There's a certain focus that you see in the eyes of a truly professional athlete. It's that of a single-minded purpose. One that is able to cut through the cacophony of our modern world, that manages to focus on the task at hand: to do what it takes mentally, physically, to win.

Compass360 Racing has an interesting contrast in the drivers of our #75 Acura TSX this year. On one hand we have Kenny Wilden, a man who needs no introduction to fans of road racing in North America. He's one of the paddock's most experienced racers, with a career spanning decades through Firehawk, Player's GM, Motorola Cup, Trans-Am and Champ Car Atlantics. Kenny's co-driver is Jeremy Willard.

Willard is an exceptional athlete, but is new to racing. In the mid-90's he was an internationally seeded windsurfer, an IMCO Olympic-class champion twice. Over a three year period he won nearly every championship he entered and travelled to Maui to further his pursuit of a professional career, but left the island to complete his education in British Columbia. Back in Canada, he took up wakeboarding and soon after was competing professionally in the U.S. and Canada.

Two years ago Jeremy took up golf for the first time. He now carries a single-digit handicap. It's this kind of dedication and focus that's beginning to show real results in his KONI Challenge efforts. Proof positive? Jeremy and Kenny took third place at Iowa after Jeremy qualified the car ninth. It was his sixth car race, ever. You read that right. Sixth race EVER. No regional racing, no BMW Club. He's jumped in to the KONI Challenge with both feet and has steadily improved race after race, notching a podium finish at the season's half-way point.

I think it's interesting that competition experience in one discipline can help in honing ability in another. As Jeremy says, "I like to do things competitively or not at all."

Clearly, he's given himself the best tools possible. A strong driver coach and a proven car and team are important components to maximum performance improvement in a short time. Says Jeremy, "I had to put together the ultimate package. If I didn't have the coach, didn't have the team and car, I couldn't have had this level of success so quickly." Willard continues, "There are so many variables... I'm now at a point where I'm competitive and I want to attack the field. I want to drive longer stints, and I'm having a blast!"

Jeremy's qualified strongly in the past few races, and we're expecting more of the same, especially at New Jersey, a track which is new to most of the drivers.

Labels: gablog

As you can imagine, the Compass360 Racing (C360R.com) team is coming off a major high, winning our second-consecutive race at Watkins Glen, with our drivers Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood notching their first-ever KONI Challenge win.

The three-week break to the next race hasn't meant the team is lounging by the pool; on the contrary, there's lots of action in preparation for Iowa.

Our new four-door Civic Si, which replaces the one that was destroyed at Lime Rock earlier this year, is now at the shop. King Motorsports did an amazing job of taking a zero-mile Civic and installing a cage even more robust than the one that kept me from serious injury in the five-barrel-roll wreck I had at Lime Rock. This is the first car we've had that was essentially fresh from the factory. No water damage, no theft recovery. This was a pristine car, and the hope is that it'll make our best race car yet. Watch for my notes on our "Civic 2.0" that'll debut in New Jersey in a few weeks time.

Prior to that, a two-door Civic coupe will be added to our fleet for Iowa. It'll join our two Acura TSXs (#74 and #75) as part of our three-car effort at that event. For Trois Rivieres, a week later, our Acura RSX will join the fray, and we'll be back to our usual four-car line up.

Iowa and Trois Rivieres are worlds apart. But one thing that they share are their enthusiastic fans.

Last year, in Iowa, we had 12,000 fans at the race. When we went to dinner, our drivers and crew were deluged with fans, young and old, who wanted to talk to us about our race, and get autographs. It was fabulous! And with the promotion that's been done this year, we're expecting even more interest. It promises to be an interesting race, with GS and ST on track at the same time on a 55-second lap circuit -- there won't be much between each class and we'll all have to give each other room if we want to make it to the next race!

That'd be Trois Rivieres, one of the highlights of the KONI season, in my opinion. It's pretty close to home for us (about seven hours drive), and my wife and kids will be there. Mary has attended the past few years, but this is the first time for daughter Laura (11 years) and son Miles (8). The rest of our drivers are also bringing their families (Kenny Wilden's wife and two boys, Kevin York's wife and son, Jeremy Willard's new bride, and Christian Miller's dad will all be there), and it promises to be a blast.

Canadian fans are so passionate about racing! Trois Rivieres is one of the best examples of that, with the entire town shutting down its main street over the weekend, and turning in to what can only be described as a Carnivale. We dine on absolutely stunning food overlooking the shores of the St. Lawrence River. The next day, tens of thousands of fans show up to cheer the teams on. We've had good results (second place in 2007) and have run strongly there in the past few seasons. But Trois Rivieres, and Iowa, are more than just races. They're great celebrations of motorsport that give us the opportunity to connect with real fans, who are truly passionate about street stock racing, and who are hungry for more.

I'm hopeful we'll be able to give them something to cheer about!

Labels: gablog

Two weeks ago I was celebrating Compass360's first win of the season at Watkins Glen. It was fabulous to see Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood take their first KONI win after battling with them, right down to the wire, in 2007. As we all know, they won the championship last year, but my co-driver Billy Johnson and I took the most wins, including one at the Glen. Which means we've won this race two years in a row.

It was a great battle, which interestingly enough came down to a late-race duel with our friends at HART, with Shane Lewis driving their Accord for (what rumor has as) the very last time. It mirrored 2007, when Billy passed Shane on the last lap, managing to hold on to the win. This year, our Acura TSX was out in front, with Trevor holding off Shane as the race drew to a close.

So the roles were reversed: we were leading and HART behind. On a late-race restart, Shane got a massive run going, and tried a move very similar to the one Billy pulled on him the year before. But although the Accord has absolutely astonishing power, it also weighs a lot more and Shane ended up in the gravel trap. I think any driver would have tried the same thing because Shane was not just going for the lead of the race, but was hoping to give the Accord a great send-off after a remarkably successful career in KONI Challenge.

The Accord got going again many places back, which left the race to be decided between our proven TSX and the relatively new Civic Si of Bill Fenton Motorsports, at the hands of the experienced and talented Bob Endicott. At the end it was our Acura on top, and a Honda second, so I know the folks at Honda of America were pretty happy with the result (we'd spent time talking racing and business with them during the weekend since the Indy Racing League (IRL) was on the ticket at the Glen and Honda supplies all the engines for those cars).

Standing in Victory Circle at the Glen, I was absolutely gleeful. I was thrilled for Adam and Trevor, but even more so for our crew, who have persevered through some tough challenges we've presented to them this year, and who always give their all.

We'd started the year well, with Travis Walker and I taking third at Daytona, and being first in the points going in to Lime Rock after some technical problems bumped the top two cars out. But then I got taken out at Lime Rock, barrel-rolling five times in the process and destroying our brand new Civic Si that seemed set for a top-five result. The next weekend one of our TSXs was destroyed in practice, which set us back even further.

But our crew soldiered on. At Mid-Ohio, we gave them clutches to fix and engines to swap. During the race, Ivan went back to the trailer to repair a broken hub on Adam and Trevor's car to get them back out to take a few valuable points (great TV coverage of that, I will admit!). And our crew showed up at Watkins, ready to do what was necessary to win, as they always do.

So as the champagne sprayed, I thought, that this win belongs to the team and our amazing crew. To Adam and Trevor who brought the car home without a mark on it (while our other two cars suffered rather serious damage that kept them from being in the top ten where they belong). To Ray, our Team Manager and my business partner, who brings these guys together and has everything mapped out to the tiniest detail. To Petr, who (like Ivan the race prior) repaired the 73 car after a massive shunt to get it back out to try and get some points. To Turtle, who managed the 76 RSX to a good result, on the lead lap, despite the fact it hit the wall and suffered substantial damage. To Ivan and the 74 team, who finally got the win they deserve! To my father, and all of our team. You guys made this happen, and you do it every weekend. Congratulations, and thank you!

That was brought home to me because, for the first time in the history of Compass360 Racing, I was not one of the winning drivers. While we worked to rebuild the two cars that were destroyed at Lime Rock and Mosport, I'd elected to sit out these mid-season events to ensure that the drivers that signed with us at the beginning of the season continue to get the very best we can give them. I've been calling strategy and doing my part in the pit, which is also good fun, although I'll admit it's not quite the same as being behind the wheel!

Watkins marks our team's sixth KONI Challenge win. I've been driving for five of those, and I'm looking forward to being back in a car soon to challenge Adam and Trevor for the top spot on the podium before the year is out!

Iowa promises to be an interesting race...

Labels: gablog, reports

THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN is a truly wonderful book. A tale about an aspiring race car driver, Denny Swift, and how the lessons he's learned on track help him through a time of remarkable adversity, as told by his dog Enzo. The book's been well-received by critics, is well-positioned on the New York Times' Bestseller List, and is currently Starbuck's Book of the Month selection. The book's author, Garth Stein, was one Good Morning America earlier this week talking about it.

The publisher, Harper Collins Canada, is using our #75 Acura as part of the promotion of the book.

I enjoyed reading the book six months back when I received the pre-release copy of the manuscript. I enjoyed reading it even more this weekend, holding an actual copy of the book I'd received just a week prior (and signed by Garth), with the drama of our Mosport event fresh in my mind.

If ever there was a weekend of adversity, Mosport's Father's Day 2008 was it.

We started the weekend with our three Acura TSXs ready to go, and with last year's RSX-S standing in for our Civic Si. Yes, the Civic that had been destroyed in its maiden event at Lime Rock. Happily, we knew the RSX was strong at Mosport (and Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen) at the hands of hot-shoe Travis Walker, who finished third in his first-ever KONI event in 2005 at Mosport.

What we weren't expecting was to lose another car, the second in two events. But that's exactly what happened when the #75 TSX found itself crumpled against the wall in corner one during a practice session.



A tough weekend for that to happen on, with Mosport being our home race. We had invited a lot of people, including an entourage from Harper Collins, to the track with the promise of putting on a good show. At least there was an interesting sculpture (the wreck) for them to see when touring the paddock!

It was clear that while Kevin York, who was driving the #75 when it hit the wall, was thankfully uninjured, he was in too much pain to drive that weekend. With he and co-driver Christian Miller sitting second in the points, it made sense to have Christian take my seat in the RSX-S. Which means I sat out my home race, losing any hope of defending my victory from the year before, and effectively ending my championship run.



The race itself had its own set of challenges, including an utterly chaotic group of pits stops during a mid-race yellow flag period. Even though we pitted at the right time, and many others didn't, there weren't any penalties given out because a track official, outside of Grand Am's control, held a sign saying "Pits Closed" when in fact they should have been open. This meant that our cars all lost valuable track position and had to battle back up through the field.

No matter! Great drives by Trevor Hopwood in the #74 TSX and Travis Walker in the #76 RSX saw those two cars finish nose-to-tail in fifth and sixth positions. These fine finishes see these cars and drivers solidifying their top positions in the Team and Drivers Championships (third and fourth, I think), while Kenny Wilden and Jeremy Willard scored their first top-20 of the season, finishing 18th after a very strong run that was marred by contact during Willard's stint that broke a rim. Chris and Travis' run in the RSX proves that there's still some kick left in the old girl!

So just like Denny Swift in THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, we'll continue to fight as we move to Mid-Ohio. We'll once again have four cars, having drafted a BMW 330i from our friends at Fountain Motorsport, for Kevin and newcomer Marko Radisic to run, alongside our usual Acuras.

Being ST-only, it promises to be a great race!

Labels: gablog

First off, I have to make it clear that the idea of a "Father's Day" report is entirely John Vincent's. John owns and Crew Chiefs the #24 V-Pack BMW, and our dads are both a big part of our race teams. The plan was to do a joint blog with a nice photo of all of us at Mosport, but the weekend's events (which included us writing off our second car in two races -- of which more in my next report) meant that never happened. So look for John's thoughts on Father's Day in a separate report, with mine below...

After a pretty good Saturday, which saw two of our cars finish fifth and sixth, I had a chance to spend Father's Day at our cottage, playing with my kids. They're young enough to still enjoy playing baseball with me, although I'm beginning to feel over-matched against the two of them! When the rain came, we played cards inside and generally had a nice day together with my wife.

While they went swimming, I had some time to sit on the dock, recalling some great times I've had with my own father, Phil. As far as our team goes, he's a big part of it. He handles logistics, drives one of our rigs, and does an amazing job of organizing our hospitality and ensuring everybody is well fed.



Dad's been a part of our program since day one, starting in 2004 when he and my Mum drove the team's rather tired and rusty old white panel van, pulling our lone BMW Z3 on an open trailer all the way from Toronto to Alabama. Looking back at that, I can say we've come a long way in a short time!

My father's always loved road trips, and my childhood was spent in the passenger seat of a variety of cars as we ventured further and further afield. It started with camping trips to the Thousand Islands when my sister and I were still quite young. The trunk of our Pontiac LeMans was full to the brim, and over the years we developed quite a large collection of gear, with a big Woods tent for sleeping, and another for playing in, Coleman stoves and lanterns; the works.

When we were a little older, the complex was replaced by a much more compact arrangement, which allowed us to travel further while fitting in to the new family ride, a diesel VW Rabbit, which replaced a Ford Torino. We had two Rabbits, a blue 1979 and bright yellow 1981, which successively transported us on trips to the east coast, and then the west (out to Vancouver, down to San Diego and back past the Grand Canyon to Toronto over a three-week period), and finally, the biggest driving trip we ever did, to Acapulco.

On the Acapulco jaunt, we didn't do so much camping (much to the delight of my Mum who put up with a lot of bug-bites and pretty rustic accommodation over the years). But we did drive from T.O. to Mexico City, and then down through the mountains to Taxco and finally the coast and Acapulco. It was an amazing journey that took us four weeks, in which we saw Mayan ruins, dined in a great restaurant owned by a couple from Montreal in San Luis Potosi, and swam in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. The funny thing was, we blended in perfectly, because since the Rabbit at that time was built in Mexico, it was one of the most popular cars on the road; the only thing that was different about our little VW was the Ontario plate!

So although I didn't get involved in racing until I was in my thirties, I think it's safe to say that my love of cars and driving is something I get from my Dad.



My own son has that same passion, and at seven years old is immersed in the world of Hot Wheels and Lego and Gran Turismo. He's become pretty good at the latter, and so we recently visited the go kart track at Mosport and he was so excited to put on his little helmet and gloves, and to drive around after the instructor. Seeing the huge grin on his face at the end of his session, it's clear that it's part of who he his, as it is for me, and for my father.

So to everyone, Happy Father's Day!

And Dad, thank you.

Labels: gablog

Mosport is a special track. It's one of those circuits that, like Watkins Glen and Laguna Seca, are recognized as one of the best places to race in North America. Like those tracks, it's got great motorsports history, including epic Formula One and Can-Am battles that are the stuff of legend. It's a track that rewards commitment, consistency and (as anyone who's done corner two the way must be) it's not for the faint of heart!

Thankfully, this amazing stretch of tarmac, this motorsports mecca, is less than one hour from my front door.

Given the constraints of the KONI schedule and Grand-Am's rules on testing, we've not done as much testing at Mosport as you might expect. But we did have our three TSXs and our Honda Civic (now no longer, alas) there in April, and so we're expecting our cars and drivers will be on pace.

As you can imagine, being our home event, this is a pretty big deal. The team's friends and fans come out to cheer us on, and we also have a number of our sponsors attending as well. Book publisher Harper Collins Canada will be using the event to promote the newly-released book THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, written by Garth Stein. Already one of the top fiction books on the New York Time Bestseller list (plus it's Starbuck's Book of the Month and currently #1 on the Taiwan charts!), it's the story of an aspiring race car driver and the challenges he faces in his life, as told through the eyes of his dog, Enzo. The lead character was inspired by one of our drivers, Kevin York, who (along with co-driver Christian Miller in our #75 Acura TSX) currently lies second in the KONI Challenge Driver's Championship. Garth and Kevin will be handing out copies of the first chapter of the book at Mosport, and we have planned an at-track interview with them and the track announcer for Saturday morning. For details see http://www.GoEnzo.com.

Earlier in the week, on Tuesday June 10th, I've been invited to be part of Mosport's media launch which will take place in one of Toronto's many hip downtown locales, the Distillery District. I'll be joining the multi-talented championship winner Scott Maxwell to talk about the KONI Challenge, alongside a couple of the drivers in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, who we're sharing the event with as headliners. Scott's been one of those drivers that I've always admired, and I'm honored to have the opportunity to represent the KONI Challenge with him. One of our Acura TSXs will be on display during the event, and I think it will be interesting to talk with the media about just how "stock" our cars are, when sitting next to a NASCAR Stock Car!

So as you'd imagine, the team and I have a hectic week. Especially because we've been busy repairing three TSXs from the battle wounds at Lime Rock, and preparing last year's RSX-S for battle to replace the much-lamented Honda Civic that was destroyed there just a few weeks ago. That work is almost complete, and (as usual), you'll find all four cars coming off the trailer ready for testing on Thursday morning.

We're ready to try and grab victory at Mosport for the second year in a row!

Labels: gablog

So there I was, hanging upside-down, looking at the grass through a shattered windshield. Held in only by my harness, and clearly out of communication with the crew, all I could think of was the points.

Yup, Driver's Championship Points. As in those Travis and I would be losing, since it was pretty clear that our shiny new Civic wouldn't be getting any on account of it sitting on its lid at the far reaches of Lime Rock's Big Bend.

We'd tested our new matte-black Honda Civic Si the two Fridays prior at Mosport, and although it's not got as much power as some of the other cars in the Street Tuner class, (Crew Chief) Ray Lee and the boys had clearly built a well-balanced and nicely drivable car. Given that Lime Rock's a momentum track, we had high hopes of a good finish that would keep Travis and I up front in the Driver's Championship.

The Memorial Day schedule doesn't allow for a ton of track time, and with nearly 50 cars on track, there was very little time for setting clean laps. Qualifying was shortened due to a competitor off-track, and like a lot of the usual front-running teams, we found ourselves mid-pack at the start.

I was able to make up some places at the start of the race, and started to move through traffic. It was a large field, no doubt, as team-mate Trevor Hopwood was experiencing. He was doing a great job, using his local track knowledge to best advantage having started at the back of the pack. When he got behind me, I let him by and we worked the traffic together for a while. Kevin York, who'd started a couple of places ahead of me, was also in the mix, just a few spots back. Jeremy Willard, meanwhile, was doing well before sustaining some damage which necessitated a quick trip to the pits.

A couple of cars got between Trevor and me, and I ended up in a good battle with one of APR's GTIs. Unfortunately, we came upon a lapped car as I was passing for position going into Big Bend. Now, those GTIs are pretty impressive pieces of kit, as you'll know if you've seen one up close. Beautifully prepared, they definitely had the measure of our Civic on the straights. So, when the VeeDub got caught out (on the downhill turn coming onto the front straight) by the car that was about to be lapped, there was a good opportunity to pass.

Unfortunately, the lapped car felt it would be good to be a part of our battle, and closed the door as I completed the pass down the inside of corner one. The contact sent the Civic into a pretty lurid barrel roll, flipping five times before coming to rest not far from the tire wall.


(photo credit: kptyson)

Time slows down when something like that happens. I remember realizing that the car was going to flip over, taking my hands off the wheel and crossing them across my chest, relaxing my legs and neck, and counting the rolls: one (bang!), two (bang!), three (I wonder how far that tire wall is, now; it'd be kind of bad to hit it -- bang!), four (stop). Apparently, I'd missed the first roll while I pulled my arms in. Three seconds of action felt like 30, and I got on the radio to let the guys know I was okay but the car was not. Unfortunately, the radio was out, and I was babbling into the ether.

The corner workers and emergency crew were amazing. By the time I'd decided how to balance myself on the steering wheel and roll bar so as not to fall into the ample windscreen area when I unbuckled, they were there. They calmly unplugged my radio as I crawled out of the turtled Civic, and took me back to the medical center. I was glad that we drove down the pit lane so that I could wave to our guys and let them know I was okay. My dad's a member of the crew, and it was important to make sure he saw me!

I'm really, really fortunate to have come through a crash so violent unscathed. I was able to get out of the car, go to medical, and be back on the pit wall calling strategy in less than thirty minutes. I would have liked to calling strategy for Travis, doing his stint in the Civic, but not this time. So thanks to our amazing crew, especially Ivan and Petr, who built the Civic from the ground up, and to King Motorsports for their work on the cage (which obviously did its job).

Lime Rock is a challenging track to pass on, and I think it's important (especially when the cars are a bit out of order at the start) for us drivers to realize when it's worth protecting a position and when to allow a pass so you can tuck in behind. This is especially true for the first-stint guys. It seems foolhardy to slow each other down, with the leader not far behind, when you would likely be faster if you swapped positions. This isn't a thought that would work if you were in a sprint race, but we're not. KONI Challenge is endurance racing, and I think that's worth remembering, especially for the guys getting lapped.



The wreck means that Travis and I have our work cut out for us if we're to challenge for the Driver's Championship, as we've fallen out of the top ten. Last year I had similar ups and downs, and still managed to finish second, so we know we're not out yet, by a long shot!

Our team-mates Christian Miller and Kevin York finished sixth (again), which puts them second in the Championship, and Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood jumped to third place with their seventh-position finish. I'm thrilled for all four guys, and have to throw out kudos to Christian, who drove an inspired second stint.



There's no way that we'll be able to build a new Civic in time for Mosport on Father's Day weekend (June 14th), so Travis and I will be driving last year's RSX (which had been sold, but not paid for, which has turned out to be pretty fortunate!). The team knows this car, and although I'm saddened to see our first Civic meeting its demise so soon, I think the RSX may be just the ticket to get Travis and I back in the hunt with our team-mates.

We'll see if I'm right in just a few weeks.

Labels: gablog

Although we started the season with three Acura TSXs at Daytona, our plan all along was to add our sole remaining RSX-S in select races for some of our drivers that weren't able to commit to a full season of KONI Challenge competition.

But a few things changed between Daytona and Lime Rock. As I mentioned in last week's blog, Honda has now included the new Civic Si to the list of vehicles they will offer contingency for. That, combined with the opportunity to add two more high-caliber full-season drivers to our team, meant that our RSX-S is sold and that my co-driver, Travis Walker and I are going to be driving a new Civic Si at Lime Rock.

Let me tell you about our new team drivers! Kenny Wilden really needs no introduction. He's a long-time road racer and no stranger to the Grand-Am paddock, having driven with Mike Shank's Daytona Prototype team in 2005. He's been a fixture in the KONI Challenge (and it's forebear Grand Am Cup) since 2002.



Kenny's road racing career goes back to the early nineties, though, when he won Firehawk, Players' Cup and Motorola Cup titles. In the late nineties, he was a front-runner in Champ Car Atlantics, finishing second in 1999 (interestingly, with Mike Shank Racing). And he also raced in the Trans-Am series, winning the Laguna Seca race in 2001.

No slouch behind the wheel then, is Wilden.

During our team test days at Lime Rock and Mosport over the past few weeks, it's been an honor to work with Kenny. He immediately dropped into our team format and quite simply "clicked." Happily, the same can be said of Wilden's co-driver, Jeremy Willard.



Jeremy's reasonably new to road racing, with this season being his first in the Grand-Am series. What he brings is the fierce and disciplined nature of someone who's competed at the very top level of international sport. That's because Jeremy was Canadian Windsurfing Champion, and was on the World Tour just a few years ago, and an internationally seeded rider.

I can tell you he's no slouch, either.

There's always pressure on a team when drivers like Kenny and Jeremy join. It's not like our team isn't used to working with top-level drivers though, and I'm really proud that the guys in our shop who have really pulled out all the stops over the last few weeks. They've been busy working on upgrades that we hope will keep our TSXs at the front of the field, and finishing the build on the new Civic Si.

It's not been a particularly relaxed time at the shop these past few months, but as testing at Mosport last Friday showed, the crew is firing on all cylinders, and frankly so are our drivers.

Labels: gablog

Back at the beginning of March, you may recall that we were on our way to pick up the donor car that would become our fourth KONI Challenge entry (you can read that blog article here). What I didn't mention was what platform we would use for our new steed.

Given that we already have a stable of three competitive Acura TSXs, common logic would be that we'd add another. Not so, because 2008 marks the last year of the current TSX model! So if we're not building another TSX, what the dickens have the crew been busy with since March?

At last year's Grand-Am banquet in Las Vegas, we had the pleasure of hosting a couple of Honda's top brass, who were on hand to receive a trophy for the KONI Challenge Manufacturer's Championship (which our four firsts helped win). Over the course of the evening, we chatted about the future of street stock racing, and how that fits within Honda's over-all position in the motorsports world.

When I look at the Honda brand in motorsport, I think it has a very solid presence in top-tier open-wheel racing through Formula One and the IRL. At the grassroots, there's the Honda Challenge, an entry-level series that's great fun for folks starting out in regional racing. But in North America, the rest of the motorsports efforts have (for the most part) been put towards the Acura brand, which is supported in the ALMS P2 category, SPEED World Challenge Touring, and KONI Challenge Street Tuner.

So my thought is that there's a good opportunity to utilize the Honda brand in one of the professional street stock series. Since SWC Touring and KONI ST play to a similar demographic, why not run the TSX in one series and a Honda product in the other?

The end result is that Honda is going to support both the existing TSX and the new Honda Civic Si in the KONI Challenge. We're pretty excited about this, as we know our Acuras are competitive, and we'll have the opportunity to develop a new platform that Honda can use for marketing its master brand.

We like the new Civic Si a lot. It's a pretty amazing piece of kit, right off the showroom floor. It's an ideal ride for a car enthusiast on a budget, combining fun-through-the-twisties with enough practicality for weekly trips to the grocery store with the family.

I think the Civic provides a platform that can punch above its weight against cars in more premium market segments. In Street Tuner class, we've got BMW 330is and Z4s, Subaru Legacy's, Mini Cooper S's, Mazda RX-8s and MX-5's Miatas, all more expensive than the little Honda. If we can make the Si competitive, I think we'll have a great story to take the marketplace. All of which is good for Honda, the Civic and the Grand-Am KONI Challenge, raising the profile of each.



I'm excited about running the new car. Although the team has built cars from the ground up before, this is the first one we've done since we combined the Compass360 Racing and Kensai efforts at the end of last year. And it's going to be the car that I drive, starting with Lime Rock!

Given that my co-driver (Travis Walker) and I are leading the Driver's Championship, and Compass360 is in the Team lead, we're really hoping our little Civic is going to be competitive. Knowing that our three TSXs are in capable hands (really solid driver line-ups in each car, including last year's champions!), gives me confidence for the rest of the year, even if the Civic proves to need more development than we expect.

We'll have a better idea in the next few weeks. But in the meanwhile, I can't wait to get behind the wheel of our new Honda.

Labels: gablog

I know I'm not the only KONI driver that's found this year's break to be a lengthy one. Of course, I've managed to keep busy, with a family vacation to Barbados, a business trip to Dubai and signing an immensely talented duo for our fourth full-season car, all amongst the usual excitement of the ad business and shepherding two little kids through daily life. But it still seems an eon since Travis and I stood on the podium in Daytona!

Focus and fitness are key components to success in racing, and when faced with a long off-season, it's easy to let those lapse. So, like a lot of drivers, I try to include a modest regimen of exercise into my schedule. Using a PVR to record races makes this a little easier to do, so I can combine reviewing what's been going on in the world of motorsport while I get my heart rate going with some solid cardio training. There has been lots to enjoy during my time on the bike and weights over the past few days, with an exciting Rolex race at Mexico city, the Nationwide event shortly thereafter, as well as the last Champ Car race, and the first win by a woman in the IRL. I think the combination of the two open-wheel series finally merging along with Danica's win (not to mention great rookie talent like Rahal) will continue to raise the profile of motorsport in North America.

All of which got me pretty fired up for the last event in a go kart series in which I compete over the winter months. It's run at a Toronto facility owned by David Tennyson (who you may remember from his great success in IMSA prototype racing in the 90's). Drivers come from all walks of motorsport to race; backgrounds include NASCAR Canadian Tire, GP Motorcycles, Canadian Touring Car, and of course, Grand-Am.

Go kart racing has been a great way to get some seat time in car when it's sub-zero and the ground is snow-covered. However, one of the challenges with a series run using karts supplied by the facility is that when the driver talent is all quite close in ability, differences between the karts are magnified. So the series has, over the years, developed a system that does its best to equalize the performance of the karts.

To start with, each kart is driven by a number of drivers for warm up laps, and the four most equal (not necessarily the four fastest) are used for qualifying. The drivers then do a one-lap qualifying, which counts for half the event's points. We then do two races, each worth a quarter of the points. A perfect night counts for 65 points (quali max 33, each race 16). Karts are shuffled between races, with the first place finisher being given the last place kart, second place getting second-last, and so on.

I managed a pretty great season (or off-season, if you prefer), taking top points in two of the series six events, and having enough top-three finishes to take command of the series Championship at the end of the year. A great battle, going right down to the wire, to be sure (and rather eerily similar to last year's KONI battle!)

There's no question that go karting is a great physical and mental training ground for those of us racing larger cars. Most of today's great talent started in karts, and still use them to stay fresh and sharp. My co-driver this year, Travis Walker, is a karting star, and you can see the discipline and focus that time in a kart provides whenever he gets in the car. Although he's been out of karts for a number of seasons, Travis (who earned Inside Track's "Up and Coming Road Racer" in 2006) brings that karting sensibility to the table every time he gets behind the wheel of our KONI Challenge car..

The bottom line? While my time in a kart is over until November, I'm very much looking forward to racing a full-size car at Lime Rock in May. Knowing my co-driver is as keen as me means that I can't wait!

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DUBAI - I've spent the last week here on business in this hub of Middle-Eastern commerce. I'm told that a quarter of the world's construction cranes are here, and frankly, that sounds a conservative estimate. It's difficult to describe just how much building activity is on the go; imagine being in San Francisco, and heading south on the coastal highway for an hour. That's the coastal frontage being developed. Then drive twenty minutes inland, and consider the size of that total area. Imagine that less than ten years ago most of that was desert, and now buildings are sprouting out of the entire area, packed as closely together as high-rises in Manhattan, and you've an idea of the scale of the project.

Needless to say, Compass360's expertise in branding and advertising, especially in the areas of real estate and financial marketing is in demand.

So, while the crew at back home are busy preparing our three Acura TSXs for spring testing, I've been spending some quality time with clients far removed from our Toronto home base. Last week I was a guest at the Dubai Lynx, an awards ceremony celebrating great ad work in the region. One of the hot topics was the Formula One weekend in Bahrain, which is a short flight across the Gulf. Each of the Emirates are fiercely competitive with each other and nearby countries, and so Dubai has plans for hosting their own Grand Prix in the near future.

This is a place where everyone dreams on a big scale, and there's enough money to actually make them happen. The tallest free-standing structure on earth (the Burj Dubai) is nearly finished, as is the massive terra-formed Palm development, which is a man-made collection of islands in, no surprise, the shape of a Palm tree. This single project immediately doubled the amount of waterfront property in Dubai, and two more Palms are planned, each one being home to thousands and thousands of people.

So you can count on a truly impressive Grand Prix circuit to be unveiled here in the near future, and I think you'll also see an increased investment in motorsports from the region. Bahrain already owns a piece of McLaren, Abu Dhabi is a high-profile sponsor in World Rally, and you may have noticed Mubadala (Abu Dhabi) stitched on Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari cap.

Certainly, a very exciting time in an exciting part of the world...

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TORONTO - Last season, Compass360 was locked in a tight battle for the ST-class championship with two guys in a yellow BMW. In the end, those lads (Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood) narrowly edged our Acura TSX, becoming champs with a strong third place at VIR (which was better than our 12th place).

Over the course of last year, I got the chance to know Adam and Trevor, and thought you might like to find out a little bit more about the defending champs. Obviously, I think pretty highly of them, and when the opportunity arose to have them drive with us, we worked hard to make it happen. At Daytona, they proved they're every bit as fast in a front-wheel drive TSX as they were in the rear-wheel Bimmer, and I think we'll see the same kind of speed when the season resumes at Lime Rock in May.

Hopwood, who sports a stylish beard worthy of a mountain-man, grew up in Pennsylvania and went to college in New Hampshire, where he still lives. He's an avid skiier (Fischer skis sponsors the No. 74 TSX) and says the powder is so good in New Hampshire that he'll never leave.

Trevor's day job must be an exercise in patience, as he works in the Special Education department at Traip Academy in Kittery, Maine.

Says Trevor, "I work with the behavioral kids; just trying to get them through school so they can join the real world and make an impact. This summer is the fun job, when I work at a summer camp with middle school kids. We go on field trips every day to amusement parks or the beach. My favorite trip is the go-kart trip. I beat up on the kids as best I can, but I'm at a bit of a weight disadvantage!"

Hopwood competed in the SCCA National's ultra-competitive Spec Racer series for a number of years. One of his main rivals was another Northeasterner, Adam Burrows. After racing against each other and fighting for countless podium spots, the two joined forces for their first season in KONI Challenge, winning the Championship in their rookie year.

Burrows grew up in Baltimore, terrorizing the streets in his GTI before his folks wisely decided to send him to racing school with his father, who is a renowned artist.

"When I was a kid, my dad raised me on a healthy diet of motorsports: IMSA and vintage racing events at Summit Point Raceway" notes Adam. "Then he started racing a Morgan 4/4 and the hook, for me, was set. I looked at Spec Racer and the best platform for me to get behind the wheel and there is no doubt that it taught me a lot."

Between races, Burrows keeps busy with his training, which features a lot of time out on his bike, although he'll admit that the long Connecticut winter has seen him doing a lot less of that than he'd like. He is also highly sought after for his experience with ride and drives. While he's certainly done his share of right seat jockeying, that's not why the manufactures ring him. They want him because he designs, staffs, and helps to execute the nationwide experiential marketing events for various automobile manufacturers. The work keeps him on the road a lot, but his passion for automobiles helps soften that blow and keep him motivated. When he is at home, he also keeps close tabs on his boutique wine store, which has a wide selection of hand-selected wines from around the world.

"It's a long time between Daytona and Lime Rock, but I've kept busy and enjoyed the time off," says Adam. "Both Trevor and I are excited to be a part of the team and to defending our KONI Championship! We know the car and the team are up to the task. Lime Rock is a really special place for me - the first place I raced, the first place I got a pole, and the first track I won on, so I can't wait to get back in the seat!"

I think all of us drivers echo that sentiment!

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NORCO, Calif. - Skunk2 is one of Compass360 Racing's most important technical partners. Located just outside of Los Angeles, they're one of the leading manufacturers of aftermarket components for sport compact cars, including Hondas and Acuras. The staff, very much like our own, is made up of a bunch of enthusiasts who love nothing more than to make cars go faster!

We've been working with Skunk2 for many, many years (Crew Chief Ray Lee's been working with them for over a decade), and we support each other in a variety of ways. This week, a few of our crewmembers flew down to do some testing of Skunk2's three Time Attack cars.

To fans of Sports Car racing, Time Attack may be a little unfamiliar. Trust me, if you haven't already, you'll be hearing more and more about this form of racing over the next few years. Hugely popular in Japan, Time Attack is flat-out racing against the clock, and all the major aftermarket suppliers and tuners take part; being on top of the time charts equates to serious bragging rights and street cred.

Depending upon the class you compete in, modifications are pretty much unlimited. But track time is not! Once practice is over, Time Attack sessions allow for only three hot laps in which to set a fast time.

If you attended the Grand-Am races at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, or the KONI season finale at Virginia International Raceway, you might have had a chance to see a Time Attack event in person. These events will host Time Attack again in 2008, and I've heard that there may be a competition at Mid-Ohio as well.

Ray headed to sunny California on Monday, and was joined by our Head Tuner, Kenneth Lau (affectionately known as Turtle - kind of an inverted nod to his prowess behind the wheel) and my hot-shoe co-driver Travis Walker. They'll be testing, tuning and helping further develop Skunk2's fleet to be ready for the first Time Attack of 2008, which will be held March 29-30 at Buttonwillow Raceway.

The cars in question include a Honda Civic Si coupe, and a Mitsubishi Evo IX. Both sport Skunk2's signature matte-black paint (which we adopted for our KONI Challenge Acuras), and should be very competitive in their respective classes. The Evo, in particular, is a wild piece of kit and I'm looking forward to hearing about just how much juice they've managed to squeeze out of that power plant!
Details on Skunk2 cars can be found at www.skunk2.com.

Labels: gablog

BARBADOS - Now that most of our crew has had some much-deserved time off on vacation, it's my turn for a week in the sun! My wife and I, with our two young kids, are enjoying our first trip to Barbados. Over the past few years, we've been making the rounds of the Caribbean islands each March break. Recently, we've visited St. Maarten, the Caymans, St. Lucia and the Bahamas. Turks and Caicos and Curacao are next on our list.

As a Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Street Tuner-class team, we missed out on the trip the Grand Sport guys took to the Dominican Republic in 2006. What they reported was an island mad for sports car racing, and one of the biggest fan turnouts of the season. Given that we've recently had a bunch of interest in our Grand-Am team from people in the Dominican only proves this point.

Barbados doesn't have much to offer in the way of sports cars, but they do have two large rally events each year. It's local rallying, without question, but as a big fan of the WRC (World Rally Championship), this still counts as first-rate motor racing in my books. No question - folks in the Caribbean love car racing.

On to business! In between some great Scuba diving, body surfing, snorkeling, sightseeing and star-gazing, I'm thankful for the connectivity that our cell phones and the hotel's WiFi provide.

Not only is Compass360's brand consulting and marketing communications practice buzzing with activity, but our C360R shop is firing on all cylinders (if you'll pardon the metaphor).

Despite bad weather putting us a few days behind in the pickup of our new donor car, the crew did their usual yeoman's job of stripping the interior and insulation in absolutely record time, and the rolling shell was delivered to the cage shop on the precise day as promised! Which means our new ST car is well underway, and we'll be hoping to test it at Lime Rock or Mosport in April (weather permitting).

Our driver lineup is progressing equally well. We'll be testing a couple of driver pairings in the coming month, with an eye to adding two more team players to our existing roster, which includes last season's Champions (Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood), one of the runners-up (me), and three great talents who continue to show their skill as individual drivers and team players (Christian Miller, Travis Walker and Kevin York). The fact we finished with all three cars in the top 10 at Daytona, and that Travis and I lead the Driver's Championship, is proof positive of the great talent we've signed for this year. It'll be interesting to see who we add for our fourth car!

So, while things seem in hand back home, I'm heading out for a day on the "Cool Runnings" catamaran for a snorkel with the turtles, and then shortly back home to snow-bound Toronto!

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TORONTO-It's all over the news. There's another "Winter Storm Warning" plastered on every television here, a little red ribbon of inconvenience running its way along the bottom of everybody's spanking new widescreen TV (everybody but me, being firmly in the 4:3 until my kids are old enough not to dirty the screen with their little fingers). ;-)

Yep, another pile of snow is on the way, which makes picking up our new donor car (which is in Geneva, N.Y., a convenient four hours from Toronto drive-away, in normal conditions) an unlikely prospect. We actually had good, solid, logical plans to get our new car today. But, like so many things, we were let down by something beyond our control. In this case, our landlord hadn't plowed the parking lot properly, which left our collection of trailers (we have three) snowbound in amongst the five-foot high banks. I'm sure the guy plowing the snow had some system he was working to, but it was lost on us as we tried to extricate at least one of our trailers early this morning.

By the time we did, today's window of opportunity had closed (we needed to be at the border on the return trip home by 3 p.m. to file the importation paperwork, which meant we had to leave by 9 a.m.), and with this big storm coming it means we'll have to wait until Thursday.

What's the rush? Heck, the Grand-Am KONI Challenge race at Lime Rock Park is still two-and-a-half months away! True, but if you're building a new car (which we are), you're going to need to do some testing. Which means we need to be ready by early April. Which leaves us, oh, about a month!

Which isn't really that much time when you're taking a car, which was quite clearly ready to find itself doing the school run day in and day out in upstate New York, but is now going to be stripped of its interior, fitted with a roll cage, and will be turned into what we hope will be the best example of Street Stock racing anywhere.

And we've got yet another big dump of the white stuff coming! On one hand, as an avid snowboarder, I love it. More powder! Whoopee! And yet, like many of us on the eastern seaboard, after three months of solid weekends at the hill, I've had enough. From the team perspective, we've got to get that new car here as soon as we can. But we don't want to be travelling through unnecessarily treacherous conditions just to gain a day. And yet, we do. Because the competition in Grand-Am's KONI Challenge is simply that close. That fierce. In other words, every day, every moment, is precious.
By this time next week, I hope we'll have stripped our new car and it'll be well on its way to a new cage and a bunch of go-faster bits. Weather permitting, of course.

Labels: gablog

TORONTO-Now that the cars are back in the shop and some of the glow has faded from our great result at the season-opener in Daytona (to recap: all three of our Acura TSXs in the top 10, one of them on the box; and then with the top two cars losing some points in post-race tech, our team leads the team championship, with Travis and I tied for first in the drivers'), I'm reminded that auto racing truly is a team sport.

The drivers get to stand on the podium and talk to the SPEED reporters, but if our crew weren't on their game, didn't give us flawless pit stops and call a perfect strategy... let's just say it makes a driver's life a lot harder! With the top 15 (give or take) KONI Challenge ST cars running lap times within a second of each other at Daytona, an error in the pits that loses an extra 30 seconds can often be insurmountable from behind the wheel.

With that in mind, some of our guys have been enjoying some well-deserved time away from the shop. Crew Chief Ray, who's a competitive cyclist, spent a week in Florida in intense training; Petr's in the middle of a three-week-long trip to the Czech Republic; Turtle is in China (Hong Kong, Shanghai and Macau), as is Ivan Chan; and my father, Phil, just got back from the Turks and Caicos. Hopefully the rest of the crew will also get a short break before we start testing in April!

For my part, I've been kept busy in my role as Managing Partner of Compass360's branding and communications practice, and I'm looking forward to spending a week in Barbados with my wife and kids over March Break before heading to Dubai on business.

All this pre-season vacationing doesn't mean the C360R shop is vacant. Oh no! We're refreshing our TSXs and doing what we can to make them even better, and we're building a new car that will debut at Lime Rock. We're also looking to field one or two cars in the Castrol Canadian Touring Car championship, and have been asked to build cars that will run in yet another series.

In other words, the guys had best enjoy their break now, because they probably won't get another one for quite a while!

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