codysdad

Hey could some of you with experience on the Thunder Hill, Searspoint,Willowsprings give me the low down on those tracks? I've done Laguna Seca and Buttonwillow but don't know if I can wait for them. It will be intersting to get some opinions of vette guys.

StArrow68

The two I know are Sears Point and Thunderhill out of your picks. The
tracks at Willow Springs, there are 3 I've never tried. Sears Point gets
my vote for best of the Nor. Calif. tracks, it is the most technical and
at the same time rewards carrying speed through several corners. The
down side of SP is the concrete, you have to be more careful, like at
LS and know where the bad areas are and just be a little more cautious.
With my street tired C5 coupe I carry about 105 off the front straight
into turn 1 and the turn up hill scrubs speed so the braking at the
top is pretty light. T2 is blind and off camber on exit but rewards being
on throttle early going down the hill into the dip of turn 3 where you
give up the exit and stay far left to enter 3a. 3a is also blind exit and
the downhill is steeper than it feels at first. Heavy brakes since 4 is off
camber and too much entry speed is bad for exit speed with 5 being
just a dog leg and WOT up to the hill as you enter 6. There are several
lines though 6 but late apex and WOT by about mid-exit berm will give
you a great run up to 7, over 100 again. Turn 7 is two turns and it
depends if they are running the NASCAR bottle cap or the road course
in how you approach, the first is double apex while the second can be
done as a sweeper to enter the esses. Shift early into 4th as you get
speed you want to carry through esses and then as you exit 8a, blind
also you will again roll past 100 going through 9 dog leg. The entry to
10 for me requires light early brakes and carry speed through 10 and
back above 100 for the 4th time each lap for the entry to 11. Far left
and late apex gives you the best chance to apply light early throttle
and carry out to the K-wall for the run back to turn 1. Love that track!

TH has several write ups and I think one is on their site. Much more
wide open with only walls in two places. Less elevation change than SP
but lots more than BW. Personally I like the bypass better than the
cyclone. Good technical off camber and blind entry points so it takes
work just like every place. Reno-Fernley for me is about the same miles
away as BW so lots closer than the Willow tracks.

Hope that helps some, there is also video that you might find interesting
if you google it.

Randy

gkmccready

I've really enjoyed Thunderhill in the Corvette. I've done Sears Point and Laguna Seca in the RX7. I like them all. I personally like Laguna Seca the best, maybe because it reminds me of Mosport. Sears is fun, I'd really like to hit it again, but Thunderhill has been the easiest to get track time at...

wtknght1

I have video of all of those if interested.

www.tracktapes.com

Tintin

More like Mosport with real food.... and without turn 2.... and with a real town... and without turn 4... and at much lower speeds...

Willow Springs most resembles Canadian tracks, somewhat fast without a lot of downshifting

Go here:
http://www.rostechdesign.com/willow.mpeg

codysdad

I live 10 miles from Laguna Seca and have done it 3 days on my Hayabusa. The bike is too heavy and brutal fast for the track but I still love LS and the walls are far enough away too feel pretty safe with my vette. From here all the other tracks are pretty far but seem more avalible so thats why I'm curious about them. Sears Point looks like a lot of walls and a lot of speed? That worries me I not ready for the Z06 fenders yet!
I really liked buttonwillow because there is only one corner that has the pit wall near it. I saw 3-4 guys in my group alone go off the track with no or minimal damage. I'll go back there for sure!

StArrow68

Glad if it helped some. As for speed on track my best at some tracks
is below and the average speed at LS is about 72mph, while it is up to
almost 75 at SP. Thunderhill, like BW averages in the high 70's to low
80's so they are both faster by both top speed and average corner
speed. For reference, Willow Sp. International, 'the big track' averages
from the 90's up to 100mph for a slick shod C5 Z06.

Just for reference, Speedventures, out of So. Calif. posts the results:
http://www.speedventures.net/event_results.asp
for everyone running an AMB timer, either rented or owned and you can
get an idea of what others run at lots of track. They come up to LS
every so often and I usually try to make those events. As you saw at
BW some push until they go off while others seem to stay on track and
still go pretty fast. I think it was in "Going Faster" the Skip Barber book
by C. Lopez that notes; for those that think you have to spin to
find limits they should try that at Indy, not a good idea. Same applies
to all places with walls.

folsomlarry

Randy did a great job in his write up of Sears Point. When I was with the SCCA I usually spent my time at the drivers schools at turn 4. Like Randy said it is much steeper down the hill than most people think. Everyone tends to brake too late and can not get the cars turned into the corner to hit the apex.

Turn 6 is another trouble spot because drivers in production based cars tend to come in to the corner too wide and then you can not get in to the inside of the corner.

Sears Point (keep forgetting to call it Infineon) is a great track, but Laguna from the corkscrew to start/finish is just plain fun!

Larry

Bill Hetzel

Well, just my personal opinions, but if you're going to try a new track, go to Sears. For some reason, I find Sears a little more of an adrenaline rush than the others. Not sure why this is. I have a lot of laps there.
My favorites are:
1. Sears, I have over 1000 laps there
2. Laguna, the corkscrew, of course, and flying down into turn 2 in a group but the rest of the turns are good but not great.
3. ThunderHill, I've been driving there since day one, over 2000 laps, I like every corner there. But, where Randy likes the bypass, I like the cyclone, must have something to do with shifting more gears.
4. Willow Springs, the right hander before the front straight is looooong.
5. ButtonWillow just doesn't excite me but it's still a good track.
6. Reno-Fernley, I'm there a lot, was an instructor there for 4 years. It's a little busy on the top ( depends which on the 7 configs. they are running). If you can go into the S turns off the front straight without lifting, you know you're going really fast. The staff there is the very best. It's also the least expensive for test days.

StArrow68

Bill, thanks for the different view. The cyclone is fun and once I got to
see it on a TraqMate data screen I realized that it wasn't even close to
a 90 degree turn. Probably closer to 60*, if you turn in early enough,
have the sight line over the hill to put your right wheels on the edge of
the berm and power down lightly into the off camber it has great rhythm.

The bypass on the other hand has just that bit of off angle crest that if
you hit square you can really launch and will come down four square and
again can throttle around the off camber with less turn to negotiate.
Getting the angle right so you don't come down with some suspension
loaded and the other corner light is fun to figure out. When I got it, I
was almost able to not lift, goal for the future, all the way from the
exit of 4 to the braking for 6. Also has it's rhythm and the pucker factor
as you start to launch past 70mph in the Vette is great. Now that is
with just say 300 rwhp, but even then you pick up a lot of speed from
the exit of 4 up to the hill. In a C5Z or C6 I'd take it a little easier.

Fact is we are spoiled out here on the left coast. One of these days
have to try out Willow Springs.
Randy

Bill Hetzel

Fact is we are spoiled out here on the left coast. One of these days
have to try out Willow Springs.
Randy

Boy, ain't that the truth. We're blessed. The only great track on the left coast, in my opinion, is Watkins Glen.

For a real pucker factor on the bypass at T-Hill, run it at night when you loose all your reference points.

bobmoore2

You haven't gotten many comments on Willow Springs, so I'll give it a try.

Actually there are three tracks at Willow Springs:
Willow Springs International Raceway (sometimes called WSIR or The Big Track by the locals)
Streets of Willow Springs (sometimes called SOWS or The Streets)
And a new one - Horse Thief Mile (doesn't seem to have a nickname yet)

http://www.willowspringsraceway.com/...adCourseLg.htm
WSIR is a VERY fast track that rewards courage, strong accelleration, and perfect turn exits. The track is 2.5 miles long and is always ran in the clockwise direction. There are a couple of interesting elevation changes, but the track is fairly flat. Courage is required to go through turn 8 at over 120 MPH, but most people are not willing to risk spinning off track at that speed. The straights are fairly long and will reward the driver who can carry maximum speed out of the curves into the straight. A high horsepower car also has an advantage accelerating down the straights. I know some people who drive this track almost all the time, even though there are two other great tracks on the same complex. I think it is the thrill of driving very fast... A very good driver can get a Corvette into the high 1:30s at this track, a great driver in a race-prepped Z06 can get into the low 1:30s or very high 1:20s.

http://www.willowspringsraceway.com/...n/StreetLg.htm
The Streets is a smaller track that loops back and forth several times. It is situated on the side of a hill, but not as steep as at Horse Thief Mile. It is 1.8 miles long in its standard configuration and can be ran in either direction. The speeds are much slower than at WSIR, but it is more of a technical challenge. The ones who drive this track quickest are the great drivers, who know how to handle their cars near the limit (and slightly beyond). I actually prefer SOWS to WSIR, because it always improves my driving skills.

http://www.willowspringsraceway.com/...on/ThiefLg.htm
Horse Thief Mile (HTM) is a new track (about 1 year old). It is about one mile long and can be ran in either direction. It is very challenging as the turns are very tight. It also is situated on the side of a fairly steep hill. Although one would think this is a "Miata track" (favors very agile light cars), it actually favors Corvettes with their good handling, very good braking, and excellent accelleration. The best lap times are usually set by race-prepped Corvette Z06s around 1:00. This is the road track they used in the Setup show on Speed Channel. (All the racing in that show was done at the many tracks at Willow Springs.)

Hope this helps you decide where you want to drive next.

Bob

codysdad

I find this very good reading. Can't imagine 1000 laps of anything, I thought I had a lot on LS at maybe 120. I've got to get to work, get more money and start following you guys around!

seattle_vette

There is a Corvette only event at Thunderhill on October 26 with HOD

http://www.hookedondriving.com/home.cfm

StArrow68

Yes, the event in Oct looks to be pretty full. Back in April they had 84
drivers on track with several folks who signed up right up to the day of
the event. I don't expect that to happen this time around. Several of
the folks who were new to tracking in the last year or so have made it
out to a few more days on track and I expect everyone to be hitting
the line with better speed. Seems several folks want to run with their
buddys and I've even read about a few gals that might double up track
time with spouse or friend. I also know several couples that will both
be running Vettes at the event, looks to be lots of fun.

Personally I can't wait that long so expect I'll be running the GT2 Time
Trial with NCRC on July 20 at Thunderhill to get in a few more practice
laps.
http://www.ncracing.org/th070720.html

I know the 7/21 event at Sears Point is full but just might go spectate
and watch Sidney work out his C4.

BTW, Dad, give Cody a hug for me , see you on track!
Randy