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Track Day

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Doug_G

Lead Moderator
Global Moderator
Apr 2, 2010
17,888
3,421
Ottawa, Canada
Hans recently came up with a list of nine Roadster owners in the Southern Ontario / Eastern Quebec area who might be interesting in have a Tesla track day. I volunteered to help organize it. I was wondering if there was anyone else lurking here who might also be interested?

We're trying to come up with a track location that is within reasonable driving range for all, and where we can arrange for electrical power. If anyone has an "in" at one of these tracks please raise your hand!

Some possible locations:

Calabogie - accessible from Montreal through Toronto. A personal favorite - nice challenging track with modern facilities. I asked one of the owners about getting power last summer, and he was not the slightest bit interested in helping, even though I offered to pay all costs. Might be able to try a different owner, or perhaps Kanata Ford (they have a service bay on the site).

Shannonville - closer to Toronto (and of course further from Montreal). The people there are very helpful; they were able to jigger up a NEMA 14-50 so I could take the Race School there. It's also a very forgiving track; if you were to somehow manage to spin out you'd probably just end up "cutting the grass".

Mirabel - was one of the suggestions, but I'm not familiar with it; perhaps a Montreal-area driver can enlighten us.

Other possibilities include Mont Tremblant (recommended by a friend) and of course Mosport (maybe the driver development track?).

If there's enough interest, but no source of power, we might possibly be able to rent a large generator truck.

And it goes without saying, if anyone needs to pass through Ottawa to get to the track, my HPC is at your disposal.
 
I'm definitely interested. Shannonville sounds like our best bet for power and location. I've spoken to Cayuga as well but they don't have power - we would need to commute to a nearby RV park between runs. Plus it's a longer hike from Ottawa for you.
 
Cool. Please PM me your email address so I can add you to my distribution list.

Yes, I will definitely follow up with Shannonville. It may be the best bet - I have found them to be incredibly helpful. Roadsters from Ottawa or Toronto can get there on a single charge, and Montreal-area Roadsters can get there via a charge point soon to be located in Kingston, or come via Ottawa and charge at my HPC.
 
A quick update - Shannonville Motorsports has responded favourably and is getting an electrician to quote on installing some NEMA 14-50 plugs.

Calabogie has so far been... well they're dinosaurs. One of the other local owners has some corporate contacts... trying that route.

There's a lot to be said for Shannonville. It's a challenging, technical track but has wide-open sight lines and very few walls to hit. If you go off the track you're probably just going to cut the grass.
 
Here's the sign-up information for the Tesla Track Day. We're joining up with the St. Lawrence Automotive Club event at Shannonville on July 27.

St. LAC at the Track II -- July 27, 2012 - CASC Ontario Region Message Forums

Sun Country Highway has graciously agreed to donate two charge stations. I am working with Shannonville Motorsports to get them installed. I'm not sure how much power is available, but I'm hoping to be able to draw 70A on one unit and 40A on the other.

All Roadster owners are invited, including our friends across the border in the USA. Please let me know if you plan to attend.
 
We're good to go - Sun Country Highway has agreed to install two charge stations at Shannonville, no cost - installation included!

Due to site power limitations I am suggesting we install one 70A and one 40A. There will be a couple of run groups so we should be able to keep everyone going.

For the Roadsters we will need J1772 adapters. I will bring one - we will need a second one.

Signup info at St. LAC at the Track II -- July 27, 2012 - CASC Ontario Region Message Forums

$175 including catered lunch. Instructors available!

Please let me know if you're coming.
 
I won't be able to make it. I will actually be test driving the S in Miami on the 28th. It might have been a little tough anyway, coming from Montreal. Just over 325Km to the track. Not sure if there is any charging opportunity on the way maybe for next time. Have a great time guys..... (jealous!)
 
Tesla Track Day a Success!

Just back from the first Canadian Tesla Track Day at the Shannonville Motorsports Park - a great success!

Here are some of my photos... video to follow.

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A rainbow of Roadsters, with the track grandstand in the background.

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Lining up for power, courtesy of two charge stations donated by Sun Country Highway. And of course Shannonville Motorsports Park donated some electrons to the cause.

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Doug (red Roadster #1 - that's me), David (blue Roadster behind us), Phillip (red Roadster #2), Jaff (white Roadster), and Brent and Matt beside their brilliant yellow Roadster.

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Jaff fills his pack with "juice". Actually he was cooling down his pack with a little 110V.

From a personal perspective, it was great to return to Shannonville, which was my first introduction to racetrack driving when I took my Roadster there for a driving school. Although I've accumulated a fair bit of track time since then, and have taken my Roadster to autocross, I hadn't tracked the Roadster since then. It was really exhilarating!

Big thanks to the Shannonville Motorsports Park, Rob from the St. LAC club who organized the track activities, and of course Sun Country Highway whose donation of two charge stations made the whole thing possible.

We should make this an annual event. Will be fun to see how the Model S Performance does!
 
Okay, here's my video. Sorry there's no HD... not sure why... will have to try redoing it.

This is one lap of me chasing Brent in the Dymon Solar yellow Roadster around the Shannonville Motorsports Park "Long Track".


I never quite caught him... mind you, he does have a Sport. That's the ticket... we'll blame it on that. :wink:
 
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This is one lap of me chasing Brent in the Dymon Solar yellow Roadster around the Shannonville Motorsports Park "Long Track". ...

Doug, great to see that. It brought back memories of my visit to the Englishtown road track down here in NJ (where I was, funnily enough, today, watching dragsters do the quarter mile in 6.0 sec :crying:). But a question about the actual driving: Are you two-footing it? Didn't sound like regen was kicking in much but it's hard to tell on from the video. Anyway I enjoyed watching a "real driver" putting the Roadster round a track! Thanks - Ian.

P.S. Probably for the best that I missed this thread; I might have actually tried to come! 400 miles each way from Princeton. (Maybe next year I'll make a road trip of it....)