2014 Mosport Driver Development Track video tour

[TrevorH]

Here's video I made of the new Driver Development Track at Mosport, taken during the OTA instructors school.

http://youtu.be/U5jGEXEZpjY

Driving speeds were intentionally slow.

In general, I really like the layout of the new track, and I'm looking forward to trying it at speed. There's only a few turn options missing from the old track (down towards the back end), but many of the turns there have been changed, allowing for increased speed.

Track curbing is not in place yet. I'm told those will be done in a few weeks. Currently there is a 2 to 3 inch drop from tarmac to dirt if you go off. Hopefully they'll bring up the ground level near the track to get rid of that difference. The track is generally very smooth, but there are a few spots that could be better. There's a small dip in the last turn before the main straight, and a small bump (frost heave?) slightly before the breaking point on the main straight. Lastly, as with the old track, there are several elevation changes to add that dynamic to the lap, as well as making some corners blind.

Trev

[STeveD]

Thanks Trevor! It looks like turn 2 is going to be the balls out corner on this one!

And now that the line is smoothed out in the south west the curve then hump before the chicane to the front straight is going to be scary. I think that fast cars without good brakes are going to be too unsettled to brake in time for the chicane if they don't get some braking done before the hump. Is front downforce going to be critical... I think so. Definitely won't want front aero lift.

I like what they've done with the tighter transition to the old track, and they kept our favourite kink in. Shame we can't run it in reverse anymore. Maybe that's not specified in the contract....

Need some safer barrier or tires along the pit exit wall. Eeesh!

[TrevorH]

The hump coming up to the pit straight isn't too bad on the left side of the track. I'd say similar to what it was before, but the right side of it seems higher by a fair bit. Passing there could be interesting at speed. You're right though that with the exit from the back straight, you'll carry a lot more speed up the hill. I did the corner at 90 kph on winter tires without even thinking about it.

It wasn't too obvious from the video, but there is tires along the pit exit wall. It looked like a single row though, so it needs to be deeper. I think you've got about 15ft between the track and the wall there. That's the only spot of real concern, unless you lose all breaking on the uphill section at the end.

The metal guard rails look quite expensive. There in good locations, but eventually someone is going to get the bill for one.

[nissannx]

Trevor, thank you. I wasn't able to make it but wondered what it was like. I've always liked driving it that direction, but sorry to hear that it's now a one direction track. Loved the Mitsubishi and water comment! LOL! The corners onto and off of the back straight look like they're significantly faster!

[TrevorH]

Going on the the back straight was a bit of a change. They paved over all the old track, so you can see how much deeper the corner used to go, but they rounded out the inside significantly, and that's where the gains come from. I don't think that would have worked with the old infield option that was close to that corner.

The turn off the back straight made a lot of sense. Once you eliminate the double apex uphill option (which I'll really miss), making more of a straight line to the direct route just made sense. It feels like a 45 degree corner, but with the width of the track, you can turn in (slowly) very early and make it a super wide radius turn. It'll be interesting to see if, at speed, this requires just a throttle lift, or braking.

A few of our crowd were lapping a decent speed, so they may have better feedback (Gary, Derrick, and a few others).

[dubya_rx]

My video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqa33ruHlP8

Outside the car so no commentary, but I did add some annotations. Having the camera above the car means the blind corners are less blind though.

[LaszloT]

Nice Walter. Loved the annotations too.

[mbovey]

Thanks Trevor! Can't wait. I reposted the video on my truck's Facebook page. Hope that's cool.

[TrevorH]

Yes Mark, that's cool.