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Learning is the attraction. I’ve never been one for classrooms, but always had a thirst for knowledge – a horrific dichotomy for anyone growing up in the dystopian school system of the 70’s and 80’s. ‘Dynamic Classrooms’ are the only way I seem to learn anything, and became autodidact as a result. Sometimes the results are dramatic, other times you really don’t know you learned anything until a few days (or weeks) later. Such is the motivation for this post, so here are the deliverables from my past 2 seasons in Time Attack. 1) Know your car, Ask questions, more power is not the answer. I ran a few events my first year and really had to learn the car. It’s a daunting proposition when you want to make immediate changes, but being able to learn the car only comes from seat time and changes to the car will be less than effective without that intimate knowledge of how your car reacts. Ask yourself questions, was it understeering on entry or exit? Or both? Was it my line, the track conditions or the car? Was I trail-braking there? There is a lot going on and training yourself to address a single component is critical to eliminating variables. It takes time, iron out your car and your line before you make any changes. Make changes 1 at a time or you will never know if it worked. ASK QUESTIONS!! There are so many people who want to help you, so let them – but they don’t know unless you ask! I am super grateful to Wayne S for taking time to talk with me and show me his in car footage to explain lines and track-out options that really worked for me. I’ve been around race tracks and race cars my entire life. I’ve taken schools and built my knowledge base from some world class instructors – but the most important lesson I’ve ever learned is to never be afraid to ask for help. I continue to learn because I still have questions. The Gimli track fosters a family environment, be a part of it. 2) Aero is Good! After much research and learning, really trying to understand the physics of how and what works on what type of car, I embarked on a journey in search of downforce! One of the things I really like about Time Attack is the relative freedom to modify your car in this manner. After designing a splitter, I thought I’d have it ready in short order “it seems simple enough” I thought, until I started to build it – so part B for this point is “its always more complicated than you think”. There’s doing something, then there’s doing something right. My favorite saying is “Cheap, Fast, Reliable – Choose 2”. Most want Fast and Reliable, you don’t get Cheap with that option. So then it becomes an exercise in patience, but the results are better. It took a year to get the splitter on the car doing it all myself, it took a little longer for the wing, but I am happy with the results. Patience is a virtue, but also a key element of success. 3) Brakes are Grrreat! After trying to ‘drive around’ a braking problem that turned out to be inherent to the cars suspension geometry, I went through an interesting learning curve that proved you are never too experienced to make a simple mistake. My Dad always taught me “measure twice, cut once” while this may seem simple in theory, errors can occur in the name of deadlines. It’s imperative to free yourself of deadlines when working on your car – this requires planning. Your hobby/race car is supposed to fun, relaxing (I can hear the murmuring already lol) and fulfilling, getting that “I did it” sense of accomplishment. Part B to this point is “remove the wrong parts that look like the right parts from your work area…” fasteners are an example; metric vs imperial, spark plugs - segregate what you need to avoid errors - espcially when you have multiple vehicles you maintain. Brake pad compound selection has a lot bigger effect than I thought. And I was able to effectively alter front/rear brake bias with pad selection, I was elated to get on the binders for the first time in 2 years and not have the back end bounce all over the track. Just to emphasize the importance of knowing your car (see point 1) in relation to braking, one event I went to had a simple caveat prior to event entry “if you can’t tell us what brake fluid and brake pads are on your car, you won’t be admitted on the track”. Take that to heart. 4) “It’s just bodywork”. This has been the summer of bodywork for me, or maybe just “losing stuff that was supposed to be attached to the car” lol! From the hood flying up exiting turn 9 causing an embarrassing red flag (and an even scarier look from the Steward!!), to losing my transponder (yet another awkward moment), to shattering my hatch while trying to install the wing (more disappointing than awkward lol). Remember the point about never being to experienced to make a simple mistake? It happens all the time. I forgot the hood pins in a rush to get on grid and the hood flew up at 109kmh. The transponder was held on with one zip tie, that wasn’t enough. The hole location to mount the wing turned out to be .020” overlapping the edge of the hatch glass – poof! All over the place in a million pieces in the blink of an eye. The bigger picture is that of how do you react in the face of adversity? Or better yet, Who is around you? I am grateful for Al M. When my hood flew off, I was ready to put it on the trailer and go home. Al was the first guy in my face telling me “it’s all good, no problems, its just bodywork – get back on the track”. This is absolutely critical. He was right, and I followed his advice. Same for Mat L – I lost the transponder, he ran up and gave me his personal transponder to use and put it on the car (with 2 zip ties, I noted…). Then he and Al both spent their own time searching for that lost transponder – a bigger ‘Thank You’ can not be said. Maybe part B for this point should be “Lean on Me”…Remember what I said about family? 5) Cold and Wet. I have raced in the wet, I have raced in the cold – racing in the cold AND wet is an entirely different animal. Typically I like the September races because they yield the best lap times, the formula for fast lap times is cool pavement and hot tires. For a wet set up I always bump up tire pressure and if possible, narrow rear track width (this is RWD, no idea about you modern cars lol). The wet driving style changes as well. Trail braking in the wet is historically a bad idea, so I try to do all my braking in a straight line, and while all this will help, nothing will help the fact that I can’t get ANY temp in the slick tires in a wet, 2 degree track in 5 laps LOL! Then add in that BEAUTIFUL new pavement and it’s like a switch when transitioning from that to the old surface – treacherous at best!! The only thing I can take solace in is that it’s the same day and same track for everybody, I was not alone! …but those AWD cars are fast right away in this stuff, not fair LOL!! So, at the end of this I look back at this season and have nothing but thanks and gratitude for those I am lucky enough to share the track with a few weekends each summer. Perhaps this could also be a ‘WIF’ or “What I Forgot” post. Because its accurate that many of us take things for granted. I forgot to ask questions earlier, I forgot that I need help despite my best plans to avoid it. I forgot that I need time alone and that I need time with friends. We call it Racing, we say it’s about going faster, I call it learning and it’s about whatever you put into it. Roger Penske’s formula for success is Effort = Results, many people put in effort to make my season successful, the results are that I’m going to keep coming back and pay it forward to the best of my ability, so that I can help more people have a successful season at the track as well. I hope this post is the start of that. Matt

What a fantastic weekend to end the season. Great turnout, not so great weather but eh ... we're hardy CANADIANS!!! Sooo many people to thank so I will not embarrass myself by forgetting to mention a name ('cause I have such a good memory). To all the club executive, all the volunteers, all the racers and all the spectators that made the 2018 race season THEE best I wish to pass along my heartfelt gratitude and respect for the effort and commitment it takes to run events like these for an entire season. From planning that starts from the end of the previous season up to and including the windup banquet I am simply amazed at level of professionalism and dedication everyone puts forth. Thank you.

Along with all the others that help and contribute I would like to give a big applause to Ian and Brooke for their work and dedication to Time Attack and to the running of the day in general. Definitely bring it up a notch (or 6)! We all know that race day is frantic enough. Add that to all the other things you guys do on race day = a HUGE effort on your part and I wish to give a special thank you for your time.

So I am pretty sure I found the location of this shot, I cropped it down a bit: My family went for a hike to the Pembina valley provincial park today. On the way home I took this portion of 201 near the provincial park: the trees are much taller now but check out the clearing of grassy arias on both sides of the other side of the valley along side of the road in the far side of the photo they are the same. in my photo you can not see the bridge at the bottom of the valley because the trees are much taller but it is there.

I could not agree more Jim. As a 20+ year member, I find the club has never been in better hands. From schools to race events , the coordination , professionalism and enthusiasm displayed by all those involved is excellent. Very proud to be a member.

I did have direct communication with George and John. Their concerns were addressed once they understood that the groups were combined on Sunday. I also talked to George again during Event#5 and he confirmed that both he and John were satisfied that the Vintage points were properly scored.

Laps have been uploaded. https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1597164 I believe Kiwi will be using the Calendar view. Chris will be dreaming of a sub 1 minute lap next year - so close today. Thanks to Wayne for his huge help in isolating and fixing our issues this morning. Thanks to Andy for all his help and great BBQ this year. Championship points will be calculated later this week.

Good evening all! With the last race event of the year done, we have finished calculating all the points. I would like to make note of a couple things: - Our annual banquet and awards night is coming up next month, please visit http://forums.wscc.mb.ca/index.php?/topic/11158-2018-banquet-save-the-date/ to let the organizers know if you are coming to ensure there is enough delicious food for all! Tickets will be sold at the door for $40 each. This is a great event and even better if you are one of our trophy winners this year! - There are two "points totals" PDF's that are uploaded for this post, one is named "Total Points" which shows everybody in order from most to least points for the entire season and for all 5 events, the other one titled "Championship Points" is the one we will be going off of for trophy awards. Championship points are awarded for the best 4 out of 5 events, you will notice that some people who attended all 5 events will only show points for 4 of them on this PDF, we have removed the event with the least amount of points for those that attended all 5 and totaled the best 4 of them. (I hope this makes sense..) We would like to give a huge thank you to EVERYBODY who came out to participate this year. Everything has run extremely smoothly and no major incidents have occurred in our time attack group. The more people that come out, the better our club will be, including many more upgrades that we look forward to making in the years to come! A huge thank you to all our sponsors, including Echelon Wealth Partners Inc., our main club sponsor, Fortune Auto, our time attack contingency sponsor, Classic Motor Works, Speed Factor Racing, S.A.R., CJ 107, St. Andrews Airport, Blatz Landscaping, Dr. Cory S. Fogel, and all those that helped us make many, many upgrades to the facilities, as well as maintain them this year such as Interlake Yardcare, Armatas Painting and Decorating (our bathrooms and showers look GREAT!) and Superior Asphalt Paving Co. (How about those newly resurfaced corners!?) Another major thank you must be given to all of those who come out to make these events happen, our volunteers. Without them, we wouldn't be able to race. Our volunteers endure some pretty harsh weather in order to allow us to participate, including heat from the sun, wind, rain, and our last event which involved freezing cold +2 degree weather WITH wind and rain. Please stay tuned to our forums as we have some big things in store for next year! Hope to see you all again soon!! Championship Points.pdf Total Points.pdf Event #5 Points.pdf

Chris Boettcher reminded me that he still has all the paperwork and applications from 2018 and he expressed that I may have forgotten to mention him as the primary organizer. Sorry Chris. I love you!!

Brooke and Ian are organizing the show and display. I have made preliminary contact with Bob reaffirming our intentions for 2019.

Tammy insisted I post this for sale. I have very little information. $5000 No drivetrain PM @Mat or Contact Gary Tholl for more info.

KEEP ! We all know the Sharples camp is the one stop shop at the track when you're broken. They even had a front radius rod for me when I broke at the track allowing me to continue racing that weekend.If they don't have it. It ain't made!

Big thanks Ian and Brooke! You guys have done such an amazing job with time attack. It was nice to have two days every weekend this year instead of 1. You guys are awesome!

Everyone feel free to share your albums here. https://www.flickr.com/photos/146403603@N07/ Heres one from our friend Emmanuel Siguenza

Who’s going to take Chris on for a sub second time with this....

Agreed! Thanks Ian and Brooke

There are some concerns with the vintage group points during the August event. I have urged those drivers to email timing directly.

Thanks everyone. This is now submitted in for pricing and availability.

Smarty pants

Bump, just a reminder for you Pete, it's October 27th ...

I'm still enrolled but tentative pending the weather forecast. Not sure I can fit in my car (and steer) with a parka.

You wanna have a really good time? See if Chris B will take you for a ride along in that Batmobile of his. It's very exciting and can be downright scary (especially if he's driving) ;P

Huge shout out to Matt and Cheryl and Jen and all the volunteers whom bust there buns to make a huge event like this weekends. THANK YOU!

Here you go! https://youtu.be/wDyrNrvYIuY