Re: Weekend at Willows, CA (long)

[Nizam Zambri <nizam@domain.elided>]

Alan - I'm so sorry to hear of your misfortune.  Had you called ME, 
instead, I would have brought you an extra gas cap!

My wife and I drove up from the San Francisco Bay Area up to Willows 
yesterday (Saturday) and got there within 2 1/2 hours of driving slowly 
(read: 65 mph in a 70 zone - Larry from APE fame was in the Dodge towing 
his GTV6).  Got to Willows and checked into the Super 8.  Couldn't sleep 
at all due to various other inconsiderate guests coming and going, 
treading loudly and talking very, very loudly.  This happened all night.  
Next time, I'm paying that extra $5 to stay at the more exclusive Best 
Western.

We had to be at the track by 7:30am so we were up by 6:45am.  We stood in 
line to "check in" at the track entrance.  People who were there the 
previous day were remarking as to how cold it was the day before, and it 
was absolutely balmy today.  Yeah, right.  Now for the interesting part, 
turns out that they give you a  tech sheet, and you tech the car yourself,
  sign it and return it to them releasing them from all liability.  Okay, I 
can live with that.  They got the drivers' meeting together at 8:30am and 
we gridded for the pre-event warm up lapping session right before nine.  
By 9:03am, I was strapped in, and merged onto the track.

Thunderhill has 15 turns, and is an SCCA track.  It is, as it turned out, 
a very very fast track.  No, it's not as fast as Willow Springs but you 
have two long straightaways to really crank it on.  See 
www.thunderhill.com for details.

I thought "this is going to take some time to get used to".  Turn 2 has a 
deceivingly fast entry and tightens as you exit, but it's also alarmingly 
similar to turn 4 (once you drive it) so you have to be really aware of 
where you are.  Plus there are a lot of elevation changes with off camber 
off slope turns (turns 3 & 5) which made it very very interesting and 
challenging.  After the session was done, Larry and I were grinning at 
each other; this was going to be lots of fun.

But it wasn't.  The way they set up their run groups was less than optimal.
   For whatever reason (and I do not wish to indulge you all in the 
politics of liability), we had one warm up lap followed immediately by a 
hot lap after which you immediately exit the track before start/finish.  
This was no good for us first-timers on a new track because you can't get 
a rythm going.  All was well and good - I suppose - had it gone smoothly.  
The timing equipment was broken, and they continued to send out folks in 
the first run group for reruns because they failed to trip the timer, or 
they didn't see the car numbers, or someone had passed someone else and 
they got the wrong times et cetera.  I got one run (two laps) before 
lunchtime.  Most of us were fuming.

Then the mortal blow hit; most of us paid a sum of $7 per person to have 
food catered to the track (Thunderhill is 7 miles from Willows, not very 
far).  For that money, I got one scoop, and one scoop only, of chow mein, 
plus an eggroll and a soda.  Quite a princely sum for a meal of that 
quantity.  But that's not all, it really SUCKED.  After letting the other 
half scoop of my chow mein freeze, I walked over to the organizers to 
voice some opinions.  Soon thereafter more people descended upon them and 
told them we'd better get some seat time or we'd like a refund.  Please.

So they contemplated, discussed, and murmured for the next 45 minutes (!) 
before finally announcing that there was another drivers' meeting.  It was 
now almost 1pm and I'm cold, tired and hungry, and I've only got 1 hot lap.
   Once we were all under the tent, they apologized and told us they 
sincerely felt we were not getting what we came for.  So they opened up 
the floor to vote on a few suggestions.  The moment they uttered "open 
track times, 20 minutes per session", the crowd went wild!  Three run 
groups, beginner, intermediate and advanced would run for twenty minutes 
each, passing only allowed on four straights ONLY with a point-by.  WOW, 
what a concept.  The AROSC runs this kind of gig each time we run; I guess 
I'm just spoiled by their well-oiled organization.

But wait, there had to be a spoiler.  The local Celica GTS club (those new 
UFO-lookin' things) had got together and they didn't like this idea.  One 
outspoken young man said he didn't feel safe that there was going to be 
more than 3 cars on the track at once, and that passing was going to be 
allowed at all.  Larry almost had to hold me back from decking this 
pansy-a** (okay, so he's 5'10" and I'm only 5'3" so it was only in my head)
.  Granted, he had every right to be concerned so the organizers agreed to 
put ALL the shiny new Celica GTS rice boys into the Beginner run group in 
a lead-follow configuration.  No one can pass the pace car, but you can 
pass one another on the front straight only.  So why bother with those 
low-restriction 4" coffee can exhausts, or 10" tall space shuttle rear 
spoilers that add downforce?  Or are those for show only?

Regardless, I kept my feelings to myself as the mamby-pambys got into 
their pretty sh/low cars and headed for the start finish.  Larry and I sat 
in the truck, idling away with the heater on full.  Once their twenty 
minutes was over, it was our turn.  The intermediate group was much bigger 
- 20 cars in all.  But this was what I was looking for.  I went as quickly 
as I could around this new-to-me track and before long, a seasoned SCCA 
racer in his Miata caught me and I gave him the point-by.  You learn so 
much when you follow a seasoned driver and I immediately noticed that he 
had far less braking points than I did.  Within 3 laps I was much more 
confident of the track layout and could start working on my techniques.  
Unfortunately, Larry wasn't so lucky.  His GTV6 developed some kind of 
electrical problem and he coasted off into the grass out of turn 2.  To be 
on the safe side, the organizers pulled everyone in and towed his car out.

More waiting as the other two run groups went out.  Then it was time to go 
out again (it was 3pm).  With 10 laps still fresh in my head, I made some 
serious improvements in bringing my lap times down and started catching 
and passing other folks.  I still had to work on a lot of things but the 
75 just handled wonderfully, thanks to the latest Beninca-tuned suspension 
(see http://www.beninca.com.au).  Even on my street tires (Toyo Proxes 
T-1S), the thing would NOT let go until pushed very very hard.  It was 
wonderfully neutral at the limit!  How many times have you really, 
honestly "caught" your Milano/75 as it started to rotate outwards on an 
off-camber turn?  Well, on one of my laps, I certainly did a great save 
going >100mph into turn one and the rear end stepped out.  Flick the wrist 
giving it some opposite lock and feather the gas to not upset the chassis,
  and voila, I have my line back.  Those Beninca guys know what they're 
talking about.  My twenty minutes came and went, and it started to drizzle.

We then packed up and headed home.  I will be writing to the organizers 
later tonight, with constructive criticism.  They certainly did not mean 
to screw anyone's weekend up and were quite happy to oblige to suggestions.
   However, they took too long to discover their problems and by that time,
  they almost had a mutiny on their hands.  As for the track itself, I wish 
the ARA was more track oriented rather than concours oriented - but that's 
just me (it's a free country - so I joined AROSC instead!).  This track is 
a wonderful asset, right in our backyard.   2 /12 hours away at from the 
bay and you have yourselves a well paved, challenging course that would 
make for a very very fun weekend.  It's not expensive to rent either.

Maybe I can convince the AROSC to give this track a try - even if it is a 
good 6-7 hour drive from Southern California - it's a blast  (Doug Bender,
  you listening?)  The race class would have tons of passing opportunities 
.... it would be great fun.

Nizam
88 75 3.0V6
94 164 Super 3.0V6 24v
97 155V6 2.5

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