C360R | Compass360 Racing

C360R Roar Before the 24 Daytona Test Report

2010-01-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

Compass360 Racing had, one must say, a remarkably successful showing at this past weekend's Daytona Test Days. We took three of the four Honda Civic Si's we’ll be fielding for the 2010 season in Grand Am’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge to the event, and managed to post top times in nearly every session.

We've signed an entirely new roster of drivers for this year, and the Test Days were a great opportunity for our pilots and crew to work together and get to know each other. This is important because the next time we'll be together will be under the pressure of a very fast race weekend as the lead-up race to the Rolex series’ 24-hours of Daytona at the end of January.

Zach Lutz and Ryan Eversley were in our #75 car, Jessee Combs and Gregory Liefooghe shared #76, while Carlos Tesler-Mabe, Lawson Aschenbach, Michael Duncalfe and I shared the team's new #77 Honda.

The weather in Daytona was unseasonably cold, with temperatures being pretty much on par with Toronto when we arrived late Thursday. Friday was not only near-freezing, but surprisingly overcast, making for unusual track conditions. Grand-Am had allotted us two one-hour sessions each day, and our Civics proved to be very quick right out of the trailer. Starting up where we left off last year, we were positions 2-3-4 in the morning practice, and then were 1-2-3 in the afternoon. As many know, equality between the cars is something we work very hard on, and this consistency was great to see.

One has to say that a lot of the teams at the test were working on developing new cars and new drivers, and that we undoubtedly had the strongest team driver line-up at the test. So the results, while impressive, aren't too surprising. The real test will be in three weeks time when everyone brings their "A" game for the actual race!

That said, our drivers and cars were equally strong on the other days. Morning practice on Saturday was iced-out (meaning the track had icy spots and was unsafe to drive on), but it had warmed (a little bit) sufficiently so that the competitors were able to go out in the afternoon. By the end of the session we were 1-2-3 once again.

We do detailed driver de-briefings after each session, and our rookie drivers (including Combs, Liefooghe, Lutz and Tesler-Mabe) were making great strides, and getting closer and closer to the times of Aschenbach and Eversley. Coombs, in fact, managed to put in a great time right in between our pros in one session. Quite impressive!

We reviewed video and data on Saturday night and were ready for Saturday morning practice, under sunny skies and slightly warmer temperatures. Some of the other teams were moving up the leader board, with one of the Minis in P1 for most of the first session, and a Jetta in third, with us in P2 and P4. Towards the end of the session, Eversley tucked in behind a GS-class Mustang and managed to get a simply amazing tow, setting the fastest time of the weekend.

In the afternoon we ran only two cars, with Combs setting fastest time in 76 in P1 and me laying down the top time in 77, putting it P3, 3/10th behind. One of the Jettas was sandwiched between, but none of us managed to eclipse Ryan's flyer in the morning.

In the end Ryan was fastest, with Lawson in P2, so being at the head of the field we’re understandably happy with the results.

With the cars packed up, the crew headed back to our Toronto base to prepare for the race on January 28-29. We’ve got a very strong package, with a collection of great drivers on tap for our championship defense, and we are very much looking forward to going racing again after the winter break.

We're hoping to be on the Daytona podium for the fourth year in a row...

Karl Thomson's Radio Interview on Voice America

2010-01-12T08:55:00.000-08:00

C360R Team Principal Karl Thomson was one of the featured guests on "The Right Turn with J.J. O'Malley" on VoiceAmerica. We talked about what our team's plans are for 2010 in the Continental Tire Sports Car Championship as we defend our triple-crown Street Tuner championships with our Honda Civic Si's, as well as our progress on the Grand Sport-class Mitsubishi Evolution X we're building.

Take a listen by clicking here.

JC CONCRETE PARTNERS WITH COMPASS360 RACING

2010-01-05T17:31:00.000-08:00

(Lawrenceville, GA) -- Compass360 Racing (C360R) today released details of the team's marketing partnership with J.C. Concrete for the 2010 season. The program includes multi-tiered promotion within the paddock and to fans.

"I'm so pleased to welcome J.C. Concrete to the Compass360 family," noted Team Principal Karl Thomson. "We believe -- and I know they agree -- that the Grand-Am paddock is a great place to develop new contacts, friendships and cultivate new business."

J.C. Concrete (http://jcconcreteonline.com) specializes in delivering high-quality builds to multi-family residential and commercial projects in the southeastern United States. A family-owned business started thirty years ago, they are as comfortable building retaining and foundation walls for a massive 400-unit apartment complex of townhomes as they are pouring the post-tension slabs for a new restaurant.

"We're thrilled to be part of the Grand-Am community with a Championship team," enthused J.C.'s Senior Project Manager, Justin Stauffer. "We are really looking forward to taking advantage of the great opportunities presented by the series to grow our business."

J.C. Concrete will be one of the primary sponsors on the team's #75 Honda Civic Si, and will be taking advantage of at-track activation and hospitality for business partners and prospects.

Remarked Thomson, "There is a surprising synergy between J.C. Concrete's core competencies and other companies who partner with Grand-Am teams. This marks the first year in a multi-year program with J.C., and we're excited to introduce a new firm to the Grand-Am community."

GRAND-AM's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge starts its year this week with Test Days at Daytona, Florida. The series' first race is on January 29th, as part of the Roar Before the 24 in support of the Rolex 24 Hours of Dayona, and will be televised, tape-delayed on SPEED TV.

C360R CONFIRMS LIEFOOGHE AND COMBS FOR 2010

2010-01-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

Compass360 Racing (C360R) today released details on their third season-long driver pairing in GRAND-AM's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Both are newcomers to the Continental paddock but are seasoned racers who expect to make their mark in professional road racing.

C360R won all three GRAND-AM Street Tuner championships (Team, Driver and Manufacturer) in 2009, and the signing of a third full-season duo represent the commitment the team has in its championship defense.

San Francisco-based Gregory Liefooghe comes to the team after a break-out season competing in a various championships from formula cars, go karts and touring cars. Last year, Liefooghe won two races and finished third in the Jim Russell Championship, had several wins in Rotax and ICC races, finished on the podium in the Skip Barber Western series, and won the E1 class in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill.

Jesse Combs, who hails from Woodlands, Texas, is no stranger to close-knit sports car racing, having competed in the Mazda MX-5 Cup series, finishing fifth in the championship in 2007.

The pair will drive Compass360's #76 Honda Civic Si and bring a new marketing partner to the team in the form of Coolgas, one of the largest distributors of refrigerants in the United States.

"I'm so excited to have the opportunity to race with the championship team in my first year in GRAND-AM," expained Liefooghe. "I learned a lot over the last few years and am looking forward to testing in Daytona next week."

Combs was equally enthusiastic. "I know the team will give us a competitive package, and I'm excited to be able to share data with the other Compass360 cars. It will be great to take the next step into a pro series."

Liefooghe and Combs join Lawson Aschenbach, Ryan Eversley, Zach Lutz and David Thilenius as team-mates in the iconic bright-orange C360R Honda Civic Si sedans.

"Jesse and Greg will make great team-mates in #76," noted Team Principal Karl Thomson. "They're both ready to move into pro racing and we're looking forward to helping them develop at this level. A note of thanks to the folks at Exclusive Management Inc. who were instrumental in putting the program together with Greg and whom we're looking forward to working closely with in the coming years."

The team also announced the addition of a fourth car for the entire Continental Tire Street Tuner season. "We have a bunch of guys who have driven with us in the last few years who time-wise can't commit to a full season, and the fourth car will be for them." Brothers Benoit and Donald Theetge from Boischatel, Quebec, will pilot Compass360 Racing's #77 Honda at Daytona.

GRAND-AM's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge starts its year early with Test Days at Daytona in early January. The series first race is on January 29th, as part of the Roar Before the 24 in support of the Rolex 24 Hours of Dayona, and will be televised, tape-delayed on SPEED TV.

UrbanRacer.com Pics C360R as an All Star in 2009

2009-12-17T20:29:00.000-08:00

UrbanRacer.com just released their annual top ten All Star List and Compass360 Racing one of them for our stand-out 2009 GRAND-AM season. Also on the list was C360R alumni Billy Johnson for his Time Attack domination in the FactorX NSX.

Go team!

C360R SIGNS ASCHENBACH AND THILENIUS FOR 2010

2009-12-17T04:47:00.000-08:00

Compass360 Racing today released details on their second season-long driver pairing in Grand-Am's Continental Sports Car Challenge. Long-time Grand-Am competitor David Thilenius will share the team's #74 Honda Civic Si with Lawson Aschenbach.

C360R won all three Grand-Am Street Tuner championships (Team, Driver and Manufacturer) in 2009, and these signings represent the commitment the team has in its championship defense.

Thilenius has raced in Grand-Am since 2005, most recently with Bill Fenton's Honda program, and his racing resume dates back to Formula Mazda in 1987. His career has includes seasons and wins in Grand Am Continental Sports Car Challenge, Formula Mazda, F1600, F2000 and the Firehawk Endurance Championship.

Aschenbach's resume features Grand-Am podium results, including a Daytona KONI win in 2009. He drove for the General Motors factory Team Cadillac program in 2007, won the SPEED World Challenge GT Championship in 2006 and has been a part of four manufacturer's championships, including Chevrolet's KONI title in 2008.

Thilenius and Aschenbach join Zach Lutz and Ryan Eversley as team-mates in the iconic bright-orange C360R Honda Civic Si sedans.

"I can't tell you how excited I am to add two more top drivers to our team," said Team Principal Karl Thomson. "Dave's been one of the guys I've wanted to have drive with us for years, and Lawson really kept us on our toes last season when he drove the Cobalt. These two guys have both stood on the top step of the podium and know what it takes to win races and a championship. By combining them with Ryan and Zach, I think we've got the best driver line-up in the paddock."

Compass360 Racing made history last year by being the first team to sweep the podium, with a dominant performance at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Not only did they win the Grand-Am Championship triple-crown but also took third in both the Driver's and Team points, once again being the first in the series ever to do so.

"I enjoyed driving for Bill Fenton the last three years," explained Thilenius. " I spent way too much of that time chasing these orange cars, so I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to race for Compass360 with a great co-driver like Lawson. Lawson has been quick in everything he's ever driven. We have a great team behind us and a championship-quality car in the Civic, so I'm looking forward to a great season."

For his part, Aschenbach was equally excited. "I had such a strong start to the year in 2009, and Compass360 was the team to beat. It was always neck-in-neck. So it's amazing to be here to go for the championship with David. I'm really looking forward to driving the Honda at Daytona and to notching some more wins for the team."

Grand Am's Continental Sports Car Challenge starts its year early with Test Days at Daytona in early January. The series first race is on January 29th, as part of the Roar Before the 24 in support of the Rolex 24 Hours of Dayona, and will be televised, tape-delayed on SPEED TV.

Compass360 has been on the podium at the season-opener every year since 2007, and hopes to continue that tradition in 2010.

COMPASS360 RACING SIGNS EVERSLEY AND LUTZ

2009-11-30T20:34:00.000-08:00

(Toronto, Canada) -- Grand-Am's 2009 Street-Tuner Championship-winning team Compass360 Racing (C360R) today announced the first of their season-long driver pairings by signing Ryan Eversley and Zach Lutz to drive one of the team's Honda Civic Si's.

"C360R is extremely pleased to welcome two great drivers to our team in 2010," enthused Team Principal Karl Thomson. "I've wanted to have Ryan on our team for some time, and know he'll be a great co-driver for Zach, who really stood out as one of the great talents in Mustang Challenge last year. We're going to once again bring our A-game to defend our championships, and these guys are a key part of that effort."

Lutz, who impressed in his first season of Mustang Challenge competition last year, started racing in Quarter Midgets at the age of five. In his teens he moved up to Legends, and then shifted his focus to road racing with NASA in a variety of cars, including an Audi TT, Mustang Cobra and finally at GTS-2 BMW 325is. He won two Grand National Championships and the TT-D Championship in 2007. He rounded out last season with his best result of the year, fourth, at the season-ending race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. "I'm so excited to have the opportunity to move another step up the ladder and to compete with a top team like Compass360," noted Lutz. "It's the next logical step for me, and I'm looking forward to getting on the podium and fighting for the Championship next year."

Eversley is no stranger to the Grand-Am paddock. His career started as a mechanic with Archangel Motorsports in 2001, which quickly led to a ride with the team in their ST cars. He drove a handful of races with Kinetic's E92 M3 program last year, leading the season-ending race at VIR with just minutes go before being taken out by a competitor in dramatic style. "I'm so excited to be able to join Compass360 in 2010! Everyone in the paddock knows they are the team to beat and hopefully I can help them keep that reputation!" exclaimed Eversley. "My Dad once told me to succeed in life you must surround yourself with the best people and for 2010, thats exactly what Zach and I have done."

Compass360 Racing made history last year by being the first team to sweep the podium, with a dominant performance at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Not only did they win the Team, Driver's and Manufacturer's Championships, but also took third in both the Driver's and Team points, once again being the first in the series ever to do so.

"We really had an amazing season last year," said Thomson, "and it's going to be hard to top that. But we've been pretty consistent over the past three seasons, and I know we'll be up to the fight with Ryan and Zach."

Lutz and Eversley will take to the track in their iconic orange-and-black liveried Honda during Grand-Am's test days at Daytona in early January, and at the first race coming shortly thereafter at the 24-Hours of Daytona weekend on January 29th, 2010.

PakExp Racing Signs Thomson for 9-Hour Enduro

2009-11-18T16:35:00.000-08:00

PakExp Racing's Brian Makse asked C360R Team Principal to join them for the season-ending NASA 9-Hour Enduro at Road Atlanta in the team's championship-winning #786 Honda Civic on December 2nd. Also on the team is Jack Baruth, who drove with C360R at VIR this year. "It's going to be great fun driving one of PakExp's super-light Hondas in Georgia," enthused Thomson. "Surprisingly, Road Atlanta is one of the few great North American tracks I've never raced at, and I'm looking forward to going flat out with Brian and Jack."

The team will contest the E2 class win, building on Makse's PTE championship earlier in the year.

C360R Alumni Busy On Track

2009-11-10T07:24:00.000-08:00

Compass360 alumni Jack Baruth, Billy Johnson, Jose Leroux and Kevin York have been busy over the past few months. Click the "Read more" link below to find out what these lads've been up to...

Jack Baruth, Master-Jedi of Internet Fame -- who had his first outing with Compass360 at the season-ending VIR event in October --was recently tapped as The Truth About Cars star journo compete in GM's Cadillac CTS-V Challenge. Unsurprisingly, he was top of the charts in the Caddy, after his eye-searing-green Audi S5, which he brought along as a competitor to the Caddy, lost its brakes. Read the whole sorry tale here. Just a few days prior Jack climbed the podium at Laguna Seca at Skip Barber's inaugural Mazdaspeed Media Challenge, once again representing TTAC. Baruth is one of four drivers who will compete in the upcoming NASA 9-hour enduro at Road Atlanta, alongside C360R Team Principal Karl Thomson.

Billy Johnson, who drove with us in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and is currently factory driver for Rousch Racing's KONI Mustang effort, took a dominant win in the Redline Time Attack season finale at Auto Club Speedway in the absolutely wild FactorX Acura NSX. Billy Big-Time was overall winner (and now track record holder) with a time of 1:36.103 beating the old record of 1:38.3. Check out some fun video of the event here.

Jose Leroux, who led the 2009 KONI Homestead race during his stint in our #75 Honda, recently won the Dominican Touring Car Championship. Piloting his newly-painted Acura TSX (which interestingly was our Grand-Am Championship winning #76 car) with Caterpillar Sponsorship, Jose took a dominant victory, his second in as many years. Details on the series here, and here.

And alphabetically last, but decidedly not least, the master of The Art of Racing in the Rain -- Kevin York -- who drove with us for the 2008 season, was back at his old stomping grounds in the northwest. WCTC's Team OYorDunFor finished a very respectable fifth in class and ninth overall in the 34th annual 12 Hours of the Cascades held at Portland International Raceway, where the conditions ran the gamut from dry to torrential downpour and all variations in between. Check out Kevin's report here.

As we put together our final driver line-up to defend our KONI Championships, it's nice to see our alumni being successful in other series as well. Congratulations and well done lads!

Compass360 Racing Wins Grand-Am ST Championships!

2009-10-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend at Virginia International Raceway, Compass360 Racing won all three Grand-Am Street Tuner Championships: Team, Driver (Christian Miller) and Manufacturer (Honda). The marks the first Grand-Am championship not just for our Team or Christian, but also for Honda. We scored every point for Honda this year (meaning that we were the top-finishing Honda in all eleven races), and we're immensely proud of what we accomplished this year.

A full race report will follow in the next few days, but as our crew returns home to unload the rigs and retire for a few days well-deserved rest, we'll enjoy the feeling of a hard-won championship; one that we've been so-close-to-winning for three years.

Lombardi Racing's Nick Wittmer Wins CCTCC Championship

2009-10-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Nick Wittmer and Lombardi Racing on taking their first championship in the Canadian Touring Car series! The bright yellow-and-black Lombardi Honda Civic Si's faced a tough battle from other Honda-powered cars (including a couple of Acura RSX-S's), as well as some surprisingly quick Subaru WRX's. But the year-long battle was with the four BMWs of GT Racing. In the end, the Wittmer took the title, relegating the bimmers to second and third place.

Lombardi is a long-time C360R client, and we assist them with technical and parts development. Well done Lombardi and Nick!

Miller Looks to Wrap Up Season With ST Title

2009-09-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 26, 2009) – Christian Miller wasn’t sure how much he was going to run this season in the Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge.

Following a solid performance in the 2008 Street Tuner (ST) class, Miller was expected to compete sparingly with Compass360 Racing, one of the top teams in the series, in a Honda Civic Si. He would start off in January’s season-opening Fresh From Florida 200 at Daytona International Speedway, and go from there.

Yet, when the opportunity came for the San Jose, Calif., driver to drive with veteran Randy Pobst, he jumped at it. The pair finished 12th at Daytona, but jumped to the top of the point standings with a victory in March’s Fan Appreciation Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The pair also won at New Jersey Motorsports Park, and Miller has never looked back.

Now, in this Sunday’s season-ending Bosch Engineering Octoberfest at Virginia International Raceway, Miller will try to complete his championship run and earn his first-ever Grand-Am championship. He owns a 31-point advantage (286-255) over Andrew Aquilante and Kristian Skavnes, who also entered last year’s season finale at VIR second in the points.

With 35 points available for the victory, and Miller holding the victory tiebreaker to Aquilante and Skavnes, Miller would need only to finish 27th.

It doesn’t seem likely that Miller would finish that low. Aside from that 12th-place result at Daytona, he has finished no lower than seventh since. His aforementioned victories are a part of five podium finishes and seven top-10 finishes this season.

They haven’t all come with Pobst, however, who is third in the standings, only 20 points behind Skavnes and Aquilante. Pobst had other commitments running against two of the KONI Challenge ST races, therefore giving Miller an edge over his veteran co-driver.

Miller and Pobst will drive Compass360 Racing's #74 Skunk2/034 Motorsport Honda Civic Si at VIR, while Skavnes and Aquilante drive the No. 111 Subaru of America Subaru Legacy.

If Miller goes onto win the championship, the No. 74 would also give Compass360 its first-ever KONI Challenge team crown. Team owner Karl Thomson and Billy Johnson were second in driver points two seasons ago in the No. 74 Acura TSX, while Adam Burrows was second in 2008. It would also give Canada its second consecutive team owner championship. Last season, Georgian Bay Motorsports won with Canadian driver Jamie Holtom. Ironically, Holtom will be driving Compass360's #75 for the VIR event.

Despite such a strong season, Miller and VIR have never completely warmed up to each other. Miller’s best finish in three VIR starts is 13th. Meanwhile, Pobst have four starts, with a GS II class victory with TPC Racing in 2003.

The championship race became twofold following the race Sept. 18 at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. In that race, Ian Baas and Josh Hurley finished second, which was enough for them to grab second in the points. However, officials ruled unauthorized engine modifications on their No. 171 APR/Gunther VW Volkswagen GTI, as well as the team’s No. 181 APR/BBS Volkswagen GTI, were carried out, and neither car nor driver earned championship points. However, APR Motorsport kept its victory, and will be shooting for its fifth victory of 2009. The No. 181, driven by Dion von Moltke and Mike Sweeney, has a season-high three wins, while Baas and Hurley won once in the No. 171.

Pobst and Miller join von Moltke and Sweeney as the only other drivers with multiple victories this season in the ST class.

Practice for the event begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, with qualifying at 3 p.m. The four-hour race is scheduled to start at noon Sunday.

Courtesy Grand-Am.

C360R Alumni Dominates Time Attack in Acura NSX

2009-09-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Compass360 Racing alumni Billy Johnson has been on a tear lately. Not only did he take his first Grand-Am KONI Grand Sport win in Utah two weeks ago, he dominated the field and placed first overall in last weekend's Redline Time Attack at Spring Mountain Raceway in Pahrump Nevada, piloting his FX Motorsports NSX to victory in the Dsport Unlimited RWD class while securing the overall victory as well, unofficially turning the fasted time ever at Pahrump in a production based car.

Nice to see Billy bring a Honda back on the top step again. Well done!

Full story here.

C360R Mitsubishi Evo Project Car Gets Washed

2009-09-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

This is movie we shot for my son Miles so he could see our new project car after I picked it up from Mitsubishi in California. Here, I'm washing the grime off after my drive from CA to Utah. The Evo is an amazing car and should be quite a potent race car... more to come!

2009: The Championship So Far

2009-09-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

This year has been another nail-biter of a season in Grand-Am's KONI Street Tuner Championship. As in year's past, it'll likely come down to the last few laps of the last race of the season, which takes place at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in early October. Before that, though, the series heads west to Utah for our penultimate event at the beautiful Miller Motorsports Park just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.

The year's been another good one for the Compass360 Racing team (which we shorten to C360R, especially convenient for web use: http://C360R.com). Going into the second-last round, our driver Christian Miller sits first in the Driver's Championship, 25 points up on second-place duo Andrew Aquilante and Christian Skavnes. Similarly, we're ahead by the same margin in the Team's Championship over the Subaru team. The Manufacturer's Championship is even tighter, with Honda leading Volkswagen by 16 points, largely on the recently strong pace of APR's VW GTI's.

It's been a tremendously interesting year in Street Tuner, with plenty of ups-and-downs along the way. Starting with the season-opener back in January as part of the 24 Hours of Daytona, when Georgian Bay Motorsports began this season the way they ended the last one, by delivering a dominant victory. The Subaru was second and our #76 car was third, driven by the Canadian duo of Matt Pritiko and Travis Walker. Our #74 car, with Miller and Randy Pobst at the helm, finished twelfth, while #75 was tenth piloted by Jose Leroux and Bo Roach. Not a bad start to the season, but our goal is always to have three cars in the top ten, and so we obviously had some work to do to deliver on that.

Homestead/Miami proved that we were on the right track, with Miller and Pobst taking our first win of the season, with Leroux and Roach improving up to ninth. Pritiko and Walker, unfortunately, retired and were classified 25th.

It was the next race, at New Jersey Motorsports Park, where it all the pieces fit together for us, and allowed us to make history. We tapped the talented Eric Curran to drive #75 with me, while the Miller/Pobst and Pritiko/Walker duos remained intact. Crew Chief Ray Lee played the strategies for each car perfectly, and with ten minutes to go our orange Honda Civics were running nose-to-tail, racing for the lead. At the checkered flag it was Pobst ahead of Walker who narrowly edged out Curran, for a Compass360 1-2-3 finish, something that no team has ever done before in the series, which dates back to the Firehawk days in the 1980's. It was an impressive feat that I frankly wonder will ever happen again. But it was a huge celebration in our paddock that night, as we'd served notice that after two solid second-place Championship finishes in 2007 and 2008 that we were making 2009 our year!

Even though the performance levels of the different cars in KONI are very, very close, with a command performance like that, we expected Grand-Am to give our Civics some performance adjustments, and they didn't disappoint, adding some weight and reducing our fuel capacity. We'd see how those changes played out in the coming races, as we moved into the tightly-packed race schedule of the early summer.

For the Laguna round, Randy had other commitments, and we asked last year's Street Tuner Champion, Jamie Holtom, to drive with Christian. Bret Spaude, who'd been driving with Bill Fenton's team (who also field Hondas) and who was right the the hunt for Rookie of the Year honors, joined me in our #75 car, as Fenton had decided not to do the long west-coast swing. Travis and Matt took the helm of #76 in what turned out to be their last run together as co-drivers.

Miller and Holtom had a good run, finishing fifth, while Rookie Spaude and I finished sixth, all four of us battling with those guys and girls at the front end of the stick. Pritiko ran a strong first stint, but a few laps after their driver's change the exhaust header on #76 broke free, which brought Walker into the pits. It was an eerily familiar event, bringing back memories of the 2007 event at Laguna, where my then-co-driver Billy Johnson suffered a similar failure. Unfortunately, unlike the '07 event, which ended with a race win for Billy and me, in '09 it meant a few laps in the pits, during which Travis jumped out of his seat, meaning Matt effectively started and finished the race. He took the checkered flag in 16th, but Walker earned no points as he hadn't spent the required thirty minutes in the car.

Things were different for Travis at Lime Rock, a week after Laguna. He teamed with John Kuitwaard, who'd impressed in his MX-5 Cup outings over the past few seasons. Pritiko took second stint for Glenn Bocchino in #76, Bocchino having done very well with his Grand Sport BMW M3 this year. Ironically, Glenn spent 2008 as one of our fiercest competitors as owner of the i-Moto TSX team. Randy was once again back with Christian in #74, so it was "game on" all around. Bocchino set the early pace, clearly comfortable in his first outing in one of our new Hondas (I'm pretty sure he liked the Civic a lot more than his old TSXs!). Christian was right there, as well, while Kuitwaard in #75 was finding that KONI is sometimes somewhat of a contact sport!

After a few rough-and-tumble moments in #75, Kuitwaard pitted, doing a driver change and putting Travis in. Our other cars also took advantage of this stop, and so it was going to be a battle to the finish. Walker drove an inspired race, fiercely battling with one of the VW GTI's, and coming out on top in the last few laps. It was his first KONI win after four years in the series, which he shared with Kuitwaard in his first-ever KONI start. Miller and Pobst finished 4th, just off the podium, while Pritiko suffered a rather substantial crash in the closing stages of the race, he and Bocchino classified 17th after a very strong early run.

Pritiko was given an opportunity to move to local Ontario circle-track races for the rest of 2009, which meant Walker was paired once again with Kuitwaard for the sixth KONI round at Watkins Glen. What ensued was an astonishing battle up front, with veteran talent Pobst unable to keep up with youngster Dion von Moltke in his Volkswagen. This made for great television coverage on SPEED, but it was clear that the APR cars were the class of the field, and even the vast talents of Christian and Randy were unable to best the GTI's. Walker was caught up in a wreck mid-way through his stint, which brought an end to another promising result. Miller and Pobst finished second, which I'll admit was a little disappointing, since Compass360 Racing had finished first at that track in 2008 and 2007. I know it's a little petty to be unhappy with a solid podium, but we all felt Watkins was ours to lose.

At this point, even though the VW's were strong, we expected our closest competitor would be Georgian Bay, last year's Championship-winning team who had come out of the box in very strong form. But after Watkins Glen, they announced they'd be pulling out of the championship. This was a shame, as their two Chevy Cobalts were sitting in second and fourth place at the time (our three Hondas were first, fifth and 13th). They'd finished 3rd at Watkins. I know they'll be back next season, and I expect their new GS-class Camaros will be a very strong package out of the box. I, for one, look forward to their return.

Mid-Ohio's a favorite track of mine. Although I didn't pilot one of our KONI cars in the race, I had been invited to drive the Mustang Challenge series' Media Car. It was my second Media Car ride of the year, having been in the SPX-sponsored Ford at Mosport, finishing a pretty creditable sixth place there. The marketing arm of Compass360 had been hired as the agency of record for the series, which meant we were tapped for our expertise in extending the brand and telling the story of the Mustang Challenge season. It also meant I'd been asked to deliver some solid media coverage for the Mosport event, and we delivered, with a slew of great stories in print and on the web, including videos on YouTube and a full-page article in the Toronto Sun. Mid-Ohio was my chance to have another solid finish, which I did despite some rather stout competition and an unfortunate issue with the braking system. I had great battles and look forward to a chance to race a Mustang again soon!

Meanwhile, our Hondas were running very competitively in the Mid-O KONI event. As ever, one of our cars was top of each practice session, or very close to it. Walker was on form, with co-driver Kuitwaard improving his times each session in his third consecutive outing with the team. Miller and Pobst were strong, as expected, with Christian notching third place in qualifying. Our pleasant surprise of the weekend were our Mustang Challenge transplants, Ted Anthony Jr. and Jamie Slone. Both have proven their front-running ability in the heavy, rear-drive Fords, with Jamie having finished second in the 2008 championship, and Ted in a tight battle for the top spot in 2009. I'd expected them to do well, but the fact that they were both on the pace, and right with the front-runners, was refreshing.

Miller qualified third behind the two VeeDubs, who were clearly in their own class, with Anthony close behind in fourth, and Kuitwaard just outside the top ten in 13th. Excellent early-race battles ensued, with Miller and Anthony doing their best to keep in touch with the astonishingly fast GTIs. Our two lads had a spirited battle, which saw Ted pass Christian in the early stages, with good, clean racing that this team owner always likes to see. Meanwhile, Kuitwaard had been tagged going into the Madness complex, dropping him down the order and putting paid to what should have been a promising result. At the checkered flag it was, as we'd expected, an APR VW rout at the front, with Pobst bringing #74 home in third place, and Jamie Slone doing a great job in his first time with the team by finishing sixth. While we were thrilled with another podium for Championship leader Miller, we were truly impressed with the Anthony/Slone pairing, who were close to the top spots all race long. So much so that Ted Anthony Jr. will be with us again at the Utah event this week, where he'll share one of our Honda Civics with another Mustang Challenge driver, D. Rick Edwards.

After Mid-Ohio, the series moved to the lovely, picturesque Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. Honestly, although I love the manicured grounds and absolutely epic motorcycle museum at this track, I've got to admit that it's not one of my favorite circuits. The track surface is very granular, and the temperatures -- and worse, humidity -- are less than comfortable for the drivers. This year was no exception and we struggled to find a good compromise between the cool, morning set-up, and one that worked in the mid-afternoon temperatures during which the ST race would be held. Note to Grand-Am: the Mustang Challenge event in April is the -best- time of year to be at this track!

Matt Bell joined us for this race, having impressed in a late-season test in 2008 and another one earlier this year. Matt's been something of a phenomenon in KONI GS-class qualifying, having put his BMW M3 on pole more times than anyone else all season long in 2009. Unfortunately, his race results haven't always shown the kind of pace we know he's capable of, and so we were keen to have that happen in the ST race. We paired Rookie Spaude with Bell for this race, while Benoit Theetge was teamed with Bocchino, who we tapped to do the closing duties in #76. This was Benoit's warm-up before he was to drive with Christian in his home event at Trois-Rivieres, a few weeks hence.

Barber was a great event, despite the APR GTI's and the lone Phoenix Subaru Legacy running away from the rest of the field. Christian fought valiantly at the beginning of the race, remaining in a solid third, before our 100lb weight bonus began to wear his tires and brakes. He held on as best he could, while we tried alternative strategies for the other cars. At the flag, the best we could do was seventh place for Christian and Randy, with the Spaude/Bell duo a not-too-shabby 10th. That result kept Bret solidly in the hunt for the Rookie Championship, and meant that Christian was still leading in the Driver's. Compass360 was still top spot in the Team's points as was Honda's for Manufacturer's.

And so we moved on to Trois-Rivieres, a favorite spot on the schedule for the drivers and teams, and the lone Canadian date this year. Again, we did our best to stack the deck driver-wise, with Theetge standing in for Randy in #74, and Marc-Antoine Camirand joining me in #75. Camirand is one of the most winning drivers at the circuit, despite his young age, and was also very competitive in his BMW Z3 Coupe (a reminder of our early KONI days) in the Canadian Touring Car sessions. The Toronto-based Kwok brothers, Gary and Tom, drove #76, making our line-up all-Canadian, except Christian. The two Quebec drivers were huge fan favorites and generated a lot of great press and local tv appearances. Once again, we tried different strategies that resulted in remarkably similar mid-race positions by mid-race, with Theetge in fourth just ahead of Camirand in fifth, and Kwok seventh. Unfortunately, Kwok tagged the wall coming onto the front straight, destroying the front shock, which left the two Quebeckers trying valiantly to get to the podium.

In the end Camirand was fourth and Theetge sixth, two solid results that we'd ordinarily be quite happy with. But after a second place in 2007 and first in 2008, we really felt we should at least be on the podium (shades of Watkins Glen!). It was great to have a Freedom Mazda on the top spot (and also in third), after the hard-fought battles we've had all year, but the VW's had another strong finish by placing second. Perhaps we didn't need that extra 100 pounds after all?

Still, the Subaru of our closest competitors finished 13th after having some contact with a tire barrier, which meant we extended our championship lead to 25 points, with two races to go. As always in KONI competition, the battle is tight and fierce, so it's far from in-the-bag. The VWs have been extremely strong over the middle part of the season, and you know both of those cars, along with the Subaru, will be fighting us tooth-and-nail.

As always, it promises to be a good fight. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

Keep the rubber side down,

- Karl -

Compass360 Launches New Site for Burry Signs

2009-09-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

C360R's parent company, Compass360 Brand Communications, recently completed the design and development of a new website for one of our sponsors, Burry Signs.

Long-time supporters of our race team, Burry Signs offers comprehensive signage options to the clients, who include the Home Depot, McDonalds and many others. Their customer-focus and attention to detail has been appreciated by our team, who is featured in the "Vehicles" section of the new website. Thanks especially to Carmen, who often pulls a rabbit out of her hat for us when we need some last-minute decals!

Compass360 Racing Extends Championship Lead at Trois-Rivieres

2009-08-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

Compass360 Racing (C360R) extended its lead in the Grand-Am KONI Street Tuner championship with solid top-ten results at this weekend's frantic race at the legendary street course in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada.

The Street Tuner race, held as part of an epic weekend of racing in this picturesque riverside town two hours east of Montreal, promised to be a battle of attrition as drivers were required to keep their cars intact within the tight confines of the twisty concrete gauntlet.

With this event's race only ninety minutes in length (compared with the usual KONI race length of two-and-a-half hours), it was clear that a variety of pit stop strategies would be employed. In order to score points, each driver is required to spend a minimum of thirty minutes on track, which meant that the championship contenders would have to pit after the thirty-minute mark. The C360R team did exactly that for current Championship leader Christian Miller, who handed his #74 Honda Civic Si over to Quebec Touring Car legend Benoit Theetge.

Crew Chief Ray Lee called a different strategy for the #75 Civic of Team Principal Karl Thomson, pitting after a handful of laps and handing over to Marc-Antoine Camirand, who is tied for the most race wins at the circuit. "We hoped to gain some track position by using this strategy," explained Thomson. "Since I'm not in the points hunt this year, it made sense to get Marc-Antoine out as soon as our fuel window opened."

The #76 Honda of brothers Gary and Tom Kwok pitted closer to the half-way mark, with the team hoping for a good result of all cars in the top-ten. Unfortunately, while running in seventh, the #76 car tagged the concrete wall in the last turn coming onto the front straight, damaging the front suspension and putting an end to a very promising run for the Kwoks in their first time in KONI Challenge competition.

Meanwhile, Theetge and Camirand were running nose-to-tail in fourth and fifth, respectively. Both knew that brake management would play a key role in the outcome of the day's race and done their best to keep a front-running pace while using as little brakes as possible.

With fifteen minutes to go, Theetge found himself on backing plates. With Miller's main rivals (Subaru's Acquilante and Skavnes) having experienced troubles earlier in the race which had put them two laps down), Theetge knew his role was to bring the car home and gain as many points as possible for his co-driver. He let Camirand by to make a run for the podium while consolidating his own position.

Camirand made up ground on the third-place Mazda of Tom Long, valiantly attempting to pass until the last five minutes when he, too, felt the brakes go metal-to-metal. He wisely backed off, and at the checkered flag, it was Camirand and Thomson in fourth, with Theetge and Miller finishing sixth.

"I am very happy," laughed Marc-Antoine to an enthusiastic crowd. "Benoit and I are the top Quebec drivers here, and we had a great battle for the fans. I would have liked to be on the podium, but that will have to wait until next year when I hope to drive with Compass360 again."

The sixth place finish for #74 extends Miller's championship lead over Acquilante/Skavnes to 25 points (256-231), while Honda remains ahead of Volkswagen in the Manufacturer's Championship by a somewhat narrower margin of 16 points (277-261). "We pushed as hard as we could today," remarked Miller. "Having to wait until thirty minutes probably hurt us a little over the guys who pitted early. But we'll take the points!" Indeed, this result means that the #74 car has finished in the top ten (winning twice) in every race this year except the first, at Daytona, where it placed 12th.

With two races to go, the KONI championship is very tight, as it's been for the past few years. The series heads west for the next event, at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah, on September 18th-19th, where the battle will continue.

Theetge Poised For Trois-Rivières Victory

2009-08-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

TROIS-RIVIÈRES, QUEBEC – The streets of Le Circuit de Trois-Rivières are like second nature to Benoit Theetge of Boischitel.

This Saturday, Theetge will once again compete in the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, the 1.521-mile temporary circuit playing host its 40th year of racing. He will drive in the Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge, as a co-driver to Christian Miller, the point leader in the Street Tuner class.

Theetge began competing at Trois-Rivières in the early 1990s, and has a handful of wins at his home track. However, none have compete in the KONI Challenge, which is a successor series to the Motorola Cup that toured Canada during the previous decade.

Theetge and Miller will drive the #74 034Motorsport/Skunk2 Honda Civic Si for Compass360 Racing of Toronto. Last season, Compass360 fielded the winning machine – an Acura TSX – for ST winners Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood, as well as three other cars. This season, the #74 has two victories – both with Miller and Randy Pobst – and overall, Compass360 Racing has three wins in eight races. With Pobst busy racing elsewhere this weekend, Theetge steps in, and hopes his efforts will award him with a share of the victory.

"No doubt, Trois-Rivières is a special track for all of us," said Theetge, who will make his first KONI Challenge start of the season Saturday. "Even though good drivers are competitive there, there are challenges – the braking zones, the walls. The walls can be intimidating – if a driver is scared of them, they will lose a second or so. I have been competing at Trois-Rivières since 1992 or 1993, and I skipped a couple of years there, but by the time I started competing in Motorola Cup, I was competitive."

Theetge has four KONI Challenge starts at Trois-Rivières – three in ST and one in the Grand Sport class – with a best finish of third in 2001 with another Quebec driver, Jocelyn Hebert of Becancour.

"Honestly, I believe I am on the best team out there," said Theetge, who has led laps in each of the last three KONI Challenge ST races at Trois-Rivières. "But racing is racing. The last three years, I led – 20 minutes from the end, 40 minutes, an hour – but never came up winning. Typically, the track is hard on brakes, but this year, I don’t believe it will be because the race is only 90 minutes. There will be a lot of different strategies. I know the car will be competitive and I will be competitive – it’s my home track.

"I have won there before in other types of cars, but I am not thinking about that right now" Theetge concluded. "I want to drive well and get the maximum amount of points for Christian to keep his championship alive. Those are my goals."

C360R Retains KONI Championship Lead with 7th Place at Barber

2009-07-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

After putting in strong team performances in the first half of the 2009 Grand-Am KONI season, including an historic podium sweep in New Jersey, Compass360 Racing showed up last week at the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama ready for another top Street Tuner-class finish.

Christian Miller looked to retain his championship lead with co-driver Randy Pobst in the #74 034Motorsports / Skunk2 Honda Civic Si. Two Grand Sport-class BMW drivers joined the team for this round, as the GS and ST races were run on separate days. Matt Bell, who has impressed in his Turner M3 all season, joined Mesco Rookie of the Year contender Bret Spaude in the #75 Skunk2 / Hondata car, while Glenn Bocchino returned to front-wheel drive with Canadian touring car veteran Benoit Theetge in the #76 Honda.

Qualifying proved to be a one-lap flyer, with the normally-long-lasting Hoosier tires being at their optimum on the first or second pass across the line. At the end of the fifteen-minute session, Miller was third behind the astonishingly quick VW of Josh Hurley and championship contender Andrew Acquilante in his Subaru. Spaude pushed hard, but his quick laps was spoiled when he touched the grass after the high-speed chicane, putting him in 10th place, with Theetge right behind in 11th.

Despite heavy weather threatening during the practice sessions, Saturday's race was run in the bright southern sunshine and a seasonally-unusual temperature in the mid-80's. The track surface remained hot, however, which meant that tire conservation would play an important role in the race. At the start, Miller did well and remained in the top three, while Spaude and Theetge made their way up the grid.

Crew Chief Ray Lee brought the #76 in during an early yellow to try a different strategy and Bocchino took over from Theetge. While the strategy very likely would have yielded a good result, Bocchino brought the car into the pits mid-race with a blown gearbox, which meant retirement for them.

Meanwhile, the team's other two cars had executed pits stops, with Bell at the helm of #75 and Pobst in #74. Both cars displayed a tendency to oversteer, and Bell in particular was caught by SPEED's cameras putting on a pretty creditable drifting clinic. Unfortunately, that didn't end up being the fast way 'round, and at the checkered flag, Pobst was 7th and Bell 10th.

"Those VW's are just so darned fast," remarked Pobst. "I can honestly say we had nothing for them this weekend."

The seventh place result means that Miller retains the lead in the Driver's Championship, now 18 points ahead (231-213) of the Subaru Road Racing Team duo. Compass360 leads the Team points by the same amount, and the team's amazing run so far means that Honda is ahead of Volkswagen by 20 (249-229). Compass360's other cars are also well-positioned, with #75 in fourth and #76 11th.

The Grand-Am KONI race at Barber will be shown live on SPEED TV on Saturday, July 25th at noon. Expect to see some great on-track action as well some good-natured fun with the SPEED hosts.

Bell Returns to ST Class Competition with C360R

2009-07-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

By any measure, Matt Bell has had a break-out season in his very first year competing in the top Grand Sports (GS) class of Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge competition, setting new track records as well as taking a record number of pole positions after kicking off the year with a dramatic win in the season-opening race at Daytona.

But one thing he hasn’t done since move up to GS is run the second half of the endurance events as his team has tapped the youngster for his qualifying and race-opening talents, a strategy that has paid dividends with Bell leading over 70 laps so far this season.

However this weekend, Bell will not only get to run the opening stint of the GS, but he’ll also get a shot at closing the Street Tuner event on Saturday as he returns to compete in the ST class with series powerhouse Compass360 Racing. Bell will be sharing the driving duties with Bret Spaude, who will qualify and open the race before turning the No. 75 Honda Civic Si machine over to Bell to charge to the finish.

Bell raced a BMW in the ST class in 2008 as he stepped up to KONI Challenge after success in the BMW Club racing ranks. The chance to build his front-wheel drive resume with a strong team was one that Bell didn’t want to pass up, even though it will make for a busy weekend for the Daytona winner, with the ST Class race on Saturday evening ahead of the GS Class event on Sunday.

“This is going to be a busy weekend!” joked Bell. “But it’s a great opportunity for me to race for Compass and I want to thank Karl (Thomson, C360R principal) for making this possible. This is the kind of weekend drivers really look forward to. Qualifying and starting the races in GS has been really satisfying, but I’m also looking forward to running to the checkered flag on Saturday. I learned a lot about racing in KONI last year, but I feel like I have some unfinished business and hopefully we can make it back to the podium this weekend.”

Compass360 Racing has made quick work of the deployment of the all-new Honda Civic Si, taking 3 wins -- including a series record-setting 1-2-3 podium-dominating performance at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Bell will also have the advantage of some level of familiarity with the car, after having impressed the team in testing the car at Mid-Ohio in June.

“Matt really impressed us when he tested the car last month, so we’re happy that he’s able to join us this weekend at Barber,” said Thomson. “This has been a great season so far for us, and hopefully Matt and Bret will add another chapter to that this weekend. He’s been really strong in GS this year, and we’re excited to see him close out the race on Saturday night for us.”

Practice begins Thursday morning with a track practice day, followed by practice Friday afternoon and qualifying Saturday morning. The two-and-a-half hour ST race is scheduled for 2:50 PM on Saturday, with the GS race slated to start at 8:20 a.m. Sunday.

Ciekiewicz Strong at Toronto Indy with C360R

2009-07-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

Compass360 Racing's Dave Ciekiewicz took to the streets of Toronto last weekend for the Honda Toronto Indy at the helm of the team's #36 Acura TSX. Entered in the Acura Sports Car Challenge, the fifth round of the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship, the team's signature matte-black and florescent-orange TSX was a hit with the huge number of fans that turned out for the Saturday and Sunday CCTCC races.

"It was so great to race on this track and to see all the people in the stands," enthused Ciekiewicz. "The racing was close, and I know people love to see our production-based cars battle against each other on this tight circuit."

Indeed, there is no room for error on the concrete-walled gauntlet that forms the Toronto Indy track. Ciekiewicz qualified eleventh, continuing to improve and adapt to the front-wheel-drive Acura after starting the first two races of the year in a rear-wheel-drive BMW.

On Saturday, DC demonstrated masterful racecraft, moving up through the field and finishing seventh during the first CCTCC race of the weekend, held in the mid-afternoon. "The car worked really well, and I'm still getting used to the nuances of a front-wheel-drive car," remarked Ciekiewicz. "It's amazing how different it feels to go into a corner loose and to put your foot to the floor, knowing the front end will pull you out and put down the power."

For the second race, on Sunday morning, Dave was in the heat of the top-ten battle. At the two-thirds point, he tried a late-braking maneuver down the end of the long back straight along Lakeshore Boulevard, which would have worked wonderfully had another car not been parked backwards at the apex of corner three. As it was, DC did an astonishing job of keeping the #36 Acura off the walls and other competitors, and running down the escape road. He quickly turned around and rejoined the race, now in 19th, which was where he finished, not having enough time to make up the positions he'd lost. (Some great YouTube footage here).

"I was impressed with Dave's drives this weekend," noted Team Principal Karl Thomson. "It's a great event, right in our own back yard, and to see DC do so well, continuing to improve session after session, was fantastic. Our guys did a great job too, and I'm just thrilled with the whole team, with special thanks Ivan Ceccato and Steve Scala who really pulled out all the stops."

Compass360 Racing's next event is this coming weekend, where they will once again field three front-running Honda Civic Si's in Grand-Am's KONI Challenge, this time at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. The team current sits first in the KONI championship, and hopes to extend that lead.

Dave C's Big Save at Toronto Indy

2009-07-14T11:43:00.001-07:00

This short video shows driver Dave Ciekiewicz's amazing late-braking maneuver at the end of the Toronto Indy's long back straight. It all would have gone so well if only that white BMW hadn't spun at the apex of corner three ;-)

Ciekiewicz Ready for Toronto Indy

2009-07-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

Compass360 Racing's #36 Acura TSX will be part of the historic return of the Toronto Indy this coming weekend. The Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship is on the ticket for this fantastic event, which is one of the biggest sporting features of the year for the city. With nearly 100,000 fans expected to attend, it's certainly one of the highlights of the Toronto summer.

Driver Dave Ciekiewicz is looking forward to tearing down Lakeshore Boulevard in the C360R black-and-orange Acura. "This event is going to be awesome," he enthused. "The Touring Car field is so competitive and there will be a lot of cars jockeying for position. The goal is to try and stay with the lead pack and keep out of trouble."

Team Principal Karl Thomson is equally excited. "This really is the jewel in the crown of Canadian Touring Car, and has to be considered the premier event in Canadian motorsport. Being a Toronto-based team, we know there will be a lot of fans and friends who will be coming out to watch the races."

Held just west of downtown Toronto on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition and making use of a long stretch of Lakeshore Boulevard, the Indy is one of the best temporary road circuits in North America. With the IRL open-wheel cars making their return after a one-year hiatus, the weekend promises to be full of great racing. This means that drivers and teams will need to arrive with cars well set-up as there is minimal track time.

Ciekiewicz current sits thirteeth in Super Touring points, but well within striking distance of eighth place. As fans have come to expect, the CCTCC racing is very close and the drivers will have to be careful at Toronto, where a small mistake can result in a very costly meeting with the concrete barriers that surround the track.

Practice and qualifying for the CCTCC cars takes place on Friday, with one 30-minute race each day on Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday race starts at 3:45pm, and the green flag drops on Sunday at 10:00am.

---

Compass360 Racing (C360R) is the motorsports division of Compass360 Marketing Communications, a firm offering branding expertise to clients in diverse industries across North America. The Championship-winning race team, with support from Honda of America, fields three Honda Civic Si's in Grand-Am's KONI Challenge, as well as the #36 Acura TSX in Canadian Touring Car. For details visit http://C360R.com and http://compass360.com .

C360R's TSX Goes Digital

2009-07-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

Cory Linton sent us a screen grab of the C360R Canadian Touring Car TSX that he's recently completed for the video game GTR Evolution. He's done an amazing job of getting the livery spot-on and the car looks amazing. Very cool, Cory! If you want a copy of the car, contact Cory here.

Thomson Takes On the Mustang Challenge

2009-06-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

Lexington, OH --For two weekends in June, I was behind the wheel of a race car that's quite different from the one I'm used to. Normally I'm either driving or calling strategy for one of Compass360 Racing's bright orange Honda Civic Si's. These nimble little front-drivers have proven to be rather good race cars, as we're currently leading the Driver's, Team's and Manufacturer's Championships in Grand-Am's KONI Challenge. We made history a month ago by being the first team in series' history to sweep the podium (at New Jersey), and have had four different drivers take race wins so far this year.

So when I strapped into the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge's white #00 "Media Car" at Mosport, I wasn't sure what to expect. Here was a car that tips the scales at nearly 1,000 lbs heavier than one of our Hondas. It sits on different tires (BFGoodrich R1's rather than KONI-spec Hoosiers), and is driven by the rear wheels.

Fortunately, I had a little help from my friend Scott Maxwell, who had been called in by the FRMC to help coach drivers at one of the most difficult tracks they'll visit all year. Scott took his duties pretty seriously over the weekend, and after every session you'd find him with his notebook in hand making his rounds through the paddock, giving pointers and offering advice to each and every Mustang pilot.

On Friday morning Scott and I worked on setting my #00 steed up for Mosport's long, flowing, high-speed corners, and I worked on reprogramming my brain back to rear-wheel bias. I started out racing rear-wheel drive cars (my Rothmans Cup Porsche 944, then C360R's Grand-Am BMW Z3's, and my third-gen Mazda RX-7), so it didn't take too long to remember how to float the car in to a corner and power it out. But it did take a little longer to get used to hustling such a big, heavy car through the twisty stuff without over-heating the tires!

At lunch time we took a number of local media luminaries out for a few laps. This is something we do at every Mustang Challenge event, and it's been a great way to generate some extra interest in the series. We shoot some video of these "media rides" and package them up so that our guests can post them on their websites and link to them on YouTube.

In fact, this is one of the reasons that the folks at FRMC invited me to drive the #00 car. The Mustang Challenge is a client of the marketing communications firm (Compass360) of which I'm a partner. We've helped the series build their brand and worked with them on advertising, created the series' website, and we do the event videos of each race. When the discussion came up as to who would drive the Media Car at Mosport, I suggested that the local media really would be more interested if the person in question was Canadian, and everyone agreed. Cleverly, I was the only Canadian in the room and thus was an easy choice!

With a great full-page story in the Toronto Sun (above) and our media videos posted on a number of websites and blogs, it was time to concentrate on racing. I qualified seventh, and was raring to go on the start. But I pulled out of line a little early and had to get out of the throttle to get back in line (you're not allowed to initiate a pass before the starting line, or face a stop-and-go penalty). This loss of momentum allowed a couple of guys past and I dropped to tenth.

But as we've come to expect from the Mustang Challenge, there was a lot of excitement to be had in the 45-minute race. Tire management is very important, because the heavy Fords can heat them up and change the way they behave. The BFG's proved to be remarkably sticky during the first part of the race, and I had some great door-to-door action with a number of the series' regulars as we jockeyed for position. The two championship leaders (Andrew Caddell and Ted Anthony Jr.) had tussled in corner two on the first lap, running off course and both ending up at the back of the pack. They had to make their way carefully through, each tangling with a few guys on their return trip to the front. Caddell managed to do so without too much damage, but unfortunately Ted Anthony was caught out big time in corner eight after being spun and tagged by another car. Caddell finished second, while Anthony Jr. took a rather undeserved DNF.

For my part, I managed to claw my way back up to sixth and despite some very close racing, returned the car without a mark on it. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when Series Director Lynda Randall invited me to drive the #00 again at Mid-Ohio the very next weekend.

At Mid-O, the Mustang Challenge was on the card with Grand-Am's Rolex and KONI series, and so it would prove to be a busy weekend for me, jumping between driving duties in the Mustang and helping manage our Civics in KONI. Fortunately, Leo Capaldi's team, who run the #00 for FRMC, brought in some additional engineering help to work with us drivers to set up the cars.

As a spec-series, the goal is to have the cars as similar as possible so that driver talent is showcased. This means that although there are only a limited number of changes the team can make to car set-up, making sure the combination of small variations work well as a complete system is vitally important. Not only that, but the engineer has to anticipate how the car will change over the course of the race. For example, I was able to run quick laps at Mosport with the rear sway-bar attached, but we found that over the race distance the extra rear grip ground the tires down so that I had a very, very loose Mustang for the last ten or fifteen minutes.

So we spent Thursday and Friday's sessions trying different changes to each of the four cars the Capaldi team ran at Mid-Ohio. One of the sessions we ran was in the rain, and I managed the second-fastest time despite only turning two laps, which resulted in me doing some rather ungainly rain dances in the paddock (bring on the rain!). That said, we made some good improvements and I qualified seventh (and first of the Capaldi cars) in the dry, with the hope that we had a good handle on the set-up we'd need for Saturday's race (which also ended up being dry).

Over the first few laps of the race I made up for my poor Mosport start and was up to fifth, trailing the two leaders (Caddell and Anthony Jr., as you might guess), with Tony Buffomante (who won at Mosport) and Mike McGovern (a driver coach at the Bondurant school) immediately ahead. The fun of a spec series is that there really isn't much to choose between the cars and so you can run nose-to-tail for many laps, trying to pressure the guy ahead into a mistake.

Unfortunately for me, the hope for a top-five finish faded with my brakes in rather dramatic fashion just fifteen minutes into the race. Diving into turn one, the centre pedal went to the floor, and after a rather lurid moment gathering the car up, I settled into a rhythm for each and every corner: frantically pump the pedal to get some pressure back, brake early and feel the pads grip, and then feel the pedal give out again and hit the floor. I figured I'd cooked the fluid, but upon inspection the team did find a fault in the braking system which had led to the problem. Regardless, the team ended up being pretty pleased with my 10th place finish, which was again top dog in the Capaldi stable.

Over this year I've been really impressed with the high-calibre of driving talent of the guys in the Mustang Challenge. So it was with great anticipation that Compass360 Racing fielded a car at Mid-Ohio driven by two FRMC pilots. Ted Anthony Jr., mentioned above, currently sits second in the Mustang Challenge driver's championship. And current FRMC Marketing Director Jamie Slone took second spot at the end of the series' inaugural season last year. They drove our #76 Honda Civic Si in the Sunday race at Mid-Ohio.

Both guys have limited experience in a front-wheel drive car, and it was gratifying to see both of them close to the top of the charts during practice. They both showed great focus and worked with Crew Chief Ray Lee to get the car working, and to improve their own level of performance. They thrilled us with a fourth-place qualifying (Ted started and qualified the car and Jamie finished), just a fraction behind current KONI Championship leader Christian Miller in our #74 car (who qualified third).

As we have come to expect from KONI races this year, Mid-Ohio was a nail-biter. APR's VW GTIs were clearly in a class of their own, and we were left battling the Phoenix Subaru, Freedom's MX-5's and Turner's BMW for third. Ted Anthony Jr. had a great stint, getting past Christian and taking up third before handing off to Slone, who worked his way back up after a pit stop that was a little long (the driver change, which I did, took a little more time than usual). At the checkered flag, Jamie snagged sixth place, which cements a very impressive result from the two Mustang boys in their first KONI outing.

I've said all year that there is an amazing group of drivers battling it out in the Mustang Challenge. For two of their top guys to have such a strong result in an ultra-competitive professional series like Grand-Am's KONI Challenge is proof positive of this.

Check out the series' website at http://mustangchallenge.com for all the details, including an ever-expanding selection of event videos, driver profiles and more. And expect to see more Mustang Challenge drivers on the top of the podium in KONI and other series in the very near future. They really are that good!