re 4th of July weekend at ThunderHill
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July 2nd and 3rd was a combined regional and Nasport race at the new
SCCA track at ThunderHill. July 3rd is also Rochelle's birthday. In
the normal course of things it would have been Rochelle's turn to
drive but we decided to switch order.
Thunder is a three hour drive from our house in light traffic. We
tried to get on the road by 1:00 on Friday afternoon but by the
time we got going it was about 2:45 and we hit rush hour before we
were clear of the bay area.
Rochelle drove the the whole way and we got to the track about 7:00.
Thunderhill has only one strip paved down the middle of the paddock.
We found a space on the edge, unloaded our car, and started setting
up our new EZ-UP. About then Art, the guy who tells folks where to
park, came by and told us that all the spaces on the pavement were
reserved and we had to park in the dirt. Thunder usually has 100
degree weather with just enough breeze to make the dust go everywhere.
By the time we found a new spot, got setup and put on the race tires
it was a bit late to make the evening test session. I had driven the
track at speed once before. That was the grand opening and I got a
second place in GT3. Still I did not feel like I knew the track.
On Saturday we had a practice session in the morning and qualifying
in the afternoon. The temp was somewhere over 100 and the only shade
within a mile was from EZ-UPs. My oil pressure was doing weird things
and I was afraid that my two season old engine wouldn't complete the
weekend. My qualifying time was not too good and the guys I beat at
Laguna two weeks earlier were all grided in front of me.
Saturday night about a dozen of us went to an Italian restraunt in
Willows to celebrate Rochelle's Birthday. Willows is a one-horse town
an hour or two from anywhere. Before the track went in last fall they
were probably on there last legs. Saturday night there must have been
a hundred or more people in this Italian restraunt. They filled their
banquet room with the overflow. All but a handfull were from the
track. No wonder they are glad we came. The food was wonderful, the
company good and rowdy (Water gun fights)
On the way back to the track Everyone bought ice and I bought STP.
Next morning I was I warmed up the car. The oil pressure seemed sort
of normal. It seemed too high to put STP in. I decided to do without
it. By noon the track was already hot and our race didn't start til
3:00. People were talking about changing to harder tire compounds. I
went down and talked to the tire guys. They convinced me that the
compund I was running was a good choice but that my tires had about
had it. 30 minutes later I had a new set of tires on the car.
Rochelle had bought something called a COOL-COLLAR, which is sort of
like blue ice in a long narrow strip that ties around your neck
On the pregrid we experimented with it. It was great for staying cool
on pregrid but didn't fit well for me with a neck brace. Maybe with a
little redesign they could make it replace the neck brace.
This weekend was a combined Regional & Nasport. Nasport cars are built
to more or less the same letter of the law as other GT3 cars but with
10 or 20 time as much money and sophistication. They offen run as fast
or faster then the super production and GT1 cars. The Nasport group
had it's own race, but if any of them wanted to bother entering
the regional race they can pick up an easy trophy. They don't even
need to bother qualifying. They are fast enough that they just start
at the back of the grid.
I had not done well in qualifying so I was grided near the back of the
grid with only a couple of Mustangs behind me until a couple of these
guys jumped in. I ended up with a couple of fast GT3 cars starting behind
me. One of whom had run faster the the course records for GT1 or
Superproduction.
At the end of the parade lap when the green flag came out I was rounding
turn 9 coming onto the very long start-finish straight. I got a good start
and out drag raced a couple of the cars that were in front of me. One
was a GT3 car driven by Steve Wharff, a fairly aggressive novice who had
a lot of previous dirt track experiance. He followed me through turn 1 and
down the next straight and into turn 2. Turn 2 is a very large radius
180 degree constant radius turn. It is flat, no camber or banking and it
turns to the left. The pavement is two or three car widths wide here from
dirt to dirt. This is a place that a lot of rocks get onto the track. This
was just the start of the first lap and the cars very bunched. I tucked in
on the back bumper of a Mustang that had several cars ahead of it. We
were a bit to the left of center on the track. Though we weren't going very
fast, the tires were just starting to get warmed up and it didn't look like
a passing opportunity to me.
At this point Steve came flying past the bunch of us on the outside of the
turn and disappeared around the hill on turn 3. It was kind of impressive.
I finally passed him as he was pulling back onto the track between turns
6 and 7. Part of the front of the car was draging underneth and the rest
shed in an altercation in turn 5. He finished the race without the benifit
of aerodynamics. I'm sure he will be really fast if he learns that you don't
win the race on the first lap.
I was now trying to catch Fred Michael or Andy Grau. As the lap ended
I saw Andys car on the side of the road where it had been planted by a
Camero. It looked fairly bent.
On the second lap I was again on the back bumper of a couple of big cars
entering turn 2. The middle one got a little ambitious and started to spin
to the outside (drivers right.) On the way he touched the Mustang of
Bob Bracewell in front of him. Bob Tried to save it but spin drivers left
to the inside. There were no places where the dust was thin enought to really
see. I steered down the middle for the thinest spot I could see and hoped I
wouldn't get there at the same time as a car coming out of the cloud of
dust and back accross the track from left or right. This may be where I got
two or three rock "stars" on my windshield.
A bit later I cought a Fred Michael and raced with him until I passed him.
I was having a lot of smoke in my car and about half way it got so bad
that I almost pulled into the pits. I needed to get at least halfway to
be credited with a finish. I decided to take it easy and see if it got
better or worse. In another couple of laps it got better enough that
I decided to ride it out.
Being to poor and cheap to have a drysump system, I use an Accusump to
help maintain oil pressure on turns. Turn 6 is a left hand sweeper onto
a straight. Turn 7 is a slight bend to the left from one straight to
another it is taken at full speed. At the entrance of Turn 8 you brake
very hard for a tight 135 degree left turn through 8 and 8A. Because
of the G forces, I think that my pump was suckin air at which point the
Accusump dumped two more quarts into the oil system. All the oil was
probably stacking up on my windage tray and hittin the crank. By the
very short straight between turn 8A and turn9 the engine seemed to
completely bog down and I had to drop down another gear. And oil
in the wrong places makes smoke. Back to the drawing board.
There was one GT3 Mazda that started in front of me that I never did
catch. I had also been passed by two of the GT3 cars that had started
from the back. After that one of them had droped out. I ended up
finnishing behind one of the guys who started at the back and ahead of
four of the GT3 cars I was grided behind. I got another Third place.
hmmm..... Maybe I'm in a rut. 8^)
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