Track Season is Almost Here!
As we transition from winter, to spring, briefly back to winter, and then directly to summer, my track fever has become too much for me to handle! Track day schedules are coming out, my track tires have arrived, and driveway mechanic season is right around the corner. With this in mind, I wanted give all of you guys an idea of what I'll be up to this year.
1.Calabogie Motorsports Park HPDE
Calabogie Motorsports Park has released their HPDE schedule for 2025, and I'll be coaching at as many of them as I can. Last year I became a certified CMP coach, and I fell in love with the facility. The track is really incredible, and very scenic (I hope you like trees.) Their coaching team are all very passionate and knowledgeable and I'm super excited to go back this year. At the risk of this sounding like an ad, I'll post the CMP HPDE schedule below. As always if you're interested in getting on track, but don't know where to start, don't be afraid to shoot me an email at jacksondriveshpde@gmail.com
2. Ontario Time Attack
Ontario time attack, in my opinion, is one of the best ways to get involved in competitive motorsports. OTA delivers an organized, traffic-free time attack event for race cars and daily drivers alike. I'll be volunteering at as many events as I can get to. My urge to compete however is losing the battle with my wallet, so whether I'll be standing on podiums this year remains to be determined.
3. Autocross (AutoX)
Motorsports Club of Ottawa hosts all (as far as I know) the AutoX in Ottawa out of` lot 9 at Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata. I've been interested in these events since last year, but never attended one. However, Autocross is a fantastic way to get a feel for performance driving. It doesn't require the same amount of prep as a time attack event, and at under $100 per event, there's no excuse not to give it a try!
So, How's the car?
Those of you who know me know that I had more than a little bit of car trouble last year. When your car spends more than a month in the shop, friends and family tend to notice, and you start hearing the question "how's the car?" a whole lot. Well, the car is fixed! It's been sitting happily in the garage on some soft snow tires. I take it out about once a month to heat it up.
There's a long list of maintenance items that the car needs this year, including wheel bearings, rotors, filters, etc. But I've got my Nankang CRS tires taking up room in my foyer waiting to get put on and sent. This year, I'm focusing on seat time. I want to get as much time behind the wheel as I can while building the car in to the track weapon I want.
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What should I be doing?
If you're here, then we've probably already talked about an interest in getting out to the track. If that's true, and you're not sure where to start, feel free to reach out to me, and lets talk about cars! I started this blog post out as a step by step guide, but then I realized that it's really hard to write a guide for anyone to get on track. So I decided to make this post a bit more personal. If you're wanting to get out there, take a look at what you've got in terms of wheels, and take a look at some of the events I posted above. Then, head on over to Contact Us and shoot me an email with your info and what your goals are, and I'll make sure you get set up for success!