<VV> Thunderhill Raceway - HUMOR

[Bruce Schug]

Did you run out of yellow paint?


On Apr 30, 2012, at 1:29 AM, sethracer at aol.com wrote:

> [Attachment(s) from sethracer at aol.com included below]
>
> 3000 miles away from the Mitty, another race track experience took  
> place this weekend. Not as hectic and not as impressive. Several  
> young engineers at Northrop Grumman in Sunnyvale, CA, decided they  
> wanted to "track-day" their cars. They connected with "Hooked-on- 
> Driving" an organization that hosts and plans those track days  
> around the country. Friday was their (our) day at Thunderhill  
> Raceway in Willows, CA, about 80 miles north of Sacramento. Since  
> Classic Corvairs of River City  was hosting their "Spring Fling" on  
> the Saturday, I decided to combine the trip and "race" on  
> Friday/"show" on Saturday. My wife and I hauled the race car up to  
> Willows on Thursday night and out to the track, early on Friday  
> morning. The forecast rain had disappeared and Sunny and breezy  
> ruled. (Note: Thunderhill becomes hotter than Hades in mid-summer.)  
> Several 20-minute sessions spread over the day helped me familiarize  
> myself with both the car,as currently configured, and Thunderhill.  
> It was my first time at the track. This was not car-to-car racing,  
> just fast driving on a great track. I last drove this car on a race  
> track at Willow Springs in Southern California back in 2008, in  
> conjunction with the Ventura Convention. There were lots of  
> different cars on the track in the separate groups. My car ran  
> great, with oil temps never exceeding 200. A real race motor would  
> have produced faster straightaway speeds. Once I scrubbed the harder  
> outer coating off the Hoosiers DOT Rs, they stuck like glue and I  
> could put the car almost anywhere on the track. Driving a well- 
> balanced late model Corvair on the track is a joy. I actually had  
> Zero engine problems all day long, I never even threw a belt. I did  
> have a shimmy in the front end early on, but it went away later in  
> the day. I think it may be the old idler arm on the car - everything  
> else is pretty new. I will be pulling a new one off the shelf and  
> installing it. Late Friday afternoon, I swapped tires again, packed  
> up and hauled down through Sacramento (rush hour) traffic, dropped  
> the race car at the hotel and joined the Spring Fling, already in  
> progress! The food was great, we staggered back to the hotel and the  
> next morning, for the second day in a row I pried my wife out of bed  
> too early, to get the car and stuff to the Car show/swap meet. A  
> great event. In the car show, the racecar ended up with a Second  
> place trophy in Specialty class (of 2, as I recall, but who's  
> counting) Doug Hargrove an old racing buddy took the first place  
> with a beautifully engineered V8 car. I have no complaints. Also,  
> while checking out my engine compartment, Doug pointed out a bolt on  
> my engine which was backing out and ready to fly off. It would have  
> been painful, engine-wise, had it come off. Thanks, Doug!
>    Tonight, I am making two lists: "to-do" and "wish-to-do". The "to- 
> do" list is really a "have-to-do" list! Hooked on Driving - indeed!
>
>
> __,_._,___

Bruce

Bruce W. Schug
Membership Chair,
CORSA South Carolina
CORSA member since 1980
'67 Monza, "67AC140"
bwschug at att.net