Daniel Demaras normally races his F1200 in the VARAC series. With events like the Vintage Grand Prix, it’s safe to say VARAC is made up of mature drivers in retro race cars. But CSCS is completely different. A young person’s series with late-model cars and loud exhausts.
On Sunday June 23rd 2024, Daniel Demaras brought his Formula 1200 car to CSCS Round 2 at Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga as part of a promotional fundraiser for Sick Kids Hospital. Daniel was accompanied by car builder Bill Vallis to make sure everything went smoothly at the CSCS event.
CSCS (Canadian Sport Compact Series) are complex events with hundreds of competitors and thousands of spectators. There’s a ‘Show & Shine’ car show, plus high-horsepower vehicles on the drag strip and drifting demonstrations on the road course.
But the biggest competition is in Time Attack, a shootout for fastest lap-times. While it may look like a race, it’s actually a race against the clock. So there’s no point in holding up a faster competitor on a ‘hot lap’. However, the track was drenched during the first on-track session at 9:00 am, the steady rain meant the challenge was just keeping the car on track.
One look at the on-board video shows just how slippery the track conditions were. Even the all-wheel drive makes like Audi and Subaru had difficulty putting the power down to where the rubber meets the road.
The name of the game was ‘keep it on the island’.
Just like in a regular Formula 1200 race weekend, Bill Vallis worked on the No. 12 Can-Jam Motorsports car in between sessions, fine tuning for additional speed. Demaras is quite confident racing in the rain, and the modest power output of his 1200 cc engine meant he wasn’t spinning up the tires like some other cars.
In the second Time Attack session, the track started to dry out as the rain stopped. Conditions were still treacherous and locking up under braking was a real possibility for the racers, as they began to add more and more speed.
By noon, the sun was shining and the track dried quickly. Many competitors who’d skipped the early morning sessions ventured out on track, and lap times began to plummet. High HP cars could turn up the boost on their turbos, and late-brakers could minimize their lap-times as there was plenty of grip to get the cars slowed abruptly before the tight corners.
While never challenging for the Top-10, Demaras consistently ran mid-pack against cars with a lot more power and technological sophistication. This wasn’t a points-paying race for Daniel; it wasn’t even a race at all. Just a chance to get the race car out on track and do some engine tuning with Mr. Vallis, all while experiencing a side of the motorsports culture on the opposite end of the spectrum.
The final session of the morning was the quickest, with Demaras setting a 1 min 32.12 second lap with the track 99% dry. The biggest difference in the final session was in how Daniel approached the final corner.
You see. at tracks like Mosport (CTMP), Shannonville and Calabogie there’s plenty of run-off if a drivers gets a corner wrong. Plus there are gravel traps to slow cars down, and tire barriers to cushion an impact, if a driver ever reached the concrete walls that surround the circuit. But Cayuga isn’t like that at all.
Cayuga is an old-school type of track, and there’s a concrete wall right at the exit of Turn 12 just before the front straight. If a driver hops the curb, the speed and momentum could easily send the car into the wall. Demaras wasn’t getting anywhere near that wall!
For Daniel, the CSCS Racing event was just a Sunday drive. A chance to hang out with friends, turn some safe and fast laps, and compare his ability to some of the quickest drivers and cars around. He even got to make some on-track passes that made it feel like a real race!
But the reason for Demaras Racing’s appearance at CSCS Round 2 was part of the continued ‘Gearheads Giving Back‘ fundraiser for Sick Kids Hospital. So Daniel would skip the afternoon sessions to focus on gathering donations.
Top prize in the ‘Gearheads Giving Back‘ promotional draw is the opportunity to drive the No. 12 Can-Jam Motorsports F1200 car at this very track in October, so hopefully those fast laps Demaras laid down would generate some more interest.
(Part 2 of the CSCS event tomorrow)
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