Area 27

As the final touches are being completed and we begin to move in next week, please keep an eye out for a follow-up email specific to the Clubhouse.

We are excited to announce that, as part of the Clubhouse, there will be a full service kitchen and operating company to offer you delicious meals while at the track. Crave Creative Kitchen, owned and operated by Challen Wilkison, Mark d’Aoust, Oliver d’Aoust, and Terri Lambert, bring together years of kitchen and bartending experience. While we do not yet have a full-time liquor license, we will be pulling special occasion permits on long weekends and race weekends so you may enjoy a drink after you’re done on track for the day.

JOIN US AUGUST 1ST AS WE CELEBRATE AN ADRENALINE PUMPED DAY AT THE TRACK WHILE RAISING FUNDS AND AWARENESS FOR THE OSNS CHILD & YOUTH DEVELOPMENT CENTER

We are excited to share with you our plans for the first annual Area 27 Cars for a Cause event, and let you know how you can make a difference in the lives of children in the South Okanagan and Similkameen by doing something you are passionate about.

‘Since 1978, The OSNS Child and Youth Development Centre has been dedicated to supporting children, youth and families in the South Okanagan and Similkameen through early intervention and family centered care. They offer important services and programs including clinical therapy, family support, and child care services. The OSNS is a leader in supporting young people with developmental and behavior needs. More than 1,400 children visit the OSNS annually from Penticton and the surrounding areas.

This is the public’s opportunity to experience the exclusive member-only formula 1 race-track in Oliver BC. The event will be selling exhilarating co-pilot rides around the circuit to thrill-seekers. Proceeds from this fundraiser are going to the OSNS Child & Youth Development Centre. The OSNS is a critical place of treatment services for children and families with developmental needs. If you want to come and check out the action, the race track will be open to general visitors and spectators. One can expect lots of action, motorsports sponsors, food trucks, and more! It is a great opportunity to see Area 27 up close and personal and interact with a variety of adrenaline seekers and motorsport fans.

To share your passion and make a difference in the lives of children and their families, sign up today! To download the information and registration form click HERE. Please complete and return to Amberlee. We understand and appreciate that you have a very busy schedule but we are trying to confirm a majority of the cars by May 30th. Registration will still be open after this date and we thank you very much for your consideration and involvement in this event.

This past weekend Jacques made his debut racing #27 for Ferrari in the Italian GT Endurance Championship at Monza. He posted the fastest race lap and put the car into the lead by more than 15 seconds before him and his teammates were sidelined with electrical issues. Check it out here.

Even with the long-lasting Winter, that only recently seems to have turned to Spring, we are on schedule to open April 1st. As usual for this time of year, the facility will open at 8:00am, drivers’ meeting will be at 9:00am with the track going hot shortly thereafter. We will break for an hour lunch around noon, the track will close at 5:00pm and the facility gates will close at 6:00pm. In the hot summer months, we will shift operations an hour earlier, but we will let you know when this time comes. There will be no facility access outside of these hours.

We’d like to remind our clients upon arriving at the facility each day to stop in the office to sign the waiver and receive your wristband – drivers, passengers, and spectators.

We’d like to welcome a new face to the office, Amberlee Erdmann. She helped Area 27 last year during Members’ Club Racing weekends and with our membership events. Officially starting with Area 27 in May 2019, she will be joining the team full-time as the Academy 27 Coordinator and Administrative Executive.

Another new(ish) face we’d like to welcome in 2019 is Tom Brickenden (No, that wasn’t an old person joke). Tom was previously a Corner Marshal, but has now been promoted and will be sharing Marshal Team Captain duties.. You will see him at the facility lots, so don’t hesitate to say hi!

Introducing Academy 27’s 2-Day Motorcycle Academy with Ken Hill

You heard it here first! Ok, some of you may have heard the rumours already but they are true. We are happy to confirm that this season we are hosting our first ever Academy 27 2-day Motorcycle Academy on August 7th& 8th, 2018.

Hosted by Ken Hill and his team, this course will be open to Members and the public, but there are limited spots available so reserve yours today! Open to all skill levels but a limited number of spots are available. The course fee is $2,600. +gst, please note participants will be required to have your own bike and gear.

If you have any questions or would like to register, please contact me at felicity@area27.ca

Want Better Sound? Consider The Source!

Hi-Res DAP

Today I’m not talking about exhaust systems or anything that will lower your lap time. What we are discussing in this chapter is getting the most out of your vehicles audio system. In particular we are going to look at the High Resolution Digital Audio Player or the hi-res DAP. The hi-res DAP is a simple, elegant solution to all your hi-fi listening needs. It allows you to store music from every source that you have, in a lossless format, while simultaneously being able to connect to every audio system or device you own. It can connect by Bluetooth, Wifi, 2.5mm 4 conductor, 3.5mm 3 conductor common ground, and by micro USB.

Video vs Audio

Over the past 30 years it’s been quite easy to see the difference in the quality of video image with the advancement of television. You can basically divide tv resolution into three categories; standard definition, high definition, and ultra high definition. Standard definition for years was available through the cathode ray tube television by means of the ntsc signal which was 30 frames per second with 480 interlaced scan lines. Current HD tv signals are available as 1080i, 720p, 1080p formats in order of higher resolution. The latest and greatest is Ultra High definition represented, and currently marketed, as 4K, with the potential for 8K in the not to distant future.

So why are TVs relevant to the discussion about car and home audio? While there has been a steady and obvious progression towards a better tv picture, what we have seen relating to audio sources for the most part has been, the exact opposite. Consumers are happily trading quality for convenience when it comes to the source and storage of their music. Primarily it was the maximum storage capacity of early digital devices that required file compression in order to accommodate a reasonable amount of music. Basically early solid state digital storage devices had limited memory capacity and music needed to have smaller file sizes in order for it to fit.

For illustrative purposes we can use television resolution to compare audio formats. We can think of CDs and records as being the equivalent of HD TV, mp3s, satellite radio and ITunes as being the equivalent of standard definition, and high resolution audio as being the equivalent of 4K & 8K tv. Have you ever seen what a nice new HD tv looks like when a standard old 480i analogue signal is fed into it? It usually looks terrible. This is why TV stores will often demo their best TVs with the highest definition source signal available, often this will be a 4K blue ray video.

File Size

When you look at the various digital audio formats the differences are obvious in amount of memory space that they occupy. I have had the opportunity to compare the same album as an ITunes file, a lossless wav file from a CD (44.1kHz 16 bit) and as a high resolution audio file (196kHz 24 bit). The highest quality MP3 has a bitrate of 320kbps, whereas a 24bit/192kHz file has a data rate of 9216kbps. Music CDs are 1411kbps. This in turn meant that the album mentioned had an approximate iTunes file size of 125 megabytes, a lossless CD wav file size of around 700 megabytes, and the hi-res audio file required 2.6 gigabytes of memory for storage.

The above comparison clearly illustrates why early smartphones and iPods/mp3 players required smaller music files in order to store a reasonable amount of music. A first generation iPhone would not even be able to store a single hi-res album with its standard built in memory.

Modern Hi-res DAPs have solved the storage problem thanks to the ever increasing capacity of the micro sd storage cards. Current DAPs can accommodate two 256 gigabyte micro sd cards as well as having up to 64 gigabytes of internal storage space. This will easily accommodate 300 hi-res complete albums or 1,200 wav cd quality albums. If you need more memory you can always store more music on additional sd cards. Imaging a stack of records or CDs as high as your ceiling stored on something the size of your thumbnail. An added bonus is if your DAP were to become damaged you could simply remove the sd cards and install them in a replacement DAP.

Audio Quality

The question most often asked is, “can you really hear the difference”. The short answer is definitely yes. The reality is that, just as some people have better eyesight than others, others have better hearing. So what it really comes down to is how good is the audio system you are playing your source audio through. With a decent quality hi-fi system the average listener can tell the difference when the resolution increases by 4 or 5 times. It is easy to hear the difference between an ITune file and a lossless CD wav file, and it is also true between the lossless wav and the hi-res 192kHZ 24 bit. It becomes more difficult to tell the difference when the resolution is already high and the difference is narrower for example 96kHz 24 bit and 192kHZ 24 bit. Of course the quality of the original studio recording and the skill of the sound engineers also factor into this equation.

Hi-res Audio is made from the original studio master tapes for the most part, well at least the good music that you and I listen too is stored and originated this way. There are more and more great albums becoming available for download this way on various websites like HD Tracks. In some cases the original studio recording have been remastered and converted to digital files at the highest possible resolution.

Modern luxury and performance car manufacturers have some fairly high-end audio systems as factory options. These systems are designed and optimized for the interior design of the car they are in, and have many other vehicle functions already integrated. Many of these systems are engineered by boutique audio companies like Bose, Bowers & Wilkins, Infinity, Kenwood, Alpine, Sony, Meridian, Kef, Burmester, Bang & Olufsen, Mark Levinson, Harmon Kardon, Lexicon and others. These systems are the audio equivalent of the new 4K and 8K ultra HD televisions. If you are listening to them with satellite radio or your iTunes, you aren’t even coming close to experiencing the potential of these systems. Recently Ford announced that they would be teaming up with Sony to offer Hi-Res DAP integrated systems in future high end audio system optioned vehicles. I would expect other brands looking to bolster their luxury image will soon follow suit.

Why the DAP?

A little while back I started to notice that many new vehicles that came with high end Audio systems were no longer offering a simple CD player. When I took delivery of my ZL1 this was the case and for the first couple months I was happy to listen to the free satellite radio through the 9 speaker Bose system. Occasionally I would listen to the very few songs I have stored on my phone. The music sounded okay but I felt that something was lacking and that maybe the Bose wasn’t what it was all cracked up to be. One night a song came on the radio that I had the original CD recording of at home. I dug out my old CD, my old CD Sony Walkman, a 3.5mm acg cord, and plugged the Walkman into the auxiliary input in my center console. I then proceeded to play the same song I had just previously heard on the radio. Wow! What a difference! I was really impressed by the factory Bose unit, the music was alive and sounded even better than I remembered it!

I then realized that I had a stack of CDs almost as high as my ceiling, and it wouldn’t be practical to try to stuff them, along with the Walkman, into the glove box. It made me look into digital audio players, and I quickly discovered the hi-res variety. These are available from Onkyo/Pioneer, Fiio, Sony, Astell & Kern, Shanling, and others. I compared features and availability, as well as product reviews and tests, and decided to order a Pioneer unit. Pioneer and Onkyo are basically the same company and have similar models and features. I then began the task of using my home computer to convert my CD collection into lossless wav files and store on my new DAP. Shortly after purchasing the unit I decided to buy and download my first hi-res audio file from HD Tracks.

The DAP that I purchased has twin digital to analog converters and a two channel headphone amplifier built in. It also has programmable equalizer built into the unit. This allows me to have one equalizer optimized for my car, another equalizer optimized for my headphones, and yet another optimized for my home system. Coupled with the near limitless storage and multiple connectivity options this truly was the solution I was looking for. I also saved money by electing not to renew my satellite radio, which sounded bad anyways.

Final Thoughts

If you have read this far through this story, then chances are you appreciate good music, and great audio. This is the first step towards becoming an audiophile. While few of us truly are audiophiles, we probably are old enough to remember when new music arrived in the form of a vinyl disc. There was always that one friend that had that Hi-Fi stereo system and top of the line turn table. I vividly remember what it was like when you would get your friends together to listen to a new album, start to finish, A side and B side. Those albums, on the Hi-Fi, always seemed to sound better the more you turned up the volume. Maybe this was due to the analog technology of the day, maybe we just enjoyed simple pleasures more in a world less complicated.

I am happy to say, at least from my own experience, that the hi-res DAP did more than just present itself as an elegant solution for my musical source and storage problems. It has also served as a time machine transporting me back to a time when the subtleties and intricacies of music were a joy to discover.

Do your own research, it’s a joy to crank the volume again. Maybe a Hi-Res DAP belongs under your tree this Christmas!

Happy Holidays & Best Wishes!

Bill Drossos, Crew Chief

Wheel choice can make a big difference to your vehicle’s ultimate performance potential. When choosing a new set of rims for your track car, you need to consider the following factors; diameter, width, offset, construction, caliper clearance, hub centricity, bolt circle, bolts versus studs, and air flow/spoke pattern. Let’s examine these differentiating factors to better understand what will ultimately make for a better choice when it comes to new wheels.

Diameter

If you have ever watched one of the discovery channel automotive tv shows where it seems the bigger the wheel you can stuff into a fender, the better. Then you tune into a Formula 1 race, and all the cars are circulating on 13-inch wheels. In the case of the former it is style over function, and with the latter, it is due to the rules package. If you take a closer look at F1 wheels you can see that they just barely clear F1 brakes. In reality, a Formula 1 car would probably perform better with a 15” rim with commensurate larger brakes. This approach has already been suggested by many of the race engineers over the years.

The deciding factor for choosing the right wheel diameter is the relationship with the maximum size brakes, and the overall weight of the vehicle they are fitted to. Simply put, bigger heavier cars require bigger brakes and bigger wheels. So, what’s the downside to a larger diameter wheel? Essentially, it’s weight. Aluminum is heavier than rubber, and combined, the tire and wheel, along with the brake rotor, make up the rotational unsprung mass of the car. It is estimated that for every one pound of rotational unsprung mass saved, it is equal to four pounds of mass removed from the chassis in terms of performance gained. This is the primary reason behind the development of carbon brakes and lighter forged alloy rims.

When it comes to choosing the right diameter, pick the size that will just clear your front brake calipers, and will also provide you with the greatest selection when it comes to tire choices. Quite often it is advantageous to go up or down a diameter if it allows for better quality tire choices. Another consideration is the location of the rotational mass, quite often a larger wheel will move the moment of mass further from the hub center. This will increase the gyroscopic effect of the wheel, which in turn has a negative effect on braking and handling. Currently for production-based street cars, the sweet spot for wheel diameter is between 18 and 20 inches.

Width

When it comes to width, wider is usually better but it is not as simple as just selecting the widest possible wheel. What you are actually selecting first is the widest tire that will properly fit the wheel opening without rubbing at any point of deflection, or steering angle. This will be a function of tire section width, wheel offset, and suspension geometry.

Once you have determined the optimum tire size and type for your vehicle, you can then choose the optimal wheel width to extract the best handling traits out of the tire. From a visual standpoint we are talking about the visible bulge of the tire as it relates to the rim. Most tire manufacturers will list an optimal rim width for a given size tire, however engineers may go up or down a half inch to a full inch in order to enhance handling characteristics. Usually, if you go with a narrower than optimum rim you can increase the edginess of the tire when on the limit. Conversely, a slightly wider wheel may numb some of these characteristics. This type of tuning is usually only seen in a half inch increment from optimal width, anymore than that, and the overall grip of the tire can become compromised.

A prime example of this type of tuning is evident with the 2014/15 Camaro Z28. This car runs on the same 305 section width 19” tires on all four corners. The wheels however are a half inch wider in the rear. The engineers purposely did this to improve the predictability of the back end of the car while simultaneously sharpening up the steering at the front. Another manufacture that has done this to great effect has been Porsche, specifically in order to tame the 911. Always remember that your handling is built around your tires and how effectively you use them. Wheel width is a critical component to extracting the best performance from your chosen tire.

Offset

Wheel offset is the distance that the wheel mounting flange is located in relationship to the centerline of the rim. If the mounting flange is further to the outside of the wheel the offset is positive. If the flange is to the inside the offset is negative. Formula 1 cars of the 70s often featured a positive offset front wheel and a negative offset (deep dish) rear wheel.

When choosing a wheel to maximize performance, the wheel offset becomes critical as it relates to handling. Wheel offset affects the following, positioning of the tire within the fender well, loading on wheel bearings, and critically the steering geometry.

Because wheel offset can change the wheel’s centreline position, it can also move that position in relationship to pivot points that the front suspension steers around. Altering this relationship too far one way or the other can create the following undesirable traits, kick through the steering wheel, steering effort, tramlining, premature bearing wear, and the dreaded shopping cart wheel wobble. The effects of a change in offset are felt less when the change is on the rear wheels. If a square set up is desired, try to build it as close to the front wheel off set specifications as possible

When selecting wheels, it is important to select an offset that will position the centerline of the wheel/tire close to the original geometry as possible. The centerline to centerline measurement is what is commonly referred to as wheel track.

Increasing the track (less positive offset) has the following effects, better handling, increased tramlining, and increased steering kick back. Decreasing the track (more positive offset) has the following effects, reduced handling, increased steering effort, increased body roll, and reduced steering feel.

Please note that these effects are amplified once camber and caster settings are set for the track.

Construction

Wheels can be made from steel, aluminum, magnesium, and carbon fibre, or a combination of these materials. Generally speaking, the lighter the wheel is for a given size, the more expensive it will be. In order to lose weight, while simultaneously meeting a specified design strength, more exotic materials and time-consuming construction processes are required. Because the wheels are part of the unsprung rotational mass, significant gains in performance can be achieved by selecting lighter options.

Steel is commonly seen as the wheel of choice for NASCAR and dirt track racing series. The close proximity, occasional wheel to wheel contact, wall proximity, and sustained high speeds of these racing series demand a high durability wheel. Steel has proven to be the ideal wheel material for these types of racing series.

Aluminum wheels come in many forms, cast, pressure cast, flow cast, forged, billet, spun, and combinations of these manufacturing techniques. You may also see mono block, 2-piece, and 3-piece wheels. The multi-piece wheels have an advantage for repair ability, durability, and customizable widths and offsets. The disadvantages of multi-piece wheels are higher cost, higher weight due to multiple fasteners, and a higher tendency to lose air over time. Besides cost, the biggest difference between cast and forged aluminum wheels, is that the forged wheel will have a higher strength to weight ratio than the cast wheel. Because of the high strength to weight, and improved manufacturing techniques, the forged aluminum wheel is currently the wheel of choice for manufacturers of high performance cars. When you consider all of the factors that make up an optimum wheel it can either be very difficult, or very expensive to find a better option than OE forged rims.

Magnesium, either die cast or forged, provides the ultimate strength to weight ratio, along with the durability required for motorsports. Magnesium is about 33% lighter than aluminum by comparison. Magnesium is also more costly to produce, and has a higher rate of corrosion and therefore must be properly protected. Forged magnesium wheels are currently popular in the highest forms of motorsports including Formula 1, Indycar, and Le Mans prototypes. Various OEM auto manufacturers have offered magnesium wheels as special options over the years. The 2000 model year C5 Corvette had magnesium wheels as an option. Aftermarket manufacturer Dymag has been making magnesium wheels for years and is currently offering magnesium and carbon fibre two- piece wheels.

Carbon Fibre has the highest strength to weight ratio of any material currently used to manufacture automotive wheels. Manufacturers are now starting to offer carbon fibre rims as original equipment. Notably Ford has led the way by offering this technology on the Shelby GT 350 Mustang. Previously carbon fibre was only found in the domain of the ultra-exotic hypercars, like Koenigsegg. So why don’t we see carbon fibre wheels in motorsports? The main reason beside cost, is safety. Although possessing a high strength to weight ratio, carbon fibre is not as impact resistant as an alloy wheel is.

Carbon does not bend like alloys when subjected to blows, it will either hold its shape or break, sometimes even shattering. As long as racing occasionally has wheel to wheel contact, or wheel to barrier contact, it’s not likely that we will see carbon fibre wheels allowed for use in racing.

Caliper Clearance

Previously it was mentioned that the wheel should often just clear the brake caliper. This was in reference to the diameter of the wheel along the inner portion of the rim. Just as important, it is critical that the spokes of the rim clear the brake caliper. This is usually not a problem with wheels specified for vehicles in OE specification. Problems occur when brakes are upgraded, and different caliper types are selected. Many vehicles come equipped with floating type brake calipers which feature the piston(s) only on the inside of the brake caliper. An upgrade to this design is to change a fixed caliper with either 4 or 6 pistons squeezing from both sides of the brake rotor. This type of caliper will occupy a lot more space towards the spokes of the rim, often negating the figment of the OE wheel. Wheels designed for large brakes typically feature spokes that are designed and positioned very close to the outside of the wheel, this is what is commonly seen in motorsports these days. Often when a wheel is chosen for an older classic style it can be very difficult to fit adequately sized brakes. I’m sure you have noticed this when attending classic car shows. The key point about caliper clearance is to consider the brakes being used, and to also consider future possible brake upgrades before selecting your rims. Often the brake supplier will have cross section downloads available showing the minimum requirements for caliper clearance.

Hub Centricity

Wheels are either of hub centric or bolt centric design. Bolt centric rims are centered to the axle by the wheel bolts or wheel nuts. This is a design feature on older vehicles and is no longer used on modern vehicles. For this reason, we will focus on hub centric wheels. The hub of the wheel features a machined seating surface of a specified diameter. This surface mates with the flange that protrudes from or through the front or rear brake rotor. The purpose is to centre the mounting of the wheel in relationship to the axle centreline. The bolts or wheel nuts clamp the wheel to the hub. The tapered seat of the wheel’s nuts/bolts will accomplish the final positioning of the wheel.

Therefore, it is important to torque the wheels unloaded, in a star pattern. The added safety benefit of the hub centric design is that the mounting flange will provide additional support for the wheel should the wheel lugs become loose. This is why bolt centric wheels have all but disappeared from the OEM.

When purchasing aftermarket wheels, it is very important to make sure the mount is hub centric to your vehicle. Some wheels are model specific with the proper hub size bore built in, others are universal fit and require adapter inserts specific to the vehicle. It is important not to use these wheels without the correct adapter installed. Without the correct adapter you essentially have a bolt centric wheel that could easily work itself loose on the race track with catastrophic results.

Bolt Circle

Bolt circle is essentially exactly what it sounds like, and each manufacturer will have their own specific bolt circles. Some will have the same bolt circle as other manufacturers; however, there may be other critical differences such as hub centric size and wheel lug size. The bolt circle is a measurement, either in millimetres or inches, of the wheel studs, as if a circle were placed over the centreline of all the studs. The corresponding diameter of the circle represents the listed measurement.

Bolt circles are often expressed with the number of lugs first, followed by the diameter of the circle. Here are some common sizes;

In some cases, there will be an imperial size that is very close to a metric size. For example, 5 on 4 3/4” is the equivalent of 5 on 120.65mm. Some would say these are close enough to fit, those people are the ones that make very dangerous mistakes. A difference of .65 of a millimetre can cause a dangerous preload on the wheel bolts or studs leading to failure. Additionally, there can be differences in the lug size itself 1/2”, 12mm or 14mm. These differences, if not properly matched, can cause problems with proper wheel clamping. Some manufacturers have even confused matters more as they transitioned into the metric world. For example, Corvettes have an imperial bolt circle, 5 on 4 3/4” combined with metric wheel studs, 12mm by 1.5 thread pitch. If you have the correct bolt circle and correct hub centricity, you then need to pay attention to the wheel stud or bolt size so the wheel can be properly clamped to the wheel hub.

Bolts vs Studs

For everyday driving wheel bolts are fine and do the job very well. Several manufacturers have gone the way of wheel bolts for a variety of reasons. Weight savings, fewer parts, and reduced costs are some of the reasons manufacturers are using bolts instead of studs. Another reason is that they do not expect that the consumer will ever be changing a wheel on their own. If you have ever had to change a wheel in the dark without the aid of a flash light you will find yourself expressing a lot of choice words about wheel bolts! Trying to position the rim so the bolt can be threaded in can be a real pain, even in good lighting situations. This is why many enthusiasts who track their cars will install stud conversion kits on their tracked vehicles.Besides being easier to change, wheel studs have other advantages over bolts. Studs are better at applying clamping forces due to the fact that they do not have torsional (twisting) forces being applied in conjunction with tensioning forces as the nut is torqued. This results in a truer torque of the wheel nut and a more even clamping around the bolt circle. This even clamping can also have the effect of reducing brake rotor warping due to the fact that the internal stresses are more evenly balanced.

Another benefit of wheel studs is that a wheel will take much longer to loosen and will have more support should a wheel nut come loose. This is a great safety feature to have when you are hot lapping a race track. With wheel bolts the rocking associated with a loose wheel can cause all the bolts to unwind themselves fairly quickly. A couple of our members discovered this phenomenon the hard way this past season. The bottom line is that studs and nuts are a far better option for vehicles that see frequent track use and frequent wheel changes. If your favourite track car has wheel bolts then it would be a good idea for you to search out a wheel stud conversion kit.

Spoke Pattern

Finally we can talk about spoke pattern, for the most part this is what makes the wheel and car look cool. Most modern performance wheels will feature spokes that have some form of triangulation to increase the dynamic strength of the wheel. The key thing with wheels for road racing applications is adequate airflow so your brakes can be cooled. Try to select a wheel that has good airflow for your brakes. Once you have found wheels that meet all the above listed requirements, the final deciding factor will be which wheels look the best on your car. What colour they are is all a matter of personal taste!

Beware of Replicas

One final note, beware of replica wheels, never use these on a race track. Replicas are often way cheaper than OE wheels, this is because they are made cheaper, often not conforming to the same rigorous standards, and often not possessing all critical design features. Often you will see Porsche or Corvette replica wheels offered for sale sometimes without the word replica present. The problem is the original forged wheels are being replicated with cheap cast wheels. Often these cast replicas will be as much as 10 pounds heavier per wheel than the forged wheel they are replicating. This is because these often poorly cast wheels have to be made substantially thicker to meet the minimum standards for road use. In fact, they will be far weaker and more dangerous than the OE forged wheel they are replicating. Save the replica wheels for boulevard cruising and car shows.

Enjoy the selection process!

Bill Drossos, Crew Chief

September 5/18 – Additional Memberships Announced

Since the beginning of the season, we have been monitoring the daily usage of the circuit on Members’ Lapping days and have seen a year-to-date average per day – including members and their guests.

The initial membership limit of 300 was necessary to allow management two years for fine tuning operations, while ensuring that members would have an enjoyable experience at the track with several sessions per day available to drive. Given the above considerations, SOMC has decide to increase the membership by 30 members to a total of 330. The increase in membership is expected to add, on average, one driver per session. With the admission of 30 new members, there will still be a substantial number of people on the wait list that SOMC is currently maintaining.

Our success is being rewarded with the decision to advance the facility investments and complete phase 1 and 2. Originally, the first building was planned as a 6,800 square foot administration building, then it became a 9,000 square foot multi-purpose building with a snack bar. The building as now finalized, and under construction, features over 11,000 square feet of space including, a full kitchen and bar, along with proper men’s and ladies’ locker rooms. Our circuit has set a standard as being one of the best in the world. It became quite apparent that we needed a building that is the equal measure of our stellar circuit.

In addition to the building, there are plans to improve track safety with a variety of features, and to build the refuelling station and karting track. We have also begun preliminary design for buildings to service and store vehicles at the track.

 

We would like to acknowledge the members who have stepped up so far with contributions towards our new building. First, we would like to thank Jonathan Asselin and Nancy Southern, who, through good folks of Atco, introduced us to the architectural design team at Kasian Architects. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Kasian, they really understand the vision of Area 27. That original sketch floor plan has evolved into a beautiful building that is equal parts form and function.

We would like to thank Bartek Farafoszyn of Bartek Construction Ltd. who is heading up the build as the General Contractor. Bartek has given us great confidence with his open approach, combine d with a wealth of experience and industry wide connections. One of them being a life long friend of his, and one our members, Gildo Giusti. The Giusti Group are the guys you see here now forming the concrete work. If you have had a chance to see these guys work, it is obvious that they are the A-team. The way they get things done is nothing short of impressive.

We would also like to thank Wade Wagstaff and his team at Grizzly Excavating for the detailed excavation work that got this project going. Wade was able to mobilize on short notice and get the work done precisely, and on schedule so the forming could begin. Alvin Unger, of Clearbrook Iron Works, is busy fabricating the structural steel. I personally tasked Alvin with a unique design detail that will appear later in the construction. We can also thank Alvin for our excellent start/finish tower that he designed and fabricated.

Our own Founding Member, Les Cool, connected us with Structurlam of Penticton. Structurlam has designed and is fabricating a Glulam and Crosslam roof for the building that will undoubtedly be one of the signature design features and will be complimentary to their flag stands. We have a host of members who are interested in being a part of the coming phases of construction and completion. We look forward to seeing a real showpiece appear before our very eyes. We are fortunate to have such a capable group from within our own membership, this is something to be very proud of.