Went lapping at Mosport

turtlevette

The Turdle
Joined
Mar 24, 2008
Messages
1,492
Location
Marshfield, MA
Drove the vette to Niagara to work for the week then hit Mosport on Saturday and Monday. Broke my fiberglass spring on Saturday and by the grace of God some guy came up to BS with me about the vette in town and had a spring laying in his back yard. He let me go to his house, use his tools, and helped me with the install. Now i think Canadians are the most friendly people in the world. Because of him i also got to lap on Monday and broke some more shit. The steering is sloopy, transmission is shifting way too high, and U-joints are toast. I drove it all the way home 500 miles with blown out joints on the right half shaft. I was determined to keep going until it caught fire.

Some pictures of the track during a walkdown.

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Looks like a beautiful track. Glad you were able to put some miles on it.

Did you find a cause for the broken spring?

I gotta admire your guts (or hard headedness). I always trailer my car to the track because I've broken stuff about 15% of the time, and I hate to worry about how I'll get home afterward.

Any on-track pictures?
 
Looks like a beautiful track. Glad you were able to put some miles on it.

Did you find a cause for the broken spring?

I gotta admire your guts (or hard headedness). I always trailer my car to the track because I've broken stuff about 15% of the time, and I hate to worry about how I'll get home afterward.

Any on-track pictures?

Next time i might rent a U haul car transport and tailer it with my Suburban. That would also facilitate the purchase of some racing slicks like everyone else is running.
 
I live about 40min away from Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (formerly Mosport), I am there several times every year. Very fast and fun track.

You didn't even stop in for a beer or to say hello?!?! :lol:

Next time, don't be a stranger.......although I am not sure I would let you use my garage or tools!!!! ;)
 
I live about 40min away from Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (formerly Mosport), I am there several times every year. Very fast and fun track.

You didn't even stop in for a beer or to say hello?!?! :lol:

Next time, don't be a stranger.......although I am not sure I would let you use my garage or tools!!!! ;)

Do you run the C3 there? I need to start a notebook with contacts to create a "support team" between Bowmanville and Boston.
 
That would also facilitate the purchase of some racing slicks like everyone else is running.

With racing slicks you'll be able to bring things in the suspension you couldnt break with street tires!!!!:) The towing option makes a good excuse for buying something like a 'burban.

More about that broken spring....Can you say where it broke? How did the car behave with a broken spring. I have composite springs on both my cars.
 
That would also facilitate the purchase of some racing slicks like everyone else is running.

With racing slicks you'll be able to bring things in the suspension you couldnt break with street tires!!!!:) The towing option makes a good excuse for buying something like a 'burban.

More about that broken spring....Can you say where it broke? How did the car behave with a broken spring. I have composite springs on both my cars.

Heck, i've got a 02 burban with hitch. All i need is to rent a car transport for $60 day. Next time. I thought it would be fun to drive the car.....but not in summer. (another thread on that)

The spring delaminated, i think. Split lengthwise. Envision the spring thickness being 1/2 inch. It split into 2 1/4 inch pieces and the rear settled on the rubber bump stops. It went all at once with a relatively quiet pop.
 
Who's spring Jim? TRW?

Yes the crappy TRW that is over arched. I took the upper rubber sandwich out to mount it as high as possible and cut one end to shorten it, so either of those things could have led to failure or even the exhaust pipe heat. Or maybe there was a rock hit. Who knows. It had been on there for about 8 years. Some guy on CF gave it to me in the Christmas thread.

It looked to me like the failure started half way between the diff and the right spring mount. Left it at the Canadian dudes house to pitch in his rubbish.

I have the VBP 420 fiberglass spring i could put on to save weight again, but i have to consider reliability. It sucks to lose track time because of reliability issues.

I'm starting to wonder if the handling weight penalties are overstated. I can't tell that much difference in the handling between a full tank of gas and 1/4.
 
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You guys know I love Vettes as much as anyone here but I'll say it again. Vettes (especially early ones) make really crappy track cars. If not for the heavy, flexy, 50 year old frame and suspension but the "oh shit" factor when you wad one up.
Turtle, I say fix the Vette up to drive on a nice Sunday afternoon with the old lady and get some POS to bomb around the track with. That's what I did. Pics coming soon.
 
You guys know I love Vettes as much as anyone here but I'll say it again. Vettes (especially early ones) make really crappy track cars. If not for the heavy, flexy, 50 year old frame and suspension but the "oh shit" factor when you wad one up.
Turtle, I say fix the Vette up to drive on a nice Sunday afternoon with the old lady and get some POS to bomb around the track with. That's what I did. Pics coming soon.

I bought the V6 mustang convertible as a cruiser. She would not have liked the V8 because the exhaust is too loud. She did encourage me to get the V8 though so kudos to her. Decided to save that $8000 upgrade for vette parts.

I want to make it perfectly clear that i'm the slowest car in the club but still have a ton of fun with that car. I think it is because it's a handful that makes it so much fun. You can have fun going slow. I'm not going to buy into that progressive need for speed that is racing. It will bankrupt you in the end. The progression i see in COM is.

1. racing slicks $1200/yr
2. trailer for slicks $500-$1000
3. Woops i wrecked it going 9/10ths so in the future i need a car hauler and trailer. Enclosed car hauler $10,000. While we're at it let's get a nice tow vehicle. $35,000
4. Suspension mods $5000 - $10,000
5. More power $5000 - $25,000
6. Totaled this one going 9.9/10ths so let's upgrade to a C5 Z06 $25,000
7. More mods $$$$$
9. Modded street cars are no fun anymore so lets get an open wheel. $15,000 - $100,000

Do you see a trend here?
 
You guys know I love Vettes as much as anyone here but I'll say it again. Vettes (especially early ones) make really crappy track cars. If not for the heavy, flexy, 50 year old frame and suspension but the "oh shit" factor when you wad one up.
Turtle, I say fix the Vette up to drive on a nice Sunday afternoon with the old lady and get some POS to bomb around the track with. That's what I did. Pics coming soon.

I bought the V6 mustang convertible as a cruiser. She would not have liked the V8 because the exhaust is too loud. She did encourage me to get the V8 though so kudos to her. Decided to save that $8000 upgrade for vette parts.

I want to make it perfectly clear that i'm the slowest car in the club but still have a ton of fun with that car. I think it is because it's a handful that makes it so much fun. You can have fun going slow. I'm not going to buy into that progressive need for speed that is racing. It will bankrupt you in the end. The progression i see in COM is.

1. racing slicks $1200/yr
2. trailer for slicks $500-$1000
3. Woops i wrecked it going 9/10ths so in the future i need a car hauler and trailer. Enclosed car hauler $10,000. While we're at it let's get a nice tow vehicle. $35,000
4. Suspension mods $5000 - $10,000
5. More power $5000 - $25,000
6. Totaled this one going 9.9/10ths so let's upgrade to a C5 Z06 $25,000
7. More mods $$$$$
9. Modded street cars are no fun anymore so lets get an open wheel. $15,000 - $100,000

Do you see a trend here?

ain't it fun? :)

I love the whydontchas? - the people who say that to me generally don't do so twice because I respond with whydontchastickyourheadupyourass - funny, you'd think they'd take it with the same humor that they imparted their words .... but it seems only right that I respond in kind.
 
It's OK. I've known Clutchdust for a long time. We debate things all the time. He's right for someone who just wants to go fast. I don't care about going that fast, just having fun. Many of the guys in my club do 20 track days a year. I average 2 or 3.

He's going to track a 240Z. He's already told us how many days and how many pickup trucks it takes to change struts so we'll see how well an old jap car works. It definitely won't sound as good as my SBC at 6K rpm.
 
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