Track days?

[Colbino]

Ok, fellas...and Ladies,

 

Fairly new to Datsun's and surly new to this site, so let me first say "hello."

And secondly, like the title says, are there any track sessions around the northern cali. area where we can go out and test our stuff on the track in a friendly environment?

 

Hope this hasn't been covered before as I didn't do a "search."

 

Thanks,

 

C.

[Figbuck]

I don't think many guys here are into track days... I could be wrong. I don't have a burning desire to flog my truck around burning gas and rubber. I have been riding motorcycles since 1967 and I started club racing in the seventies. I went to California Superbike School in the early '80s and have done lot's of track days... the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

 

Guys that live in the Bay Area are lucky to be a short tow to world class tracks. I have ridden Laguna Seca many, many times in it's various incarnations as well as Sears Point (now called Infineon). Down south a ways is Buttonwillow which is a private course that gets used by clubs and track day groups. Its a long track and really fun. My favorite place is up off of I 5 a couple hours north of Excramento. It's called Thunderhill Raceway Park. It was started by the Nor/Cal SCCA guys. It has changed a lot since it was built and is one of the coolest places to have a facility like that.

 

Thunderhill has no grandstands or public facilities it is a private course. You need to bring everything. It is out in farm country, just a ribbon of asphalt that wraps around a paved paddock. You can't even walk or drive around the course to spectate, because there are no paths or roads other than the track itself. When it was built it was never designed to be any thing other than a sports car track not to promote races for the public.

 

You will have to do some homework about what groups rent it and when. The last times I rode Laguna it was getting to be close to three hundred bucks a day for seven sessions. (more than enough to wear you out) Thunderhill track days could be as cheap as $175 depending on who is putting the thing together.

 

In the spring time Thunderhill looks like a single ribbon of asphalt that runs through lush green rolling hills. It looks like a full size vidoe game and depending on how they configure the track, fifteen turns with three good long straights and a hill that they call the Cyclone. One day we ran the track clockwise in the morning and counter clock wise in the afternoon. This place is a blast. I could get 150 mph on the front straight and go through turn one at over a hundred.

 

Check out their web site. I noticed on another thread about that lady Liz Miles on American Hotrod. On her website she posted pics of her running her Camero at Laguna and Thunderhill. She got black flagged at Laguna because her exhaust registered about 93 or 95 decibles, what ever the limit is. That gave her some real street cred for me. She loves Thunderhill too. They don't care how loud you are because it's so remote.

 

I have two friends that have track cars. One guy has a '73 BMW 2002 that he did a frame off resto and it is fast with a single seat and full roll cage. He is active in the BMW owners club and they seem to go to Infineon at leas once or twice a year. My other friend is in the Alfa club and has a Spider Veloce that is bloody quick too. They were telling me about how the place has changed in the last five years since I did a motorcycle track day with them. The owners have spent millions up grading the track for NASCAR, IRL, AMA and NHRA national events. Both Laguna and Infineon have been completely resurfaced.

 

Infineon is a real techincal track and with the elevation changes and unique corner complexes like the Carousel, it is a total blast. It used to be really dangerous, but they have had to create more runoff room for the bikes and cars that make so much more speed than before. The same for Laguna Seca. It has been turned into a world class track. You always hear about the "Corkscrew". It ain't that big a deal. It reminds me of some of the back roads in the Redwoods up in San Mateo County. There ain't no better feeling in the world that coming out of turn five at ten grand, or cresting the blind turn one at redline in sixth gear!

[tnip]

...wow

 

i watched the first race at laguna seca after they resurfaced it and it was nothing but complaints from the drivers and teams. i think it was like gt2 or something, i'm probably wrong.

 

i don't think many people on here will be too keen on a trackday just because if you have a daily driver that is already work to keep it running you probably don't want to go thrash on it more than you do everyday. that's one thing i love about living in the country, everyday is like a trackday if you know the roads. little to no traffic, cops stay around town, curvy old country roads, high visibility in most areas.