Silver Nissan 200SX SER

2007 - SPI Racing had a successful 2007 season  competing in the CASTROL Canadian Touring Car Championship and the Ontario GT Challenge.  Tracks include Mosport, Shannonville, Calabogie and the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto.

The highligh of the season was competing at the STEELBACK GRAND PRIX OF TORONTO - July 6,7 & 8, 2007.  Our 1995 Nissan 200SX, car # 200 competed in the CASTROL Canadian Touring Car Championship as a support race for the Champ Car Series.  Check out the series web site www.touringcar.ca for more information.   Special thanks go out to our pit crew - Kevin Abe, Terry Martin and Christine Simone.  Thanks as well to our friends and competitors - Octane Motorsports and Mad Macs Racing.

We thank our 2007 season sponsor MAC Tools and their representative CARLOS RENDEROS for a great year and their generous support.  For more information about MAC Tools, please e-mail Carlos at tcrenderos@yahoo.ca. 

We would also like to extend our thanks to our other 2007 sponsors:

 Assured Automotive, PH Racing, AAA Trim Plus, sigmapromotions.com, and vertexfabworx.ca. 

2006 - 2006 was a very successful inaugural racing season for SPI Racing. Our #200 1995 Nissan 200SX was totally reworked – we added performance air intakes, headers and hoses in the engine and gutted the interior of the car and installed a roll cage. Our body shop sponsor, Oaktown Collision of the Assured Automotive group, refinished the body and painted it “SPI Racing” silver. We missed the first two races of the CASC Ontario Touring GT Championship (T2 class) but made our debut at the Canada Day celebration weekend at Mosport International Raceway. Pairing up in the paddocks with the Octane Motorsports’ 2005 MINI Cooper S that was prepared at Simone Performance Imports in the summer of 2005, our teams presented a united front on the track. Racing almost every other weekend throughout the summer, we braved the heat and finally got onto the winners’ podium placing third in the BARC Canadian Touring Trophy Races. Unfortunately the next race weekend saw Vic Simone hitting the wall on turn one at Mosport doing 150 km/h. While Vic was unhurt, the 200SX appeared to be out for the season with serious front end damage. Thanks to ABC Autobody in Toronto, the front end was straightened and back at the shop within a few days. Vic, driving partner Pat Harrison and teammates Kevin Abe, Derek Thom and Jimmy Oliviera worked day and night to get the engine ready. Amazingly, we raced the very next race weekend at the Indian Summer Trophy Race in September. The drivers had to get used to the “new” car and we finished a respectable fifth in class. The SPI Racing / PH Racing Nissan 200SX driven jointly by Vic Simone and Pat Harrison finished fourth in class for the season. Not bad for an untried car and engine with over 300,000 km on it and two “new” drivers racing in their very first season.

We would like to thank the following sponsors for their contributions of funding, expertise, clothing, parts and time to make the first race season for SPI Racing / PH Racing a success:

• Mike Heska and Oaktown Collision / Assured Automotive for doing an excellent body repair and paint job on the 200SX - visit Oaktown at www.oaktowncollision.com
• Nikki Pett of Sigma Promotions for supplying the team with SPI Racing race wear – visit Sigma Promotions at www.sigmapromotions.com
• Les Roberts of BBD Air Systems in Newmarket, ON for providing entrance fees
• The School of Hard Knocks gym in Newmarket, ON
• Octane Motorsports – Alain Lauziere, Naomi Abe, Kevin Abe, Louis-Phillipe Allard, Sophie Fitzgibbon, Yaz Abe and Pierre Mandeville – thanks for taking the time from your WINNING team to help us get going
• Jeff Lorriman previously from SPEED Channel’s Sports Car Revolution, for his advice and guidance throughout the prep stage and the entire race season
• Derek Thom, Simon Pett, Justin Martin, Jimmy Oliviera, Ed Nicholson and, especially Amy McCleary for all their hard work and support
• Perry Ianuzzi and Mad Macs Communications + Graphics for all your support , graphics and the competition – visit www.mmcg.com
• All our family and friends who came out and supported us both at the shop and at the track – THANK YOU

MINI Cooper S JCW

2007 - As participating in the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship, the Octane Motorsports MINI is in direct competition with the Nissan 200SX SER this season.  So far this season, the MINI is leading the Touring Car class - monopolizing the podium with 5 wins out of six races.

2006 - Throughout the season, Alain Lauzière and Ian Madden (driving a VW Golf), fought hard and fast for position. Lauzière was able to clinch the 2006 Ontario Touring T2 Championship with one race left to complete in the Championship and Octane Motorsports brought MINI their first road-racing championship. Lauzière, driving the John Cooper Works prepared MINI Cooper S wrapped-up the very successful season by gathering enough points to obtain the Championship title. Co-driving that week-end with veteran Pierre Mandeville, the duo managed a 3rd place in the 3-Hour “War Bonnet” enduro that was run on September 16 at Mosport International Raceway. Lauziere managed a podium appearance in every race during the season with several weekend wins.

2005 - (as seen at the 2006 Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto) The project of Octane Motorsport's Alain Lauziere, the MINI was rebuilt from the chassis up at Simone Performance Imports. Performance improvements were added by Lauziere, Simone and the rest of the team with focus on suspension and handling. What seemed like a long process, the MINI was complete and ran it's first race at the 2005 Labour Day Grand Prix at Mosport, placing an amazing 4th in class for the event. Not only did the car impress on-track, it impressed during an on-screen segment of the popular Speed Channel Sports Car Revolution.