August Mini-Meet and V8Less Sport Compact Challenge 2005

August 20th, 2005

Recalled by James Gosteli

Mini-Meet and Lunch

As summer begins to fade away, it was time for us to have a nice Lunch Mini-Meet. It was a beautiful day for a MX-3 Meet. This has got to be one of the rare times that it isn't raining on a Meet day.

We chose to meet up at the NE Calgary Cactus Club for Lunch. I was one of the first to arrive with Jen arriving only minutes after with her Red Combat GS. Most people seemed a little slow getting out of bed in the morning, probably still recovering from a late night out.

After a little while longer the J-Team (Jesse & Jacki) showed up with both their MX-3s and Jacki's younger brother with his new MX-3. After Mark and a new SE driver arrived, we went in for lunch. The Cactus Club was nice and empty for us. Just the way I like it. We sat outside on the patio to enjoy then nice weather. After our fill of food we went back out for some car talk and pictures. Since there were so many other cars in the parking lot, it was hard to get all 7 MX-3s in a good picture. My work (Electromec) was close by so we headed there for pic_tures.

Once we got to my work, we found a nice spot to line up the cars. A few people from the club were planning to go to the Sport Compact Challenge at Race City Speedway. Others that couldn't make it to the mini-meet were planning to meet us down there. It was probably a good idea to get there early since it's supposed to be a huge event. After a bit of cooling off in the shade, our small convoy of MX-3s finally hit the road and we were heading to Race City.

V8Less Sport Compact Challenge

Once we got to Race City Speedway, we could see a massive line-up of cars from hell. I was almost begining to think that we were to late and not getting in. We weren't sure if we were in the row to exhibit, race, or spectate. I talked to a few other drivers in line and they weren't sure what was happening either. What was more depressing was that the line was moving at a rate of 5 meters per hour. Okay, maybe not quite that bad, but you get the idea.

The waiting line from hell

Mark and Stacy's MX-3s in the distance

Woohoo! We moved a whole 2 meters this time.

Some of these cars have has some serious stuff done to them

Finally in line for Tech Inspection

and now in line for the drag strip

This Silvia supposedly has over 400 WHP!

I think these Skylines will be kicking some ass

Once we finally got in and got our tech inpection completed, we were ready to race. Stacy put his car into the Show-off competition. He was determined to get the Best Mazda Award.

Now there's a look of determination

Racing begins

Mark's GS vs speedy Prelude

That Silvia made James' GSR a disgrace

Integra vs 350Z

That speedy Prelude got a bit of a surprise when racing James' MX-3

Entering the staging lanes

Cars in the final round for qualifying

After a while of being at the SCC, it was evident that the SCC guys didn't exactly know what they were doing. Even the announcer seemed lost and confused. He didn't even really announce what cars were racing. Too busy talking about the sponsers I guess. The drag races were not as enjoyable as they are at Secret Street. We were continuously put up against insanely fast cars (Silvias, Twin Turbo 300ZX, Skylines, etc). We even tried to get the directors attention and suggest putting us against a more comparable car but we were ignored. There was a break in the show for some stunt guys on bikes to show off their stuff.

Mustang vs. Camaro

300ZX takes out a poor MP5

Guy rides over handles

Stunt Mini-bike

Some random pictures of the show

Silvia shooting flames	Biker	MX-3 vs Prelude	Burnout
This bike is medium-rare	300ZX TT	Silver 350z vs Silver 240	another video of the Silvia

Sunset over Race City

Once it was dark, the Outlaw class vehicles were finishing off their Races. It seemed like every car that beat me was in the top 5 position. After seeing the times and speeds that these cars were making, Mark and I realized that we had a long way to go before coming close to the finals.

Sorry but I haven't had a chance to upload these videos yet

Semi-Final #1

Semi-Final #2

Final Drag

After the Drag Racing event we settled into the opposite stands to watch a bit of the Drift action.

At the end of the show, some of us felt inspired to do more with our cars. Of course it was at the same time depressing on how much work it takes. Stacy unfortunately didn't take home the Best Mazda award. Some fancy RX7 took that prize. Maybe next year once the rest of the kit in installed along with some other goodies.

Our little group desided to go to Tim Hortons to finish the night off with a little coffee and snack. The Tim Hortons parking lot was a mad house with pounding music and tuner cars ripping around. We were suprised the Hawk Helicopters weren't hovering around as well. I guess this is local after-race meeting place. Police ghost cars were continuously circling the block, in hopes of catching a few people doing something stupid (which they did). All in all, it wasn't a bad night, and we'll probably do it again next year if we feel up for it.