Friday

Austin and I travelled to Calabogie which is about three and a half hours from our house in Lindsay.   It was nice to get back on the road with Austin again, even though it was a relatively short drive compared to some of the others we have done this season.   Once we arrived later in the afternoon we got all set up and ready for action on Saturday morning.  Calabogie Motorsports Park is a very special place for us.   It is the site of Austin’s first ever car racing podium in 2019 as part of the Nissan Micra Cup and it’s also the place where Austin won his first Radical Series race back in 2020 on his way to his first Car Championship

Saturday

It had rained overnight and the track was still quite wet when it was time for practice later that morning.   The track surface at Calabogie is like no other we race on anywhere else.   It’s incredibly abrasive and porous.   Even when it slightly wet, it’s still acts like it’s dry when you drive on it,  as the water isn’t sitting on the surface like most tracks.   So while everyone else was on rain tires, we sent Austin out on used slicks.   It only took a lap or two to see we had made the right choice.   Austin was at least 10 seconds a lap faster than anyone else.    After a quick break qualifying was up next and by then the track was fully dry.  Unfortunately the used tires( from Laguna Seca) we sent Austin on weren’t quite to the task.   He radioed in at the halfway mark of the session complaining the car wouldn’t turn.  It’s not surprising considering how abrasive the surface is.   He was still able to qualify 4th overall and 3rd in class.   At lunch time Austin hit the track again but this time following a film crew who were getting some great action shots of him on track and that was it for the rest of the day.  Both races on the weekend would take place on Sunday.  

Sunday 

Again it had rained overnight, but by the time race one rolled around the track was completely dry.   Austin had a great start and immediately moved into 3rd overall by turn one.   There wasn’t much hope of him catching 1st or 2nd as their cars were significantly faster than Austin’s.  Austin was easily the fastest Radical on track and with about 5 minutes to go he had built up a lead of well over 20 second to the next car behind him.  Just then a full course caution came out for a crashed car.   Austin slowed his pace behind the pace car and as soon as he did, a temperature alarm came up on his steering wheel.  The water temp continued to climb and shortly thereafter it triggered a safety in the cars software which shut the car down.   Austin rolled slightly into the pits,  his race was over.   After getting the car back to our trailer and looking at the data it looked like the car did not overheat,  the problem was caused by the temperature sensor failing, which caused the car to shut down because when it fails the car treats it like it’s a max temp.   A good used one was found from another team and shortly after we were good to go for race 2.