After spending three days behind the wheel of a Formula Ford in June, I was itching to get behind the wheel of a "real" race car again before the 2003 season drew to a close. Together with fellow Jaguar club member Steven Elefant I decided to check out some of the other tracks in the Northeast to see if we could book ourselves into what they call a "lapping day". Several dates and programs were evaluated, including Lime Rock, Mont Tremblant, Watkins Glen and Shannonville but in the end we chose to book a day behind the wheel of a Formula Ford 2000 car at the Bridgestone Racing Academy at Mosport, Ontario. We were promised four 25 lap sessions behind the wheel of a "real" racing car, with qualified instructors observing our every move and offering lap timing and debriefing sessions. In case you are wondering what it felt like to drive one of these cars, there is an excellent video of the experience offered online at http://www.race2000.com/media/lap-hi.wmv

Just what is a "Formula Ford 2000" car? Well, the best description would be to say it is like a miniature version of the Formula One or Indy cars you see on TV. The main difference between a Formula Ford 1600 and a Formula Ford 2000 is that the latter sports a bigger and more powerful engine, along with aerodynamic wings that help keep it glued to the pavement at high speed. Steven and I left Montreal on a warm Friday afternoon in early September and headed up the 401 to Port Hope, where we enjoyed a gourmet dinner at the "Railside" restaurant and slept overnight in the local Comfort Inn. At the crack of dawn the next morning we were up and out, arriving at the race track at 7:15 am. One by one our fellow racers arrived on the scene with classroom briefing scheduled to start at 8 am. They say that driving a racing car at speed is 90% mental, and at this early hour of the morning the little psychological games started. Steven and I noticed that all of the other racers that came in the room greeted the chief instructor with a "hi ya, Bob" or a "good to see you again, how's the car running" etc. etc. Of course, we were wondering how it was that these people knew each other so well. Turns out our fellow racers for the day had done this before, many times before as a matter of fact. One young man in particular, who showed up late for the briefing, was given a free pass from the chief instructor because "he's a really good driver, currently running third in the provincial championship and you guys will be spending all day getting out of his way...." Ouch! Steven and I had to admit that no... we had never been in a Formula Ford 2000 before and no.... we had never been on this track before. My stomach was already starting to do somersaults....

After a quick explanation of the racing line and a quick (two lap) tour of the track in the backseat of a Camaro with the instructor driving (where quite honestly you spend 90% of your time being thrown around from one side of the car to another), we were told to suit up and step in a race car. No instructions were given as to the controls our layout of the car, or how fast to go down the straight or what gear to be in or what the racing line was or anything! Yeesh, what are we getting ourselves into here! So I picked a car with a nice paint job and with the help of one of the mechanics I strapped myself in. Our group was divided into two sub-groups, with the "fastest" being in one group of four and the "less fast" in the other group of four. At first, the instructors wanted to put Steven and I in the faster group, but we sheepishly had to admit that it might be a better idea to put us in with the slower guys (that's what happens when you buy a nice new driving suit, shoes, gloves and helmet.... they assume your fast!).

Within a few minutes we are waved out onto the track, with my heartbeat probably pegging at 160 or so. I was the third car out so I spent the first lap looking at the back end of the car in front of me, who I assumed was going real slow just to let the car and tires warm up. On the second lap I wanted to speed up but the car directly in front of me was still going slow, forcing me to brake hard to avoid running into the back of him. On the third lap I was all ready to push things a bit, but the guy in front of me was still going slow and now I was getting dangerously close to ramming him from behind. The chief instructor has already told us that passing was only allowed on the back straight and he told us to be polite and "point" by a following car that is obviously faster. So when we got to the back straight on the third lap I braked a little early to open a gap to the car in front and then nailed the gas on the corner exit to get enough speed to pass on the straight. It was a great plan except for one thing: the guy in the car in front of me, who until this point in time appeared to be sleeping, suddenly decided that this was the moment to floor the throttle and actually start driving at something resembling racing speeds. As a result both cars arrived at the entry to the next corner side by side, with him on the proper racing line and me on the inside line, on the "marbles" with semi-cold tires. You can guess what happened next: I turned the steering wheel but the car continued to go straight, right off the track on the outside of the corner and bouncing along through the dirt. I did manage to gather it up and get it back on the track without too much drama but the rules of the Bridgestone school clearly state that you MUST bring the car into the pits immediately following an off-course incident for a check up by the mechanics (bent suspension, broken steering arm etc.). On top of that, the Bridgestone school has a very strict rule: if you put four wheels of the track it is an automatic $100 fine. So it was with red face that I pulled into the pits and signed the clipboard with the waiver form on it (if you don't sign you have to get out of the car). Nothing like getting the bad stuff out of the way quickly.......

I went back out and took it relatively easy for the next few laps, driving the car at about 8/10ths while I tried to learn the racing line and braking points. This is probably the single biggest disadvantage Steven and I had as rookies on this course; we simply had no idea initially where to place the car on the track, where to shift, turn in or where to brake. This skill would only come with experience and with feedback from the instructors. After about the halfway point of the first session I was starting to feel a little more comfortable with the car and less intimidated. It was at this point that I discovered the difference between a FF1600 car and a FF2000 car: power! The final turn on the course, right in front of the pit lane and the relentless gaze of the instructors and mechanics, is a very tight left hander that you have to downshift all the way into first gear for. The corner itself is bumpy and covered in thick black rubber, with a relatively high curb that really gives you a good thumping if you clip it. On this particular lap, I was flying along quite nicely and made a nice crisp downshift into first gear, apexed the corner nicely (lots of understeer here, very hard to get the front wheels pointed where you want to go, I think the school intentionally dials more understeer into the student's cars) and nailed the throttle. Unfortunately, a FF2000 car has quite a bit more power than a FF1600 car, and the result was that I executed a perfect pirouette in front of the enthralled onlookers, complete with screeching sounds and lots of tire smoke, but..... I did manage to keep my bearings and kept the car on the pavement at all times, ending up pointing in the right direction and simply took off again. Next time around I had to come into the pits for the mandatory mechanical check (but no fine this time because I managed to keep the car on the pavement), the chief instructor was waiting for me with that "look" on his face. He leaned into the cockpit and said into my helmet "we'll have to have a chat about the 3 strikes and you're out rule....."; clearly, this was a polite way of saying "keep screwing around with our cars like that and you'll be watching the action from the grandstand for the rest of the day buddy....". I finished the opening session at a nice, slow pace with my tail clearly between my legs. At the de-brief afterwards, my lap times were 3 seconds a lap slower than the rest of the people in my group and about the only advice my instructor could give me was "calm down a bit".

After a brief rest break during which I drank a lot of juice and water (you sweat like a pig in a triple layer driving suit, strapped tightly into a racing car on a 25Cdegree day, very tiring), we were strapped back in the cars for session number two. My objective for session number two was simple: keep the car on the track and pointed the right way! I'm happy to say that I managed to do this and actually had some fun throwing the car around, braking a little later each lap, altering my turn in points, learning the racing line a little better and generally acting a bit more like a real race car driver. At the de-brief my lap times had come down to the point where I was second fastest in my group, just 0.5 seconds off the pace.

The rest of the day went relatively well, with our lap times coming down as we gained confidence and the instructors gave us tips on where to pick up valuable time. I did, however manage to chalk up another $100 fine for "mowing the lawn", but at least this time I had a good excuse: I was just following the instructor's advice! By far the trickiest section to get right on the race course was an uphill, almost blind left-right combination that led to a long straight. The difficulty with this corner stemmed from the fact that choosing the "classic" line into the first half of the section (the left-hander) compromised your speed and positioning for the second half (the right-hander). Clearly you wanted to get through the second half right hander carrying as much speed as possible because the time penalty of carrying too little speed down the following straight could never be made up. So the "trick" was to sacrifice the initial left hander, slowing down a little and positioning the car as far on the left hand side of the track as possible on the approach to the right hander (just the opposite to where you would normally be placed) and in this way you have a much better shot at carrying speed through the right hander and maintaining that higher speed all the way down the long straight. The instructors told us that we should be turning about 4500 revs in second gear by the time we reached the end of the rumble strips at the exit of the right hander. To quote "...4600 or even 4700 is good, but at a minimum you should be turning 4500 at that point of the corner exit...". Now, being the competitive guy that I am, I was going to damn well make sure I was turning at least 4500 at the end of those rumble strips. But here's the problem: I'm sitting in a Formula Ford 2000 race car for the first time in my life, foot flat to the floor in second gear, at the limit of tire adhesion in a tight right hand turn, the turn is also uphill, so the driver is essentially "blind" and cannot see the corner exit or the proper line for the following straight. Combine all of these factors together AND what do you think happens when you momentarily take your eyes off the road to look down in the cockpit at the tachometer? Of course, the inevitable happened and I drove the car right off the edge of the track, over-corrected and did a big loop-de-loop off to the right side in the grass. Fortunately I did manage to keep it pointed in the right direction (must be all that winter driving in Quebec) and running and I re-joined the track without incident. Back into the pits where the mechanics were getting used to seeing me and yes, another $100 fine. Afterwards the instructor told me that "you really did a good job on that corner, you came really, really close to getting it absolutely perfect..."; as you can see, racing is an expensive game!

Steven and I thoroughly enjoyed the lapping day, although after eight hours and 100 laps we were both extremely tired. We drove straight from Mosport back to Montreal and were home with the wife and kids by 9 pm Saturday evening. I encourage all enthusiast drivers to give their local race driving school a try, it really does improve your skills. Steven and I plan to do a lapping day at Mont Tremblant in the spring before I venture out on that track for the first time in my newly acquired vintage race car.