Going Solo, Western Style, The 2nd annual ASN FIA Canadian Autoslalom Campionship takes place in Red Deer Alberta on August 19, 20 and 21, 2005

The Canadian National Autoslalom Championship (CNAC) have been taking place, off and on, over the years since the early 70’s. Last year ASN Canada FIA, the governing body of motorsport in Canada, began sanctioning Solo 2 or Autoslalom National level events starting with the 2004 event which was held at Sanair, Quebec and hosted by CADL from . The 2005 instalment of the Canadian Autoslalom Championships (CAC) took place at Westerner Fair Grounds in Red Deer Alberta on August 20-21st. The organizing clubs were Calgary Sport Car Club (CSCC) and Vancouver’s VCMC Motorsport Club with the Organizing Chairmen for the weekend long event were CSCC’s Reijo Silvennoinen and VCMC’s Henry Ho.

ASN SoloSport Rep Cliff Loh during the Day 1 Driver’s Meeting On the Wednesday preceding the event, pre-event scrutineering took place at Eau Claire Market in downtown Calgary. The idea was to get as many of the local competitors through scrutineering before the event to speed up the scrutineering process. Ironically enough the first competitor through pre-tech was ’s Jason Drummond as part of his “One Lap Of Canada” tour where he attended Solo 2 events in as many places he could across Canada, from Toronto to Prince Edward Island to Alberta and back, in 31 days.

Friday August 19th began with a SCCA EVO 1 half day Autoslalom School. The event organizers made arrangements for 3 SCCA National Champions to come up to Red Deer and lead a school for some 27 interested competitors.

A Test and Tune took place at Westerner Fair Grounds following the EVO school. This is where competitors got their vehicles into "solo trim" to get a few runs at speed on the surface that will be used for the weekend.

Jason Drummond’s Crew Chief and little brother Rob hard at work preparing for the event ahead After the Test and Tune was completed the organizing club set up the Day 1 course allowing people to remain on site to get a few course walks so the next morning could be spent with final event preparations.

August 20 Canadian Autoslalom Championship Day 1 - Red Deer, Alberta

The ASN Canada FIA sanctioned national Canadian Autoslalom Championships consists of a two separate days of competition on two similar courses. Both days would be run as separate events and at the end of the second day the quickest times from each day would be taken and added together giving each competitor an event time. Then the combined event times would determine the two day event class winners.

Waiting on the Grid to be scanned and getting ready to run All of the competitors would also have there two day event times PAX’d (a performance indexing system used to “level” the entire field so each vehicle can be compared to all other vehicles, regardless of car or prep level) to determine an Overall Event Winner or a National Autoslalom Champion.

The first day of competition was a busy and hectic day. Almost everyone had been pre-registered and pre-event scrutineered, either on Wednesday or sometime on Friday. Most competitors also had a chance to do the course walks the night before but now came the time for final course walks and sizing up the competition.

Since the event was held in Central Alberta, there weren’t a large number of competitors from the eastern part of the country. Five of Ontario's competitors had made the trek out to Red Deer including; Tony Kloosterman, Jason Drummond, Trung and Anna Do and Wes Tanney, all made the trip. Jason had previously made the trip to Red Deer for the 2003 CNAC event as well as last year's CAC event in Sanair Quebec. Both Tony and Wes were defending their National Class Championships from last year and Trung and Anna were in their first national level event. There were also a number of competitors from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but the bulk of the 125 competitors were from British Columbia and Alberta.

The announcer added a lot to the event, this one even had a Cowboy hat on to remind us we were in Alberta…. VCMC Motorsport Club provided their timing system for the event, complete with a big display and bar code scanner. Each car would pull up to the pre-grid where they were scanned into the system and shuffled back in line on the run grid. After completing the run, the display immediately flashed up the competitor's time so each competitor knew where they stood after the run. Commentary was also provided through out both days so the casual spectator and marshals would have an idea of what was going on with the event.

Everyone was broken up into run groups which were determined by class. Each competitor did all four of their runs almost one after another. This proved to be a challenge for some of the two driver vehicles, specifically those running the new Kumho V710's as these tires like to run at fairly low temperatures. The first driver had the advantage during their first two runs, but then the tires seem to go off with all of the heat build up. Most drivers using the Kuhmo's could be seen either spraying their tires down with ice water or wrapping them in cool wet towels trying to soak some of the heat out of the tires.

Don Nimi’s 500hp Nissan 240 SX There were some great class battles through out the day and the weekend. Day 1's closest battle was in B Stock where Calgary's Ambrose Fung and Greenwich Connecticut’s SCCA EVO School instructor Ken Frey, both driving Fung's Toyoto MR2 Turbo, were a mere 0.002 seconds apart. D Stock had Winnipeg's Mike Florence in a Nissan Sentra SER Spec V out in front by 0.539 seconds, but second, third and fourth in class were only separated by 0.218 seconds and fifth not far behind. G Stock had Calgary's Anthony Lo in an Acura RXS Type S narrowly edging Langley British Columbia's Neil Armstrong in a Toyota Celica by 0.122 seconds with another four competitors nipping at their heels.

SCCA’s Kevin Dietz getting used to the Miata C Super Stock saw Winnipeg's Cory Dyck just edging Seattle Washington's Kevin Dietz, another SCCA EVO School instructor, by 0.128 seconds, both drivers in Mazda Miata's. Another battle that was shaping up was in D Super Stock. Day 1 had Patrick Smith and his VW Jetta 1.8T out in front of Ryan Warrington's Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS by 0.158 seconds.

F Super Stock was also a close class with Scott Wolff from St. Albert, Alberta in his Mazda Protege just sneaking ahead of Toronto's Jason Drummond and his Honda Civic by 0.033 of a second and third place Robert Brigham and his Ford Focus ZX3 from Calgary was only 0.086 back from the leader.

C Street Prepared, pretty much a Miata class, had Westbank British Columbia's Jim McLaughlan ahead of Calgary's Rodney Brassard by 0.108 seconds and Vancouver's Yarko Petriw was only 0.417 seconds off the class lead.

Tom Kotzian lifting a front wheel in the Saleen E Street Prepared had last year's Class Champion, London Ontario's Tony Kloosterman and his Subaru WRX just 0.182 seconds behind Gladstone Oregon's SCCA EVO Instructor Tom Kotzian and a borrowed Ford Saleen. D Modified was another close one with Calgary's Warren Hope in a Toyota MR2 edging Spruce Grove British Columbia's Jerry Wood in his Corvette by 0.211 seconds.

After the PAX adjustment is made to each competitor’s run times, C Super Stock competitor Corey Dyck was on top of the Overall Championship with H Stock’s Nuno Ferreira in a close second and SCCA’s Kevin Dietz in third.

2005 CANADIAN AUTOSLALOM CHAMPIONSHIP DAY 1 INDEX RESULTS VCMC MOTORSPORT CLUB & CALGARY SPORTS CAR CLUB AUG 19~20, 2005 CAC.SPEEDRACER.CA ------POS CLS N DRIVER NAME CLUB YR MAKE MODEL SPONSOR TIRES BEST IDX ------1. CSS COREY DYCK WSCC 90 MAZDA MIATA WWW.WPG-AUTOX.ORG KUMHO 36.516 2. HS NUNO FERREIRA CSCC 02 MINI COPPER SHADOWTINTING KUMHO 36.579 3. CSS KEVIN DIETZ SCCA 90 MAZDA MIATA EVO SCHOOL,THANKS LAWRENCE KUMHO 36.622 4. FSP SHANE JENSEN VCMC 94 HONDA CIVIC KUMHO 36.741 5. CSS BRUNO WALTER UBC 91 MAZDA MIATA KUMHO 36.870 6. DSP DON NIMI VCMC 91 NISSAN 240SX PDM RACING KUMHO 36.874 7. AS REIJO SILVENNOINEN CSCC 03 HONDA S2000 MYTIRES.CA HOOSIER 36.882 8. ESS MARK BRAND ASA 04 SUBARU WRX STI TOYO 36.903 9. GS ANTHONY LO CSCC 02 ACURA RSX-S KUMHO 36.925 10. GS NEIL ARMSTRONG VCMC 03 TOYOTA CELICA KUMHO 37.021

Of course all of these classes, other classes and the Overall Championship battles had to carry over to the second day......

Lots of good food and company, not to mention door prizes were to be had at the Saturday evening banquet. The day was capped off with an awesome banquet held on site in the Westerner Fair Ground’s Frontier Room. This is where the real activities happened with lots of if only’s, bench racing, delicious roast beef and great company.

After the banquet dinner was complete, most competitors went back to the lot to do course walks on the Day 2 course that was now set up and open for walks. Of course at this point it was dark....

August 21 Canadian Autoslalom Championship Day 2 - Red Deer, Alberta

Day 2 of the Canadian Autoslalom Championship started off as it had the day before, with great weather and lots of nervous, but cheery faces.

The course was almost identical to Day 1's course, only the opposite direction. The only real changes to the course were the configuration of the start and stop boxes. Both days had the start box with a 90 tight corner before breaking the start beam. This way no specific car has an advantage during the launch, but this configuration caught some drivers out in that they hit the apex cone while making the 90 degree turn, before crossing the beam and adding two seconds to their run time.

Marshalling is part of our sport, when you are not running, you are marshalling or getting ready to run The battles continued through out Day 2. Some battles reversed, with the class leaders from Day 1 taking big hits and competitors from further down the order moving up.

After two days of competition Super Sport was won by Cochrane's Gord Spainer in a Corvette Z06. Day 2 had Event Organizer Reijo Silvennoinen just beating Vancouver's Tom Brydon by 0.15 seconds. Silvennoinen and his S2000 managed to claim the A Stock weekend win over fellow S2000 driver Brydon by 0.64 seconds. A Stock Ladies was won by Mississauga Ontario’s Anna Do in her Subaru STi.

In B Stock Ambrose Fung again managed to just beat Ken Frey by 0.315 seconds taking the two day event Class victory by 0.317 seconds. Calgary’s Colin Armstrong and Teresa Walker ended up on top C Stock had and C Stock Ladies respectively.

Things were heated in D Stock with Edmonton’s Robin Ng in a Subaru WRX coming from second place on Day 1 to take the class on Day 2 by almost a half second. That was enough for Ng to take the National Class title by 0.573 seconds followed by Mike Florence, Howard Cheng and Robin Tong who were only 0.121 seconds apart for second place. D Stock Ladies was easily taken by South Surrey BC’s Karie Smith in her BMW 320i.

2nd Place Overall, Nuno Ferreira and his H Stock Mini Cooper Peter Tkatch from Burnaby British Columbia had over a two second lead in E Stock in his Toyota MR2 and E Stock Ladies was won by Saltspring BC’s Tara Cambell, also in an MR2.

G Stock once again had Anthony Lo nudging Neil Armstrong, this time by just over two tenths, giving Lo the G Stock National title. H Stock was dominated both days by Calgary’s Nuno Ferreira in a new Mini Cooper with a five second lead over the two days. H Stock Ladies was easily won by Calgary’s Jennifer Lane in a Honda Civic by more than eight seconds.

As we move up to the upper preparation levels the battles get tighter and more interesting. A Super Stock had Day 1’s leader, Ryan Clark in a Porsche Carrerra 2 place third and Dennis Beck from Saskatoon winning the class, taking the Class title from Clark by 0.143 seconds.

B Super Stock had Sherwood Park Alberta’s Dave and Jeremy Ryder battling in a Honda S2000, with Jeremy ahead by 0.731 after Day 1 and Dave coming back on Day 2 with a 0.160 second win leaving Jeremy with the two day win. In C Super Stock, Day 1’s leader Cory Dyck was soundly beaten by SCCA’s Kevin Dietz, by 0.57 seconds, allowing Dietz to take the Canadian National Class title back to Seattle with him.

Pat Smith had the closest class win…… by 1/1000th of a second in D Super Stock In D Super Stock, Ryan Warrington turned the tables on Pat Smith just beating him on Day 2 by 0.156 seconds. This provided the closest class finish over the two day event with Smith taking home the D Super Stock Class title by a mere 0.001 seconds. Good thing Pat didn’t have time to wash that squashed bug off his front bumper because that is about the distance that the class was won by…… E Super Stock was won by St. Albert Alberta’s Mark Brand driving a modified Subaru STi.

Ryan Warrington was a very close second in D Super Stock F Super Stock had the results turned around on Day 2 as well with Toronto’s Jason Drummond and his Civic taking the Class over Day 1’s third place finisher, Calgary’s Robert Brigman in a Ford Focus ZX3, by 0.146 seconds and moving Day 1’s class leader Wolff down to third to take home the Class title by 0.199 seconds with Wolff finishing 0.625 seconds back of the leader.

Moving up to the Street Prepared level, A Street Prepared had Brent Thorkelson and his Porsche 911SC on top of the class. C Street Prepared had Day 1’s third place finisher, Vancouver’s Yarko Petriw, step up and take Day 2 by almost half a second over Jim McLaughlan, Day 1’s Class leader. That was enough of a margin of victory for Petriw to win the National Class Title by 0.148 seconds over McLaughlan on the two day event, with Rodney Brassard another three tenths back.

Tony Kloosterman gave chase to Tom Kotzian in E Street Prepared D Street Prepared had Burnaby’s Don Nimi in his Nissan 240SX dominate the class by almost five seconds. E Street Prepared again had SCCA’s Tom Kotzian just nipping Tony Kloosterman by 0.238 seconds to take the Class Title away from Kloosterman by 0.370 seconds.

Chestermere Alberta’s Jen Howe in a Pontiac Trans Am managed to take home the E Street Prepared Ladies title. F Street Prepared was a fairly easy ride for Kelowna British Columbia’s Shane Jensen taking the title by over three seconds. Jensen also managed the Fastest Time of the Day for the sedans on Day 2.

Daryl Evans’ Landrover Defender A Modified was won by Calgary’s Daryl Evans in a Landrover Defender, an interesting car to say the least. B Modified was won by one of the “Grandfathers of Solo 2” in Canada, John Haftner from New Westminster BC in a TUI BH3. John Haftner set the Day 2 Fastest Time of the Day

C Modified was won by the other “Grandfather of Solo 2”, Calgary’s Alan Rae in a Caterham Super 7. Rae managed the class win by over five seconds as well as taking Day 1’s Fastest Time of the Day. These last two competitors, Haftner and Rae, go to show you don’t need to be young to be fast. These older long time members of the sport are still very fast! A C Modified competitor, Vancouver’s Bernie Chiu, in his second place Honda Civic set the Fastest Time of the Day for sedans on Day 1. C Modified Ladies was won by Coquitlam BC’s Lisa Pusey in a modified third generation Honda Civic.

One of the “Grandfathers of Solo 2”, Alan Rae in his Super 7 D Modified had Warren Hope and his Toyota MR2, from Calgary, taking the Day 1 Class win only to place third on Day 2. Spruce Grove BC’s Jerry Wood and his multi-coloured Corvette stepped up to take the Class win on Day 2 and the Class title.

After Day 2 was complete again the PAX adjustment were made to each competitor’s run times. Day 2 again saw Nuno Ferreira in second place and Kevin Dietz in a very close third, but the Day 2 Overall Indexed competitor was F Street Prepared’s Shane Jensen.

2005 CANADIAN AUTOSLALOM CHAMPIONSHIP DAY2 INDEX RESULTS VCMC MOTORSPORT CLUB & CALGARY SPORTS CAR AUG 19~20, 2005 CAC.SPEEDRACER.CA ------POS CLS N DRIVER NAME CLUB YR MAKE MODEL SPONSOR TIRES BEST IDX ------1. FSP SHANE JENSEN VCMC 94 HONDA CIVIC KUMHO 37.621 2. HS NUNO FERREIRA CSCC 02 MINI COPPER SHADOWTINTING KUMHO 37.998 3. CSS KEVIN DIETZ SCCA 90 MAZDA MIATA EVO SCHOOL,THANKS LAWRENCE KUMHO 38.037 4. DSP DON NIMI VCMC 91 NISSAN 240SX PDM RACING KUMHO 38.264 5. ESS MARK BRAND ASA 04 SUBARU WRX STI TOYO 38.349 6. DS ROBIN NG ASA 04 SUBARU WRX KUMHO 38.447 7. BS AMBROSE FUNG CSCC 93 TOYOTA MR2 TURBO KUMHO 38.488 8. GS ANTHONY LO CSCC 02 ACURA RSX-S TECMOTION KUMHO 38.492 9. CSS COREY DYCK WSCC 90 MAZDA MIATA WWW.WPG-AUTOX.ORG KUMHO 38.509 10. ESP TOM KOTZIAN SCCA 88 FORD SALEEN EVO SCHOOL, THANKS LAWRENCE KUMHO 38.626

Overall CAC Champion, Shane Jensen and his F Street Prepared Turbo Civic Shane Jensen ended the weekend as the Canadian Autoslalom Championship’s 2005 Overall National Champion posting the fastest combined PAX indexed time over the two day event, followed by Ferreira, in second, and Dietz in third.

2005 CANADIAN AUTOSLALOM CHAMPIONSHIP Combined Indexed Results VCMC MOTORSPORT CLUB & CALGARY SPORTS CAR CLUB AUG 19~20, 2005 CAC.SPEEDRACER.CA ------Pos Num/Cls Driver Name, Club Make Model (Index) IndxTime ------1. 47/FSP SHANE JENSEN, VCMC HOND CIVIC (0.821) 74.362 2. 150/HS NUNO FERREIRA, CSCC MINI COPPER (0.777) 74.577 3. 110/CSS KEVIN DIETZ, SCCA MAZD MIATA (0.828) 74.659 4. 36/CSS COREY DYCK, WSCC MAZD MIATA (0.828) 75.025 5. 75/DSP DON NIMI, VCMC NISS 240SX (0.832) 75.138 6. 17/ESS MARK BRAND, ASA SUBA WRX STI (0.816) 75.252 7. 100/GS ANTHONY LO, CSCC ACUR RSX-S (0.782) 75.417 8. 132/AS REIJO SILVENNOINEN, CSCC HOND S2000 (0.828) 75.509 9. 161/CSS BRUNO WALTER, UBC MAZD MIATA (0.828) 75.521 10. 79/BS AMBROSE FUNG, CSCC TOYO MR2 TURBO (0.821) 75.686

A congratulations goes to the Overall Champion and all the individual class winners and also a big thanks are in order to the Event Clubs and Organizers, CSCC’s Reijo Silvennoinen and VCMC’s Henry Ho for doing a great job at putting together this the 2nd annual Canadian Autoslalom Championships.

Nunu Ferreira Sr.’s old school H Stock Mini Preliminary plans are under way to hopefully hold the 2006 event in Ontario that will hopefully attract competitors from all the way across the country as well as the United States. Stay tuned……

Wes Tanney CASC-OR Solo 2 Director CAC Techinical Advisory Committee Member

Photos by Sonia Tanney Photography