 James and the Mazda CTCC media race car. Click image to enlarge |
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Video: Race 1 |
Article and photos by James Bergeron
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CTCC B-Spec racing
There are a lot of myths when it comes to racing. Many people believe you need a budget the size of a small city. Although you do need to have a budget, depending on what series you race in and what you drive, it can vary greatly. Another myth is that you need to take a car and spend tens of thousands of dollars making it race ready—and this is not necessarily true either. Other myths include: without 1,000 horsepower you are not going to be winning any races; and, the car must be rear-wheel drive or don’t bother.
These myths are exactly why the B-spec Series was invented and the CTCC has adopted it for the 2012 racing season.
What is CTCC?
CTCC is the Canadian Touring Car Championship, presented by Continental Tire. The CTCC is Canada’s only professional road racing championship and features race cars based on their original street stock version.
 The Mazda CTCC media race car. Click image to enlarge |
There will be 16 rounds in the 2012 CTCC season hosted at 5 different racetracks over 8 weekends. The season began at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly MoSport) and ends at Calabogie Motorsports Park, September 1st and 2nd. The season includes a support race at the Montreal Grand Prix as well as the NASCAR weekend at Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal and stops at Circuit iCar in Montreal, Mont-Tremblant, and Trois-Rivieres.
What is B-Spec?
B-spec is a showroom stock class that only allows simple modifications to the suspension—which means driver skill counts for everything. The B-Spec class was developed through a collaboration between Honda Performance Development and Mazdaspeed Motorsports Development with the goal of creating a common set of rules that could be adopted by various racing series.
The B-Spec class features showroom stock vehicles using stock engines and chassis, fitted with a competition roll cage, racing seat, and other safety equipment, along with 205/50/15 Continental ExtermeContact race tires. No aerodynamic devices are allowed; cosmetic plastic engine covers may be removed; brakes may be improved; and only OEM suspension or an upgraded suspension from the manufacturer may be used. These rules ensure that cost does not become a limiting factor.
  The Mazda CTCC media race car. Click image to enlarge |
Vehicles currently eligible to participate in B-Spec in the CTCC include the Mazda2, Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta, Mini Cooper, Fiat 500, Chevrolet Sonic, Kia Rio, Nissan Versa, and Toyota Yaris.
For the 2012 season, Mazda, in collaboration with the CTCC, is campaigning a Mazda2 race car for the entire season; the vehicle will be driven by various media and celebrity guests. For the weekend of June 23rd and 24th at the Circuit iCar in Montreal, that guest was yours truly from Autos.ca.
The Track
Circuit iCar is a 2.8-kilometre road course located in Mirabel, Quebec on the grounds of the old Mirabel Airport. The track is primarily used as a driving school and includes facilities for karting, drag racing and, of course, the road course itself. The track was updated in 2011 to offer a more flowing design and more excitement for drivers and spectators.
The karting track was designed by Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, who also owns and operates a driver academy based at Circuit iCar.
The Car
For the weekend of June 23rd–June 24th, I was the “professional” driver behind the wheel of the Mazda2 race car. And let me just start by saying it was an absolute blast—the Mazda2 race car proves that you certainly can have fun driving a slow car fast.
The B-Spec series features showroom-stock cars, so this Mazda2 was no different. The Mazda2 is powered by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine that outputs just 100 horsepower and 98 lb-ft of torque. My race car had a five-speed manual transmission and no air conditioning (the compressor was removed but not the lines).
 Much of the car’s dash is left intact. Click image to enlarge |
According to Mazda’s specifications this vehicle should weigh 1,067 kg (2,352 lb). The interior of my race car was, for the most part, fully intact. The driver’s seat was replaced with a racing bucket, the passenger seat was gone and replaced with a fire extinguisher. The rear seats and carpet were all removed, as well as some sound-deadening materials. Of course, a rather beefy roll cage was added for safety, but besides that, this vehicle was stock. According to the weight scales used at the track for regulations, this Mazda2 weighed in at 1,043 kg (2,300 lb spot on), including yours truly and my gear, suggesting that this vehicle actually weights closer to 952 kg (2,100 lb) when “dry.”
The Racing
After a few sessions of practice in the Mazda2, I felt fairly comfortable pushing it to the limits—the car really is easy to drive. Being accustomed to a much faster car on the track, though, meant that driving the Mazda2 was a learning process. Forget the brakes and keep your foot planted as any time momentum was lost it would take ages to get it back.
  Top: Squeezing into the driver’s seat. Bottom: scrambling to get the Mazda2 running again. Click image to enlarge |
This was my first outing at Circuit iCar, a fairly technical track. Because of its flat nature and vast amounts of pavement, however, there is room for some error, so many drivers use all of the asphalt to gain an advantage. I found this out quickly as my test laps had me in the 1:59 time frame while my competition was 2 to 3 seconds ahead of me—after a few laps behind them I realized that, unlike what I was taught in kindergarten, I should not stay within the lines!
My main rivals, two experienced Quebec drivers—Nick Wittmer, a two-time Super Class champion and Simon Dion-Viens, a three-time GT Champion racing a Corvette in Quebec—were behind the wheels of B-Spec class Honda Fits in front of me for both races. Try as I might, I could not keep up, although I managed to get within a second during qualifying.
Race one went off without incident as I drove with my right foot firmly planted on the accelerator for nearly the entire race, bringing home a third-place, podium finish for Team Mazda!
Race two on Sunday is where the racing gods reared their heads. Sunday morning practice was complete and I shaved yet another two seconds from my best times on Saturday—then, when I went to start the car once again, it would not fire. After some diagnostics, we begged another team that was not running their Mazda2 to allow us to swap alternators—to no avail. We tried various other things (including a computer, which didn’t help). My decision in the end was to put in a new battery and cross our fingers!
With all the commotion and last-minute preparation we forgot to fuel the car before the race, so my race turned into a fuel-saving exercise after about 10 laps since I was worried that we might not finish. In the end the car sipped its way to the finish line and I had myself another podium and champagne to celebrate a great weekend behind the wheel of a Mazda2 racer!
This weekend turned out to hold a lot of firsts for me—first time at Circuit iCar, first time truly racing door-to-door, and first time finishing on the podium with two third-place trophies to add to my collection of driving accolades.
The CTCC racing series is run extremely professionally and by a crew of dedicated individuals that have racing running through their blood. For more information on the CTCC, visit TouringCar.ca or watch their TV show on SportsNet!
Race 1:
Race 2:
