved.
Heavy rain poured throughout the night, but stopped early in the morning as competitors started arriving at the track. Tire choice would become a critical factor. With the sun starting to peak through the clouds and the wind picking-up, it was not a matter of “if” the track would dry, but “when” would it happen.
All of our competitors and over 95% of the field decided to start on dry tires, as the track was still damp with a racing line starting to be noticeable. We chose to go wet, as we knew that with the cold weather, it would be difficult to generate enough heat from the tires on a damp track, plus we had nothing to gain on dry tires, as some of our competitors were clearly faster this week-end.
As anticipated, we had a good start, moving to second position by the first few corners. By lap 5 we were in the lead but the track started to dry quite rapidly. With 2 laps to go, our closest competitor was aggressively moving closer and the last lap was a close bumper to bumper race with the Original MINI PARTS sponsored car managing barely to hang-on to first place in the last few corners. An extra lap and things would have been different. Our overall finishing position was seventh, out of 26th competitors.
Starting positions for the afternoon race were determined by the finishing order of race #1, so we were positive about our chances, but also realistic, knowing what we saw in practice and qualifying.
The dry race was uneventful from our perspective as the reward weight took its toll on our performance. The Octane MINI was still able to finish the season on the podium with a respectable 3rd place finish out of 11 competitors in class.
Octane Motorsport’s list of sponsors and supporters include:
-MINI Original Parts
-M7 Tuning (M7tuning.com)
-Simone Performance Imports
-Castrol Canada (Wakefield)
-GranSport brake pads (Satisfied Brakes)
-Birchmount Collision
-GraphicMart
-DuPont Automotive Finishes
-MINI Original Accessories
-H-Sport
-Vibrant Performance
-MINI Financial Services
-Wheel & Tire Zone
-Pneus Touchette
-Coopersport.ca
Octane Motorsport is a privately owned and funded racing team based in Montreal, Québec.
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