Wet roads, sharp turns and nausea
On a rain soaked day, members of the Oshawa Motorsport Club took to the development track at the Canadian Tire Motor Speedway to put their vehicles to the test. Here, Muhammad Hussain puts his Honda CRX through its paces in the final series of turns ahead of the straight away leading to the finish line. Hussain is getting ready to defend his title in the time attack series, which sees racers put into different classes and race against the clock to see who can put up the best times. When it comes to his division, Hussain is king, having held the title for eight years running. The track day was also taken in by amateurs and first timers, with many taking their cars to a pylon-marked track to mark down the basics of turning and cornering. (Photos by Graeme McNaughton)
By Graeme McNaughton/Column
“You’re the guy that threw up, right?”
That’s what I get for putting that little revealing factoid in an article a couple of weeks back.
I was back at the Canadian Tire Motor Speedway on a cool and rainy day, definitely a big turn around from the bright and sunny day that greeted me for the launch of Project ERASE, an effort by Durham police to put a stop to street racing and get racers to the track.
This time, I was there at the invite of the Oshawa Motorsport Club. Gerry Carvalho, who I met at the last event, said I should come down for the club’s track day and get a look at actual racers. After all, not everyone is hitting the track in a $60,000-plus BMW M3.
Away from the main track, which was being used by racecars that make that BMW look like a budget rental car, I was spending my day at the development track. My driver for the day was Muhammad Hussain, who was behind the wheel of an early-1990s Honda CRX. And unlike the BMW M3, it wasn’t designed to rip my face off or, in my case, my lunch from my stomach.
That didn’t stop Hussain from making sure I wasn’t geting sick. Apparently, that line from the article preceded me. I was the guy who pukes from sharp turns.
Thankfully, not today.
After a few laps around the rain-laden track, I had the chance to sit and talk with Hussain and find out what it was that influenced him to go racing.
In Hussain’s case, it was his wife.
“Back in 2000, 2001, I’d be spending Saturday afternoons watching TV. We used to get a lot of TV coverage of car racing at that time. Then my birthday came around, and she gave me a gift certificate to the BF Goodrich Racing School, which is here,” he says.
“At first, I thought she was spending too much money on me. I didn’t think I deserved it. But she says, ‘No, I want you to go to it,’ so she drags me to the school. I attended the school for two days, and I loved it.”
After doing a year of racing in his day-to-day car, Hussain decided to take the next step and get a car just for racing. That was what brought him to the CRX he has been racing since 2007, and it’s a car that has brought him success on the track. For eight years running, Hussain has been the champion for his class for time attack racing, which sees cars hit the track solo and try to put up their best time.
Hussain says his love for racing and driving fast got its start back when he was a young man attending university in his native South Africa.
“The politics in that country were a lot different back then than they are now. So unless you were of the right colour, you weren’t allowed on to the race track. So I used to be a spectator, and I loved it,” he says.
Off the line and around the corners
Of course, the day was not just for champions like Hussain.
There were several prospective racers at the track that day, taking in lessons and hitting a pylon-marked track away from the development track when Hussain and his colleagues were taking in laps and trading tips.
One of those drivers is someone I’ll call Frank – he didn’t want his name published because the car he was driving is still under warranty, and taking it to the track would void it – who, coming from a family of car lovers, had decided to give the track a try for himself.
I joined Frank while he did several attempts around the impromptu track, which helps novice drivers nail down the basics of cornering and hitting the apex so that they can get their best times.
Frank’s first attempt came with a time of around 38 seconds.
Frank’s car was no slouch, carrying a punch of nearly 300 horsepower, or a little more than two of my little Kia Rios. He said he got the car not only because of the power to satisfy his need for speed, but also to satisfy his wife, who wanted something with more headroom and space for when they one day have kids. This car would definitely be quite the way to show up to soccer practice.
Next lap, we’re down to 35 seconds. Getting quicker. One more attempt.
Frank says he, like many others that have come to the track, have found what they’re looking for with events like these, being able to test out the limits of their vehicles in a safe environment. And just like many of the others, Frank says he one day wants to get his own track-dedicated car. He has his heart set on either an older BMW or a Mazda Miata. The latter is a popular one at the track, with it being a light racer with easy-to-find parts, it’s a no brainer.
Last lap, down to 34 seconds. Frank is improving.
Before the last lap, however, Frank offered me the chance to go around the track in his car. I would have jumped at the opportunity if it weren’t for one major problem: I can’t drive standard. I had flashbacks of my dad trying to teach me in an old Ford Escort station wagon in Scotland when I went to visit him as a teenager, and the constant stalling. I think I only got it out of park into first once or twice successfully.
“I’ll have to take a pass on this one,” I said.
“Man, you really got to learn how to drive stick.”
“Tell me about it.”
I, like Muhammad and Frank, had caught the racing bug.
And on this trip to the track, I hadn’t thrown up.