[vid] thunderhill raceway july 9

[everbruin]

ran my talon; gotta love the 3 blind crest turns
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8965432251125274588

 

[Zero Bar]

Nice driving, good and smooth! Where is that course at?? It looks like it's in the middle of the sahara!!

 

[everbruin]

thanks, that vid was from the first session of my 2nd day there; went 3 sec faster later that day but had no video/batt.

yeah it was friggin hot like mid 90s in willows, ca about 1 hr north of sacramento. coulda been worse tho since it was 105+ when i was there for the scca rallyX 2 wkends before

 

[Ludachris]

Love that track - doesn't turn 3 make you pucker?!?!?! I almost lost it twice there - feels like you're driving on ice... made me thankful for AWD. I was able to save it both times.

 

[eclipsegsx1736]

Nice to see another DSM road racer! Everyone should just try road racing at least once... I think there would be a lot less drag racers on this site if they did!

 

[everbruin]

actually i'm a "career" lapper/open tracker =). road racing is too risky/pricy for me

 

[everbruin]

i think the steepest blind crest turn is 5 via the cyclone; this evo apexed early and rode the cyclone apex berm to [go 2 wheeling]!
http://www.justracing.com/galleries/albums/userpics/11363/2wheel_800.jpg

 

[Greg Collier]

i think the steepest blind crest turn is 5 via the cyclone; this evo apexed early and rode the cyclone apex berm to catch air!
http://www.justracing.com/galleries/albums/userpics/11363/2wheel_800.jpg

I think they call that 2-wheels on...

 

[stealthTT]

I drove Thunderhill last year in December after a driver's education school. We did two days at Reno-Fernley and then Thunderhill for an hpde event. Thunderhill is awesome. I loved turn 11-13 shooting into that straightaway. If you set up properly for 11, turn in hard, and trust the tires you can shoot straight through to the straightaway and exit soooo much faster. I love that set of corners.

Track map:
http://www.thunderhill.com/html/trackmap.html

Turn 3 was scary and since I was driving a friend's 3000GT VR4, I took it easy there. I felt it step out a little first thing in the morning, saw plenty of cars go off, and so I took it easy around 3.

Turn 5 was really cool. I'd never been on a track with blind-crest corners and off camber turns. I was shown two lines around corner 5. The line the EVO took in the pic was the competition line if you had the grip and suspension to catch traction at the bottom. If you were driving your friends VR4, you took the sissy line. I took the sissy line.

I loved the high speed of 7-9. It reminded me of Road America with BIG sweepers where your speed is only regulated by your grip, smooth inputs, and most importantly your cajones.


My best war story of the event at Thunderhill:

I remember shooting up on a GT3 three laps in a row in the 11-13 section and he wouldn't let me pass. Now mind you, this was a hpde event, so someone has to give you the point by and vice-versa you can't impede a faster car. If you continually do, you'll get the blue flag with yellow diagonal stripe indicating that you need to move over and let the person behind you pass. If you don't they can pull you in with a black flag and lecture you on driver etiquete at an hpde event. Anyway, he didn't let me pass for three laps and the corner worker couldn't or didn't see it happen. Finally on the 4th lap, I set him up with what I'd learned the past week at driver school. I early apexed, caught him on the inside and I was rocketing past his door before he gave me a point by. But for some reason he used his middle finger instead of his point finger. But it was all safe. Apexing out put him on the right side of the track, my setup and early apex put me on the left and there is about 6 feet between our doors. The driving line also slowly moves to the left down the straight so he would've had to have moved off line to come into contact with me. I then continued to put time between him and me in the corners and he'd make most of it up on the straights. But after about 5 laps, I was up about 8 carlengths on him.

Thunderhill was a blast and I hope to drive out there with some friends and hit several tracks again. Maybe this winter we'll have to do it if everyone's cars are running. My wife wanted to go on a vacation to Cozumel in December. Think she'll settle for Northern California?

 

[underradar92]

Thanks for the ride!

 

[Evan K.]

i think the steepest blind crest turn is 5 via the cyclone; this evo apexed early and rode the cyclone apex berm to [go 2 wheeling]!
http://www.justracing.com/galleries/albums/userpics/11363/2wheel_800.jpg

That pic is of TAM from Norcalevo.net. Good guy and good to be on track with. He was taking that line as an experiment.

My favorite turns are 1-2, 8-9, and 10 which is alot faster than it seems.

Here is a link to some good footage of an Evo being well driven at Thunderhill. They are of my buddy Bryan and his BPU Evo. Since the vids were taken I have purchased the same video cam setup. Next time I go out I will post a link to my video.

 

[eclipsegsx1736]

Heh, small world. Is this Brian with the white Buddyclub Muellerized Evo? If you know him, you probably know Nick with the white muellerized GSX too. I've road raced both of them before at Streets of Willow when they used to live down here, they just moved up north.

 

[Evan K.]

No Bryan has an Apex Silver '05 Evo MR on apex'i coilovers. I haven't met the two guys you mentioned although I would like to. Tired of being the only DSM at all the track days I go to.

Oh btw nice car