Calabogie’s layout is fun, challenging, and a lot of turns!
Before I went to Detroit for the Tudor Series race at Belle Isle – which was a great weekend for the SKYACTIV Mazda even in adverse weather conditions – I was just over the border in Canada at Calabogie Motorsports Park.
Calabogie is halfway between Toronto and Ottawa, and it’s one of the coolest new tracks I’ve visited in recent years: it has a really challenging layout with a lot of corners, varying terrain, and everything from technical to high-speed turns. It’s also the testing ground for Multimatic Motorsports, who is a technical partner with SpeedSource for the SKYACTIV program. Now I can see why Multimatic uses it for their testing – it’s an incredible track!
Some buddies who traditionally run with us in the VIR 13-hour race invited me up to coach them at their home track of Calabogie. Now that I was on their home turf, rather than them being on mine at VIR, I was looking forward to seeing both what their Radical SR3 cars had to offer and what it would be like driving at the picturesque Calabogie.
The Radical was the perfect tool for the job!
It was exciting to be at a track with 20 turns that are all unique. I watched in-car video ahead of time, and I rode along with one of the guys I was coaching in his Radical – it gave me a better perspective.
I was also able to get a few laps of my own, which was just exhilarating: the speed that the Radical has combined with learning the track in short order made those laps demanding and fun. Plus, I had the added pressure of wanting to learn the track well enough to be able to coach these guys at their home track!
After two short sessions, I was up to speed and felt very comfortable with the track. From there, we reviewed video and data from the three drivers I was working with. We were able to see differences in everyone’s driving style. We discussed where those areas of difference were, and the drivers could see where they’d gotten into habits with their approaches to certain corners.
A perfect morning at the track!
Specifically, we looked at car placement throughout the long, sweeping corners. Altering the line, whether it was at the entry or middle of the corner, made a big impact on speed and lap times. Another thing we focused on was gear choice: the Radical uses a motorcycle engine, and the gearing is such a tight ratio that gear choice can really affect the balance of the car in corners.
By the end of the first day, everyone had some specific aspects to work on and new goals to reach for. By lunchtime on the second day, everyone was achieving those goals and getting faster. Before I loaded up to head to Detroit, it was exciting to see that all three drivers were getting their personal best lap times and were prepared for their own upcoming race weekend.
I highly recommend checking this incredible gem of a track out the next time you’re in the Great White North. It was a lot of fun but challenging at the same time, and I’m looking forward to going back in the future.