Off to Thunderhill track
- Thread starter Akakubi
- Start date
![[wave]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_wave.gif "Wave [wave]"){kind=icon}
Whew, what a weekend for Team Monsoon! This was definitely a trip to remember.
Day 1:
We carefully watched the weather forecast and it kept getting worse and worse with each hour. It didn’t look too bad in Eugene when we took off on I-5, just a little drizzle. But as we progressed south it got worse and worse. At some points we couldn’t see 50 feet ahead. I was fixed on my friend’s M5 tail lights just to see where the road went. Standing water pretty much the whole way.
It took us much longer than we anticipated to get to Medford, where we met up with our fellow Board member, Jay. He welcomed us to his store and we hung for a while. Great place BTW. Refueled and off we went towards the sunny California. Or so we thought…. The roads got so bad, that I could barely see the shoulder. Completely missed the moment when we entered CA. As we drove deeper into the State the weather seemed to ease up a bit. We upped the pace hoping that the sunshine is just past the next hill and we can get to Redding very soon. Right…. 15min later all Hell broke loose. It seemed like someone just turned on the giant shower. The cloud was literally sitting on top of the road surface making it practically impossible to see 20 feet forward. My front S-03’s, already past their prime, could barely cope with the standing water. I kept drifting within the lane. Not a pleasant feeling. On top of that it got dark…
But we managed to make it through in one piece. After a dinner in Redding the last stint to Willows was a piece of cake. Another member of our gang joined us in the MINI a few hours later. He had even worse conditions to deal with coming down.
Day 1:
We carefully watched the weather forecast and it kept getting worse and worse with each hour. It didn’t look too bad in Eugene when we took off on I-5, just a little drizzle. But as we progressed south it got worse and worse. At some points we couldn’t see 50 feet ahead. I was fixed on my friend’s M5 tail lights just to see where the road went. Standing water pretty much the whole way.
It took us much longer than we anticipated to get to Medford, where we met up with our fellow Board member, Jay. He welcomed us to his store and we hung for a while. Great place BTW. Refueled and off we went towards the sunny California. Or so we thought…. The roads got so bad, that I could barely see the shoulder. Completely missed the moment when we entered CA. As we drove deeper into the State the weather seemed to ease up a bit. We upped the pace hoping that the sunshine is just past the next hill and we can get to Redding very soon. Right…. 15min later all Hell broke loose. It seemed like someone just turned on the giant shower. The cloud was literally sitting on top of the road surface making it practically impossible to see 20 feet forward. My front S-03’s, already past their prime, could barely cope with the standing water. I kept drifting within the lane. Not a pleasant feeling. On top of that it got dark…
But we managed to make it through in one piece. After a dinner in Redding the last stint to Willows was a piece of cake. Another member of our gang joined us in the MINI a few hours later. He had even worse conditions to deal with coming down.
Day 2:
We woke up early. The forecast is gloomy – rain. Looked outside and it’s not even drizzling! Thick fog covers the motel. Fog is good, as it normally means we can avoid rain. Fill up and drive 7 miles to the track.
Visibility is very poor, but who cares, we made it to Thunderhill and will run it no matter what the weather is now. At about 8:00am the fog lifted and we could finally see the track itself. What I really liked about TH is that you can see pretty much the whole track from the pits area. A short walk on the lot and the famous Cyclone presents itself right in front. The view is pretty spectacular. It’s steep enough to almost look like a ski slope.
Excitement kicks in. But I also have reservations. It’s my first time here and the track is wet. They also had held a 25-hour enduro a couple of days earlier, so oil and rubber most likely were on the surface. I decided not to run the Slicks and just stick with the S-03’s.
Speedventures is a great club! Kudos to Aaron and John for setting up this event. I really enjoyed the organization. The rules are relaxed, passing is allowed in many places and no micro-management which plagues some other clubs I ran with. And no chaos or rage among the drivers as sometimes happens with other clubs. Everything was very civilized and well organized. No unnecessary delays either – we were on the track by 9:00am and ran practically non-stop all day. The sessions lasted about 25-30min each. I would definitely run with these guys again!
My friend (dp in the MINI) took me out for the first session in the Advanced group to show me the line. He has run this track before in the M Coupe and Lotus Elise.
Like I suspected the track was pretty slippery. We had the tail out a few times. The Cyclone looked scarier than it turned out to be. The rest of the track also seemed fairly OK. Turn 9 uphill got my attention as probably the most exciting section for me…
Now it was my turn to go out in the Intermediate (White) group.
Our other fellow member (JIO in the M5) took the lead as he also had had experience here before. So I followed his line just to get even better feel for the track.
We drove conservatively to see where the most slippery places were. Turns 3, 4, 11 and 14-15 were slick. One of our guys went in too hot and lost it in turn 3 after five laps (it’s off camber and braking has to be done blindly before heading a bit downwards into the turn) and did a 540 before skidding into the mud.
No damage except for the dirt and hurt driver’s pride – had to wait for the tow truck to get him out of the mess.
I decided to stay in third gear through the whole 1st session after playing with shifting in several places and having the tail snap out on me. It was still too slippery to push.
By the second session the surface started to dry out. The racing line was clearly visible and the pace increased. I was still very conservative in the off-camber sections of the track. Started to get car-sick a bit. It happens to me often on the roller-coasters and TH is definitely similar to them with the elevation changes and braking up- and downhill.
The third session was totally dry. I had a though of putting the slicks but decided that it would be better to keep learning on the street rubber. This time I “opened” it up more. My buddy in the E36 M3 with the Ground Control setup and I kept swapping places chasing each other. I was faster through some sections and he was in the other – fun. I was shifting into second through the Cyclone and turn 11. This time the tail stayed put and I was able to really hammer it out of those bends. The long sweeping turn two made my tires sing a very long serenade. I never thought S-03’s could be that loud. But then every other car on street tires was very loud there also.
I really fell in love with turn 9. Right after the tight right-hander entrance you just step on the gas, aim in the middle of the road and “fly” over the crest. If you do it correctly, you’ll end up on the right edge of the track pretty much going straight – very fast and exciting. You have to trust the corner worker that there is nothing awaiting you over the crest since you really only see the sky going up at full throttle. By far my favorite section of TH.
By lap 6 my front tires overheated. The pressures went from 38PSI to 46PSI when I checked in the pits later on. I suddenly started to lose grip, especially under hard braking. Almost overshot the Cyclone twice hitting the run-off curb. And again the motion sickness started to show. Pulled off a couple of laps before the session ended.
My friends went out for the fourth session as well, but I just decided to skip. Was still feeling dizzy so played it safe. Overall, I was timed to get a 2:28 lap time which I think is not too bad for the first time. dp in the MINI ran 2:24 best for comparison.
We had another friend of ours run the Novice group. He shared the M5 with JIO. Last time he drove anything performance was in the 50’s. He even had an SCCA badge from back then. You should have seen his face after the sessions – couldn’t find a happier person.
JIO also had a blast in the beastly M5. He could really throw that tank around. He had a fun race with the E55 AMG. The Benz was slightly faster on the straights, but no chance in the turns. Still, I saw Jim hammer it on the front straight and just disappear from me half way through.
Finally our Miata friend also had a time of hi life. There were three Miatas including his running in the same group. Not very fast on the straights, but through turn 2 and three they were untouchable.
Great fun! By 4 o’clock we packed up and went back in Willows. We couldn’t stop talking at dinner sharing the excitement and driving stories.
We woke up early. The forecast is gloomy – rain. Looked outside and it’s not even drizzling! Thick fog covers the motel. Fog is good, as it normally means we can avoid rain. Fill up and drive 7 miles to the track.
Visibility is very poor, but who cares, we made it to Thunderhill and will run it no matter what the weather is now. At about 8:00am the fog lifted and we could finally see the track itself. What I really liked about TH is that you can see pretty much the whole track from the pits area. A short walk on the lot and the famous Cyclone presents itself right in front. The view is pretty spectacular. It’s steep enough to almost look like a ski slope.
Excitement kicks in. But I also have reservations. It’s my first time here and the track is wet. They also had held a 25-hour enduro a couple of days earlier, so oil and rubber most likely were on the surface. I decided not to run the Slicks and just stick with the S-03’s.
Speedventures is a great club! Kudos to Aaron and John for setting up this event. I really enjoyed the organization. The rules are relaxed, passing is allowed in many places and no micro-management which plagues some other clubs I ran with. And no chaos or rage among the drivers as sometimes happens with other clubs. Everything was very civilized and well organized. No unnecessary delays either – we were on the track by 9:00am and ran practically non-stop all day. The sessions lasted about 25-30min each. I would definitely run with these guys again!
My friend (dp in the MINI) took me out for the first session in the Advanced group to show me the line. He has run this track before in the M Coupe and Lotus Elise.
Like I suspected the track was pretty slippery. We had the tail out a few times. The Cyclone looked scarier than it turned out to be. The rest of the track also seemed fairly OK. Turn 9 uphill got my attention as probably the most exciting section for me…
Now it was my turn to go out in the Intermediate (White) group.
Our other fellow member (JIO in the M5) took the lead as he also had had experience here before. So I followed his line just to get even better feel for the track.
We drove conservatively to see where the most slippery places were. Turns 3, 4, 11 and 14-15 were slick. One of our guys went in too hot and lost it in turn 3 after five laps (it’s off camber and braking has to be done blindly before heading a bit downwards into the turn) and did a 540 before skidding into the mud.
No damage except for the dirt and hurt driver’s pride – had to wait for the tow truck to get him out of the mess.
I decided to stay in third gear through the whole 1st session after playing with shifting in several places and having the tail snap out on me. It was still too slippery to push.
By the second session the surface started to dry out. The racing line was clearly visible and the pace increased. I was still very conservative in the off-camber sections of the track. Started to get car-sick a bit. It happens to me often on the roller-coasters and TH is definitely similar to them with the elevation changes and braking up- and downhill.
The third session was totally dry. I had a though of putting the slicks but decided that it would be better to keep learning on the street rubber. This time I “opened” it up more. My buddy in the E36 M3 with the Ground Control setup and I kept swapping places chasing each other. I was faster through some sections and he was in the other – fun. I was shifting into second through the Cyclone and turn 11. This time the tail stayed put and I was able to really hammer it out of those bends. The long sweeping turn two made my tires sing a very long serenade. I never thought S-03’s could be that loud. But then every other car on street tires was very loud there also.
I really fell in love with turn 9. Right after the tight right-hander entrance you just step on the gas, aim in the middle of the road and “fly” over the crest. If you do it correctly, you’ll end up on the right edge of the track pretty much going straight – very fast and exciting. You have to trust the corner worker that there is nothing awaiting you over the crest since you really only see the sky going up at full throttle. By far my favorite section of TH.
By lap 6 my front tires overheated. The pressures went from 38PSI to 46PSI when I checked in the pits later on. I suddenly started to lose grip, especially under hard braking. Almost overshot the Cyclone twice hitting the run-off curb. And again the motion sickness started to show. Pulled off a couple of laps before the session ended.
My friends went out for the fourth session as well, but I just decided to skip. Was still feeling dizzy so played it safe. Overall, I was timed to get a 2:28 lap time which I think is not too bad for the first time. dp in the MINI ran 2:24 best for comparison.
We had another friend of ours run the Novice group. He shared the M5 with JIO. Last time he drove anything performance was in the 50’s. He even had an SCCA badge from back then. You should have seen his face after the sessions – couldn’t find a happier person.
JIO also had a blast in the beastly M5. He could really throw that tank around. He had a fun race with the E55 AMG. The Benz was slightly faster on the straights, but no chance in the turns. Still, I saw Jim hammer it on the front straight and just disappear from me half way through.
Finally our Miata friend also had a time of hi life. There were three Miatas including his running in the same group. Not very fast on the straights, but through turn 2 and three they were untouchable.
Great fun! By 4 o’clock we packed up and went back in Willows. We couldn’t stop talking at dinner sharing the excitement and driving stories.
Day 3:
We woke to a sunny, blue-sky morning. The mood was up, the road was dry and we hoped to make it home much faster than the way down. We did have a very nice drive all the way till the sign “Welcome to Oregon”…. Almost right after it the downpour began. Going over the Siskiyuo Pass we saw snow. But we expected it, so it was not a very big deal. The Miata had its tail out a few times, but nothing unmanageable. After the lunch at the outskirts of Medford we pushed on. Slight rain, but nothing too bad. Then, about 20 miles into the trip the rain increased and the temperature started to drop. My car “beeped” on me at 37F. We are still going up the hill. Suddenly the rain became heavy snow. Giant flakes dropping very thickly on the road. Slight slush appeared on the grooves. My car started to float. Slow down to 50MPH, white knuckles and sweaty hands. All the cars we had passed before we now passing me. The Protégé, M3 and M5 went ahead. I couldn’t keep my car from slipping. The Miata also had trouble. My front dying summer tires were not up to the task of handling the slush.
Very carefully we drove over the hills. The temps increased so we could gun it to catch up. Again, 20 miles later, the same story. Snow, snow and more snow… It didn’t settle, so my car was more stable. In the end we made it OK, all in one piece.
This was definitely an awesome trip and the one I will make again sometime next year for sure. Will post more pictures as I get them from the rest of the gang.
We woke to a sunny, blue-sky morning. The mood was up, the road was dry and we hoped to make it home much faster than the way down. We did have a very nice drive all the way till the sign “Welcome to Oregon”…. Almost right after it the downpour began. Going over the Siskiyuo Pass we saw snow. But we expected it, so it was not a very big deal. The Miata had its tail out a few times, but nothing unmanageable. After the lunch at the outskirts of Medford we pushed on. Slight rain, but nothing too bad. Then, about 20 miles into the trip the rain increased and the temperature started to drop. My car “beeped” on me at 37F. We are still going up the hill. Suddenly the rain became heavy snow. Giant flakes dropping very thickly on the road. Slight slush appeared on the grooves. My car started to float. Slow down to 50MPH, white knuckles and sweaty hands. All the cars we had passed before we now passing me. The Protégé, M3 and M5 went ahead. I couldn’t keep my car from slipping. The Miata also had trouble. My front dying summer tires were not up to the task of handling the slush.
Very carefully we drove over the hills. The temps increased so we could gun it to catch up. Again, 20 miles later, the same story. Snow, snow and more snow… It didn’t settle, so my car was more stable. In the end we made it OK, all in one piece.
This was definitely an awesome trip and the one I will make again sometime next year for sure. Will post more pictures as I get them from the rest of the gang.
![[:)]](/images/smilies/smile.png "Smile [:)]")
Thanks! ![[:D]](/images/smilies/biggrin.png "Big Grin [:D]")
It was indeed lots of fun. I just wish the track was a bit closer to us. Thunderhill is exactly 400 miles away, not something you want to drive on a regular basis. [fake]
I'll post more pics as I receive them. There were some more spectacular views.![[thumb]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_thumb.gif "Thumbs Up [thumb]")
Also, tested out my own new CF lip spoiler - pretty good. The car is more stable at speeds at the rear. The trunk stays clean on top now also. I'll post pics when the sun comes out here.
It was indeed lots of fun. I just wish the track was a bit closer to us. Thunderhill is exactly 400 miles away, not something you want to drive on a regular basis. [fake] I'll post more pics as I receive them. There were some more spectacular views.
Also, tested out my own new CF lip spoiler - pretty good. The car is more stable at speeds at the rear. The trunk stays clean on top now also.
I'll post pics when the sun comes out here.
Thanks guys!
Yep definitely going back again next year when the weather clears up a bit. We want to try to hit Thunderhill and Laguna Seca in one weekend, to save up on driving so far several times.
The blue tape was intended to protect against the little rocks in the snowy areas... Most of it peeled off along the way.![[rofl]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_rofl.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
It worked where it stayed though.
It looks like we'll have no more track days till March, when PIR opens the gates and local AutoX begins. Until then it's indoor Go-Karts.![[driving]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_driving.gif "Driving [driving]")
Yep definitely going back again next year when the weather clears up a bit.
We want to try to hit Thunderhill and Laguna Seca in one weekend, to save up on driving so far several times.The blue tape was intended to protect against the little rocks in the snowy areas... Most of it peeled off along the way.
It worked where it stayed though. It looks like we'll have no more track days till March, when PIR opens the gates and local AutoX begins. Until then it's indoor Go-Karts.
Akakubi said:
Thanks guys!
It looks like we'll have no more track days till March, when PIR opens the gates and local AutoX begins. Until then it's indoor Go-Karts.
It looks like we'll have no more track days till March, when PIR opens the gates and local AutoX begins. Until then it's indoor Go-Karts.
![[hihi]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_hihi.gif "Hi Hi [hihi]"){kind=icon}
I like that one. Every time you post about your events, it makes me more and more tempted to join the BMWCCA thing so I can participate in their events. I believe Limerock is not very far from me and they hold a lot of meets there.
Lime rock is an awesome track. It would a great track to run. Sign up one day for sure.
Also, try your local AutoX's with either SCCA or BMW CCA clubs. Not as high speed as track events, but competitive and teach great driving skills. You'll be many times more confident and safer driver if you attend - trust me on this one. It's an eye-opening experience once you try.
SamuraiJack! They hold numerous AutoX's in HI. Check Bimmerforums regional section for NW. Somehow HI got included there too....[???1] But some of those guys get together and AutoX occasionally.
Sign up one day for sure. Also, try your local AutoX's with either SCCA or BMW CCA clubs. Not as high speed as track events, but competitive and teach great driving skills. You'll be many times more confident and safer driver if you attend - trust me on this one. It's an eye-opening experience once you try.
SamuraiJack! They hold numerous AutoX's in HI. Check Bimmerforums regional section for NW. Somehow HI got included there too....[???1] But some of those guys get together and AutoX occasionally.
Akakubi said:
SamuraiJack! They hold numerous AutoX's in HI. Check Bimmerforums regional section for NW. Somehow HI got included there too....[???1] But some of those guys get together and AutoX occasionally.
![[burnout]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_burnout.gif "Burnout [burnout]"){kind=icon}
It's the most fun (pauses) yeah the most fun you can have legally. Just don't tell my insurance company. Oh wait that's right it was a offensive drivers course right? ![[:p]](/images/smilies/tongue.png "Stick Out Tongue [:p]")
[headbang] We got another one coming up on the 21st. Thanks for the infor on the NW forums I will keep bouncing over that-a-way.
outpost22 said:
So, you drove through Medford and didn't stop to say "hi" ![[}:)]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_evil.gif "Evil [}:)]")
I used to live near the Siskiyou Pass for 10 years. There is a "web cam" on the road now for current conditions.
Glad you had a good trip![[:o)]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_clown.gif "Clown [:o)]")
I used to live near the Siskiyou Pass for 10 years. There is a "web cam" on the road now for current conditions.
Glad you had a good trip
![[?|]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_banghead.gif "Bang Head [?|]"){kind=icon}
I stopped by to meet a fellow Bimmerforums member in Medford, at Progressive Audio. I wish i knew, we could have met up.That Pass camera was our guide.
But we still pushed through no matter what the conditions.Next time, come up to PIR with us!
SamuraiJack said:
Oh yeah!!! I'm all over it!!!! It's the most fun (pauses) yeah the most fun you can have legally. Just don't tell my insurance company. Oh wait that's right it was a offensive drivers course right? [headbang] We got another one coming up on the 21st. Thanks for the infor on the NW forums I will keep bouncing over that-a-way.
It's the most fun (pauses) yeah the most fun you can have legally. Just don't tell my insurance company. Oh wait that's right it was a offensive drivers course right? [headbang] We got another one coming up on the 21st. Thanks for the infor on the NW forums I will keep bouncing over that-a-way.
Have fun carving the cones! 