Many people like to drive their cars fast and not a lot of us have escaped the dreaded speeding ticket. Meanwhile most car enthusiasts show more interest in vehicles that can perform way beyond the legal limits. What if there was a way to take your street driven vehicle and drive it as fast as you can go with no fear of streetlights, pedestrians, cars popping out of side streets, distracted drivers or police radar guns?
Ontario Time-Attack is that way. In Ontario, we are blessed with a good number of high quality race tracks that are happy to accommodate you and your car in a far safer environment than anywhere else you can find. Some people think you need a race car to drive on a race track but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
So why check out Ontario Time-Attack?
Unless you have direct telepathy with Sebastian Vettel, you likely need some instruction when it comes to race track driving. Video simulations are good but certainly not the real thing. The speeds, both cornering and straight line, that you can get to on a full out race track are far faster than what you would have experienced on the street.
Ontario Time-Attack runs two different schools that teach car control, seating, braking, and handling techniques which can really improve your lap times as well as your own safety both on the track and on the street. Ontario Time-Attack also has certified instructors available at each competition event. Typically during the morning practice sessions there is a Novice group with instructors riding shot gun to teach you all sorts of things you probably didn’t know that you didn’t know.
For years the Ontario Time-Attack series has had the largest schedule of events run on the widest variety of race tracks for the best experience of any time attack series in Canada.
Why have competition?
For some of us, just driving on a race track is the real thrill. Experiencing the speed and lateral forces at your own pace is hard to beat. On the other hand, which one of us doesn’t want to become a better and more skilled driver? The low key competition element provides a standard by which drivers can check out how they are improving. That is why not a lot of people play golf without keeping score.
The afternoon competition sessions of Ontario Time-Attack are run a bit like professional qualifying. There may be other cars on the course but no passing is allowed so the risk of car to car contact is minimal. It is basically just you and the track for 5 lap sessions where you can drive as fast as you want or feel comfortable with.
Why not just attend lapping Days?
A number of organizations arrange to rent a race track and sell lapping time to you at a profit to themselves. Some even have instruction available for a fee. Lapping days can give you a lot of track time, in some cases far more than either you or your car can take but often tend to be more crowded with cars of varying speeds and skill level sharing the track at the same time. The chance of car to car contact is far higher than at an Ontario Time-Attack event and the chance at a lapping day that you will have a few clean unobstructed laps in a row is very low.
But I already have a lap timer
Indeed good lap timers are readily available and can be remarkably accurate. Unfortunately the data they give you is only relevant to your particular car on a given day. Track conditions constantly change and what might be a good lap on one day may be considered remarkably slow on another. With Ontario Time-Attack you can compare yourself to cars of similar performance at the same track on the same day. Maybe that fellow competitor was 3 seconds ahead of you at the beginning of the day and down to 1 second ahead by the end. You probably learned something to make up those 2 seconds. The Ontario Time-Attack car classification system makes sure that your immediate competitors are driving a car with basically the same speed potential as yours so if you go faster, it is because you are becoming a better driver.
New for 2016
For 2016, the series has added 4 new classes for vehicles that don’t fit well into the standard Ontario Time-Attack classification. These classes are part of the Raw Time Challenge where just about anything goes in term of car construction or modification and the classes are based on power and tire type.
Who is “Ontario Time-Attack”?
Ontario Time-Attack has been competing in one form or another for over 35 years and is a non-profit organization run by 3 different auto enthusiast clubs. All of the major positions in the series are run by volunteers who are themselves, serious race track addicts. Some competitors/participants only come out for 1 or 2 events while others will run the complete series in an attempt to become overall champions. The competition can be intense as you want but also low key as none of our champions are aiming for a professional racing contract. Meanwhile the atmosphere is welcoming and very open to beginners and experienced drivers alike.
Come out and join us!