Nate Meyer's Weblog

I’ll be taking my car as much as I can afford this year

This year, I want to do some laps at TMP, but find the website confusing, and overwelming. There seems to be some conflicting info, and prices, and information is spread out of different pages. Also, I want to try inviting some friends to go with me, with their cars, and instead of just sending them to the TMP webpage, thought I would conclude everything here, for them to understand what their getting into.

So, here it goes:

Open Car Lapping Description: My understanding, is you bring your car out in the morning of the day your pre-registered, or just showed up, and after it gets tech’d in, your put into a group, according to your skill level. Then you get let out onto the track, with a few other people. You are NOT racing them, you are just lapping your car. This is NOT a race, and this is NOT timed. They don’t even let passing everywhere, only in 2 controlled spots (more on the rules later). I think this is suited for people who enjoy the twisties, and don’t want to get caught for speeding on the road.

Day Session Schedule:

Fridays:
May 14
June 18
July 16
August 20
Sept 17
Oct 8

Weekends:
Sun April 4 (10am-5pm) weather permitting
Sun April 11 (10am-5pm) weather permitting
Sat April 17 (10am-5pm) weather permitting
Sat May 1 (9am-4:30pm)
Sat June 5
Sat July 24
Sat Oct 2

Pricing: You can pre-register, and save, or showup at the track and spend a little more. If you want basic instruction (racing lines, how to break properly, etc, etc), it seems to be $50 more. They only suggest instruction for the first comers, but it’s not mandatory.
Pre-registration: $130 (plus GST)
Registration at Track: $150 (plus GST)
Instruction is available for an additional $50 (plus GST)

Evening Session Schedule

Wednesdays:
Every Wed from May 5th to Oct 20th

Fridays:
Every Fri from May 14th to Oct 22nd except the following dates:
May 7, June 11, July 9, Aug 6, Sept 10, Oct 15

Schedule:
Track Session: 5pm-Dusk

Pricing:
Pre-registration: $60 (plus GST)
Registration at Track: $80 (plus GST)

Schedule Info Here

That’s about it for the schedule. Basically, you can pre-register, or just showup at the track. You can do it on the scheduled Fridays, and Sats, and Suns, or every Wednesday for the evening session.

General Rules

If you have not driven the track before, we strongly recommend that you register for instruction with your first lapping session. For more information on instruction options, please call 1-866-824-7223.

All participants must indicate their experience level on the registration form.

No refunds or exchanges will be given. If a session is cancelled due to weather, rain checks will be issued and will be valid only on the rescheduled date.

Limited space is available for each session. Pre-registrations will be given priority and drivers registering at the track on the day of the event will be accepted on a first come first serve basis.

General Rules
-Safety should be your number one priority while on the track
-Paddock speed limit is 15 km/hr. No exceptions.
-All persons entering the track must sign a “Release of Liability” waiver.
-All “Self Tech Forms” are to be given to the instructor prior to your track time commencing.
-Participants must attend the mandatory Driver’s Meeting each lapping day prior to being permitted on the track. All rules and procedures must be adhered to.
-It is the participant’s responsibility to be ready when their group it called to the track.
-The first lap will be under Yellow Flag conditions. Please take time to locate the corner stations and corner workers.
-No alcohol or controlled substances may be consumed by any participant during the event.
-No medications that may impair a participant’s ability to operate their car should be consumed prior to or during the event.
-Toronto Motorsports Park is not responsible for lost or stolen items.
- Paddock speed limit is 10 MPH. No exceptions.
- All persons operating a motorized auxiliary vehicle, including 2, 3, & 4 wheel ATV’s and scooters, must be at least 16 years of age and possess a valid driver’s license.
- Skateboards, roller blades, and bicycles are prohibited in the paddock area.
- Do not drive stakes into the ground in the paddock.
- Participants must remove all tires from the track. Failure to remove tires from the track will result in increased entry fees for future events.
- Electrical power is not available unless arrangements are made with the track prior to an event day. Do not hook up to electrical outlets without the approval of the track.
- Water is available from the spigot adjacent to the washrooms/showers. Do not connect hoses to the faucets. Use water only as necessary and be considerate of the other participant’s pits, as drainage is problematic. Water is not potable.
- There are no power/water hooks up’s available at the track. However, a designated campground is located on the right side of the dragway. Self contained motorhomes and haulers will be permitted in the pits if a 2 or more day event.

Car Lapping Rules

1. The first and most important rule for the lapping sessions is to remember these are lapping sessions – not a race! There are no positions and no prize money or trophies. If you are driving erratic, competitively, or in violation of the rules and procedures, you will be ejected from the track and the facility with no refund.
2. Track will not provide any official lap times during lapping sessions.
3. There shall be no contact between cars ay any time.
4. Do not tailgate another car.
5. Do not group together on the track.
6. Do not block faster cars that are closing on you.
7. Watch your mirrors, as you must signal faster cars by you.
8. If you suspect serious mechanical problems while on the track, pull off the track slowly and await assistance. If you can continue, do so slowly and return to the pit area. Get off line and use hand signals and flashers to indicate that you have a problem while returning to the pits.
9. If it starts to rain, slow down to a speed below that at which you know you can drive safely in the wet. The sessions will continue in the rain unless the track becomes unsafe to continue.
10. If you spin, run off track, or make contact with another car, you must report to the pits prior to continuing the session.

Passing Rules

1. Passing will only be allowed in two areas on the track – on the front straightaway and Turn 1 straight.
2. Passes on the straightaway must be made on the driver’s right only.
3. There shall be no passing at any other point on the track.
4. There shall be no passing during red flag conditions.
5. There shall be no passing under yellow flag conditions, except for slow moving vehicles whose driver’s have signaled that their car is disabled.
6. All passing in the two designated areas shall be with the use of hand signals to direct the passing car safely around the car being passed.
7. Do not move off line when being passed.
8. Be sure that you have plenty of time, space and horsepower to complete your maneuver.
9. Do not try to out horsepower an overtaking car, allow them to pass safely.
10. Failure to comply with the passing rules will result in you being black-flagged for that session.

Two Spin Rule

1. A two spin rule will be enforced for all lapping sessions.
2. On the first incident, the participant will be black-flagged (see Flags) to come into the pits. In the pits, the participant will be counseled and advised that should this happen again the participant will be brought off the track and not allowed to drive for the remainder of the day.
3. If any participant spins their car or leaves the track with all 4 wheels two times in one event day, they will be required to leave for the day on the second incident.

Accidents & Damage to Track

1. All participants involved in an accident must report the accident to the track immediately.
2. All participants will be liable for any damages caused to any personal or real property.
3. Any repairs to the track necessary due to damages caused by a participant are the responsibility of that participant. This includes, but is not limited to, damages to guardrail, barrier walls, asphalt, grass, dirt or concrete surfaces, grandstands, fencing, buildings, and portable toilets.

Staging
Staging for the next run group to go on the track will be behind the Hot Pit wall. All other cars will be on the track or in the paddock.

Entering the Track
Pull your car up to the end of pit lane. Follow the instructions of the Pit Marshall and stay to the right of the track as you accelerate up to speed. Use your mirrors to see if you are being overtaken before you attempt to leave the right lane.

Exiting the Track
Track exit during a session is on driver’s right to the hot pit. When you want to exit from the track into the pit lane, extend your left arm upward, out of the window, in a fist, prior to your exit from the track.

Track exit after a session is after the carousel at turn 14. Keep right and extend your left arm upward, out of the window, in a fist, prior to your exit from the track. Proceed to the paddock.

Link to Rules Here

Getting your Car Tech’d In

Safety Rules for Car Lapping

1. All participants are required to have proper safety equipment and clothing, to include the following:
Snell M or SA2000 or newer rated helmet
Goggles or full face helmet for open top cars
Closed toe rubber soled shoes
Long sleeve shirt (non-synthetic fiber)
Long pants (non-synthetic fiber)
(Alternatively, approved driver’s suit and racing shoe)
2. All cars must be equipped with operable seat belts in good condition.
3. A mounted fire extinguisher is recommended for all cars.
4. All cars must run with the driver’s and passenger windows down.
5. All open top cars must have roll bar/cage as roll over protection.
6. All participants with open top cars must use arm restraints.
7. Interior of vehicle must be clean and cleared of all loose items, debris and floormats.

Tech In Link Here

TMP FAQ HERE

Conclusion: I hope that sums everything up. I know most people wouldn’t want to bring their cars here, because they don’t want them to get dinged, etc. But the rules state not to tailgate, and no passing, so I think they make it fairly safe. I think the key part is that it’s not a race, it’s just a lapping session.

I’ve started capturing some old family videos from my dads video camera. We have about 20-25 tapes, and I’m going to transfer all of them to the computer / dvd. Watching these tapes brings back SO many memories! I’ll post some more interesting videos as i get through more tapes

Here’s an example below. I remember this day to the TEE! We all took turns going down the hill, off the ramp, trying to impress each other, and of course wiping out at the end!

I’m getting so anxious to start my summer, the only thing missing is heat! 

By using TheWeatherNetwork’s temperature archive, I’ve compiled a chart of what the temperature was in the month of Feb for the last few years.

I was hoping to see a rise in the temperature throughout the month, but it looks, according to history, tat it will remain near or around an average max temp of -2 or -3 for the remainder of the month.   

Note: The temperature listed is the Max Temp of the day for London Ontario.  Starting from Feb 14 – Feb 28

(I have March’s almost ready, and it looks a little better!  I’ll post it shortly)

I was never interested in any of the applications or games on facebook, and found it so annoying when people would send me invites and gifts, etc. And never really knew why people would send everyone on their friends list a gift from a game nobody was playing. I have figured it out!

Recently, I was looking for a fun game to play inside of facebook, and came across fishville. I didn’t want anyone to know I was playing this game, as it completely goes against all my beliefs in what facebook is really meant for, and I’m sure I’d get made fun of. So I kept it quiet, and said no to all the gamestarter questions like “do you want to add this game to your profile”, or “do you want to be a fan”, etc, etc. So I started playing fishville by buying some fish and feeding them. They would swim around and call for food, and grow and then I’d be able to sell them and make money. I did this for a while and got to level 3 or 4. I wanted to level up more so I bought some more fish, but noticed that my level was not increasing. I read the requirements for level 5 and it said I must add 3 people as my neighbours in order to increase levels. Level 6 required me to send out 5 gifts to my facebook friends, and level 7 required me to “become a fan”, level 8 required me to invite 10 of my friends to play the game. This sounded ridiculous to me. Why should I have to pester my friends just to get to the next level. What happened to getting further ahead because of skill?

I want to level up because of my fish feeding/buying skills, and not because I have 100million friends to send gifts and invites to which give me leveling bonuses. It’s not fair that Jon Smith is at level 30 and I’m stuck at level 5, even tho I have way better fish feeding abilities. Only because he’s willing to Spam his friends, I’m not Let’s think of it this way. I play Call of Duty. Let’s say I’m at level 50, but in order to get to level 51, I have to convince a friend to go out and buy the game, then once he registers, I get to level 51.

Leave me out of your spamming tactics and let me use my skills to level up and play the game. Facebook games are all about trying to get as many people into the game, and less about the quality of the game. They are using you guys as pawns, in order to get more players, and I won’t have any part of it.

Although, now that I think about it, I did try and get a couple of my friends to be my fishbowl neighbour in fishville. LOL

** Note, any questions about my rebuild?  Go to my about page to find my email address, and send me a message **

My truck has a really bad exhaust manifold leak.  I have 2 broken bolts at the rear of the manifold, and it’s loud, and causing the engine not to run very good and gas mileage is suffering.  I need something semi reliable this summer to tow around my tent trailer, so  I thought I would spend the time and fix it right.

DAY 1

We pretty much dissembled the whole motor today.  The top plenum, lower intake manifold, accessories, crank pulley, timing belt, left and right cylinder heads.  We took the heads off with the exhaust manifolds attached, AND the downpipes attached.  The connector between the manifold, and the downpipe was rusted so badly, there’s no way we were going to get at the bolts, so we just cut the exhaust pipe under the car, and took it out in one piece.  When we put it back together, we’ll weld it back up.

Next is to take the exhaust manifolds off the heads, and drill out the broken exhaust manifold studs, and replace. 

From Truck Rebuild

From Truck Rebuild

From Truck Rebuild

From Truck Rebuild

From Truck Rebuild

From Truck Rebuild

From Truck Rebuild

We are going to order all the parts necessary, and start putting things back together Friday, Sat, and Sun.  Those will be major days, as it seems a little overwhelming all the parts stacked up on the workbench that have to go back on. 

• Head gaskets
• Exhaust manifold gaskets
• Downpipe gaskets
• Intake manifold gasket set
• Waterpump w/ gasket
• Cam seals
• Timing belt w/ tensioner, w/ spring
• All new radiator hoses, and lower intake manifold 90 degree hose
• All new accessory belts
• O2 sensor
• Oil Filter
• New catalytic converter

The parts
come in tomorrow, so this weekend we’ll get it all back together hopefully.  I’ll update my post as the days come and pass

After all the parts came in, we put them all on the motor. Everything went on perfect, with no troubles. We put on the new timing belt, and made sure everything was timed up. After everything was on, we started it up, and it started first try! I took the truck in to get the exhaust all welded back on. The truck runs awesome now! I Love it again!

Being the first Saturday of December, I thought it was time to pickup my Christmas tree, and go on a nature hike to boot! HAHA, and I just realized our Christmas tree is so ugly. Oh well.

Ventured to the beach today.  Weather was awesome, although, a little cloudy.  After Port Burwell, we drove to Port Stanley, then back to London. 

Thought I would finally make a post about my new car.  Lets first just say that I miss the Jeep dearly!  But I wanted something a little more mobile, something where I could get in it, and drive without all the loud racket.  I wanted something with a little bit of style, and something fun to drive. 

Meet Jocelyn!

What a fantastic trip! I have never seen better roads, scenary in my life!

I will post pics this week. I took over 500. Uploading them now.