Yeah, there hasn't been a better commentary team IMO.

Hunt said what he was thinking and Walker had a lifetime of racing knowledge to draw on - even Murray's fukups were OK because you knew what he meant and it was better to have him with all his flaws than some of the dics they got doing it now although Hobbes is OK and has a sense of humour - too bad that coverage is blacked out here.

F1 was better back then - now it's WWF in whatever sh**hole sandbox country wants to pay big time to look good on TV.

Last F1 race at Mosport and Hunt was there, I think Scheckter won it, anyway, I just climbed over the fence at the pit straight and got onto the grid maybe 20 minutes before the start - kept busy taking pictures and no one bothered me - after the start I watched the race from the outside of White's Corner about 10 feet from the armco just where they come onto the straight. Fat chance of doing that now..lol

I didn't bother watching the start of today's race even though I was up at 7:30.

 

Murray Walker:.......and Prost's last lap was a 1:37 and.....and Johnny Herbert.....JOHNNY HERBERT!....JOHNNY HERBERT!, JOHNNY HERBERT!!!!

James Hunt: .......Herberts a lap down Murray.....!

MW:.....oh.....yes.....well then....right you are James!......yes Prost ran a blah blah......

there was lots of eff ups....it spiced things up though.....me and my buddies would do drunken MW/JH skits.....3/4 of the people at the parties would laugh but wouldnt have a clue who they were but knew they must be some sort of racing personalities as racing was (and still is for the most part) all we talk about.

my first race at Mosport was the 1971 Can Am....Hulme won, Revson second....hooked ever since.......never saw an F1 race....wish I had

went to F1 in Montreal for like 10 years in a row starting in the mid 80s......we used to walk around and watch from all diff spots during the weekend.....stopped when they expected you to sit in your one seat for 3 solid days......ahhhhh.....no

 

This is the first one I was at; 1971 F1 race. Took off school on Thursday and hitch hiked out there because I wasn't old enough to drive until 72 - didn't exactly know where the track was but got there eventually..lol



I remember seeing Donahue coming down through 2 with damage and thinking for a moment that the brake ducting was his foot..lol


I was at 3 maybe 4 CanAm races and all the GPs after 71. At one of the CanAms Stewart's name was on one of the spare McLaren body shells but he wasn't driving. I found out recently that he was supposed to drive for them during that year but didn't because he had stomach ulcers. I guess they hadn't got around to taking his name off the car.




Of course these days they'll let any a**hole drive there..lol

 

great shots.....!

is the 3rd pic the '71 race?.....the cars look like I remember them.

and the crowd in that pic.....wow......I was going to say that the crowd in '71 was unreal even though I was only 9 yrs old.

do you remember the two "halves" of the crowd at 5 would start chanting "the other side sucks" and it would become a battle which side could yell loudest?

And I remember seeing drunken people passed out all over the place, covered with beer bottles and sand and hippies tripping around in the woods and every second word was "man"......I grew up a bit that day

any other shots?

 

It's from 72 and the one before it is 73.

None of them are mine I just I pulled them off different sites.

Yeah, they used to get a lot of people there and they just kept coming all day and all night - the place never stopped and the dust never settled. We were usually camped on the hill outside corner 2 sometimes with a 64 Cadillac hearse which belonged to a friend from high school plus a collection of scruffy cars and motorcycles which belonged to everyone else. Lots of people I knew went there - would be like 50 or so at most races.

Here's some more 60s and 70s stuff - again, just collected from different sites:

 

 

Went out on an Apex track day today.....lotsa fun.....was like the Porsche/Corvette club out there.....I had the only Camaro and the oldest street car....by a long shot.

Had the instructor Jerry Low with me in the first session.....frankly it was a good thing, pointing out the apexes and the proper line....I didn't think I would need it but I'm glad he was there.... his instructions were breaking my concentration after awhile though....I think I rattled him a bit when i told him I used to run a Superbike there...haha

When i got out on my own a couple of things became apparent.....man a car is so much bigger than a bike you better be pretty much right on the proper line less you'll make a disaster of your lap, lose a pile of time and the guys ahead will disappear.....on a bike you can make an adjustment every corner if you need to and not lose much time at all.....and that car DOES NOT like being told it has to do something else mid corner.....

and wow I know what you guys were saying about "running out of tire".....by the end of the day I was howling the tires at every corner except 8 at the end of the back straight.....noticed some brake fade in 5....needs frame connectors asap

All the other guys thought the car was cool and were coming over and checking it out.....In my (slow) group I passed every car there at one time or another.....One guy in a Porsche Cayman and I were very even as well as a guy in an 02 Vette....the 3 of us would run around lap after lap......there was a new 5 something BMW a Boxster, two C5 vettes, some beautiful new Mercedes two seater and two Caymens.....the fast guys had a bunch of all out GT1 &2 Porsche racecars as well the new Porsche's and Vettes......one of them in a GT2 Porsche went straight off at the entrance to 3 and hit the tire barrier hard head on.....caving the front end in pretty badly.....All in all it was a good time....professionally run yet informal at the same time....must of did ok because both the instructors said to come back anytime

def some time for some mods to the car....!

 

You could not have picked a better day at the track! I am laid up right now after ACL replacement. Might be driving on Friday.

How did you like APEX overall?

Are you hooked now? Get yourself any times? What street tires did you run? Pads?

I might have some rims and tires for you next summer.

 

LMAO... yeah, it's like threading a needle sometimes, gotta get it right on the way in.

Some expensive tin there - your car looks good though.

Too bad TLC doesn't come to MIR anymore. They are a club from Montreal. Good racers and their cars aren't expensive as hell. They were giving us f-body guys a group rate for lap days and I don't think I ever paid more that $250 at the door.

 

With regards to Apex just having two groups of cars to look after it is a pretty easy thing to manage compared to a real race day with 10 or 12 classes of cars, mock grids etc but they did have plenty of Marshall's around the course which some track day events apparently dont have......

as a noob I had to go through their classroom orientation which consisted of the usual apex explanations and things...lots of safety in it which was good....he did a piece on hand placement on the wheel and driving technique which came in handy in the third session when I remembered to release the clamped down death grip I had on the wheel which he covered in the class.....ha!

they had cones all around the course set up marking apexes, turn in's and exit pionts.....came in very handy, again getting back to the "these things dont like to be told to do something different mid corner" comment made earlier...lol....helped in the smoothness....especially in 2.

around 3:00pm (with 2hrs to go)the instructors got everyone together and reminded everyone that this is the time of day people start to get a little tired, their mind may drift off to work or some personal issue while in the car and the next thing they know their in the fence!!!....thought that was good, he's right.

As far as times I didnt get any I could email the instructors...I do know I hit about 105 mph on the speedo at the end of the back straight just before I hit the brakes.

I have Riken 245/50 Zr 50s on all 4 corners (supposed to be made by Michelin) with a W tread wear....ran them at 32lbs, max on the tire is 45.....and I have Wagner Carbon Metallic pads....the tires howled like a banshee in the turns (is that an air pressure thing?...not enough?) but were very predictable, no quick step outs....perfect for me.

Is there a car formula for air pressure?......I remember with the bikes we would take air pressure with cold tires, then get them good and hot on the track then take air press again and if the pressure rose more than three pounds we would put air in and if it rose less than three Lbs we would let air out....is there the same thing for car tires?

what wheels and tires do you have?

 

Different tyres respond differently but generally your gonna want to bump up the AP particularly on the front. My guess is that yours were too low even for a cold day.

BFG KDW 275/40/17s on all four corners I'm usually looking for 38-40 (hot) on the front and maybe 36 (hot) on the rears. It depends on track and ambient air temp too and you sort of dial the AP in to suit how things are going that day but those are the numbers that will generally be close for me. If it rains then you drop the AP quite a bit.

The idea is to use all the contact patch and not have the tyre under inflated so it rolls over onto the side or over inflated so it doesn't use all the contact patch and maybe wears the schit out them.

You can tell by looking at how much tread is being used or grained. Over inflated will show the edges of the contact patch as not being grained as much as the rest. Under will show graining past the useful area and maybe down the sidewall a bit. It's easier to read this on slicks but if you put 3 chalk marks on each tyre (partially on the contact patch and partially down the sidewall) it'll show you what's happening based on how much chalk gets worn off or stays on. Over will have chalk still on the contact patch and under will wear the chalk off on the sidewall. What you are looking for is to have the chalk worn off just to the end of the useful area or contact patch and not starting to wear down the side of the tyre.

I prefer to just look at the graining on the tyre because that's how I was taught and it seems more accurate but the chalk method works well enough.

MIR always has marshals for lap days because the place is big and fast.