Summer Days at the Track

First, I never thought I'd ever be able to get into race car driving. Motorsports always seemed like an activity exclusive to rich kids or kids of former pro drivers.

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While I've been into pro racing for some time, as a spectator, I instantly fell in love with the Micra Cup. After watching one race I traded in my 2012 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V for a car with almost half its power and almost no thrill off the line. I've always been a tinkerer and I was inspired by the cup cars. For which I started to acquire parts from both Motorsports in Action and also some performance parts from Japan, England, and the USA. Now I had a car that could rival my Spec V; albeit not on the straightaways but definitely on the corners. I felt I just couldn't experience the full extent of my effort on the street.

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That's my little one at the back

Luckily I live within an hour (or two) of some world class racing facilities. Circuit Mont-Tremblant and Calabogie Motorsport Park. All it took was one novice day at CMP and I was hooked.

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My first experience was at CMP which cost me $80 to go on the track for 30 minutes with an instructor. We'd go around learning the magic of brake-turn-throttle and have a really great time doing so. From there I signed up for the Performance Driving course at Jim Russell @ Tremblant to get a full day of instruction from the world leaders in Motorsports. Did they ever push us to our limits. At the beginning of the day I was doing 20 km/h at the corners. By the end of the day I was up to 100 km/h and topping out at 145 km/h on the straightaways.

I just couldn't be happier with the payoff for my effort in tuning my little Micra for the track. Cold Air Intake, RS-R Down Springs, Endless Brake Pads, Fast Wheels, and Yokohama Avid Ascend tires. All this stuff works great both on the track and street. In all I've spent less than $1000 on upgrades, a few hundred dollars on Specialty Insurance and Track Fees. Just shows you don't need to spend so much to have a great time on the track.

Also, I'm hoping to see more Micras on the track in the future. Honestly, you wouldn't believe how excited people were as everyone wanted to see the Micra in a sea of WRXs and Mustangs.

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Awesome post & photos! I love it.

Back in the day, I did a number of driving school days at Shannonville - the Nissan School of Performance Driving. The cars were supplied, and most of them were stock 300's & 240's, which all the students scrambled to get after the classroom sessions.

But they also had a lowly Sentra, and to make it more appealing, it was fitted with wider, sticky tires and a proper racing seat. I went for that car, because on the short track, it was an absolute hoot to be able to keep up to and even outperform some of the more "capable" cars.

So much fun - congrats on doing it with your Micra!

love the plate!!!.....couds be faaa....st
or
what was the biggest improvement....springs or tires?