6 replies to this topic

[Bruce McNutt]

Here is a taste of some intense Spec Miata racing in the Toyo Tires Spec Miata Championship at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. This race is the 2nd Spec Miata race on June 24, 2012 (race no. 5 out of 15). This battle is mostly between Cal Vandaalen (in car camera), Steve Ellis (red #24) and myself (blue #25). There are a bunch of others not too far from us and they keep appearing in the mirrors. This is the whole 15 lap race in HD no less (almost 23 minutes!). It gets really heated up at the 11:00 mark, where we go 3-wide into turn 1. Drafting actually works at our track and we did it to each other several times in this race. Cal was leading on the very last lap. He was too busy watching his mirrors and dropped a wheel off the curb in turn 11, thus spinning down the front straight. I had to back off slightly or I would have plowed into the back of him, thus Steve getting by me and taking the lead. I tried another final drafting attempt on Steve down the back straight. Travelling at 110mph, 6 inches off his back bumper and a split second before I attempted my move, he let off the throttle and I plowed into the back of him. That took all the wind out of my sails and he went on to take the win with me less than 1 second behind. That was a classic “old guy” move. It was a blast of a race and we laughed our butts off afterwards.

Take a break, smell some roses, go full screen HD, turn up the volume and enjoy!!

[Alberto]

is that an off road track?

[Bruce McNutt]

well it is used for motorcycle superbike events....

I've been "off" just about every corner in the past 20 years. So I suppose so...

[Alberto]

My comment was in refernce to how bumpy the track looks in your video.

Is it that bumpy in real life or does the video exaggerate?

[svvs]

Wow....what can you use for references at that track? it looks old school (and awesome).

[Bruce McNutt]

Yeah its an "old school" track, built in 1974. Its totally club owned & operated. Average width is only 28 feet wide. A lot of the track still has the original asphalt and yes, it is quite bumpy. We are all very used to it, although there aren't any GT1 cars coming out anymore. Way too bumpy for those guys and they consistantly break too many suspension parts. Although it's only 1.5 miles, it is extremely technical and it takes some time to figure it out. It has a hairpin, two short straights, off camber corners, a roller coaster, carousel, swamp, etc. Its tons of fun and extremely challenging especially in a spec class. Its the ONLY closed course road racing facility in Nova Scotia, so we are greatful to have it. It must be nice to have several tracks within a few hours drive. Not so for us. Any/all monies collected go back into the facility to keep it running.

It has been said many times that if you can master Atlantic Motorsport Park, you can race on any track in the world.

[Juan Pineda]

Good one! You really dodged a bullet there at the end. Thanks for posting! -Juan