Private Track Day at Thunderhill Raceway, Willows CA

[Dave Tabor]

A bit different than the 'usual' HPDE.

Decided to rent the track privately with 4 buddies- $500 each and 9AM-5PM track time- no sessions, groups, or structure.

Thunderhill 'West' 2-mile course.

Got in 155 laps, average speed 80 mph, around 4 hours of driving.

Broke my aero nose in an early/damp session- did not want to spin the car nor slide sideways into wet dirt so I did not try to save it- drove straight off the track. No other damage and continued the day. The red Volvo wagon is a V70R.

Tried the wing at 0 and 5 degrees, no front aero, lol. With 5 degrees of wing the car understeered on moderate throttle and oversteered as the throttle was increased - just what I'm after.

A PB of 1:26.61 is pretty quick and not far off from the theoretical best lap calculated from the sector times (track divided into 4 sectors, best sectors times stitched together). PB was on my last lap- decided to go for it.

A montage of some clips as well as the two fastest laps of the day (laps 154 and 155):

https://youtu.be/dDU5RbgIaTg

Dave
Gen III Coupe #17

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[Rsnake]

Looks like a perfect track day except for the off road excursion.

[Rsnake]

So are you keeping the nose off the car since the balance was the way you want?

[Dave Tabor]

I'll repair the nose and maybe omit the splitter.

Dave
Gen III #17

[jamminj]

to bad about the nose
but that is awesome.
you guys have done exactly what I'll be doing when my car is done.
and less expensive to rent in the winter than the heat of race season.

[F500guy]

Crazy good price, can't run a sanctioned event with 80 min track time over 2 days for that kind of money.

[Dave Tabor]

The other key bits were the use of the clubhouse and a restroom that you could really spend time in- right there alongside the pit lane.

Dave
Gen III #17
15,000+ miles
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[Dave 53]

Sounds like a success which implies... let's do it again!

Standing by for future dates.