Cone Carvers return to Oakville

Sunday the 3rd of July saw grass roots motorsport return to the Toronto suburb of Oakville when the PADA Autoslalom Series Powered by Hagerty, Hitting the Road with Yokohama, ran it’s first event in the Oakville GO North parking lot. I remember autocrosses as they were called then running in that

lot back when I moved to Oakville in the early ‘90s but I never had the opportunity to run there. It is a great location only 30 minutes West of Downtown Toronto and easily reached off the QEW Highway (and even better less than 10 minutes from my home in East Oakville)

And responsible for this happening are two stalwarts of the autoslalom community in the GTA,

Colin Caissie and Jay Tsang. This motorsport loving duo have been running the Pinnacle Advanced Driving Academy since 2016 and got together with two powerhouses in the industry, Hagerty and Yokohama to turn the series into reality.

Colin explained, “It is a very low-cost way for people to enter into the world of performance driving and motorsports as the speeds are lower than traditional race tracks. We believe our venue is one of the best in the GTA and it provides a place where rookies and experienced racers alike can compete in a safe and controlled environment. Throughout the day drivers get multiple runs to try and improve their time within their respected vehicle classes. We have looked closely at classing and have implemented a simplified class structure where the competitor can easily decide what class he wants to run.”

He went on, “We have experienced coaches who will ride along with the competitor and pass on a few tips and help with their learning curve. It can be quite intimidating for newcomers who have never faced a sea of orange bollards before. Going off course and striking a bollard is no big thing, no damage done and everyone is safe. You can’t always say that about a race circuit, which is why we really like to promote Autoslalom as the perfect place for rookies to get their feet wet in motorsport without all the risks. It is the perfect first step on the motorsport ladder where they can fully understand the handling of their car and the importance of being at one with it, never mind having a blast while they are at it.”

Tsang told me, “Our series is designed to allow beginners to really understand their cars. Sure there are people out there running in the series that have been involved with the sport for 8-10 years. Some of these people have no thoughts of progressing up the motorsport ladder, they are quite content running in series like ours. And more importantly these people are the perfect individuals to coach the rookies just starting autoslalom. Bryan Lemos who took the FTD at our first event is a perfect example of someone who has honed his craft in autoslalom. He has been participating for around nine years and that experience allowed him to best two Porsches and take the win by over a second. That experience more than qualifies him to take his VW Golf R and run at circuits like Canadian Tire Motorports Park’s GP track. He is a very capable driver.”

Tesla competitor Grant Galloway travelled from Cambridge to compete in his first autocross ever. “Recently I got the opportunity to try autocross for the first time, I have been an avid track day guy for years, eventually competing in Time

Bryan Lemos - FTD event 1 What can I say, a Porsche is a serious machine and it took all my skill to squeeze out an FTD during the first PADA AutoX when you are at a disadvantage with a slower car. I believe by being smooth and quick is what gave me that slight edge to beat the other high end cars that day or else they would

eat my little Golf R. But at the end of the day it comes down to practice, practice, practice, I have consistently come out to multiple AutoX events in the past and now with about 9 years of experience I am now able to throw punches with the big boys. Hopefully over the next few years I will be able to pull away from them too.

Attack competition with my modified Honda Civic.Autocross is a lot different from driving on a properracing circuit, thinking quickly to navigate the coneswas more challenging than I thought. I did this ina Tesla Model 3 STD range (base model) with stockeverything including 500TW tires. I charged the carto 100% made my way to the event about 55kmaway, ran all day with the AC running and thendrove home with still 50% battery life left. This wasabout $3 in electricity. The car was so much fun,had so much torque and with some sticky tires itwould likely be a serious contender. I am planningto do a few more of these events this summer. I wasa skeptic of these cars until I drove one, it is thefuture and I hope to see a lot more EVs enjoyingthese types of events.”

Ashley Huffman who was running her 2017Mustang EcoBoost had this to say, “The latest PADAevent was organized exquisitely by the book. Theydefinitely have it down to an art and aren’t afraid totake suggestions to make the event as fun and safeas possible. For the sake of my need for speed, I’mgrateful for PADA.

It can be daunting to be new, especially asa female in a male dominated sport. That said,autocross is a great equalizer. It’s about the finesseof the driver and readiness of the car. It’s not aboutfemale or male or titles at all, outside of the ‘winner’.Every time I’ve asked for help, it has been givenopenly with no judgment.”

Remaining events will be held onSunday, July 31stSaturday, August 20thSaturday, September 3rdSunday, September 25th

For more info join the Facebook group at https:// www.facebook.com/groups/2215990001913120

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