It’s about time that I finally made it out to check out what a CSCS event is all about. While visiting CSF’s distribution facility in Toronto last week, I was able to attend the final round of the 2014 Canadian Sports Car Championship Series (CSCS). Based out of Ontario, Canada, this series has amassed quite a following from all over the country’s most populated province. The top levels of competition hold their own with drivers also traveling north from New York and Michigan, to compete in the Time Attack, drag racing, and drifting events of CSCS. Also included in this last event was the car show component that brought out quite a crowd to enjoy the perfect fall weather at the Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga Falls, Ontario.
After dragging my girlfriend with me, and traveling about an hour south from Toronto to the middle of nowhere, we finally arrived at TMP race complex. Upon entering the gates, I was pleasantly surprised to see at least 500 cars scattered around the parking lot and grass fields of the event!
My initial impression of the Canadian tuning scene after surveying the parking lot was that it was underdeveloped and less refined when compared to my hometown region of Southern California. There were lots of rides built in either poor taste, or simply thrown together using the cheapest parts those the vehicle’s owners could find. A real “hodgepodge” of everything the automotive tuning scene had to offer, and I guess it was also a reflection of the cross-section of Canada’s immigrant culture.
I’ll save you from having to see more cars that should have been lit on fire, and I’ll focus on the quality rides that I saw while at the event like this perfect BMW E30 M3.
While not really my style, I had to stop and appreciate that amount of chrome work done under the hood of this late model Ford Mustang.
However, the largest group of cars was definitely the sport compact of the JDM and Asian flare. Stanced with bright colored paint and rims were the trend at CSCS.
One car club that I’ve seeing around Toronto in the past is team “NextMod” This group also is the name of the owner’s high performance parts business, and they sure use the business to their advantage to bring out an incredible array of top-notch vehicles.
All of their rides are very well executed, thought out, and only use the best / most high-end parts the industry has to offer. Many of these rides feature performance and areo parts from JDM companies like Voltex, Advan, Varis, and HKS.
The FRS/BRZ seems to have completely taken over the tuning scene all over N. America, Canada being no exception. There were about 3-dozen of these boxster engines lined up near the Scion booth.
The Rocket Bunny wide-body kit with bolt on flares seems to be the most popular aftermarket kit in the industry, and quite frankly I’m sick of it! Hopefully some other aero manufactures can release something soon to help mix up the platform.
One of the reasons why the FR-S is so popular in Canada is because Scion Canada is all over the place supporting grass-roots events like CSCS. They brought out a couple of their corporate demo cars to showcase aftermarket tuning capabilities of their coupes.
One of the cleanest vehicles at the show was this matte white with contrasting chrome blue Scion Tc that was brought out by Scion Racing. It featured a Rocket-Bunny wide-body kit that is still fresh and unique being that it was assembled on a Tc, an overlooked platform now that the Fr-S is out on the market.
Before we get to the performance side of the event with coverage of the race cars in attendance, I wanted to feature some of the more unique vehicles that were spotted.
With the large size of the event, many staff members, race car drivers, and vendors were cruising around the large complex on their Honda Groms.
There is something about the Acura NSX that keeps the car always current and in a Japanese supercar class of it’s own. Now becoming more and more rare, the prices of these vehicles are skyrocketing as they are all starting to get picked up by tuners on the second hard market looking to build highly powerful and modified versions of the sports coupe.
The Nissan 180sx is another platform that remains timeless and still looks as good as it did when it rolled off the showroom floor. This stanced black coupe featured some newly designed Volk wheels to keep it fresh, and was sporting our race partner’s shop stick, NV Auto.
One of the coolest, most notable cars of CSCS is this Versace inspired Subaru STI race car from CanJam Motorsports. Known as one of the premiere Suabru tuning shops in Canada, this Toronto shop turns out some serious high quality track oriented builds.
The BMW art car motif seems to be catching on in popularity all over the world. We showcased an E92 M3 in our Bimmfest 2014 coverage earlier in the week. Here we have a track-ready E46 M3 rendition which we like more.
It was my first time being able to check out the NV Auto drift STI. It was fully put together inside and out, and was looking great! We’ll have a full spotlight in the next couple of weeks as this car gets pampered before it heads to the SEMA show with a booth spot in the HSD Suspension booth right next to CSF’s.
This matte blue Nissan S13 drove as fast as it looked good. This platform seems to have eternal life because of it’s great chassis and ability for engine swaps with large power. These almost 20-year-old chassis are not rising in price all over N. America.
We ran into Mike from Innovative Tuning in Buffalo, NY. It was good finally getting to meet him after some email exchanges in the past. His customer’s fully built 600hp STI seems to have a persistent overheating problem which even is modified double-pass Koyo radiator can’t seem to solve. He’s going to be swapping a CSF #3076 into the vehicle this week, and I can’t wait to hear his feedback on how this STI’s temperatures are now under control.
Next up in the pits was young CSF cooled driver Chris Boersma. Chris’s 400HP Civic needed a much better radiator than the stock ½ core model to keep his car running cool on the track, especially with his massive intercooler sitting in the front sucking in all the cold fresh air. He opted for our full sized Acura Integra model (CSF #2850), and said he couldn’t be happier. Great to hear!
His father, who helps him with track support, was so appreciative of the performance that he offered to remove the front bumper so I could take a shot of the custom radiator setup.
After the time attack was over, it was time for the drifters to hit the track. The drift course was relatively long with some nice angle opportunities. This made it more exciting even though it was mostly low powered drift missiles competing. NV Auto took home second place.
Hondas still reign supreme in the Canadian aftermarket scene, especially Civics and S2000 models. The low price points of used vehicles combined with cheap and readily available aftermarket support make a great vehicle for track and drag-strip use.
This teal Civc was the fastest car on the drag strip consistently breaking into the 10’s. The high level of tuning available for these cars is now pushing the platform to over 1000HP. CSF will be introducing the 6 inch thick MAGUM intercooler core at this year’s SEMA show to match with the largest turbos these guys can stuff into their cars.
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