OSCC Calabogie Summer Classic at Calabogie Motorsports Park – August 19 to August 21 Race Report

The Enhanced Performance, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions, STANMECH Technologies, Melanoma Canada #77 Formula Mazda Team had a problematic race weekend at the Calabogie Summer Classic held at Calabogie Motorsports Park (CMP).  We were placed in the Formula Libre race group, we had registered our #77 Formula Mazda in the Formula Libre class. There was a total of 19 cars in our race group including Marcel Lafontaine’s beautiful Formula Atlantic, four Formula Renault’s, four Formula 4’s and a mix of other cars including F 1200s and Radicals. The weather ranged from quite warm to wet and rainy with temperatures upwards of 32°C. 

Over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 8 times; 4 times on the Friday test day, 1 practice, 1 qualifying session and only two races. We missed the last race as we had thought that we had damaged our transmission during Race 2.
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Our best lap time for the test day was a 2:11 on fresh 470 Goodyear tires. This was quite a change from our previous times in 2021 where we were able to record a best lap of 2:06 on softer tires. We decided to stay with the 470 Goodyear tires to mitigate our tire wear issues. 

​Our afternoon qualifying session was cut short due to a red flag, which did not allow the field to come up to full speed, we did manage to end up in P5 with a qualifying time of 2:29.260. During Race 1, we struggle to find grip on the 470 Goodyear tires resulting in a loss of 2 positions finishing in P7 with a best lap time of 2:13.627

​The weather on Sunday was abysmal with torrential rains during Race 2 – there are pools of standing water everywhere on the racetrack. After one pace lap, the Clerk of the Course pulled all of the cars into pit lane to ask everyone if they wanted to continue. The race was restarted with 2 pace laps so that everyone could see the condition of the racetrack. During the race, we hit one wet patch and spun up the gearbox and were worried that we damaged 4th and 5th gear as the shifter wouldn’t allow us to shift into either of those gears. As a result, we limped around in 3rd gear for the majority of the race finishing in P8 with a best lap time of 2:50.525. Suffice it to say, we were done for the weekend as we were concerned that we had damaged our transmission. 

Overall, a bit of a disappointing weekend. A special thank you to Bill & Shirley Vallis and Bill Davis of Vallis Motor Sport for their trackside support during the Calabogie Summer Classic and to Calabogie Motorsports Park for hosting such a fantastic, safe event!!  We were able to raise another $400 for our charity sponsor Melanoma Canada. And last, but certainly not least, we want to thank our long-suffering family which allows us to continue to race……….