Want to race at Thunderhill? (24 Hours of LeMons)

Wouldn't that make it more fun?

laz wrote:

Mental wrote: Does Thunderhill have showers?

Yes. I'll be staying overnight in the paddock with my entire team. Saturday night should be a good time, assuming we're not freezing our asses off in the dark hitting something with a big hammer ;)

Showers?! Who needs stinkin' showers?! You think you're gonna smell pretty on day 2? HAHAHA!!

Anyway, it's gonna be so cold you won't smell anything at all, or more importantly, nobody will be able to smell you!

onasled wrote: Hey guys (gals). I expressed my opinion. Don't read into it that I was Whining, or that I'm up tight about it. Yea, I should just keep my mouth shut if I have nothing good to say. Maybe the CT race was just not a great one.

One of the reasons I got involved with LeMons was when Jay did the deal to run an event at Thunderhill. I knew then that the event was going to be run very professionally and safely in spite of the shennanigans that give the event the flavor it's come to be known for.

Thunderhill is a 100% SFR SCCA owned track and it is a very tightly run ship. I've raced and attended and instructed at numerous HPDE's there and to my knowledge, never once did a safety infraction slip by without immediate and firm action from the extremely well trained and professional staff. There were two major accidents at last years event that were handled by the Safety crew just as professionally as any pro event.

It's too bad you had such a bad experience. I can say with conviction that the fun atmosphere in no way covers up any focus on safety. This is evidenced by Jeff's using the SCCA safety regulations/requirements as a template for many of the event rules and he's increased/improved on those requirements every year.

And let's face it, where else can you see the car being driven by the "cheater" get pulled apart by an excavator? I can't tell you how many times I wish the SCCA/NASA had penalties like that. It would have been a great lesson for some after a regional event and their "questionable" victory...

Cheers, ww

Ya know, by March of last year we had the rollbar in the ThunderTerd all finished and ready to go and we were working on the brakes and 'performance upgrades' (ha!). At that time they required a 5 point bar (4 point with drivers' door bar). We then got the infamous Email stating that the safety regs had been upgraded to require a full cage, so we had to start all over again. Somehow I don't think Jay and Co. are scrimping on safety.

Hey, I just had a thought: if you rent a car for 2 days, buy the optional 'full coverage no questions asked' insurance and that's less than $500.00 total ya think the judges would let that through?

onasled wrote: I did the Stratford CT event, ... and it was as lame as could be. It was NOT fun, too me . I race. I also did this lemons and it was not racing. Yes, I know it may have just been this one event, but it WAS my experience with lemons. I'm just a guy with an opinion. Nothing more. I think that the majority have fun at this. But I think its dangerous. Tech inspections are a farce, driver skill is never truly scrutinized, in fact I personally was never ask to show ANY proof of my driving history.

The Stafford event, well, sucked. I was there too. There wasn't enough people entered to get a "critical mass" to make it a party atmosphere like there is at other events. The flagging was also very strict so it was a lot less fun on the track. What car were you in? We were in the Taxis. As an FYI, we were also at CMP and it rocked.

These races are below amateur in status. These are where rookies are the norm and the expectations are that this will be the first time on the track for most people. If you went in expecting something different, then it was your expectations that were wrong. These are "art cars" being driven hard for hours at a time.

I don't know what you mean by dangerous. You are only doing 80mph in a car with a cage.

I also don't know what you mean by not racing. If you want to do sprints, that one thing. But this is an endurance race and people are not going to be driving at 100% all the time. If that is what you were expecting, sorry. I'm going to make sure that I finish the race and if that means only driving at 90% for 10 hours, then that's what I'm going to do. Stafford was thin with only one place to really pass.

If there was limited opportunities for passing, I can see how that would frustrate a lot of people. At the extreme it would turn the event into a 16 or 18 hour parade lap... Not fun at all and certainly not something I would pay $1400 to participate in...

It was certainly not a 16 hour parade lap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnHGHNw_BNI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPF0GnF3kYg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbMk-sFEIGg&NR=1

There were certainly times that you had to wait for your turn to pass a slower car. But if onasled was looking for high speed outbraking maneuvers and cars that were all basically "spec" and going around the track at the same speed - LeMons and Stafford certainly weren't it.

Last chance guys, registration closes tomorrow. We've had a bunch of interested guys come back with "wifey wouldn't let me" so the spot is still open! This could be your chance to change "I wonder if...?" to "Remember when...!"

Bryce

Dang, this board moves a lot faster than it used to! Ok, one last bump, I promise this is the last one.

Bryce