Speed WCGT Rds 6 & 7 at Mosport as seen through the Woodhouse windshield

[Bob Woodhouse]

The famous Mosport Racing Circuit; immortal in road racing circles.
What a kaleidoscope of experiences we had this past four days of August 5 – 8 at this track near Toronto Ca. My perception of this track before coming was that it was fast, famous, unforgiving and difficult to master. I was also informed that a who’s who of road racing had dealt with their fate here. But even with that weighty thought, if all those racing greats had dealt with today’s customs and security at the Toronto, Canada airport there would have been a much smaller loss of life, as many would not have maintained the patience to get there.
I remind you that this race comes just two weeks after balling up my #13 Viper Comp Coupe in practice at Infineon. I wasn’t getting good sleep but I did not want to miss a chance in a lifetime to run at this famous place. Tommy Archer said it straight as he passed along some advice that was given to him here years ago. “Go out there in your first practice session and commit to being the slowest car there”. I won’t say it took away the “fear” of the place, but it turned out to be great advice. We hardly visited any grass or track picnic areas all week-end. And this track has lots of them.
The fans at Mosport seem unique, they love this sport, in this order: watching racing, drinking beer, being with friends, camping out, and some want to be close to the cars and teams. In contrast is Florida’s Sebring where the crowds are into “Spring Break” style partying.
Mitch Wright of SCCA told me that the crowd would number between 30 and 50 thousand, not bad for north of the border! Wow, those woods hold a lot of tents and campers.
Mitch also said that the World Challenge Series is growing in television viewer ship and is staged to be the most significant road racing series of our time. That makes this important to manufacturers and guess what; Dodge has been quietly gaining on the big dogs, Caddy and Audi in the point race. Check results on the www.world-challenge.org
What stands out about this 2.5 mile road circuit are the high speeds and large doses of elevation change. The average lap speed for GT cars reaches 104 mph. That is pretty high for 10 turns in 2.5 miles. Interpret that as meaning that the corners are very fast. Amazing too is that the speeds of the top 20 cars in the field range from 104 to 102 mph looking at the Sat race results. SCCA is getting what they planned for, tight racing by controlling car potential.
Corner numbers two and four are the first to be brought up in Mosport bench racing conversation. You approach those corners at over 100 mph, which is no big deal; it’s the fact that you cannot see over the crest of the hill as the corners drop away. You know that feeling your stomach gets when the floor falls out from under you? Combine that with a g-load multiplier at the bottom that makes your head sink into your lap. Wow!
The first few quick laps here remind you of the story about the drowning swimmer that asks the lord that if he were to get one more chance he would do anything in return? Once you become aware you survived; all promises muttered in your helmet during the lap tend to evaporate.


Round Six, the Saturday race:
For the first time this season there were no full coarse yellows. And get this; the top nine cars finished within 5 seconds of each other after 30 laps. This will be fantastic television viewing. I wish we could hear all of the drivers stories as they hugged each other (hmm, poor word choice) for the entire race. One Viper; Tommy Archer finished in the top 10, in fact Tommy made the podium once again finishing third despite faster cars in back of him and despite the 200 extra pounds (Rewards weight as it is called) he is carrying. Tommy gets our full respect for the skill and experience he brings to the table each time. The Audi two car team came home 1st and 2nd. Tommy has a narrow lead in the points chase.
We got just one Coupe make top 10 Saturday, unlike Portland where the Viper Comp Coupes did Dodge proud by having 5 Vipers in the top ten. My personal result on Saturday was underwhelming, 18th yet personally acceptable with the lack of track experience and strong will to stay alive.
The standing start came off well with a hole shot up the outside using the grass/pavement combination to pass a couple cars before turn one. The congo line formed soon thereafter and by the middle of the race things were getting uneventful until it began to rain on one half of the track which included the tight corners of 5a and 5b. I found a nice combination of oil, water, and off camber that created a crowd pleasing pinwheel effect, about a 640 degree rotation. Landing eventually at the inside of 5b a couple of gracious corner workers took mercy and pushed on the rear wing to get the car moving on the wet grass adding but a mere 30 seconds extra to the lap time. The back side of corner 5 had so many race fans that I spent another 15 seconds in a later lap attempting to impress them with a duplicate pirouette. It was a small 270 degree spin, but with enough tire smoke to rival a large pyrotechnic show on the 4th. So any attempt for a good result was thwarted by my ingenious entertainment antics.


Round Seven the Sunday Race:
Contrary to what you may think, I did not kill the engine on the race start on purpose just to have the opportunity to pass all my east coast Viper Comp Coupe buddies. But, it is true I have mastered the art of 3200 rpm dead stops. Most racers have creative excuses. Here’s mine:
During the staging process at the start of the race, the Silver Corvette of Tony Gaples just in front of me staged a bit shallow in his start box. Smart. No problem, until the frantic arm flailing of the SCCA official left me a miniscule four feet of space between he and I, (imagined or not). So the light goes out, I, being the crack clutch/throttle man personally trained by Adel Asayed himself instantly release the clutch at the prescribed rpm. As the car begins to shudder (at this moment I am so tickled with my quick reflexes) I witness the lack of movement on the part of Mr. Gaples leading me to the conclusion that snake fangs are about to take a bite out of the back of his Corvette. A release of the throttle is prudent, at least for him. Sparing you the agony of what happened next, I had the car re-fired just in time to see the last car in the race drop over the hill into turn one.
With a 250 yard gap it was easy to concentrate on a good lap. Shucks I may end up with nobody to race I thought as I could just imagine the look on Rick and Nancy’s face about now. At the end of lap one I had rejoined the rear of the pack since they all were slowing each other up a bit. As the laps began to add up I had gotten back a few positions when a full coarse yellow allowed the field to regroup. On the restart the cars stayed pretty tight allowing for some great racing and an opportunity to see a few grudges being played out in front of me.
At the finish we were back to 11th position which was reasonable given my knack for insisting on leaving last at the beginning. This race will hang in memory as one of the most exciting yet one that will keep me humble.
With no help from me, the Vipers garnered four of the top ten positions on Sunday, yeah! Let’s see how it plays on SpeedTV this Sunday the 14th. Hope I didn’t bore you. Next is Road America.

[Rich Wesorick]

Well Bob, 910 degrees of rotation in just a few laps is indeed impressive and I'm sure the fans enjoyed the show. I guess we can no longer say someone pulled a Stan Wilson start as you've now taken over the lead in such manuevers. Sounds like it was the prudent move though since the front of you car was undamaged.

Looking forward to you running at the front at RA,
Rich

[Stan Wilson]

Thanks for the review, Bob. Road America should be a good race for team Viper.

Rich, thanks for getting me off the hook on the starting issue. I have several practice launches under my belt now, so maybe things will go well next week at Road America when the lights go out.

[Rich Wesorick]

Stan:

Building off of your great drives in the VRL at VIR, we're expecting big things from you too at RA. Best of Luck!

Rich

[Mike Adams]

By the look of your avatar picuture it looks like you did some praticing in grass. LOL

Glad you enjoyed Mosport that is our home track and if my comp coupe deal comes through I will some set up advise

[Mike H]

Bob,

I had fun for those 4-5 laps running with you, even though you had 2 spins. I think the fans in turn 8 were loving the action as we both were dualing for that turn. You got me there on the inside line 4 times in a row.

I am looking forward to our next match. Lets see if we can both stay out of the weed cutting group!

[Bugeater]

Hey Mike, how bad was the tire kiss at 2? Is the car OK? (I assume you are fine)