Laguna Seca Trip: Day 7 – Thunderhill Raceway

Friday, July 15

Now the vacation shifts gears, so to speak.

It’s a quick 15 minutes from the motel to the track. The facility is pretty nice; they have two large canopies to park under. The one nearest race control, bathrooms, and meeting rooms was already full when I got there, so I had to park at the farther one. Late arrivals were out of luck when it came to shade. This can be quite important as the day progresses. It ended up being about 100 degrees, so shade is important to some semblance of comfort.

Checked in. All cars are required to have numbers. Evidently, that’s some sort of rule in the region, not just for this event. I could use painters tape to make a number, if I could borrow some, or I could purchase a set from them for five bucks. That’s a sticker for each side of the car and a smaller one for the windshield. I got #29.

GBMC6478sThey have an official photographer there – gotbluemilk.com. They have a trailer (“with triple air conditioning!”) full of monitors where you can view what they’ve shot. Pictures for the day are $75. For two-day events, they charge $115. Chatting with them, I discovered they would be in Laguna Seca on Monday, so I told them to bring today’s photos with them on Monday and I’d buy both days for the 2 day event price (even though it’s two one-day events, not a two-day event).

Hooked on Driving (HoD) runs four run groups. A and B had their drivers meeting together, then A went upstairs to a different room and had ground school. C and D were the advanced groups. HoD runs five twenty minute sessions. I’m used to 30 minute sessions and prefer fewer longer sessions than more shorter ones, even if it works out to be the same amount of track time. Fewer longer sessions means fewer in and out laps and more fast laps. Each group is limited to twenty five cars, which is a reasonable maximum. Twenty five cars over a three mile track means we’re generally well-spaced and had a good chance of getting a few unobstructed laps each session.

For the A and B groups, “download” sessions were held after each track session. We went over subjects such as the proper line for various turns, proper gear selection for a couple of the tricky places, and so on. The instructor in charge of the group went on track to get video of the cars in the group to illustrate the good and the not so good.

The first couple of laps of our first session were run under yellow flag with a number of instructors out leading us around. This lets us newbies get an idea of the proper line. I really enjoyed the track. It’s quite challenging with the blind crests and off-camber turns.

I make it a point to meet the other Lotus drivers at these events. Today we had two. Tony was there running his S1 Elise. He says it’s not street legal. It’s a race prepared car from the factory with roll bar, fire suppression, fuel and electrical cutoffs. It’s Lotus Racing Green. It’s left hand drive, which surprised me. Tony says it was sold in the French market. Rover engine, very similar in power to the Toyota in the Federal Elise.

Bo has an orange Elise. He’s had is about a year. Big wing, race seats, after market wheels, bigger diffuser. We were all running in the same group, so we sat together at the classroom sessions.

I don’t think all five groups were fully subscribed. At least one of the drivers in my group would normally run advanced instead, but those were full. For the most part, it was not a dissimilar group of cars to what you’re likely to see at HPR – the usual mix of Mustangs, Corvettes, Porsches, and so on. One car that stood out for me was a Ferrari race car, complete with pneumatic jacks.

IMG_2184sThe track is quite challenging. It’s out in the middle of nowhere, like HPR, so there is plenty of room if you make a mistake. If you go off, you just mow some weeds. It has a nice mix of high speed and low speed turns, off-camber turns, and blind crests. The facilities are nice as well, with air-conditioned classrooms and plenty of shade for the cars and drivers.

GBMC1197sI ran five sessions and improved my best lap each time. I was quite slow the first session; every lap in my second session was better than my best lap in the first session. If we ignore that first session, my time improved by five seconds a lap over the course of the day.

One of the great extras that HoD provided was the presence of a performance tire company. When we exited the track, we could pull into their area of the paddock and they’d get the pyrometer and pressure gauge, collect all the relevant data, and recommend changes. I struggle with setting my tire pressure; I think I got some good tips from them, it just remains to be seen if I put them to good use.

Like yesterday, it was quite hot. I don’t know what the official high temperature was for Willows. As I said, it was close to 100 degrees. This is the first time I’ve been at a track where they had a relaxed dress code. I wore my suit for the morning sessions while everyone around me was in shorts and short sleeves. I lost the suit for the afternoon and was much more comfortable. But it did feel a bit odd.

I stayed to the very end and was one of the last cars to leave the track by the time I got all packed up. I gassed up in Willows before heading south on I-5 to the Bay Area. I’m staying with friends the next two nights in Danville. It was almost exactly a two hour drive, hitting a number of interstates (I-5, 505, 680) before successfully placing me in front of my destination.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day. The track was challenging but not frustrating, HoD ran a great event, and I always enjoy socializing with people with a common passion.

Here’s my fast lap:

Scuderia Rampante

Saturday, May 7

Scuderia Rampante is a Ferrari restoration and repair shop in Erie, Colorado. They’ve been in business for something like forty years. Skip arranged a shop tour for the Miata and Lotus clubs. It turned out to be not so much a tour of the facility as the opportunity to wander freely about the place.

Life sized Matchbox collection

Life sized Matchbox collection

It’s loaded with interesting sights. In addition to all sorts of exotic Ferrari automobiles, there were cars of other marques, a helicopter and a half and two stuffed bears. Some of the cars are there in storage but most seemed to be undergoing some repair or other.

I seem to gravitate to the unusual. Certainly it could be said that wandering around a world class Ferrari shop is unusual in itself. For the most part, though, I’ve seen these cars on the road; out in the wild so to speak. But there were a couple of notable “which of these is not like the others” cars.

In the small show-room like entryway was a Ferrari I’d not only never seen before, but had never heard of. In the first couple years of the fifties, Ferrari produced eighty two copies of the 212 Inter. Powered by a three carburetor V-12 that pumped out as much as 165 HP it was capable of hitting 116 mph and going from 0 to 60 in just 10.5 seconds. My how automotive technology has advanced. Someone there told Michael this car is worth $18 million, but a quick search indicates it’s more likely in the $2 to $3 million range.

Ferrari 212 Inter

Ferrari 212 Inter

The 212 isn’t unusual because it’s a Ferrari, it’s unusual because of its vintage and rarity. There was at least one other unusual car of the same vintage, if not the same rarity. In the rack I couldn’t help but notice the Wolseley 16/60 with the Bahamas license plate. This is another car I’ve never even heard of. It’s not out of place here, though. Although the car was made by BMC it was styled by Pininfarina. About 63,000 of these were made.

Wolseley 16/60

Wolseley 16/60

Scattered throughout the shop floor were various Ferrari drivetrains under repair. Some where just the engine, others were both engine and transmission. I was quite interested in the flat 12. There was a red Testarossa in the giant car rack with a license plate “FLAT 12” but this engine probably belonged to the black Testarossa on the floor.

Flat 12

Flat 12

Scuderia Rampante wasn’t the only place we went on Saturday. We started at cars and coffee in Louisville and ended at a show put on my Hagarty’s and Auto Archives. Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing a Porsche 918 on US-36 where I managed to get a crappy cell-phone picture. The same car was at Louisville. I hadn’t seen it there before.

We were planning on having hot dogs at the Hagarty event. By the time we got there the weather had deteriorated quite a bit. No longer just chilly and overcast, it was now raining lightly. We elected not to stand in line in the rain for hot dogs. After a quick tour of the new home of Auto Archives we made our way home. It turned out to be excellent timing, as we were hit by an intense hail storm. Most of the hail was BB sized or pea sized but some stones were more like marbles.

Porsche 918 Spyder

Porsche 918 Spyder

Eiskhana again

Last year I said I’d skip Eiskhana for a year. I changed my mind. I figured I didn’t have anything better to do on a Saturday in January than deal with ski traffic to stand around on a frozen lake for five or six hours so I could drive around on ice with bald tires.

I picked up Jerry at the park and ride at I-70 and Morrison road at 6:30. From there to Georgetown Lake in normal traffic it’s about a forty minute drive. It took us an hour and a half. That was about the same as last year, except this time there was actually some snow and ice on the road adding to the degree of difficulty. As we went farther west, the cloud cover increased, and when we arrived the wind was gusting fiercely, throwing a brilliant white cloud of snow off the lake and over the highway.

Unlike last year, we anticipated the traffic and managed to arrive on time. We were followed in by a Ferrari FF. Ferrari of Denver had a trailer there, with two more FF’s and a 458 parked next to it. They also had a Bentley, but I didn’t see that until later.

With the Ferrari trailer in the parking lot, they had to park the registration trailer on the ice. They had a big space heater running and were setting out pastries and doughnuts on tables. I registered, grabbed a tasty treat and we retreated to the car to get out of the wind. They had the drivers meeting at nine. We’d be broken into two groups. One would start with two runs on the timed course and the other would be on a second, untimed course. After the meeting, we all lined up and drove the course slowly. First time they’ve done that.

They put us on the timed course first. I managed both runs without spinning, but I wasn’t particularly fast. The course wasn’t very interesting. The one two years ago was best, but they used the entire area. This way, people got more time on the ice, so I guess it’s a fair trade-off. I ran the untimed course twice. We could do it as often as we liked, but two was enough for me.

Getting off the lake was entertaining. I was a bit concerned when driving on to the lake, which is downhill. There was quite a bit of snow there, deep enough I plowed it with the nose of my car. When driving it out, I couldn’t get enough space to make a run at it. About half way up, I was beached. How hard is it to push a car out of a snowbank when everybody is standing on a frozen lake? It must not have been too bad, it only took three or four guys.

Once off the lake, we parked and then ogled the Ferraris. “Want a ride? You guys are next, back in a few minutes.”

To me, the FF looks a lot like the BMW M Coupe. Sort of like a shoe. A “stupid money” car, made of unobtanium. They weigh about two tons, crank out 650 or so horses, and have steering wheels worthy of an F1 car. The one we were in could be yours, for a bit over 300 large but you can have one made for 230 or so. Evidently, you now get an unlimited mileage seven year service plan in the bargain. A very nice car, certainly. And fast. Even where it was slippery. On dry pavement he had us up to 107 in a heartbeat.

Then we sat and had lunch and watched the cars going sideways and backwards and spinning round. Jerry’s mom made the sandwiches. Made me feel like a little kid for a minute. The weather had cleared up nicely. The sky was a deep cloudless blue unmarred by jetliner vapor trails – the trails disappeared only a short distance behind the planes. The wind had died down and it was quite pleasant sitting on a rock in the sun.

It was a fun time.

I took a few pictures with the long lens, haven’t looked at them yet. I’ll see if any are worth sharing and post them when I get the video done.

Cars & Coffee

I went to the Cars & Coffee this morning. Got there about nine, the place was pretty full. I managed to back into one of the last few spaces. As usual, a nice mix of cars, weighed heavily toward the exotics. I counted four Elises, two Exiges, an Elite and a few Esprits. More Ferraris than Lotuses. A couple Lambos, the usual plethora of Porsches, batches of BMWs, and stable of Mustangs.

I took a few snapshots:

McLaren MP4 12-C Spyder. When people mistakenly think my car cost $300,000, I can only assume they haven’t really looked at my car and have certainly never seen any car that did cost $300k. This here, boys and girls, is a $300,000 car. It makes me shudder to think what service and insurance costs for this every year. Prime example of a “stupid money” car and a gorgeous example of automotive engineering.

IMG_0525sNotice here the size difference between the Exige and the Ferrari. The Exige isn’t backed in as far as the Ferrari and still comes up more than a foot short.

IMG_0526sWhen I saw this right hand drive Celica I had to talk to the owner. When I lived in Estes I saw a green first generation right hand drive Celica several times between Estes and Lyons. I thought perhaps this was that car. Nope, this guy just imported it from Japan last year.
IMG_0527sMy initial reaction when I first saw pictures of the new Vette was that it looked like a Camaro from the back. And when I first glimpsed this car, my first thought was “Oh, a convertible Camaro.”
IMG_0528sThis Ariel Atom is a ridiculous car. This one looks brand new, doesn’t have a scratch on it. Granted, I didn’t get that good of a look at it, as they were pulling out just when I spotted it. Given its pristine condition, I can only assume it’s yet to see a lap on the track. There is no other purpose for this car, except to be tracked. Yes, it’s street legal. But you can’t carry anything. Even without a passenger, I doubt you could carry a sack of groceries. I laughed when I saw the cupholder.
IMG_0532sThis sure got me to do a double-take. I immediately thought early Corvette. But the size is all wrong. This seems giant. The huge wheels help with the proportions, but the style is all wrong to pull off the early Vette look. I have no idea how recent the Vette is that it’s built on but it looks pretty new. Completely custom interior, of course. But what sort of tool takes up two spots at these things, anyway?
IMG_0533sI don’t know my Hudsons. Is this a Hornet? I have no idea what year it is, except that it’s early fifties. I love the bullet hub caps. I also love that it seems to be getting more attention than the Astin Martin next door.
IMG_0536sI first saw this from the front. Immediately saw the Mugen badge. Had no idea what model it was, had to walk to the back to find the Fit badge. Really? Mugen Fit? Are there performance parts here, or just body pieces?
IMG_0538sGot this picture of the Factory Five 1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe when he was pulling in. It’s a kit car.
IMG_0539s

September Cars & Coffee, Lafayette

Always an interesting and eclectic mix of cars at the Lafayette Cars & Coffee. As usual, exotics were in abundance and hot rods and muscle cars were the exception.

This beautiful Ford GT in iconic Gulf colors caught my eye. There was also a replica of a Ford GT-40 in red.

The car that drew the most attention was the Ferrari F40. It always had a crowd around it and I couldn’t get a nice picture of it until the owner moved it from the middle of the parking lot into a single space.

In the Lotus department, I counted five Elises, two Exiges, and an Elite. There may have been a Caterham or two as well. We generally manage to line up at least two or three in a row but not today.

Today was the first time I used the SLR since having it cleaned. Wow! It’s like a brand new camera.