Elizabeth and Race were off at a Mustang Club of America event, but I was racing at
Thunderhill with a
friend from work, Steve
Tansley. This is the road race course near Willows, CA that Elizabeth drove the race car at last April. The event was the 25
th Annual Mini-
Nats put on by the
Norcal Shelby American Automobile Club.
Friday we had the unique opportunity to drive our race cars down Highway 162 under Highway Patrol escort and through down town (it's a parade!) to the city park for a car show and barbecue. The neatest part f the caravan was blowing through the red lights and stop signs. After an early evening
escorted trip back to the track, Steve and I headed to the hospitality room at the hotel for beer, conversation and old racing movies. The host had cut the racing and car chase scenes from dozens of movies like
Bullitt, Viva
Las Vegas and a bunch of "B" movies along with clips of club members driving, and some times spinning, during Vintage Races. Talk about a good time!
Saturday morning began at the track with a drivers meeting where the rules for day were explained and then I hit the track with Randy, one of my track buddies, riding along as an instructor. He explained the racing line to me, and I missed the racing line every turn and after 15 minutes Randy escaped from the car at the end of the session. I suspect it's the last time he'll volunteer to instruct. I took Steve out for the second session and managed to hit the racing line a few times. Then we registered Steve as a driver and he took the car out with me as a passenger/instructor (instructor! isn't that comical) and I explained the racing line, as opposed to the line I usually blundered into, to him. Steve took the car out for the final session alone and came back beaming. He says he felt pretty good driving thanks to all the hours playing Playstation racing games. Saturday night was the annual banquet at the Willows Memorial Hall; dinner, guest speakers, raffle and finally back to the hotel to bed.
Sunday, Steve had to go home after the banquet Saturday night (he had to work Sunday night shift) so it was just me and my friends from Mustangs Plus. Randy went out with me again for the first session and tried to correct the bad habits I'd already picked up. George (an ex-vinatge racer) went out with me for the second session and more forcefully corrected the bad habits I had picked up. I then rode with George in his '65 Mustang Vintage Race Car and saw what it was like to follow the racing line. Wow, what fun! Ron Morris, who we bought our race car from, was pitted next to us and I offered him the chance to drive our car )he never got a chance to drive it while he owned it) and he jumped at the chance. I rode along and it's 25 minutes of thrills that I will never forget. He had our car traveling at nearly the same speeds that George drove. All the time giving me pointers on how to manage the weight of the car, tire pressures, tuning, etc. It was on one particularly fast trip through turns 2 and 3 (sideways) that he announced, "that's the limit for this car." Oh man, I've got a lot to learn before I ever reach the skill level to take the car to the limit. I drove the final session of the day alone and finally, thanks to Randy, George and Ron's instruction, hit the racing line on every corner and went faster, drove smoother and had more fun than I had ever before managed at Thunderhill. I didn't have nearly this much trouble learning Infeonon (Sears Point), but the tracks are significantly different. The corners come much faster at Sears Point, the straights are shorter and, most important, there are more visual clues on where the braking zones, apexes, turn in points, etc are. I can hardly wait to get back on the track.
