Going Racing

After a few years of research and nickel and diming myself to death, the car is ready to go. The project started as a $750, 2000 Toyota Celica with a blown clutch and massive oil consumption issues. When I chose this car, it was based on the Chumpcar Canada points system and I had no loyalty or enthusiasm for this make or model. It seemed like a good power to weight ratio and had enough cross over parts from the Toyota Corolla and Matrix to keep it cost effective. Then about the time I had finished gutting the car and purchasing a roll cage kit, Chumpcar Canada collapsed and left the standards by which I selected this car completely obsolete.

I was pretty confident that I had just bought myself a garage ornament at this point. Fortunately Chumpcar Canada was replaced over the off season by CER (Canadian Endurance Racing)..... for a couple months. Then it became Lucky Dog Racing Canada, and this is where we sit today. Lucky Dog Racing Canada is a road course endurance racing series hosting 7-8 hour team based races. Unlike Chumpcar's points system that they used to equalize the cars, Lucky Dog is more of a GT format, where cars are classed based on a short qualifying session on Saturday morning. This has its pros and cons. The primary pro is that it shortens the rulebook significantly, your eligibility to compete is much more attainable without complicated tech sheets and inconsistent and unenforceable rules. The con to this unfortunately is that it broadens the range of vehicles on track together, and at the lower end of the spectrum we are at, it means you spend more time looking at your mirrors than out the windshield. Fortunately, everyone is very respectful on track and this hasn't been any need for concern.

The bottom line is it's about the most affordable way to get on real road courses. There is plenty more to get into, but this is already long winded so I'll leave it at that.

More to come....