That's right, as of last weekend, I am officially a rookie race car driver! I have always wanted to race and ever since I started going to our local track for HPDS, lapping days, or time attacks, I became even more serious about it. Last weekend, I took the Race School and was able to get my racing license. The race car? An IT (Improved Touring) 1995 VW GTI race car. The car was prepped and is maintained by the Vantage Motorsports race team and it's a blast to drive, but I'll get into that later. I have expressed interest several times before and last year I have all but committed to Derek Lugar, team owner and Chief Race Instructor for our region (Atlantic Canada). He agreed to let me use the car if I cover the costs and I was absolutely thrilled and proud that he let me use their car. Speaking of which.. The car's power is mostly stock to meet the SCCA IT-B classification rules. I have been told more than once that it makes "108-112 whp" wh
A couple of weeks ago, I posted my first impressions of Michelin's PSS vs Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tires. I've run PSS's for several years on the Boss, but I'm trying the Indy 500's for the first time. In short, I was worried about the narrower tires (I was running 285/35/18 PSS but could only find the Indy 500 in 275/35/18) and tread squirm, but I was happy with them up to that point just driving on the street. I had the chance to drive on them for three track days now. So what were they like? After my first session, they made an impression that basically persisted for the rest of track sessions on them. Phenomenal, unmatched value. Now, if value is something that stands out above all else, it typically means the compromise between qualities you want and those you don't is less than ideal, but the value is attractive. This is no different. I'll start with the bad, which really boil down to two: ultimate grip and grip longevity. Grip is noticeably l