First Trackway/Lapping School almost ruined....by a recall

Attending my first real trackday experience with my Type R. Lapping Academy at Calabogie Motorsport Park. Prepped my car

1. Good tires + tread
2. Redid brakes for slightly more lapping focused pad (EBC Bluestuff NDX)
3. Upgraded brake fluid + replace trans fluid + engine oil

There is an open recall for the fuel pump.....but no parts are available yet. According to my local dealer + Honda Canada as of last month

I did not account for the curse of the Honda gods. On my 7th session we were pulled off for a red flag. I turned of my car while waiting for the session to recommence..... but my car didn't come back. All attempts to restart resulted in a misfire, spluttering and dying. Pulling codes revealed the culprit, low fuel pressure. Gah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why do I say almost ruined? After 30 minutes and a cooldown the pump decided to be happy and run again. No issues in the 8th session. I will now assume the pump does not like hot restarts. Or luck. Special thanks to the lovely track marshall who lent me his OBD2 reader. I will pray I can run tomorrow without issue (for the last day).

Sorry for the useless post, had to share :) 

From the title, I pictured the tech inspector failing you on an open recall and I really was confused for a bit!! Glad you got back on track. 

I was able to do all 8 sessions the next day without issue. What I'm most impressed with is my tires - the Extremecontact Sport 02. While I am nowhere near the fastest driver (read: slow), they show practically no wear. 255/35/19. Wearing like iron....for a newbie at lapping! 

Overall, my wallet is screwed, because I've been bit by the bug and am HOOKED! 

J_D said:

Overall, my wallet is screwed, because I've been bit by the bug and am HOOKED! 

That's awesome to hear!  You picked a great car to jump in the deep end with!

Glad you had fun, now get over to Mosport!

In reply to adam525i :

Any groups you reccomend to run with ? The group that organized the Calabogie School will be there in October! 

Flynlow said:

J_D said:

Overall, my wallet is screwed, because I've been bit by the bug and am HOOKED! 

That's awesome to hear!  You picked a great car to jump in the deep end with!

Yes sir! Car was doing great when the fuel pump worked haha

In reply to J_D :

I've worked my way up there with the BMW CCA Trillium club so that would be my recommendation. If you just want to go out and lap the track there are other groups that can provide that but with any BMW CCA club you'll work through their program with one on one instruction in a very safe, challenging environment. It's a program worth sticking with as the instructors are great and once you make it to the Solo group you get a lot of track time, you can move into their instructor training program from there if that is something that interests you. You'll also be in the BMW CCA program (we use Driving Evals, maybe you got an evaluation on there from Calabogie which would be great) so if you want to check out any other tracks that one of the clubs runs at (Watkins Glen, Tremblant, VIR, Summit, pretty much every other track in NA) you'll drop into your run group and continue to learn from there. No need to own a BMW either, you'll find a few other Type R's running around with our club.

Our next school is June 22-23, it's going to be a pretty full one but I'd imagine there is still room in the C group where you will start out. After that we run again September 14-15 and October 26-27.

Thank you Adam. This is amazing information I did not know. I assumed the BMW CCA was only for BMWs. I am 80% sure right now I will attend the September 14-15 event. I've just got to figure out how to join the BMW Quebec or Ottawa chapter. To their websites I go! 

J_D said:

Thank you Adam. This is amazing information I did not know. I assumed the BMW CCA was only for BMWs.

I used to run the Genesee Valley chapter BMWCCA events locally in my Mazda Miata and I never owned a BMW. They didn't care and always were very friendly and put on very good events.

In reply to J_D :

Welcome! And, yeah, it happens. 

Happy to be here fellas :) 

Only sad event in the school was a 987.1 Cayman S - poor fella blew up the motor :(

J_D said:

Thank you Adam. This is amazing information I did not know. I assumed the BMW CCA was only for BMWs. I am 80% sure right now I will attend the September 14-15 event. I've just got to figure out how to join the BMW Quebec or Ottawa chapter. To their websites I go! 

Awesome, hope to see you there! I'll be in the old red BMW 5 series. 

I believe the Ottawa club runs their events at Calabogie too.

adam525i said:

J_D said:

Thank you Adam. This is amazing information I did not know. I assumed the BMW CCA was only for BMWs. I am 80% sure right now I will attend the September 14-15 event. I've just got to figure out how to join the BMW Quebec or Ottawa chapter. To their websites I go! 

Awesome, hope to see you there! I'll be in the old red BMW 5 series. 

I believe the Ottawa club runs their events at Calabogie too.

Looks like it! I'll be in the Boost Blue Type R :) 

J_D said:

Happy to be here fellas :) 

Only sad event in the school was a 987.1 Cayman S - poor fella blew up the motor :(

Boo. 

J_D....   if you are not yet a member, also consider joining the Ottawa Sports Car Club (OSCC), and/or the Motorsports Club of Ottawa (MCO).   Both are involved with events at Calabogie... 

Cheers

Gordon 

ggarrard said:

J_D....   if you are not yet a member, also consider joining the Ottawa Sports Car Club (OSCC), and/or the Motorsports Club of Ottawa (MCO).   Both are involved with events at Calabogie... 

Cheers

Gordon 

Thanks Gordon! I'll take a look. I'm from Montreal but don't mind friends across provinces :) 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

It was sad. The Cayman was definitely a better driver than I. I could see him gaining ground for a pass, and then he vanished. I then saw a white cloud in my rearview mirror and the Cayman grass-bound 

Hopefully it wasn’t terminal. (Trying to be positive here.)