I’m told Thunderhill in August can be a cooker but I’m not sure I believe it as the weather for the August 21 & 22 races was beautiful. High 70’s to 80’s with a light wind was the order of the weekend and as long as you could find shade, you were in good shape. Action out on track provided the heat!

* Sorry for the picture quality but these were taken by my wife who was also taking care of a baby and four year old and behind glass in the main building.

The only people fearless (crazy?) enough to come out and brave the expected heat were Jerry, Ron, and me so everyone was guaranteed a podium. I ran with Trackmasters on Friday to get some experience in the “normal” direction since I’d only run Thunderhill as Llihrednuht prior to the weekend. Also, I thought that sweating out 20 LBs of water on Friday would get me closer to minimum weight! As a result, I probably had a bit of an advantage going into Saturday.
I managed to grab poll for Saturday’s race but the margin was small with Ron second and Jerry third, all within just a few tenths of one another. We were all suffering with various handling ailments in practice and qualifying. Luckily an alignment shop was set up on the level pad and we all took advantage of their very reasonable rates to check and adjust alignment. Ron had noticed a problem with his right rear wheel before leaving home and only had time to rough it in so his car required the most adjustment.
Jerry’s car and my car were almost dead on our targets so we didn’t have a convenient excuse if we were slow.

We were lined up behind two Spec Boxsters for Saturday’s race with me on the inside for the left hand turn one and Ron on my outside. I got balked a little bit in turn one when the Boxster that I had gotten alongside of turned in on me, but I managed to keep the lead. Jerry got the drop on Ron at the start (hard for Ron to see the green flag through the Boxster’s windows) and held second place. Jerry was on me like white on rice for the first lap or two with Ron right behind but I managed to pull a slight gap after a couple of laps. That was how it would finish. The gap stayed consistent through the race with everyone turning about the same lap time. Understeer was the order of the day so we knew we needed to make some adjustments if we were going to get quicker on Sunday.



The disadvantage of staying at a hotel is that the bed is too comfy to leave for early Sunday practice so I didn’t. Jerry and Ron ran practice and had some extra laps to perfect their setup. After the race Saturday, I dropped my front ride height two turns and added 1.5 psi to all tires since they were a little low on hot pressure. Also, while on the alignment rig, we dialed in a little extra toe out in front to get the car turning. The changes worked and I managed to pull off one clean and quick lap to take poll. Jerry grabbed second with Ron third. There was a caution in turn two due to a broken 911 and responding personnel so that slowed us all a bit. Ron claimed he slowed down more than us but we figured it was just an excuse :).



My qualifying lap was quick enough that I managed to split the Spec Boxsters so I was on the outside of the front row for the start with Jerry right behind me and a Boxster on the inside of each of us.

At the drop of the flag, the poll Boxster pulled away hard and I immediately dove left Sebastian Vettel style and cut in front of the second Boxster. I didn’t want to get forced to the outside in turn one and I didn’t feel bad repaying the favor from Saturday’s start. Ron tucked in behind the second Boxster and freight trained Jerry to the outside of one. I let the Boxster by between one and two and Ron ran right up to my bumper. I was loose on cold tires and did an impressive power slide down the cyclone out of 5 which really gave Ron the run. He got the inside line into 9 and took the lead.

Jerry was still recovering from getting balked on the start but almost passed me between 9 and 10 after Ron’s pass slowed my momentum. I managed to gather it up and get a good run out of 15 to get alongside Ron on the front straight and take the inside for one. I got by but Ron held tight until he got balked in traffic and I got some breathing room. I had made a few more suspension tweaks and really had it dialed in for Sunday’s race so I was able to pull away a bit and take victory with Ron second and Jerry third.

Thanks to everyone for another great NorCal race. Time to prep for Nationals!