Horrocks’ Mosport – Detroit Trip
Mosport, Detroit, Sliders & Andy Summers… Gary Horrocks was a very busy fellow at the end of August and into September. Her he tries to remember everything that happened to him…. Looking back, Mosport almost seems like ancient history, but it was only a little over two weeks ago that I landed in Detroit, ready to travel into Canada to a track that I’ve never been to, but is in a odd way a home track for me. The way the schedule fell, it appeared to be much easier to just stay the week between the Mosport and Detroit races, so the plan was to hang out and see the sights along the way and become metric-fied along the way. First a word of experience – check your connections before pushing ‘enter’ to accept the purchase of airline tickets. Stupidly, I did not, so my flight from Portland to Detroit was via a layover in Phoenix. Not exactly how the crow flies. OK, after picking up the rental and grabbing something quick to eat, I was on my way, out of Detroit, to the border crossing. What a bizarre set-up. “What are you going to be doing in Canada? How long are you staying? What is your quest? What is your favorite color?” Do they listen to the answers? Do they care? Anyway, after finally making my way through the maze of cones and large trucks, I was into Windsor, Ontario, Canada. First impressions? It’s dark. And it stayed that way the rest of the drive, to which I think I should be thankful, given the time of day. I’d hate to think what would be happening to cause it to become light in the late evening hours. Anyway driving through Canada, I had the sounds of Roger Waters accompanying me. A live double CD (In The Flesh) that I picked up just before the trip served me well on my drive. It beat the satellite radio I had in my rental (note – not X-M – I wouldn’t want to bad mouth one of the sponsors involved in the ALMS) which at least on the stations I tried were of limited use. Unlike regular radio, which to me is utter crap, this was amusing for a while, but was of such narrow genre, I lost interest quickly. I even found an all Elvis station, but really didn’t bother with it much. A little Elvis (was that possible – was he ever little?) goes a long ways for me. One thing I did notice driving through Ontario were the signs for the communities that I was driving through or close to. I saw an unusual amount of them with population listed as 110,000. Not sure if it is a metric thing, but for all of these towns to have the same population seemed odd. Yes, I know it is a general rounded number, but for a quite a while, I think every sign/town had the same population. Odd. Anyway, I arrived at my destination, the town of Guelph, where there is a sister plant from my real job, which is as a tool and gage inspector. Maybe not quite as exciting as something like accounting, but it pays the bills. After work, I scoured the area for a place for dinner. While doing so, I found a used CD store, of which I’m a real sucker for. Four CDs later, I finally found a diner, so to be safe, I had a hamburger. It tasted quite good too. Not sure if it was due to hunger or what, but it was good. Then it was off to Mosport on Friday, via Mini Grid. Thanks to Google maps, I had no problem finding the shop. I could have spent a good chunk of change there, if only I had space in my luggage. If you are ever in the area, make sure to stop by. Great shop in an interesting neighborhood. Definitely worth the time. I could have stayed longer, but I knew it would be cutting it tight to make it to Mosport. So back into traffic and I had no problem finding the track, unlike the next few days. Getting there was something that I had been looking forward to for a long time, made especially meaningful due to the fact that I have been working with InsideTrack, a Canadian racing publication based out of Toronto, for about five years now. Never been there and never met the people I work with in person – such is the wonder of the modern electronic world we live in. It was good putting faces with the names I have worked with over the years. As well as names with faces I have known from this region for many years. Cheers. I was warned that the area was a step back in time, and it’s true. In fact one of the first comments made to me was welcome to 1985. Mostly, there is nothing wrong with that. The track is all that it was made out to be. Fast and spectacular. The facilities, well, they were, um, 1985. I felt like I had joined Mr. Peabody and Sherman in their way back machine. That is not to say that it is all bad, but the facilities need a going through. As has been stated among many, the facilities are not what you would call world class, a fact that was emphasized a week later in Detroit. The word was that the communications track side were marginal, which may have contributed to the situation at the track, with the yellow. Also, just to be a prima-donna media type, the facility is in need of an upgrade as far as internet access. During the race weekend, if it was working, it was incredibly slow, but then you probably don’t care, do you? Oh the poor media types… The people around to help were, well helpful, but it was easy to tell that they were frustrated with the situation too. Oh, gotta mention the layout of the media center. It’s right on pit lane. I mean right on pit lane entrance. You could probably touch the cars as they went by, if you could stick your arm through the window. It was convenient to get to pit lane, but wasn’t convenient when there was a press conference going on and the car s were passing by that close. Loud? Huh? The surrounding area is quite pleasant. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just pleasant rolling hills and farms. Thanks to Martin’s directions, I think we got to see most of the countryside surrounding the track. If we went the same direction twice, I think it was an accident. One day, we did see a camel. Yes a real true live Canadian camel. I think it was the Oshuwa Zoo. Saw it once and never went back by it again, except in the dark. So much for the photo… By the time the race ended, my head was full. All I could think about was how is this (the race confusion) all going to translate into text and make sense? I had lots of time to think about it on the way back to Guelph, as two or three times I hit heavy traffic that made it stop and go for what seemed like forever. Then back to work on Monday morning, and all I could think about was the report. After another burger from the diner (why take a risk?) it was typing away until all hours of the night, hoping that it all came together OK. You be the judge. After pushing the send button, it was a relief that the article was off to Malcolm. He could deal with it from there. Now I can go play. Tuesday morning agenda? Get out of bed. Then I did my usual and did too much. Drove to the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame ( http://www.cmhf.ca/ ), which was a nice little collection of memorabilia and a few cars, including two Midland F1s, a Wolf F1, a couple CART cars and a Mustang GTS car driven by Scott Maxwell, David Empringham and Jason Priestly. Also present was a Players/GM spec class Camaro that Ron Fellows drove while he was building his career. This car was recently restored by Sunoco (who also sponsor Ron’s kart series) and was quite nice to see.  |
Then it was off to yet another air museum, this time the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, (http://www.warplane.com/pages/home.html) located in Mt Hope, just outside of Hamilton. I’d read that that a Lancaster resided here, as well as a Lysander, among others. Upon arriving, I found the parking lot incredibly jammed, not something I’m used to seeing at an air museum. Word was that the Snow Birds, the Canadian Air Force Aerobatic Team, had just landed. That was pretty cool, but it meant that the museum was a mess with people and that the aircraft were re-arranged to accommodate a meet and greet with the pilots. The time in the museum was shortened due to the mob scene that was there, but it was still quite an impressive display. A huge surprise outside was the CF-104 in Tiger Meet markings. Upon arriving home, I ordered a model of that, to add to my “I hope to build that” stash. Then it was off to Niagara Falls. An amazing site, but way over the top as far tourism. I mean I’m glad I went the extra 3-4 hour drive to make it there, but in a way it could be taken as the scene in “Vacation”, where Chevy Chase takes his family to the Grand Canyon. I think it’s yet another of those places that are impressive enough on their own, but greed gets in the way, where the Falls themselves becomes lost in the greed. An example – I prepared to enter the first parking facility I saw what appeared to be public parking, only to see the fine print - $20 to park. Being of the DSC mentality, I thought screw that and found a place farther down the road. From the length of the walk, it appeared to be part way to Detroit, but I parked there and paid $5. But the place was jammed with tourists. Sad. It could be so much more. Then it was off to Detroit. Got venturesome once and paid the price, by finding myself on a road that didn’t exist on my map, but eventually righted myself and got back on the road to Detroit. I must say, I didn’t miss much by driving through in the dark. Accompanied by some more satellite radio, I soon found myself bored, so in was my MP3 player which was set to shuffle on “The Police”. This was so I could relate to what I was reading in the autobiography of Andy Summers, guitarist for the band. Interesting story of an interesting life. Can’t say I can relate at all, but still interesting. I have a hard time figuring out how he remembered so much of his life when he ingested so many drugs. Some people have a gift, I guess. If you want to call it a gift, that is. Arriving back in Windsor, I was soon in a very long line of traffic, waiting to be allowed back into the States and be asked the same type of inane questions which I was asked upon entry into Canada. Oh, plus I was asked what I bought. Gotta remember that list of souvenirs. What a job. Life could be worse, I guess… The wait was about an hour and a half. After what seemed like a long and aimless drive, I arrived in the area of the hotel, only to find that it wasn’t marked from my direction. A call to the hotel got me there. I think this was not an isolated occurrence – the directions were quite good and she stayed on the phone till I arrived. Maybe they should do something about it? Left my hotel at 9:30 in the morning and arrived at my destination at 11:00 at night. Yeah, it was a long day. I finally found the room and crashed hard for the night. This was Tuesday night. Wednesday morning was time to head off to Roush… Jack Roush got his start in drag racing. The car dealer I have dealt with on my last couple of purchases (http://www.vancleveford.com/) is also an ex-drag racer and through the success in racing that he had, he got to know Jack, and soon became a distributor of his product line. Jim (Van Cleve) is passionate about his cars and likes to hang on to his toys. As an example, instead of auctioning off or taking a huge profit, he decided to keep the Ford GT that his dealership was allocated. It’s kept along with his other toys, which might be a story in itself for another day…, but it was Jim who got me hooked up to take a tour of the Roush facility. Roush is mainly known for its performance treatments of Ford Mustangs, and that was the emphasis of this visit, but its dealings with Ford is only just over 50% of the business. In the visit, in just one building, I saw evidence of dealing with the other two US based car companies, as well as a few European makes too. But that too might make another story for another day. Anyway, the tour of the Mustang facility at Roush Performance (http://www.roushperformance.com/) showed how the cars are converted from Ford stock to Roush specifications. The majority of the cars I saw being converted were to Stage 3 specifications, which means a supercharger, suspension work, body panels and interior upgrades. Most, if not all of the components are designed and produced in house, according to my guide. Most of the conversion is handled by one person, taking most of a day to perform. The interior upgrades and graphics are handled in a separate area. This adds up to a car that has roughly 1/3 more power than a stock Mustang GT, and a much further advanced suspension, lowered roughly 1.5” as well as the exclusivity that spending $45,000 or more for a Mustang can bring. Along the way, we saw a new Trak Pak Mustang, which will be marketed soon, as well as a Superperformance Cobra Coupe, in for some tweaks to the Roush-made motor. From there, it was off to the Roush collection, a warehouse full of various Fords and other cars that Roush has been involved with in the recent past. Chief of importance to me and a few of the IMSA Techies that were present were the GTP cars here, as well as the assortment of GTO/GTS/Trans Am cars that were in the collection. Ah, the memories… After a while, it was time to head out, grab a bite and get back to the room. A Coney Island hot dog was calling my name, as this delicacy was something which, despite what the name would indicate, was something that originated here in Detroit. A coney is a hot dog, slathered in a chili like sauce, with mustard and the must have onions. Not very health conscious, but who cares sometimes? Then it was time to bury myself in the room and punch out the requirements for the magazine. Nothing like being in another city, away from family, staring at a screen, waiting for the proper thoughts to come into a rather tired and worn out brain. Eventually it was done, thankfully. The race report (minus final results, due to the yellow mess and the resulting protest) was taken care of, as well as a piece on the wanted man (in a good way) from the previous weekend, Ron Fellows. By that time it was time to crash again, after an attempt was made to eat at the brew pub next door resulted in a lovely meal at Denney’s down the road. The brew pub stopped serving food at 10. What an odd choice. So a scramble (sorry for the pun) and a few u-turns (Michigan does not like left turns) saw us at what was quite a ways down the list for places to eat, but you gotta do what you gotta do. On Thursday, the activity level picked up. Robin drove Martin and I to the track for picking up credentials and then a survey of the course. Impressive. Belle Isle is quite unlike the surrounding area in Detroit. Lots of green grass and very park like. A nice setting. After a spin around the track in the cart supplied (stolen?) from Intersport, it was time to head to The Henry Ford Museum (http://www.hfmgv.org/). This is not a Ford museum, per se. Of course it has Ford (the company) overtures, but basically, it is a technology showcase. Cars, airplanes, trains, bikes, manufacturing; you name it, it was there. Unfortunately we just didn’t have enough time to do the museum (itself an 8 acre building) and the surrounding area justice. Next time… This is a don’t miss if you are in the area. From the first thing we saw, a DC-3 suspended from the ceiling, we knew this was a place we’d like. Then it hit us. Sitting there in all its glory – the 1967 Le Mans winning (or a very nice replica) Ford GT Mk 4. Stunning. Worth the price of admission all by itself. It was because of this that we never got to see the rest of the museum. If the ACO is considering new regulations, I think there are three of us who know where they can start. A walk of the museum brought interesting items at every turn. It became mind numbing after a while. Then, just before leaving, almost all by itself and a suitable way to end the visit - Jim Clark’s 1965 Indy winning Lotus. A feeling of reverence swept over me, as this is one of, if not my first, childhood 'hero' in racing. But the day was not over. Thanks to Rick Vogelin of GM Racing, we were invited out to a function for the Corvette owners that were in the area. And it was at the GM Heritage Center. This non-descript building out in the suburbs finished off the evening in style. A line up of street Corvettes greeted us outside, but the stars were all inside. Hey drivers – no disrespect to you, but for once you were overshadowed by your surroundings. Words can’t very well describe what we saw, but imagine roughly 200 examples of what GM has produced in their history, all packed into one building. Ranging from a showroom Chevette (complete with clear plastic seat covers and the original window stickers) all the way to the priceless concept cars, including many Corvettes and the three futuristic (at the time) concept Firebird cars. At that point, my mind was blown away. I bet even Andy Summers would have a difficult time recounting what he saw. As a bonus, in the same day, I saw a Vega and a Pinto (The Roush Collection) in museums. What a day. It was here that Oliver Gavin said, hey, have you seen the old truck? He walks me over to an early ‘50s plain old truck. I could just imagine having this home in England, tooling around the countryside. It was like he was ready to get in and drive it away. Ollie, always the practical one.  |
I do have to make a small apology. In a question and answer session at the Corvette function, I asked Steve Wesoloski, GM Road Racing Group Manager (at the urging of Martin), when Corvette was going to go for the overall at Le Mans. After all, what else do they have to prove in GT1? Rick commented to me that he should have warned Steve that there were “media types” in attendance. The question did bring some interesting responses from the drivers, including a very positive “two-thumbs up” from Ron Fellows. At the meeting the answer was one of those that sort of avoids becoming an answer, but later at the track, Wesoloski did indicate that he did indeed like the ACO intentions for the LMP1 class, as announced at the last Le Mans race. He liked that it allowed a relevancy back to the product that the company actually produces, something that is big at GM. Further discussion with Steve at the track brought forth this – “Our commitment is GT1. We believe in the class. The problem that we face here is that we do not want to go through another season like this one, where there was no competition. We may have to make a decision without knowing what all is out there. Competitors have right up to the entry deadline to decide to enter. We, as a corporation can’t react that quickly. Our decision will have been made by then. But, we are looking at all possibilities.” As far as stories of a GT2 car, Steve did say that, “we have been working on a GT2 version, but it is only on paper. At this point I don’t think it can be ready to race by Sebring.” He also indicated that if a GT2 car is to be built, it will not likely be run by the factory. IMSA’s Doug Robinson later indicated that while the series would prefer to continue with the four-class system, it is looking into the possibilities of only running GT1 at selected events. But only as a last resort. Thankfully, the race went off well. Yes, there were cautions and incidents, but not a repeat of what we saw at Mosport. As has been said before, IMSA took the high road with their release detailing what occurred at Mosport. That made what happened a lot easier to swallow, but it still was not a pleasant time. As expected, and as usual for a street course, spectator views (and those for photographers) were limited, but as an event, it must be said that Detroit was one of the better ones. A pleasant event to be involved in. And the food was good too. Think they bought us off? Hmmm… Which brings us to the cultural event of the week. Having never been to the area before, I was labeled as a White Castle virgin. Well, no longer. At the urging of Janos and the ALMS media crew, I now too have had the meal that supposedly has been known as hangover food. And unlike Andy Summers, I was completely clean and sober at the time. The verdict for the tiny hamburgers? I tasted a meat-like substance in there somewhere. I saw a brown meat like substance, but I’m still not sure what it was or is. And while they earned the nick-name “sliders” for their ease of entering a human body as easily as they exited, I have to say to the relief of many, I suffered no ill effects that night (Friday) or even on race day. What that says about my regular diet, I have no idea, but it’s probably not good. It’s no In-n-Out Burger, but I guess it’s something that I had to experience. Speaking of the ALMS media crew, Ryan Smith informed us that his wife, who is pregnant, informed him that it is to be twins. Congratulations and good luck Ryan. Sunday morning, it was back home again (yes – via Phoenix), thankfully having an extra day (Labor Day Holiday) to regroup, and then get back at it. So what did I do when I got home? I reacquainted myself with my family and we went out and saw The Simpsons Movie. It’s nice to be home. But even over a week later, I still wake up, wondering where I am, and what I need to write up in the morning. Maybe Andy had some good ideas after all… |
