So, last weekend I got to do a 3 day track weekend at thunderhill. I have done many many many laps on this track, in the counter clockwise direction. The track was designed to run either direction so NASA decided to run Clockwise for this event. It was pretty cool, as a thank you from the NASA organization they gave us instructors a free track day with Track Masters, the friday prior to the NASA weekend. This gave us a chance to just chill and do a track day, not worry about students. We got to work on awarness tecniques give to us by the HPDE director. This also gave us a chance to learn the line of the track before we were expected to teach it to new students. 
Friday was a pretty wet day. I forgot how the del sol could be with clutch type LSD on street tires in the wet. Every time I'd get on the gas, the car wanted to go straight, it was a real effort to keep the car turning. The end of the day dried up and I was able to lay down a more respectable lap time of 2:16 (started the day at 2:25).
Saturday was even better. Sunny, warm and dry, perfect! Usually each instructor has 2 students, it can be quite the busy day. I lucked out, both my students were no shows. Another free track day. The car was really feeling good this day. I managed to get down to a 2:12 using the Toyo RA1's. Here is a clip of me battling some traffic on this day.
http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/video/thunderhill/101307/meAndTraffic.mov
Sunday was great too, although I had 2 students this day. One student had a fairly stock civic, nice and slow, just what I like to ride in. My second student had a full race prepped CMC 80's Iroc-z . The students were great though, the camero driver didn't scare me too bad, he was doing excellent by the end of the day. But holy crap what a boat that thing is on the track. loud as shit too. haha. Me on the other hand managed to cut my time down to a 2:10.88 while hunting down an EG hatch that was setup EXACTLY like my del sol, but with koni race suspension. I have included that clip of me vs the civc, it was fun playing with the guy. Notice how he gets some air on turn 5 in front of me. People were having contests that day to see who could launch their car the highest off of this thing, it was great fun.
http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/video/thunderhill/101307/meAndCivic.mov
Regarding the laptimes, Honda Challenge race cars were about 4 seconds off their usual pace from going this new direction. My best time of yet going the normal direction was a 2:09. With the way the car was dialed in this weekend, looks like I could have managed a 2:06.
Friday was a pretty wet day. I forgot how the del sol could be with clutch type LSD on street tires in the wet. Every time I'd get on the gas, the car wanted to go straight, it was a real effort to keep the car turning. The end of the day dried up and I was able to lay down a more respectable lap time of 2:16 (started the day at 2:25).
Saturday was even better. Sunny, warm and dry, perfect! Usually each instructor has 2 students, it can be quite the busy day. I lucked out, both my students were no shows. Another free track day.
The car was really feeling good this day. I managed to get down to a 2:12 using the Toyo RA1's. Here is a clip of me battling some traffic on this day.http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/video/thunderhill/101307/meAndTraffic.mov
Sunday was great too, although I had 2 students this day. One student had a fairly stock civic, nice and slow, just what I like to ride in.
My second student had a full race prepped CMC 80's Iroc-z . The students were great though, the camero driver didn't scare me too bad, he was doing excellent by the end of the day. But holy crap what a boat that thing is on the track. loud as shit too. haha. Me on the other hand managed to cut my time down to a 2:10.88 while hunting down an EG hatch that was setup EXACTLY like my del sol, but with koni race suspension. I have included that clip of me vs the civc, it was fun playing with the guy. Notice how he gets some air on turn 5 in front of me. People were having contests that day to see who could launch their car the highest off of this thing, it was great fun.http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/video/thunderhill/101307/meAndCivic.mov
Regarding the laptimes, Honda Challenge race cars were about 4 seconds off their usual pace from going this new direction. My best time of yet going the normal direction was a 2:09. With the way the car was dialed in this weekend, looks like I could have managed a 2:06.
