I had never been to Mosport. Given that I am making an attempt to participate in all COM events this year, I was looking forward to driving on that legendary track. It was the track used for the Canadian Grand Prix Formula One up until the mid ‘70s, and was said to be majestic and fast.

While driving to Mosport, I was reflecting on the time when they had the F-1 races there: Jackie Stewart, countryman Emerson Fittipaldi, Denis Hulme, Clay Regazzoni, Peter Revson, Mario Andretti, Ronnie Peterson, Graham Hill, and even another countryman Carlos Pace in a Brabham Alfa Romeo. But the time I remember the most was the 1973 Grand Prix of Canada, when at the start Jackie got ahead of everyone and, as he was building a lead, he missed a gear and spun, made a recovery, and went on to finish the race in the top five. I could not get that picture out of my mind: spun, recovered, and went on to finish. I learned that he’d missed a gear because I met him years later and asked him what had happened.

For the first practice sessions, I asked the chief instructor to lead the way and I had another licensed driver riding shotgun with me. With both of their inputs, I had the track memorized by the end of the first session.

Being an instructor, I was assigned a student driver who turned out to have suspension and fuel line problems with his BMW. So that gave me extra time to go out on the track and perfect my racing line and times.

Three turns in particular that got my total and undivided attention were 1, 2, and 4. All of these turns were blind, with late apexes while descending a crest going off camber in high gear (4th and 5th). For these, you needed to aim the nose of the car on the second "C" and start turning in so you don’t miss the apex.

Following turn 4 is a dive-down with hard braking into turns 5a and 5b. You come down in 5th gear (on my stock GTV) and downshift to 3rd while threshold braking into a double apex elbow-like turn. In one of the sessions, I came in so fast that I knew I was going to lose it. Instead of heading into the gravel, I hooked the car and spun. Lesson learned—now I knew I had the car pushed to the limit. I was happy that I managed to learn the track and get to its limits (car, track, and driver) in one day.

Another SSC competitor, Rob Ready in a Miata, had a camera and took some nice video footage of the Alfa in action at Mosport. He called me a "madman", for the car was totally at its limits, and said I was going to be tough competition.

My times, using my practice Toyo RA-1s, were 1.54 in the afternoon when it was slippery. All of the drivers were mentioning they were at least 3-4 seconds off pace. The track record (by Rob) in SSC Class was 1:50.640. This meant that I was on a track record pace using my "practice tires".

Race Day

I started the day by changing my tires to the Nitto-01s. The track was still slippery but the times somehow improved. I was within range of the 1:50 mark and improving. The practice sessions were literally "open" at all times, so you could get on the track and stay as long as you wanted to. Some drivers had to come back because they were low on fuel. This is a great place to get lots of track time (unlike the congested NHIS). I certainly benefited from this.

Getting ready for the Time Trial, I focused on making sure that I nailed turns 1, 2, and 4, as they were critical to good momentum, and to make good on turns 5a and 5b, as they were followed by a long straight. My first lap was good (1.53.128), but I knew I had to set up to make the second lap the fastest.

On the second lap, I was going a lot faster, dove into turns 1 and 2, did little braking on turn 3, and "nailed" the second "C" on turn 4. But when I downshifted from 5th to 3rd while getting ready for turn 5a, I found my gearshift in neutral and high-revved the Alfa. I missed the gear! And consequently lost all the momentum I needed for the straight. Result: 1:53.364.

On the third and final lap, I was angry at myself—all the work in the past day and a half and I missed a gear! Now I was in recovery mode and hoping for the best, bit I posted 1:53.788, a clear indication that all the momentum was lost when I missed the gear.

I still managed an honorable second place, and Rob took first with a time of 1:51.470 and no new track record.

All I could think of was that I’d spun and missed a gear—Jackie Stewart did the same here! I ought to send him a note on this.

All in all, I am still leading in the points by a margin of 2—this is what counts. Tough competition, but glad I am still in the lead. So far, a win, a 3rd place and a 2nd place. I am enjoying this season!

Dedication