It was early March 2017 when I was looking at some upcoming local track events that I stumbled across CSCS ( Canadian Sport Compact Series) online. With only a handful of track days under my belt I was weary of what I was getting myself into but coming from a past of competitive and dangerous sports I was mostly excited and anxious to see how my relatively stock GTI would stack up against the competition. So I whipped out my credit card , a very important tool for any grassroots Motorsport enthusiast it seems, paid my entry fee and since then I have not stopped. I was absolutely hooked!

The car back then was a lot less dramatic, very street legal and built like every other GTI you would see on the forums or Facebook pages. Standard bolt on modifications, a slightly larger turbo off the Golf R. It made around 380 WHP, had a aggressive reverse stagger wheel set up, and entry level suspension modifications. Perfect for an entry level time attack class, perfect for me to hone my skills, learn how to be fast, consistent and understand how to be competitive. I ended the 2017 season 3rd in class even though we missed the first event, made it on the podium three times and even took home first place at the very last event, breaking the Production FWD record at Toronto Motorsports Park. Safe to say I had much bigger goals for 2018!

Photography by Iain Donnell Photography by Iain Donnell

The off season lead to me building the car to a level I did not think was possible. I decided I wanted to move up a class to Street Mod/ Street. This was a big decision as I wanted to stay competitive and that meant we had a lot of work to get done over the next few months. Street Mod allows you to build the car with more freedom, engine swaps are allowed, big turbos, big tires, and even bigger aero. That freedom to essentially go wild with the build was such an exciting time for me in the sport. I had this blank canvas in front of me and could get creative, this is one of the things about time attack I love the most. As long as you stay within the rules you can do whatever you want really and it leads to all these amazing builds that are so diverse.

So we got creative and went into the 2018 season with the car now looking like this. A quick run down of what we changed. Upgraded turbo from DBV2 making 440WHP 400WTQ, custom aero kit using Professional awesome diffusers in the splitter we made out of Alumapanel, a 67" APR GT-250 rear wing, upgraded dampers for Motion Control Suspension, finally an LSD up front from Wavetrac, bigger wheels with 285 RE71R tires, gutted everything from the B pillar back and installed a roll cage, and a whole bunch of other mods that pushed this car to the limit of its class. It was a completely different animal.

Photography by Iain Donnell Photography by Iain Donnell

Photography by Iain Donnell Photography by Iain Donnell

The 2018 season was successful to say the least. I attended a total of 7 events, out of those 7 I ended up on the podium 5 times with 2 wins, 2nd place in my class overall for CSCS and a new lap record at Gingerman Raceway for Street MOD FWD at Gridlife. We went faster buy a large margin at every single track compared to the previous year, broke all of the goals set headed into the season as well. There were so many ups and downs, long nights, constant testing and tuning on off days at the track. I pretty much invested most of the year to racing time attack and it paid off leaving me wanting more.

Photography by Iain Donnell Photography by Iain Donnell

CSCS Round 2 at TMP- First Place - Photography by Iain Donnell CSCS Round 2 at TMP- First Place - Photography by Iain Donnell

So here we are, 71 days away from the first round of CSCS in 2019. With the success of 2018 we were able to secure more sponsors and funding to make 2019 even more exciting. A faster, lighter, more reliable car. More aero, more power, more reliable. Currently its sitting at the shop on a lift and being worked on constantly by myself and some good friends to be ready in time for spring when we go shake it down to sort out any kinks prior to race day. 2019 is going to be a big year, I have a goal to be competitive across all drivetrains this year, not just FWD classes. So we are hard at work for the next few weeks finishing up everything on our list to be ready. This is where we are at with the car right now.

March 11th 2019- Almost Racing Inc - Photography by Iain Donnell March 11th 2019- Almost Racing Inc - Photography by Iain Donnell

March 11th 2019- Almost Racing Inc - Photography by Iain Donnell March 11th 2019- Almost Racing Inc - Photography by Iain Donnell

March 11th 2019- Almost Racing Inc - Photography by Iain Donnell March 11th 2019- Almost Racing Inc - Photography by Iain Donnell

2019 should be a great year! I will be updating here on the regular from now on, covering each event as we go and anything else that be of interest. I am sure there will be many highs and many lows this year with great stories and pictures to share.