Thunderhill is an incredible track, the best I have ever driven (my past track events were at Big Willow, Streets of Willow, Spring Mtn. and Buttonwillow). It is about 80 miles north of Sacramento, Calif., 6 miles east of I-5. They call it "3 miles of adrenalin" and they are right about that. Two BIG elevation changes. The hill on the front half of the track is really scary. You go up to the top of a steep hill, make a hard left, and then go downhill on an off-camber right turn onto a sweeper/short striaght. 15 turns, lots of straights and sweepers, technical but lots of fun.

There was only one other evo, an '03 white VIII, which was only there on Saturday. I improved my best lap time per session by 14 seconds. A great time was had by all, even if I had to miss EOC at Streets of Willow.

You West Coast guys gotta run Thunderhill!!!

 

agreed, thunderhill is a fun track. only thing i dont like about it is that its about 2 million miles away (at least it seems like it at the end of the day) from my house in the bay area. i had to pull over to take a nap somewhere on I5 when i was coming home.

 

How do you think I feel? Thunderhill is nearly 500 miles from my home in Redondo Beach. But, for 2 days on a great track, it was worth it. I would do it once or twice a year.

 

how's the laptime?

 

for a normal man in a normal car say around 2:20? the fastest lap time at the enduro last weekend was 1:47, Vishnu/C&Ds car did a 2:01.

 

1:47 ??? That's incredible. What kind of car was that?

The weekend after Thanksgiving, I thought the very fastest drivers were turning about 2:02. The guy in the third generation Mazda RX-7, the Panoz Esperante, and the Radical were in that range, as was the fastest S2000 (Aaron driving), I think.

I won't say my time, but I am a little slower than a "normal man in a normal car." lol

 

t-hill has to be the best "cheap" track to run on the west cali.
i say cheap only because sears and laguna are getting so expensive
to rent out these days. there definately needs to be a nor-cal EOC
set up to run at t-hill and maybe hook up with trackmasters, speed
ventures, or unlimited laps to run with and share the costs if needed.


sean

 

Typical best lap times at thill:

911 Turbo Race Car 1:47 (from the 25 hr)
Spec Miata 2:08

I didn't put a watch on myself, but based on the Spec Miata I was lapping with, I would estimate a stock Evo RS at about 2:05 to 2:07.

 

Aaron Bitterman of SpeedVentures drove my RS w/ Mueller suspension at Thunderhill, but took it easy because it was my car not his. I asked him how fast he could drive it around T-hill if he wasn't worried about it being my car, and he estimated 2:08. I know he has run faster times than that in a modified S2000, and has lots of experience, so I trust him on that. My EVO engine is bone stock at this point.

Needless to say, I didn't come close to 2:08. But with more practice . . .

 

1:47 is insane! i'm trying to break 2:10

 

did the vishnu evo finished?

 

Yes.....The power steering pumps did their best to prevent us from finishing....but yes, it finished.

Paul G did a 2:02 without pushing the car, i am pretty confident that he could have ran sub 2s by pushing the car a little harder.

Larry Webster from car and driver ran a 2:01.

 

In non 25H endurance race trim, a well prepped (but full weight) Stg 1+ EVO on race rubber should be able to run in the 1.55 to 1.58 range with a really good driver. A Stg 2 car, on c16, running a bigger turbo should be able ot whack 2-3 seconds off that. Going much faster would involve some serious weight reduction

Shiv

 

I have raced at this track and I like it a lot. The drive from Long Beach, however, is a real PITA. I have only been there once back in April 2003. My best time in my SE-R Cup car is 2:08.947. The car weighs 2455 lbs with driver and 3/4 tank of gas and has 153-155 hp. It has a Koni double adjustable race suspension, not as good as the Mueller, but good enough.

 

Technically the vishnu / car and driver evo did not finish the 25 hour. Crossing the checkered flag doesn't matter, a car is considered a finisher if they complete at least half the laps of the class leader.