High Octane Equipe

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High Octane

quipe

Words and Photos by Ian Rae

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For those of you who are not conversant with French the title of this article may be a little confusing. High Octane Équipe is a mix of English and French. All racers know what high octane is and many have seen Équipe used to in the title of race teams all over the world. In this case Équipe more than describes the subjects of this article. Équipe translates into Team and that is exactly what Alain Lauzière created when he founded Team Octane, a team, and a really good one at that. When it comes to motorsport, Lauzière is a relative newcomer; he has no karting pedigree like many racers, just natural talent. Alain was introduced to the sport by his friend Jeff Lorriman, who at the time was working with none other than noted Toronto Star motoring scribe Jim Kenzie. Lauzière explained, “I believe it was somewhere around 1993, I workedwith Jeff and Jim all year in the Firestone FirehawkShowroom Stock racing series and as a reward for all my hard work I was put in Kenzie’s BMW 318i at a regional race. As with many people, I got the bug and we set too looking for something we could build into a racecar. Along with Wayne Hosaki we found a ‘93 Honda Prelude that we

hit the tracks with for a few years. I also got my first kick at the can of being involved with a manufacturer; Jeff Lorriman was involved in the Hyundai works Touring Class effort in the ASN Canada Enduroseries and he had some connections. He and Didier Schraenen were driving the Hyundai Canada / Tiburons and there was an Elantra just sitting idle in the corner of the shop. I was put in the Elantra, had some good outings and even managed to grab a class win at Shannonville.” Lauzière then went to work for BMW and that involved a move to Vancouver; so all racing was put on hold. On his return to the East he realized the time away had not diminished his love of racing and it was time to hit the track again. Working for BMW it only made sense that the new MINI should become his new weapon of choice. All his experience

“If we can’t have fun, we don’t want to do it.”

in racing had been with front drivevehicles and the MINI looked as if it had a pretty good platform to start with. “We knew there were not that many MINIs running but sometimes that is what is required to win in a touring car series. Picking a car that fits the rules and one that nobody else has, sometimes pays

Lauzière, hard at work, even at the track!

dividends. At the time Touring Car Quebec was not accepting any forcefed vehicles but that did not deter us. John Bondar was putting on the Ontario GT Championship and there was a place for us to race there, we carried on building the car hoping TCQ would eventually change the rules and give us the green light. I had acquired a severely worse for wear Mini Cooper S with the John Cooper Works package on. We knew Vic Simone from the Hyundai days and it made sense to involve Vic with the project. Lorriman pitched in along with Kevin Abe and a few others and we took all the good bits and built them into a new shell. The build was completed part way through the

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season so we headed to Mosport for the 2005 Labour Day Grand Prix of Mosport and shocked ourselves when we finished fourth.” 2006 saw Alain run a full season and once again all hard work paid off and the team was rewarded with the Ontario GT Championship Touring Car title. John Bondar would then make a change to his championship program that would take racing for Lauzière to a whole new level. He founded the Canadian Touring Car Championship. Now Canada had a true tin top series just like the ones in the U.K., Germany and many countries around the world. The new series excited Lauzière, “It was just what we needed, and the credibility a professional Canadian Touring Car series gave to the racers was huge. It allowed us all to go after bigger sponsors and become more professional.” That is where the first thoughts of Team Octane came from. Maybe it was time to go to a two-car team? It would take a few years before a two-car team would come to fruition and those thoughts had put aside as the new season dawned. Buoyed by the success in the Ontario GT Championship Alain had another banner year in the newly formed Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship and finished the year as the inaugural Champion in the Touring class. He would go on to repeat that feat two years later in 2009 and as much as success can enlarge one’s ego Lauzière has his feet firmly planted on the ground

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because of one word! That word is TEAM! ÉQUIPE as they say in French, Alain knows he could not achieved all he has without his team! That team consists of many parts, the guys who work on the cars, the great marketing partners and even the friends who call or text just to see how the race weekend went! Lauzière explained, “Racing is such a close knit community, everyone tends to know one another and help out when required. We have been lucky enough to have four main guys that crew for us. Michel Sallenbach, our 2009 rookie driver did an amazing job behind the wheel to finish second in touring in his first year is retired now and he spends so much time working on the cars. Everyone just pitches in and does whatever is required; we have no prima donnas here. Marc-André Beaubien and Jonathan Proulx are the car-chiefs on the cars and take care of maintenance and car preparation on their respective racecar. Louis-Philippe Allard is senior crew and is responsible for car build, fabrication and maintenance, Kevin Abe is a fabricator and our electronics specialist as well as carrying out general maintenance.

With the new branding of the Canadian Touring Car Championship Lauzière is upbeat about the upcoming season. He said, “2011 is going to be an eventful year for us, there is so much going on. One of our own sponsors, Castrol Wakefield has again signed up as sponsor of the series and Continental Tire has come on board as presenting sponsor. That is huge for our series! For a company

like Continental to get involved shows they have recognized the series for what it is, one of the best Touring Car series around. Mind you, we are going to have to be at our best right from the get go, the new spec tire from Continental is so different from what we ran last year that we need to be out testing as soon as the weather allows. That being said, I believe once we sort out the suspension to

Below - A sad sight after a lap one collision. Above - the team were ready for race two. In fact the MINI was repaired before race one ended!

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work with the tire we will have one that is going to provide us with consistent performance all race long. Last year we finished second with Michel; that means there is only one place for us to go now, first. It was impressive how he handled his rookie year, now with a year’s experience of the tracks I am confident he will be challenging for wins throughout the year. We are in negotiations for the second seat now, there is a lot of interest and when we have the new car ready I am sure you will see three cars out at some point. The new car is the latest generation and comes with a turbo, not a supercharger, it only makes sense for us to upgrade to the latest car and take advantage of the chassis improvements MINI built into the new car.” Lauzière was at pains to tell us that the team could not do what they do without the help of their marketing partners. Castrol is a prime example, Team Octane religiously uses BMW Motorsport oil from Castrol and the results are very impressive. “We ran Castrol in the first car from day one, it has gone four years of hard racing without a single rebuild, impressive indeed especially when you find out the bottom end had 30,000 street miles on it before we started racing it. Local Quebec manufacturer Bully Clutches build an amazing clutch, they have never let us down. GE Nighthawk, MINI Original Parts, Simone Performance Imports, Birchmount Collision, Trimo, Fix Auto, Cruisecanada.com, Cruise America.com have all played their part in our success. Michel is sponsored by Carrefour Icra, Carrosserie Touchette, La Clinique du Pneu, Lettrage Raoul et ASG and thanks them for their support.” Team Octane is blessed to have some pretty good friends racing MINIs that they share data with. The RSR team out of the USA is another to have made the choice to run the MINI brand in a professional touring car series. Randy Smalley and Lauzière compare notes regularly and share any data found to give the cars a performance improvement. Smalley related the tale of how the two hooked up and became collaborators, “Alain and I met back in 2006 when he and I co-drove my GRAND-AM Mini at Mosport that year. The Minis were not competitive back in those early days and so began the multi-year quest to get them up to speed. The big break through came in mid 2010 when GA gave us approval to run the Bosch racing engine management system. The cars were always quick but the stock ECU would always ‘give it up’ at around the twohour mark. There were many DNF’s due to factors outside our control. It was very frustrating. Our #198 Mini with the Bosch, debuted late last season and won it’s 1st two outings at NJ and at Trois-Rivieres and then capped the season with a second at Miller in Utah. These wins were the first for the NEW Mini in the USA in major professional racing and served notice to the fans and other teams. Now both Alain and I had done well and had results, we have swapped technical data since day one, brakes, ABS, setup etc. At the Canadian races we have shared crew, parts, etc. Alain is a good and valuable friend!” In addition to running their own MINI campaign in the CTCC, Octane was commissioned to prepare and manage MINI Canada’s foray to the Targa Newfoundland in 2010. If you read On The Grid in the last issue you will see it was

Marc-André changes out wheels studs

It’s all hi-tech here at Team Octane!

Powered by a standard JCW motor!

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a successful trip. The changes made to the suspension on the John Cooper Works Cooper S made the world of difference. Gone was the race based suspension from the year before, replaced by a rally spec shock and spring package from Drummond Motor Sport of Wodonga, Victoria in Australia that was more compliant and would handle the wild Newfoundland terrain with ease, one that would allow Kenzie to drive the car to its full potential. The changes obviously worked as the BMW Canada supported MINI took the win in the Open division.”My good friend Jacques Fournier helped us set-up the suspension and was on-hand throughout the event to ensure the car was always up to the task in Newfoundland. He was a pivotal force behind this success” expressed Lauzière. As for 2011, “There are negotiations going on as to what is happening this year. Team Octane is not a job for me, it is a passion; I may work for MINI Canada but the racing and preparing MINIs is just a sideline, a hobby. It is something I enjoy doing with my friends, if there is something going on at work around the time of Targa; that has to take precedence.

Time will tell, I’d love to go back with Jim and Brian, it was quite an experience!” Alain explained. So what of the future? Lauzière is happy with the way the CTCC is going and sees this year as a break out year for the series’ recognition. He would dearly love to try something like the a foray to some SCCA World Challenge events but had this to say, “As much as I would like to try the World Challenge I know we may never do it. It is so expensive to run we would have to have a very good program in place to allow us to do it. Funding is important in this game and as much as the CTCC is great the WC involves taking it to a new level, that costs money and it is not something I want to do without being able to be competitive. That being said the new car is being built to both sets of rules so you never know what will happen. Our focus this year is reclaiming the Touring class title we have held twice before and more importantly have fun. This team races for fun and if we can’t have fun, we don’t want to do it.”

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There you have it folks, teamwork at its best! Watch for Team Octane to return to the top and have fun while they are doing it!

Fast Facts

Chassis Generation: R53 Built by: Team Octane (in-house) Mild Steel Custom race cage to GRAND-AM spec. Engine: MINI 1.6 litre cast iron block, aluminum head, 2 intake and 2 exhaust valves by Tritec Supercharger: Eaton (M45) to MINI Specs Intercooler: Air – top-mounted John Cooper Works unit ECU: Stock Horsepower: approx 210 HP Transmission: 6 speed by Getrag with Limited-slip differential Clutch: Custom by Bully Clutches Flywheel: Fidanza aluminum to OE dimensions Suspension: KW 2-way adjustable shocks with proprietary spring rates and MINI Challenge camber plates Rear Sway bar: Infinitely adjustable lightweight splined bar (Nascar-style) 4130 chrome moly By Tarett Front sway-bar: H-Sport (Hotchkis) Brakes: Stock R53 Cooper S Calipers and rotors front and rear, Hawk racing pads with steel-braided lines with factory functional ABS Engine Oil: BMW Motorsport (Castrol TWS 10w60) Brake Fluid: Castrol SRF Strut-tower bar: John Cooper Works Wheels: 15 x 8 lightweight alloy wheels by 949racing.com Tires: Continental Extreme Contact DS 225/45/15 Instrumentation/Data Acquisition: Aim MXL Pista Steering wheel: Momo Safety Equip: Schroth Enduro 6 point belts Seats: Momo / Racetech Weight: 2,375 lbs with driver Exhaust: Custom fabricated straight-through with Vibrant muffler Header: custom-unit by Revolution Motors Works Electrically-Heated front windshield

I got involved with Team Octane when we tested at the Fall Classic in 2009 in Mont Tremblant, both my mechanic Marc- André and myself immediately felt comfortable with Alain Lauzière , it was like we knew each other forever. The car was similar to my previous Michel hard at work! Toyota, a small front No Prima Donna’s here! wheel car, so there were no learning the car issues.

During the winter 2009-2010, we rebuilt the MINI at my home, along with the guys from Octane. It was a perfect fit, the team gelled, worked well with each other and enjoyed each others company. Throughout 2010 we all pitched in and it made the race season a fairly easy one. My car was always on the edge, Marc-André and I were coached by the Octane team members and we learned to work with it, to improve it. We built a strong team spirit together and that will continue in 2011.

My first goal was a top five in the 2010 championship, with hopefully a podium. We had to learn three of the four tracks used in the series, Mosport, Toronto and Trois-Rivières. The car was reliable all year long with only a wheel issue in Toronto, and a crash in Mosport spoiling things. That consistency was key to doing well in the championship, it was rewarding us to reach the top three in the championship and by season’s end that turned into a second place. It was an interesting learning curve, with a few difficult race starts rewarded by a win and the best lap at the last race.

Of course the good result in 2010 should make us a Championship contender. It will be hard, having new competitors, others will improve their car, and we are no longer a rookie, so nobody will give us a chance. Right now, we are refreshing the cars, to keep them reliable. Again, Team Octane is doing a very nice job, always keeping it simple and affordable, starting with a strong vehicle, the MINI. Everything is together for another wonderful and competitive season We will also run with Continental tires, so we have to work on new set up, like everybody. How will we manage it? How will I, as a driver, manage the pressure I will put on my own shoulders? For me every race week end is just a lot of fun, working hard to be able to live that passion and it’s the reason why I’m always smiling at the track. I’m just living my dream!

The start of the turbo MINI racecar build.

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Editors Note! This sidebar is somewhat special for me. I noted in the main article that noted motoring journalist Jim Kenzie was one of the guys responsible for getting Alain Lauzière behind the wheel of a racecar. Kenzie is someone I respect very much, very factual, to the point with his writing and with a bit of fun thrown in as an aside. Jim feels so strongly about his relationship with Alain, he took the time to put together this little piece that gives us great insight to the person that is Alain Lauzière and the heart of Team Octane! For that Jim, thank you. You honor our little magazine, with this and in the words of Wayne and Garth, “We’re not worthy!”

Over in Kenzie’s Corner!

As I recall, Alain was friends with Jeff Lorriman, who I first met when he was a young car-crazy kid and who eventually would became the top driver for our unofficial little racing team. We were running a BMW 318is in the Firehawk showroom stock series, with David White under the “R.A.I.D.” label - Racers Against Impaired Driving. We even had a promo video with Much Music’s Erica Ehm and everything! I believe Alain was already working for BMW (Jeff used to shoot product photography for BMW) and I think that’s where he and Alain first met. Alain was helping us on the crew, and while the details are fuzzy I guess Jeff suggested that to thank him for his work we give him a shot

He said, “I think the right lower control arm bushing might be going - I’ll replace it.” And in what couldn’t have been much more than ten minutes, the team had done so. The car DID feel better. This attention to detail really gives a driver confidence, especially when it’s a car you have never driven before.

When we were looking for a new way to keep the Targa MINI project going, someone - maybe Alain; maybe BMW, I’m not sure - suggested we do it under the auspices of Team Octane. Alain recruited a long-time friend and MINI expert wrench Jacques Fournier, and they were simply the best crew ever. The two guys made themselves look like about six. My favorite individual moment came on the last day, after SO much travel and SO much hard work, when most cars and most crews looked bedraggled, the car HAD BEEN WAXED! It looked spectacular all week. They also ran around helping out several other teams during the event. When we had that mechanical issue in the second-last stage, and we thought our Open Division win had been thrown away, Alain again kept his calm, and working with my navigator Brian Bourbonniere (I was a wreck...) figured out how to fix that.

Did he tell you the story about the windshield from the Targa MINI I wrecked in 2008? After a Double-End-O into the woods at 160 km/h which totally flattened the back half of the car, the windshield was unbroken! Amazing! So he took it out as a spare for his racecar. One day he decided it should go ‘over there’ in his basement instead of staying ‘over here’. He picked it up to move it - and it broke! Even the best have their ‘issues’...

Throughout that Targa, Alain earned from me my highest accolade as a Team Manager, one we invented for the guy who ran our Hyundai team: “Shit Absorber”. Bourbonniere and I always had NOTHING to worry about - the car, the rules, the scrutineers, the organizers, the schedule, getting fed - nothing. He just handled it, so we could get on with our tasks.

at driving the car. (Frankly, if asked to remember it on my own, I would have thought that happened a few years later in the Hyundai Tiburon, but I’m old...). In any case, Alain was really quick, and it reinforced in my mind the belief that all skinny French-Canadian kids have the Villeneuve gene... And of course Alain has gone on to a pretty good racing career on his own!

And while I know he’s an intense guy underneath there somewhere, it never EVER showed to us. He was always calm, never rattled, always got it done. He is an amazing guy, great driver, great crew chief and a great friend!

Alain repaid the favor by letting me race his MINI in one round of the Touring Car series a couple of years back. It was then that I saw how well-organized and careful he is in prepping a car. And in developing it - I’m nowhere near as quick a driver as he is, but the car was so easy to drive that I ended up not THAT far off his best lap time! After my practice, he asked if I felt anything odd in the steering. I said - well, it feels pretty good, maybe a slight vagueness in certain corners.

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