Friday nights at Race City

[AKLGT]

well, can't wait til our season starts here either! phil's picking up his exhaust tonight. it made it on the plane, so he has to meet our friends about midnight to help him unload and get it. next it'll be time to send off the unichip for retuning. i'm downloading my access port right now to stage 1 until i can get the downpipe done. we bought our helmets yesterday, so.... can't wait!

[vibechick]

trdvibe said:

and so when you driving up??

Dunno yet...I have to figure out still when I can take time off. I have to go out to B.C. to visit the folks at their new place, probably sometime in August.

I was checking out driving directions, and it seemed like it took as much time to drive to Alaska from Calgary as it did from Vernon, B.C. Must have to do some backtracking through the mountains or something

[DJDoubleLP]

Well the roads in BC are not straight like here in Alberta. Also, the speed through most of th mountain areas is 90km/h.

[AKLGT]

well, i can tell you there are practically NO cops or anything once you hit dawson city, mile 0 of the alaska highway. you can drive just about as fast or slow as you want. some spots will have to be slow, but in a year or so we may end up doing a road trip in my LGT. man, some of those roads would be soooo much fun to drive!

you can do about 100-120 kmh on them, except where the construction and gravel roads are.

[DJDoubleLP]

100km/h?? That is SLOW compared to Highway 2 here in Alberta.

[007_NK]

I've been passed while I was doing 140 kph on Hwy 2. And that was by a minivan... Had to suck that one up though seeing as how I knew there was a speed trap in the next 10 k

Sorry about the little hijack here... Hope, is there a sort of helmet that you have to wear for AutoX? Or anything as long as it is SNELL (ie: Motorcycle helmets allowed)?

[AKLGT]

yes, it has to be SNELL and DOT approved. full face helmets only for autox here.

but then i found out that i'll be having to work most saturdays now, so that messes up my race schedule. i'll be able to go to any ones that i don't work that day or on sundays.

[DJDoubleLP]

I am going to be passing on the racing this year. I do not want to have to be paying for another clutch next year. Seems to be the trend for me....every year....a new clutch. WAY TOO EXPENSIVE.

[vibechick]

Yah, what's with you and burning through clutches anyways?

They have a 2 day performance driving course out at RaceCity, put on by the Alberta Race Car Assoc...or something like that. You get lots of on-track driving experience with a race car driver riding along. It sounds pretty cool. $400 + GST. I can't afford it this year, but we're going to take it next year for sure.

[DJDoubleLP]

It is the s**t Toyota clutches that are the issue. I have NEVER burnt out a clutch before on any of my previous cars...and they were beaters. I abused them more then this car. And now the clutch is an issue?? NOT impressed to say the least.

[AKLGT]

i just can't believe you burned out the TRD SPORT clutch!!! maybe you should consider the ACT?

[DJDoubleLP]

I have the Gripforce Stage 2 clutch going into the car. It just baffles me that is all. I had an 86 Chevrolet Chevette with over 250,000km on it, and it was STILL on the original clutch. My Dad had the car before me, and he never replaced it. Figure that one out! That car was worth only $3000 in its day, which even with the rise in prices is still well below what the Matrix cost.

[AKLGT]

ya no kidding. the downside to the toys, clutches suck.