Photo by Werner Mannert, of Edmonton Alberta Courtesy of NASCC
Interview with Kevin Kolasa, NASCC Board Member / Social Media Director
Velocity: How was the school?
Kevin Kolasa: The NASCC Winter Driving and Ice Race school went very well. We sold out the school and it has been a while since we have done that. We have recently started a social media campaign to try and attract a new generation of racers, and to get the community aware of our existence. It’s been a tough last two years with the downturn, but we are managing to get some new blood and I am happy to report it seems to be paying off! I expect a lot of growth in the next 2 years on the NASCC front.
Velocity: How many people took the school?
Kevin Kolasa: We had 30 students and 22 instructors. We ideally like 1:1 ratio, but we unexpectedly had much more registrations than we had anticipated, with a lot signing up at the last moment and it is difficult to find instructors at the last minute.
Photo by Werner Mannert, of Edmonton Alberta Courtesy of NASCC
Velocity: How many racecars in total?
Kevin Kolasa: For our first Ice Race, we had 20 cars. We had 3 street rubber cars, 6 limited stud/neon class, 10 chevette/studded class, and 9 chevette/rubber mix. The numbers don’t add up correctly because some people were sharing drivers and cars between classes.
Velocity: How many classes which one was the strongest class?
Kevin Kolasa: Chevette historically has the most cars entered in it. They were slow last year at the start of the year due to ice conditions for their non-studded tires, so they decided to moved to ta street stud spec tire and now are quite fast and still quite numerous on the field. The limited stud class has the fastest speeds overall as we run a mix of spec-bolted tires and studded winter rally tires (Black Rockets, from Finland). The Chevette class generally is the core of our ice racing, just because there are so many of them and they do a great job of recruiting new participants and helping each other keep those old cars running.
Photo by Werner Mannert, of Edmonton Alberta Courtesy of NASCC
Velocity: Any major incident or red flags?
Kevin Kolasa: Nothing major. School had some periods of bad visibility due to fog, and the ice got polished up pretty good due to lots of running on rubber tires. That naturally leads to some snowbank collisions, but I am happy to report that nobody did any serious damage. Some studded cars driven by instructors came out at lunch to give a little show, but it didn’t condition the ice much. Racing was great too. There were only a few black flag events, of very limited severity, with no disastrous collisions or lengthy yellow flagging. No red flags! The toughest part was the low visibility and no wind. Most of the non-driver related issues out there were mechanical.
Velocity: How many volunteers?
Kevin Kolasa: I believe we had around 20 volunteers for Ice Race 1. We have people in the marshal stations, plow truck, safety/recovery, medical, registration, timing, and a few other positions. Some are shared responsibility. Generally we about 1 volunteer for every entered race car. We also have 4 stewards from the WCMA to help with monitoring duties since we operate under ASN and FIA as a sanctioned race event.
Velocity: How was the ice?
Kevin Kolasa: The senior members said the ice has been the best they have seen in a decade or more. I would agree with them. The cold weather with no snow has yielded quite clear ice, and the snowfall has not been too much, so it was not too difficult to plow a track. The ice has almost no frost heaves or any cracking, and was pretty much skating grade when we started. We are looking forward to the ice in Lac La Biche for the finale!
Photo by Werner Mannert, of Edmonton Alberta Courtesy of NASCC
Velocity: What class are you in?
Kevin Kolasa: I am in Limited Stud class and I run with the Spec Neon’s so it is very competitive.
Velocity: How long have you been racing?
Kevin Kolasa: I have been doing door-to-door racing for only one year. I have done numerous lapping events when I lived in the United States as I have a membership to Harris Hill Road in San Marcos, TX. I used to run lapping at Stratotech, too. Last year I was part of a Chump Car team that ran the event at Castrol Raceway and it was comprised mainly of veteran drivers. We managed to grab 1st in Class on the Saturday race, but had two catastrophic engine failures (we had to change the cylinder head once in the parking lot) and it ended our Sunday run.
Last year I started in limited stud with a borrowed car. I had been preparing a new race car for the 2016 season and when it was 95% finished disaster struck, while working on the car, my fuel tank caught on fire, burning down my entire garage and the car itself. A veteran racer, Matt Sinfield, let me borrow the historic “Igloo” to run for racing, but it took a bit of time to get it ready for the season, causing me to miss out on race 1. On the second race day, I spun out and took a hit to the rear subframe that required extensive chassis repair. After that was fixed, and a little more engine tuning I came back with much more solid car. The results were generous: I managed to take home the limited stud class championship, as well as rookie of the year! Matt was then kind enough to offer the car for sale to me, and I took him up on that offer.
Velocity: How was your day of racing?
Kevin Kolasa: My day was… eventful. I had been trying to fine tune my car fuel mapping during practice when my suspension came loose, losing steering, and I crashed pretty hard into a snowbank at high speed. I damaged my radiator and front bodywork, but with the help of my friends, family and fellow racers I was able to fix it over the lunch break and make it back without missing Race 1. I found it exceptionally difficult to pass as I was having car issues with shifting while turning as well as bad visibility at some times. Although I managed to get my engine running quite well, and I think the extra torque in Race 3 helped with my discovery of my shifting problems when my engine broke free from the motor mount, ending my day (no crash though!) however I could now shift while turning!
Velocity: It is was nice to talk to Kevin Kolasa a Die-Hard of our sport.
Photo by Werner Mannert, of Edmonton Alberta Courtesy of NASCC
ICE RACE MARSHALLING
Ice racing marshals are the Diehards of Motorsport marshalling!
The best way to watch a race is to be in the car. The second best way to watch is to be a trackside marshal. If you are interested in racing but not sure about driving yourself, being a marshal might be for you. Ice Racing Marshals are there for emergencies and to communicate with racers with flags and to communicate regarding the race with others via radio.
What to expect as an Ice racing marshal: The first thing you need to expect is to dress warmly. Temperatures in Canada and Alberta while marshalling can be anywhere from -5 to –40 Celsius depending on where you are; so dress warmly in lots of layers . You can always shed a layer of clothing if it warms up.
Try wearing any other colour except white so you don’t blend into the snow bank. If you are new to Marshalling you are on track training with experienced personnel.
An average race course is 6 turns and approximately 2 kms long so 20 trackside marshals can cover a racecourse. Track set-up starts with checking ice thickness for safety first then followed by ploughing out the course.
You must be 18 years of age to be trackside but if being trackside is not for you there is many other volunteer jobs required to run a race. Non-trackside race positions: timing, pre-grid Pit in & Pit out, Tech, track set-up & clean-up.
Become Motorsport Marshalling die-hard!
Events are based on weather permitting & ice conditions.
For more information on volunteering from January-March contact: nascc.events@gmail.com or http://nascc.ab.ca/contact/
Next Race: Feb 4 & 5 – Race 2 & 3
Northern Alberta Sports Car Club (NASCC)
http://nascc.ab.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/19068689376/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/motorsportvolunteers/
Photo by Andy de Boon Alberta Courtesy of NASCC
2017 NASCC Ice Race Season:
Unofficial Race Results for the Ice Race #1 – January 22nd, 2017.
2017 NASCC IceRace # 1 – 1 Race Results For CH Roys Lake 17 – 1.75 KM
January 22 2017 Classes: CH
Fastest lap: 01:25.665 by veh# 8 L. Goudreau at an average speed of 73.54 KM/H Overall average speed: 69.57 KM/H. Margin of victory: 00:01.901
Notes: Chief of T&S: BJS Provisional Official Printed on 22/01/2017 at 1:35 PM Sanction/Event No.: Results provided by Blind Apex Software
Pos CPos Veh# Class Name Make BestTime BestLa Laps Interval AvgSpeed
1 1 8 CH Landon Goudreau Chevette 01:25.665 4 10 Lap 10 69.57
2 2 26 CH Aran Cook Chevette 01:26.737 5 10 00:01:901 69.43
3 3 98 CH Mike Kroszer Chevette 01:27.402 2 10 00:05:657 69.14
4 4 54 CH Craig Ball Chevette 01:30.194 5 10 00:28:980 67.42
5 5 81 CH Andi Goudreau Chevette 01:30.307 3 10 00:32:214 67.18
6 6 17 CH Jaryn Stewart Chevette 01:29.846 4 10 01:06:675 64.80
7 7 24 CH Michael Kuipers Chevette 01:30.572 7 9 Lap 9 66.59
8 8 711 CH Al Winkelmeier Chevette 01:28.297 2 9 02:06:575 57.97
9 9 37 CH Craig Tobler Chevette 01:30.761 4 5 Lap 5 56.71
10 10 19 CH Matt Beaubien Chevette 01:32.171 4 5 02:46:069 43.66
2017 NASCC IceRace # 1-2 Race Results For CH Roys Lake 17 – 1.75 KM
January 22 2017 Classes: CH
Fastest lap: 01:28.496 by veh# 8 L. Goudreau at an average speed of 71.19 KM/H Overall average speed: 65.97 KM/H Margin of victory: 00:00.770
Notes: Cars 98 and 711 penalized for speed past tow vehicle Chief of T&S: BJS
Provisional Official Printed on 22/01/2017 at 2:25 PM Sanction/Event No.:
Results provided by Blind Apex Software
Pos CPos Veh# Class Name Make BestTime BestLa Laps Interval AvgSpeed
1 1 81 CH Andi Goudreau Chevette 01:29.650 6 9 Lap 9 65.97
2 2 8 CH Landon Goudreau Chevette 01:28.496 6 9 00:00:770 65.92
3 3 17 CH Jaryn Stewart Chevette 01:31.706 7 9 00:18:292 64.60
4 4 37 CH Craig Tobler Chevette 01:35.356 9 9 01:00:658 61.63
5 5 19 CH Matt Beaubien Chevette 01:32.044 5 8 Lap 8 53.03
6 6 711 CH Al Winkelmeier Chevette 01:29.049 4 7 Lap 7 67.32
7 7 98 CH Mike Kroszer Chevette 01:30.342 4 7 00:01:471 67.30
8 8 26 CH Aran Cook Chevette 01:31.131 2 7 00:07:178 51.05
9 9 24 CH Michael Kuipers Chevette 01:34.125 7 7 00:39:062 49.23
10 10 54 CH Craig Ball Chevette 01:29.430 6 6 Lap 6 65.28
2017 NASCC IceRace # 1 – 3 Race Results For CH Roys Lake 17 – 1.75 KM
January 22 2017 Classes: CH
Fastest lap: 00:04.249 by veh# 24 M. Kuipers at an average speed of 1,482.70 KM/H Overall average speed: 7.89 KM/H Margin of victory: 00:02.290
Notes: Chief of T&S: BJS Provisional Official Printed on 22/01/2017 at 3:24 PM Sanction/Event No.: Results provided by Blind Apex Software
Pos CPos Veh# Class Name Make BestTime BestLa Laps Interval AvgSpeed 1 1 54 CH Craig Ball Chevette 01:28.788 6 10 Lap 10 7.89
2 2 8 CH Landon Goudreau Chevette 01:29.490 2 10 00:02:290 7.89
3 3 98 CH Mike Kroszer Chevette 01:29.941 2 10 00:06:758 14.05
4 4 711 CH Al Winkelmeier Chevette 01:29.493 3 10 00:25:277 14.00
5 5 24 CH Michael Kuipers Chevette 00:04.249 10 10 00:44:011 14.09
6 6 81 CH Andi Goudreau Chevette 01:32.282 2 10 00:45:332 13.94
7 7 17 CH Jaryn Stewart Chevette 01:31.213 6 10 00:57:754 13.92
8 8 19 CH Matt Beaubien Chevette 01:32.781 3 8 Lap 8 11.65
9 9 26 CH Aran Cook Chevette 01:31.088 4 7 Lap 7 10.06
2017 NASCC IceRace # 1 – 1 Race Results For NS-CHSS Roys Lake 17 – 1.75 KM
January 22 2017 Classes: CHSS NS
Fastest lap: 00:00.000 by veh# 24 M. Kuipers Overall average speed: 70.98 KM/H
Margin of victory: 00:00.539
Notes: Chief of T&S: BJS Provisional Official Printed on 22/01/2017 at 1:36 PM Sanction/Event No.: Results provided by Blind Apex Software
Pos CPos Veh# Class Name Make BestTime BestLa Laps Interval AvgSpeed
1 1 711 CHSS Al Winkelmeier Chevette 01:24.509 1 10 Lap 10 70.98
2 2 8 CHSS Landon Goudreau Chevette 01:25.473 4 10 00:00:539 71.01
3 3 54 CHSS Craig Ball Chevette 01:24.077 2 10 00:01:896 70.88
4 4 98 CHSS Mike Kroszer Chevette 01:26.391 4 10 00:07:228 70.41
5 5 17 CHSS Jaryn Stewart Chevette 01:27.004 2 10 00:32:538 68.57
6 6 81 CHSS Andi Goudreau Chevette 01:28.404 2 10 00:36:259 68.31
7 1 4 NS Colin Schultz Rabbit 01:29.976 4 10 00:42:115 68.69
8 2 68 NS Chuck Roberts Scirocco 01:31.494 10 10 00:52:339 68.01
9 3 32 NS Vitor Pascoal Focus 01:30.864 1 10 01:01:159 67.30
10 7 24 CHSS Michael Kuipers Chevette 00:00.000 1 9 Lap 9 64.85
11 8 26 CHSS Aran Cook Chevette 01:29.734 8 8 Lap 8 5 4.81
2017 NASCC IceRace # 1 – 2 Race Results For NS-CHSS Roys Lake 17 – 1.75 KM
January 22 2017 Classes: CHSS NS
Fastest lap: 00:00.000 by veh# 8 L. Goudreau Overall average speed: 8.72 KM/H
Margin of victory: 00:00.001
Notes: Chief of T&S: BJS Provisional Official Printed on 22/01/2017 at 2:51 PM Sanction/Event No.: Results provided by Blind Apex Software
Pos CPos Veh# Class Name Make BestTime BestLa Laps Interval AvgSpeed
1 1 8 CHSS Landon Goudreau Chevette 00:00.000 1 11 Lap 11 8.72
2 2 26 CHSS Aran Cook Chevette 00:00.000 1 11 00:00:001 15.84
3 3 98 CHSS Mike Kroszer Chevette 01:25.112 3 11 17:21:427 6.00
4 1 32 NS Vitor Pascoal Focus 00:00.000 10 10 Lap 10 14.54
5 4 17 CHSS Jaryn Stewart Chevette 00:00.000 10 10 00:00:457 14.52
6 2 68 NS Chuck Roberts Scirocco 00:00.000 10 10 00:01:517 14.52
7 5 81 CHSS Andi Goudreau Chevette 00:00.000 10 10 00:02:444 14.50
8 3 4 NS Colin Schultz Rabbit 00:00.000 10 10 00:46:512 14.41
9 6 54 CHSS Craig Ball Chevette 01:24.536 2 9 Lap 9 7.25
10 7 711 CHSS Al Winkelmeier Chevette 01:27.539 6 9 00:11:990 13.11
11 8 37 CHSS Jim Whitelaw Chevette 01:32.436 6 8 Lap 8 11.83
12 9 24 CHSS Michael Kuipers Chevette 01:30.531 1 6 Lap 6 4.70
DNF DNF 19 CHSS Matt Beaubien Chevette 01:31.490 1 1 Lap 1 68.86
2017 NASCC IceRace # 1 – 3 Race Results For NS-CHSS Roys Lake 17 – 1.75 KM
January 22 2017 Classes: CHSS NS
Fastest lap: 01:14.301 by veh# 54 C. Ball at an average speed of 84.79 KM/H Overall average speed: 70.94 KM/H Margin of victory: 00:01.521
Notes: Chief of T&S: BJS Provisional Official Printed on 22/01/2017 at 4:07 PM Sanction/Event No.: Results provided by Blind Apex Software
Pos CPos Veh# Class Name Make BestTime BestLa Laps Interval AvgSpeed
1 1 711 CHSS Al Winkelmeier Chevette 01:25.089 1 10 Lap 10 70.94
2 2 8 CHSS Landon Goudreau Chevette 01:24.112 3 10 00:01:521 70.93
3 3 98 CHSS Mike Kroszer Chevette 01:27.280 2 10 00:11:324 70.12
4 4 26 CHSS Aran Cook Chevette 01:26.993 3 10 00:22:962 69.30
5 1 68 NS Chuck Roberts Scirocco 01:26.437 2 10 00:29:361 69.67
6 2 32 NS Vitor Pascoal Focus 01:30.873 2 10 00:53:536 67.43
7 3 4 NS Colin Schultz Rabbit 01:30.436 2 10 01:03:219 67.02
8 5 19 CHSS Matt Beaubien Chevette 01:29.910 4 9 Lap 9 63.54
9 6 81 CHSS Andi Goudreau Chevette 01:28.715 2 9 00:28:745 61.39
10 7 54 CHSS Craig Ball Chevette 01:14.301 2 9 00:49:814 60.04
11 8 17 CHSS Jaryn Stewart Chevette 01:30.256 3 8 Lap 8 67.04
12 9 24 CHSS Michael Kuipers Chevette 01:32.312 3 8 02:12:357 56.84
2017 NASCC IceRace # 1 – 1 Race Results For LS-NE Roys Lake 17 – 1.75 KM
January 22 2017 Classes: LS NE
Fastest lap: 00:37.417 by veh# 31 K. Berg at an average speed of 168.37 KM/H Overall average speed: 95.20 KM/H Margin of victory: 00:24.112
Notes: Chief of T&S: BJS Signed: Printed on 22/01/2017 at 1:36 PM Sanction/Event No.: Results provided by Blind Apex Software
Pos CPos Veh# Class Name Make BestTime BestLa Laps Interval AvgSpeed
1 1 31 LS Ken Berg VW-GTI 00:37.417 5 13 Lap 13 95.20
2 1 19 NE Ken Staples Neon 01:06.313 2 13 00:24:112 92.62
3 2 83 LS Kevin Kolassa Igloo 01:04.906 4 13 00:24:730 92.65
4 2 10 NE Mark Burrough Neon 01:12.247 8 12 Lap 12 86.23
5 3 68 LS Mike Thorn Scirocco 01:18.941 9 11 Lap 11 74.16
6 3 09 NE Sean Finn Neon 01:08.459 3 9 Lap 9 86.21
2017 NASCC IceRace # 1 – 2 Race Results For LS-NE Roys Lake 17 – 1.75 KM
January 22 2017 Classes: LS NE
Fastest lap: 01:05.728 by veh# 31 K. Berg at an average speed of 95.85 KM/H Overall average speed: 93.24 KM/H Margin of victory: 00:15.511
Notes: Chief of T&S: BJS Provisional Official Printed on 22/01/2017 at 2:26 PM Sanction/Event No.: Results provided by Blind Apex Software
Pos CPos Veh# Class Name Make BestTime BestLa Laps Interval AvgSpeed 1 1 31 LS Ken Berg VW-GTI 01:05.728 3 13 Lap 13 93.24
2 1 19 NE Ken Staples Neon 01:07.517 9 13 00:15:511 91.53
3 2 83 LS Kevin Kolassa Igloo 01:06.386 12 13 00:19:745 91.10
4 2 09 NE Sean Finn Neon 01:09.044 3 13 00:39:115 89.15
5 3 10 NE Mark Burrough Neon 01:13.171 5 12 Lap 12 84.83
6 3 68 LS Mike Thorn Scirocco 01:18.990 6 11 Lap 11 76.95
2017 NASCC IceRace # 1 – 3 Race Results For LS-NE Roys Lake 17 – 1.75 KM
January 22 2017 Classes: LS NE
Fastest lap: 00:20.984 by veh# 09 S. Finn at an average speed of 300.23 KM/H Overall average speed: 97.91 KM/H Margin of victory: 00:07.915
Notes: Chief of T&S: BJS Provisional Official Printed on 22/01/2017 at 3:44 PM Sanction/Event No.: Results provided by Blind Apex Software
Pos CPos Veh# Class Name Make BestTime BestLa Laps Interval AvgSpeed 1 1 31 LS Ken Berg VW-GTI 00:26.995 1 13 Lap 13 97.91
2 1 19 NE Ken Staples Neon 00:21.789 1 13 00:07:915 96.99
3 2 09 NE Sean Finn Neon 00:20.984 1 13 00:21:517 95.46
4 3 10 NE Mark Burrough Neon 00:24.687 1 13 00:47:201 92.68
5 2 68 LS Mike Thorn Scirocco 00:47.487 1 11 Lap 11 76.50
DNF DNF 83 LS Kevin Kolassa Igloo 00:22.688 1 3 Lap 3 105.36
2017 NASCC IceRace # 1 – 1 Race Results For Mixed Roys Lake 17 – 1.75 KM
January 22 2017 Classes: NE CH NS LS
Fastest lap: 01:08.734 by veh# 31 K. Berg at an average speed of 91.66 KM/H Overall average speed: 83.09 KM/H Margin of victory: 01:10.627
Notes: Car 26 Parked for driving style Car 10 Black flagged -1 Lap Car 17 -1 Lap Car 711 – 1 Lap Chief of T&S: BJS Provisional Official Printed on 22/01/2017 at 9:06 PM Sanction/Event No.: Results provided by Blind Apex Software
Pos CPos Veh# Class Name Make BestTime BestLa Laps Interval AvgSpeed
1 1 09 NE Sean Finn Neon 01:10.102 10 12 Lap 12 83.09
2 2 19 NE Ken Staples Neon 01:11.540 9 12 01:10:627 77.14
3 1 54 CH Craig Ball Chevette 01:26.137 5 11 Lap 11 70.18
4 3 10 NE Mark Burrough Neon 01:15.041 4 11 00:07:938 75.10
5 1 32 NS Vitor Pascoal Focus 01:26.886 8 11 00:09:981 69.65
6 1 31 LS Ken Berg VW-GTI 01:08.734 9 10 Lap 10 85.07
7 2 19 CH Matt Beaubien Chevette 01:26.950 9 10 03:15:168 67.90
8 3 711 CH Al Winkelmeier Chevette 01:25.162 7 10 04:20:721 69.87
9 4 8 CH Landon Goudreau Chevette 01:26.266 8 10 04:26:740 69.46
10 5 81 CH Andi Goudreau Chevette 01:28.410 3 9 Lap 9 56.83
11 6 17 CH Jaryn Stewart Chevette 01:29.345 4 7 Lap 7 53.06
DNF DNF 24 CH Michael Kuipers Chevette 01:33.813 4 4 Lap 4 64.88
DNF DNF 26 CH Aran Cook Chevette 01:31.482 2 3 Lap 3 46.88
DNF DNF 68 LS Mike Thorn Scirocco 01:38.411 2 3 08:43:423 21.92
DNF DNF 98 CH Mike Kroszer Chevette 02:03.830 1 1 Lap 1 50.88
http://nascc.ab.ca/racing/racing-results/
Events are based on weather permitting & ice conditions.
For more information on volunteering from January-March contact: nascc.events@gmail.com or http://nascc.ab.ca/contact/
Next Race: Feb 4 & 5 – Race 2 & 3
Northern Alberta Sports Car Club (NASCC)
http://nascc.ab.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/19068689376/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/motorsportvolunteers/