Pirelli World Challenge Rounds 8 & 9: Mosport (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park)

[David A Scott]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

A tow truck drove onto the track between turns 9 and 10 (without authorization from race control) and I almost drove into the back of it during the warmup session before the race. There weren't even flags out in turn 9 (fast and blind 3rd gear corner in my car) since it wasn't authorized and the corner workers didn't know he was pulling onto the racing surface.

I wasn't at Mosport. Ended up having to stay at home as I had too many things going on that needed to be taken care of before I could go have fun. :-)

-mike

Sorry I missed you Mike. I did get a pic of your ride hiding in the back of the canopy looking lonely.

I really enjoyed this event. The PWC put on quite a show. Thrilled at my first pro event flagging. Pretty busy Saturday but quieter Sunday. These cars are fantastic. A cornucopia of sights and sound. The racing was a lot cleaner than what we saw at St Pete's and LB. The Caddy's backfire is as loud as a 50 calibre rifle.

[ttdriver2009]

I was able to go and it was a good event. It was nice that when my customer in Toronto found out I was going, decided to take off early Friday and a few others from the shop all went with me to Mosport. So we got to see all of the races. Here's my observations:

1. With the holiday weekend, plenty of people showed up.
2. NASCAR had a nice fan zone area.
3. WC was stuck in a small parking lot packed in like sardines and some other teams were inside of turn one. You really had to watch your back because cars and crew were coming from every direction possible.
4. Canadian Touring car seems to allow anything. An old Rolex GT Camaro against a Radical, seems interesting.
5. All of the teams were really friendly (probably because they were so close together). I liked how the NASCAR teams were right out in the open working on the cars. No canopy or anything.
6. The TC races. Those guys race hard. The Mazdas and the Caymans raced so hard, I was amazed they made it through without hitting each other. The races had some yellows but it seemed that they could clean them up in two laps and get back to racing. TCB was slow but it was like a freight train, mess up and you go to the back of the line. Their standing starts worked fine.
7. GTS was great. That guy in the #37 car put on a driving clinic. He could put that Mustang anywhere. The one AM took a big hit but it seemed like it was coming for him. Only one yellow for each race. Race one was just because a car was stopped out on track. Their standing starts worked fine.
8. GT was nice when it was green in race one but I counted 11 laps of green. Seems that they take forever to clean up a car and it looks like many of the GT drivers are driving cars beyond their ability. GT Cup was OK but that Orange car is in a class of his own. He was mixing it up with the GTA cars. Race two was much better.
9. Autograph session was good. The TC and GTS drivers hung around for it (TC and GTS ran earlier in the day) which was nice.
10 NASCAR, GT3 Cup and Canadian Touring cars ran good races and I like that it was mostly a non-open wheel and prototype weekend (except for the FF 1600 cars).

In conclusion: It was the most variety I have ever seen for an event. Not just WC but all of the other racing that was going on. Track workers were friendly, beer and food was good too. This was a much better event in the overall experience as compared to COTA. I'll go next year.

For the rest of you that were there, what was your experience like?

[David A Scott]

Originally Posted by ttdriver2009

I was able to go and it was a good event. It was nice that when my customer in Toronto found out I was going, decided to take off early Friday and a few others from the shop all went with me to Mosport. So we got to see all of the races. Here's my observations:

1. With the holiday weekend, plenty of people showed up.
2. NASCAR had a nice fan zone area.
3. WC was stuck in a small parking lot packed in like sardines and some other teams were inside of turn one. You really had to watch your back because cars and crew were coming from every direction possible.
4. Canadian Touring car seems to allow anything. An old Rolex GT Camaro against a Radical, seems interesting.
5. All of the teams were really friendly (probably because they were so close together). I liked how the NASCAR teams were right out in the open working on the cars. No canopy or anything.
6. The TC races. Those guys race hard. The Mazdas and the Caymans raced so hard, I was amazed they made it through without hitting each other. The races had some yellows but it seemed that they could clean them up in two laps and get back to racing. TCB was slow but it was like a freight train, mess up and you go to the back of the line. Their standing starts worked fine.
7. GTS was great. That guy in the #37 car put on a driving clinic. He could put that Mustang anywhere. The one AM took a big hit but it seemed like it was coming for him. Only one yellow for each race. Race one was just because a car was stopped out on track. Their standing starts worked fine.
8. GT was nice when it was green in race one but I counted 11 laps of green. Seems that they take forever to clean up a car and it looks like many of the GT drivers are driving cars beyond their ability. GT Cup was OK but that Orange car is in a class of his own. He was mixing it up with the GTA cars. Race two was much better.
9. Autograph session was good. The TC and GTS drivers hung around for it (TC and GTS ran earlier in the day) which was nice.
10 NASCAR, GT3 Cup and Canadian Touring cars ran good races and I like that it was mostly a non-open wheel and prototype weekend (except for the FF 1600 cars).

In conclusion: It was the most variety I have ever seen for an event. Not just WC but all of the other racing that was going on. Track workers were friendly, beer and food was good too. This was a much better event in the overall experience as compared to COTA. I'll go next year.

For the rest of you that were there, what was your experience like?

My comments on yours..

1- Yes, there were lots of people there. More than what I saw at the '13 ALMS weekend.
2- By the time I got there at the end of the day everything was closed. All the vendors closed at 6. Too bad as I wanted to get a momento or three.
3- No kidding. All the while the main paddock sat empty until Saturday morning waiting for the Canadian cabs to show up. It was a shame. Considering looking at most of the ads that were promoting the PWC I thought that they were the headliners.
4- The Canadian Supercar Series... It was like a Rothman's Cup reunion.. Throw in a Camaro and a couple of Radicals to make it interesting.
5- The NASCAR guys probably didn't have enough time to get the canopies up...
6- I found the TC race very entertaining. Loved the little cars duking it out.
7- From my point on the track it was somewhat ok.
8- I was pleasantly surprised by the GT race. All of us were fully expecting for Beretta to leave his brain in the paddock.. The Bentley's were sweet. I was dissapointed that the Gallardos didn't show.
9- No autographs for me. But I did get a little peice of Estre's McLaren from his incident in 8.

[HJJ]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

It shouldn't have happened at Long Beach. Yet it happened again 2 races later.

-mike

BTW, your twitter feed was great reading on Sunday.

[nasportscar]

Updated Total Driver Performance stats http://nasportscar.com/total-driver-...gtgta-mosport/

[Ginaro Zukovsky]

The tow truck incident in case anyone hasn't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o0lEQFi_AM

[Coach Ep]

Probably the same driver as the Indycar Safety truck in Baltimore a couple of years ago!

Close call but not the first (and unfortunately not the last either) example of a self dispatching safety/recovery vehicle...

[nasportscar]

Here's the updated Total Driver Performance for GTS http://nasportscar.com/total-driver-...-post-mosport/