Just got from 3balls HPDE at Calabogie
08-31-2009, 10:17 PM
#1
Team Owner
Thread Starter
Just got from 3balls HPDE at Calabogie
Worth the drive.
Setting- beautiful North Country Forest/Lake Region of Ontario. Really easy to get to. Nice ride up, great area. Wish I brought my fishing gear.
The village of Calabogie was very quaint and we hit a few of the local places every day for grub. Everyone we met at every place we visted was friendly and polite.
Paddock- Fresh level pavement, your car never saw dirt, sand, or gravel. Every access road, cut through, etc. was fresh pavement.
Facility- Brand new. The restrooms had showers and everything was spotless. The tower had a lounge with sliding glass walls for viewing. There was an on-site apparel/ souvenier store as well as an on-site tire/fluid/parts store with brand new Hunter machines for swapping and balancing tires. The staff was very professional and friendly and about the best damn flaggers I have ever seen anywhere. I have never ever seen the flags used so efficiently. The whole facility had brick paved walkways, landscaping, the works.
3-*****- Straightforward no-nonsense group, If you know what you're doing and want a ton of track time with like-minded individuals, you found the right place. Everyone out there showed excellent track etiquette.
The Track-
Wow, that's the best word for it.
Physically, the track surface is like glass. There are no patches, stress cracks, joints, etc. That translates to no surprises. Its a big track, and its very challenging. With more than a few blind turns, you have to commit to a line that you technically can't even see in quite a few sections. Its stressful at first, but it makes you concentrate. There are no areas to "relax".
Its fairly fast, well into the low 100's in a lot of sections. Your average speed around the rest is fairly high due to the big sweeping turns. You can't appreciate the 65' of elevation changes from any videos, but they are pretty exciting . Even after pounding on my car for two days, I still don't think I ever stitched the whole track together for a good lap. With 20 turns, a decent total lap is not easy to do.
Day one was brutal. I went out in the rain on slicks, planning on taking it easy to learn the track. V710's out back and NT-01's on the front, all 315-18's. I also had stock Wagner brakes pads in the front.
That didn't work too well. The slicks floated the car a bunch of times, broke traction, brakes would lock and unlock over puddles, etc. My left arm was soaked from giving point by's. I was very tense. I almost spun about three times trying to follow my buddy Troy's Miata that he was slinging around the turns like it was on rails in the rain.
I ran two sessions and then switched to the Goodyear F1 Supercar tires on stock staggered 17/18's. I also swapped in Hawk Blues.
Holy Grip Batman! It was like night and day, like driving in snow and then driving in rain. They were very predictable with good feedback. No floating, no wheelspin at 100 mph like the slicks. Once I had some confidence, I started getting around cars I had pointed by earlier. By the end of the first day I had a good rhythm going. We pitted right next to a few Corvette guys I met last year at Grattan (Armycop and his Dad)and we went out together and swapped leads to learn each other's lines.
Day two.
I had noticed at the end of the session a good thumping from the brakes. Turned out I cracked my right front rotor all the way through. I swapped on my second set of rotors and went to the big guns, my new Hawk DTC-70's.
Those ****'s hauled the car down with authority. I swapped on the slicks and hit the track. We were out there with some FAST street cars. I pointed by a few S-2000's, a quick STi, and a really quick C6 as well as a fast GTO. I also had to point by my buddy Chris in his 97 Mustang Cobra who kept driving up my bumper.
I ran the car out of gas twice, I really have no idea how many sessions or how many miles, but it was a LOT.
My wife decided to come out for a session, which I am very impressed with. She has never ever been on a track before. We went out and I hotlapped for close to a half hour until she started getting a little green and asked to come in.
I asked her if she was scared and she said, "no, not really", and I was like "really? I was!"
Towards the end of the day, the thump came back. I cracked my second set of rotors and was going to toss in another set but my differential started whining. I forgot to check the diff and I ran it low. All the high speed high G corners put the fluid to one side and pushed my tired original diff over the edge. I topped it off but its got a whine so I'll probably swap it out.
Overall it kicked *** and I am definitely going back funds permitting. It was a torture test for my car and made me realize that A- I need brake ducts and B-I need more safety gear. I highly recommend this track if you can make it up there.
Setting- beautiful North Country Forest/Lake Region of Ontario. Really easy to get to. Nice ride up, great area. Wish I brought my fishing gear.
The village of Calabogie was very quaint and we hit a few of the local places every day for grub. Everyone we met at every place we visted was friendly and polite.
Paddock- Fresh level pavement, your car never saw dirt, sand, or gravel. Every access road, cut through, etc. was fresh pavement.
Facility- Brand new. The restrooms had showers and everything was spotless. The tower had a lounge with sliding glass walls for viewing. There was an on-site apparel/ souvenier store as well as an on-site tire/fluid/parts store with brand new Hunter machines for swapping and balancing tires. The staff was very professional and friendly and about the best damn flaggers I have ever seen anywhere. I have never ever seen the flags used so efficiently. The whole facility had brick paved walkways, landscaping, the works.
3-*****- Straightforward no-nonsense group, If you know what you're doing and want a ton of track time with like-minded individuals, you found the right place. Everyone out there showed excellent track etiquette.
The Track-
Wow, that's the best word for it.
Physically, the track surface is like glass. There are no patches, stress cracks, joints, etc. That translates to no surprises. Its a big track, and its very challenging. With more than a few blind turns, you have to commit to a line that you technically can't even see in quite a few sections. Its stressful at first, but it makes you concentrate. There are no areas to "relax".
Its fairly fast, well into the low 100's in a lot of sections. Your average speed around the rest is fairly high due to the big sweeping turns. You can't appreciate the 65' of elevation changes from any videos, but they are pretty exciting . Even after pounding on my car for two days, I still don't think I ever stitched the whole track together for a good lap. With 20 turns, a decent total lap is not easy to do.
Day one was brutal. I went out in the rain on slicks, planning on taking it easy to learn the track. V710's out back and NT-01's on the front, all 315-18's. I also had stock Wagner brakes pads in the front.
That didn't work too well. The slicks floated the car a bunch of times, broke traction, brakes would lock and unlock over puddles, etc. My left arm was soaked from giving point by's. I was very tense. I almost spun about three times trying to follow my buddy Troy's Miata that he was slinging around the turns like it was on rails in the rain.
I ran two sessions and then switched to the Goodyear F1 Supercar tires on stock staggered 17/18's. I also swapped in Hawk Blues.
Holy Grip Batman! It was like night and day, like driving in snow and then driving in rain. They were very predictable with good feedback. No floating, no wheelspin at 100 mph like the slicks. Once I had some confidence, I started getting around cars I had pointed by earlier. By the end of the first day I had a good rhythm going. We pitted right next to a few Corvette guys I met last year at Grattan (Armycop and his Dad)and we went out together and swapped leads to learn each other's lines.
Day two.
I had noticed at the end of the session a good thumping from the brakes. Turned out I cracked my right front rotor all the way through. I swapped on my second set of rotors and went to the big guns, my new Hawk DTC-70's.
Those ****'s hauled the car down with authority. I swapped on the slicks and hit the track. We were out there with some FAST street cars. I pointed by a few S-2000's, a quick STi, and a really quick C6 as well as a fast GTO. I also had to point by my buddy Chris in his 97 Mustang Cobra who kept driving up my bumper.
I ran the car out of gas twice, I really have no idea how many sessions or how many miles, but it was a LOT.My wife decided to come out for a session, which I am very impressed with. She has never ever been on a track before. We went out and I hotlapped for close to a half hour until she started getting a little green and asked to come in.
I asked her if she was scared and she said, "no, not really", and I was like "really? I was!"
Towards the end of the day, the thump came back. I cracked my second set of rotors and was going to toss in another set but my differential started whining. I forgot to check the diff and I ran it low. All the high speed high G corners put the fluid to one side and pushed my tired original diff over the edge. I topped it off but its got a whine so I'll probably swap it out.
Overall it kicked *** and I am definitely going back funds permitting. It was a torture test for my car and made me realize that A- I need brake ducts and B-I need more safety gear. I highly recommend this track if you can make it up there.
09-01-2009, 08:57 AM
#2
Drifting
Glad to hear you had a good time. I was not a happy camper on Saturday watching the torrential downpour. It did manage to dry out enough for me to take the track car out. That was hairy with the slicks and standing water as you mentioned.
Sunday more than made up for it though. Having an open track all day was a nice surprise. The biggest problem I had was that my little 8 gallon fuel cell started to run dry after about 8 laps. I spent the entire day either driving or putting gas in.
I did manage to have my first experience with a tire wall. I locked up a wheel going into turn 2 after the kink and never managed to recover. The track workers think something went wrong with the brakes, but I have to admit I think the problem was between the seat and steering wheel. I am very happy to say that the only damage was to the tranny cooler and radiator. The hit wasn't hard, and the car will be ready to go again for Grattan at the end of the month. I will put up some pics later.
Thanks again for the nice write up and compliments about the event. Sorry I didn't get to talk with you much. I already told Calabogie we will be back next year.
Ken
Sunday more than made up for it though. Having an open track all day was a nice surprise. The biggest problem I had was that my little 8 gallon fuel cell started to run dry after about 8 laps. I spent the entire day either driving or putting gas in.
I did manage to have my first experience with a tire wall. I locked up a wheel going into turn 2 after the kink and never managed to recover. The track workers think something went wrong with the brakes, but I have to admit I think the problem was between the seat and steering wheel. I am very happy to say that the only damage was to the tranny cooler and radiator. The hit wasn't hard, and the car will be ready to go again for Grattan at the end of the month. I will put up some pics later.
Thanks again for the nice write up and compliments about the event. Sorry I didn't get to talk with you much. I already told Calabogie we will be back next year.
Ken
09-01-2009, 09:24 AM
#3
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W. Detroit Events Coordinator
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I asked her if she was scared and she said, "no, not really", and I was like "really? I was!"
09-01-2009, 09:47 AM
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I'll have to get up there one of these dayMy wife decided to come out for a session, which I am very impressed with. She has never ever been on a track before. We went out and I hotlapped for close to a half hour until she started getting a little green and asked to come in.
I asked her if she was scared and she said, "no, not really", and I was like "really? I was!"
I asked her if she was scared and she said, "no, not really", and I was like "really? I was!"
09-01-2009, 06:43 PM
#5
Drifting
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Yep, what George said!
Me and the ole' man made the trip from Detroit as well; he flew in from Boston to come out. Day one (Saturday) was absolutely horrid weather; rained all day. We ran our street tires with the PFC ferro-sumptinorother pads up front and Hawk +'s out back. Ended up heat-spotting the front rotors! Even with LG ducts up front and metric tons of water splashing on the rotors they managed to spot. Bad combination for wet use, for sure. Slapped on the backup C5 rotors and then we started seeing some good laps. By the afternoon, the rain was picking up (rivers flowing through the paddock) so we decided to sit out the last hour. Good thing too, 'cause the 2010 R8 V10 that showed up decided he wanted to cut some grass. Got pictures I'll be posting up later.
Day two, what a difference! Sunny skies and dry track. We slapped on the 315 V710's and went for some fun! We ran the whole day on one set of tires. Not like Waterford or Grattan, where I can cord a front set in one day. Calabogie demands concentration everywhere on the circuit. You want to string together a good lap, better be thinking ahead to the next turn or two. I was touching 122 in fourth on the long straight before my nerve ran out. Never really got the 'perfect line', but man, it was fun!
I loved chasing down all manner of vehicles that day; Porshes, Miatas (only on the straights though, those go-karts can corner!) some WRX's out there as well. There was one WRX, all black, that I tagged up with for most of the day. he was parked near your setup Ken; you know who that was? Props to him, he's a real good driver. I'll definately be back to that track with 3-***** racing!
Me and the ole' man made the trip from Detroit as well; he flew in from Boston to come out. Day one (Saturday) was absolutely horrid weather; rained all day. We ran our street tires with the PFC ferro-sumptinorother pads up front and Hawk +'s out back. Ended up heat-spotting the front rotors! Even with LG ducts up front and metric tons of water splashing on the rotors they managed to spot. Bad combination for wet use, for sure. Slapped on the backup C5 rotors and then we started seeing some good laps. By the afternoon, the rain was picking up (rivers flowing through the paddock) so we decided to sit out the last hour. Good thing too, 'cause the 2010 R8 V10 that showed up decided he wanted to cut some grass. Got pictures I'll be posting up later.
Day two, what a difference! Sunny skies and dry track. We slapped on the 315 V710's and went for some fun! We ran the whole day on one set of tires. Not like Waterford or Grattan, where I can cord a front set in one day. Calabogie demands concentration everywhere on the circuit. You want to string together a good lap, better be thinking ahead to the next turn or two. I was touching 122 in fourth on the long straight before my nerve ran out. Never really got the 'perfect line', but man, it was fun!
I loved chasing down all manner of vehicles that day; Porshes, Miatas (only on the straights though, those go-karts can corner!) some WRX's out there as well. There was one WRX, all black, that I tagged up with for most of the day. he was parked near your setup Ken; you know who that was? Props to him, he's a real good driver. I'll definately be back to that track with 3-***** racing!
09-01-2009, 09:00 PM
#7
Melting Slicks
Sounds like a blast. I'm headed there next Wed and Thurs with about 12 of us caravaning up there Tuesday night. Looking forward to running this track for the first time.
09-02-2009, 12:03 AM
#8
Drifting
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I am pleased about how well my 710's held up tho, 'specially the fronts. At least another track day in them.
Get that diff fixed up and I'll see you at Grattan?
09-02-2009, 09:22 AM
#9
Drifting
Here are some pics my buddy took from the weekend showing some of the cars you guys mentioned and yours:
