11/3/08-Willows, Ca- This last weekend Thunderhill hosted The Classics Sports Racing Group for a weekend of great racing with some very beautiful historic, very expensive toys. It became very interesting when the black rain clouds were coming in on Thursday night. As you may know Thunderhill re-paved the entire 3-mile track a few months ago and along with that came all new runoff dirt. The Thunderhill team then had to rework all the drainage for the tracks new surface. Between Thursday night and Saturday night we had about 2.5 inches of rain. It was amazing how the first time out the drainage worked perfect, with the entire track draining flawlessly. There were no areas that flooded or had “streams” of mud flowing across. The two canopies provided excellent cover for the participants to stay dry. The new canopy outside of the clubhouse seemed to be the ideal place to pit in the bad weather. Participants could come from the nice heated Clubhouse, get into a dry car, and go out onto a perfectly draining track. “We do our best to make this the perfect place for our guests to come get on track regardless of the weather conditions, and have them be comfortable, safe, and well situated” said David Vodden, President and CEO of Thunderhill.
We heard unfortunate news that BMW GGC had to shut down on track activities this last weekend at a nearby track because the racing surface was not draining. It became unsafe to drive on-track so the event switched to a day on the skid pad instead. These are the catastrophes Thunderhill works hard to avoid.
Thunderhill still has open dates in 2008 for your off-season testing/practice. Go to: http://thunderhill.com/html/get_your_fill_at_the.HTM, or contact Shannon Ell at (530) 934-5588 ext.103 to book a date this for this year.
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I am always amazed with ho well Thunderhill is run. One of the things I enjoy best as racer is that unlike many other tracks, Thunderhill is constantly adding on new features. When I first began running there all there was was the track and a clubhouse. I can remember standing in the mud during long wet winter endurance races but all of those conditions are long behind us. There are new facilities being added every year, better paddock spaces and more of them. More and better garage facilities, better track conditions, better run-off areas, and it just keeps getting better. And when you stop and consider I live right in the middle of famous tracks like Laguna Seca and Sears Points and yet I would rather race at Thunderhill any day, that’s saying something. I am proud to consider Thunderhill my home track.