Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Thunderhill Feb 9th.

I waited 3 months for this date to come, even though what I had planned did not went through as I expected, I had tons of fun.

The day started around 4:30 am. I had slept only 3 hours since I met up with my friend who's visiting from Brazil the previous night. Waking up that early can be tough, but not when you are going to a track day. Since my car is down due to a blown engine, I ended up selling my spot to my good friend, brother from another mother and father, Jose. (a.k.a. El Primo)
He's the owner of a virgin civic SI, well it was a virgin. He already added a set of 949s with r compound tires....note the car has stock suspension. The car does look funky due to height, its definitely 4x4 status.

As usual we went with RCREW Racing, Dan somehow managed to find spots for all my friends haha. It was going to be an interesting day for sure, Erlin was taking his EM1, just like Christian was taking his S2000. We all met up on the way up there. It was interesting to see three em1s, specially when two of them are blue. I personally don't like attention from people, but its funny to see people on the freeway double checking the caravan of kids driving the same type of cars. haha.


Mark and his slammed EM1 (rolling deep with cousins and nieces stacked in the car)
Blurry pictures of  Erlin rolling deep with maga squad and cousins and bring nieces
Christian with his S2K rolling deep and breaking necks with some kid who apparently is a rapper 




I remember the couple times that I went up to Thunderhill, I made it up there with a full tank, but this time we had to put gas since we only had half a tank left. That just gave me an idea that if I ever get my car running again, I will be spending more money in gas. As we were pulling into the gas station I spotted Tony in his baller RHD yellow EG, and right behind him his girlfriend in her new daily beater DC2, which has a baller engine too haha.

The track day was hosted by Static Nine Garage, they always put a really affordable track day and compare to the seat time you get its safe to say that it was a crack head price. Got to love those guys at Static Nine Garage. 

We arrived early, and yet all the pits were already taken, it was a cold windy day, so parking under the sun the whole day was fine for us. It was crazy cold, I had two jackets but my fitted body didn't have enough fat to handle the cold-time to start stacking on In n Out 4x4s. As the minutes went by, everyone arrived one by one, first it was Andrew with his clean white S2K, then Tony and his EK, followed by Jacek in Evo monster. Once at the meeting, Dan arrived with Evan and Janos.

The day started with the Intermediate group, Dan took the green hulk for a shake down after 6-7 months of being parked. I had waited six months to hear that car again, the sound of the high compression engine combined with that exquisite tone of the rcrew exhaust its just music to my ears. I was smiling, its a monster!!!!

Beginners were on the grid shortly after, and there was a good number of cars, among them was a small ford fiesta that I've seem before at the drag strip in Infineon. I felt that beginners group was too slow, or at least in the first two sessions. The drivers who were showing the line to the rest of the group were going to slow. But the third session, got a bit more interesting since it was open pass with no instructors, a lot of people started to spin out on turn 4 and turn 10. (Where I've had spun out before haha)

As the day went by, and seeing Erlin, Mark and Christian go around the track, I was not surprised that they were good drivers. Yet Christian turn out to be a bit better than what I expected. The kid literally got good driving skills, and he improved a lot after the 4th session. 

But the one who I wasn't surprised at all was Jose, the guy had already gone to thunderhill but with his bike, now he was there with his 4x4 civic Si. And he was taking turns faster then cars with suspension. He was faster then Erlin and Mark....he was faster then Christian at the turns, but then again Christian had more power on the straights haha.

Raul Ramirez arrived there shortly before lunch with his good looking Tacoma. He brought a bunch of CheckerdSports goodies for everyone, among them was my cup holder for gutted cars. Can't wait to install it and enjoy my coffee in the mornings. Don't forget to check his website www.checkerdsports.com

Something memorable of that day, was my ride with Dan in the green hulk. His car is just a beast, as he was stepping on the gas, the power unveiled is insane, no hesitation, it just explodes and pushes you back to the seat. I had to snug my harness couple times because it felt it was lose after taking some crazy turns. That car is way more fun then any roller coaster that I've been to. Well, I can recall feeling the same in Jacek's monster, but Dan's green hulk is definitely faster. On turn 10, I remember feeling butterflies in my stomach. On the fifth lap, the car felt unstable as we were coming out of the turn, Dan laughed did some movements with his right hand trying to show me something. At first I thought he was throwing some type of gang affiliated signs...but no, he was telling me that we had caught some air. I just looked behind my seat to make sure we had a roll cage, it was there. I had peace of mind at that poin. I told Dan he could go faster, I wasn't scare. But he said he was taking it easy. Yet that "taking it easy" meant taking turns at 90mph, and chasing a really fast lotus. We pulled into pits, and I was still in disbelieved on how fast a little honda can be. That ride was just inspirational, something to look forward to.

It was painful for me to go up there with no car, even though I was happy to be there seeing my friends go around the track with their cars, listening to the different exhaust tones, going on ride a longs with them and feeling the torque of their cars pull and crawl up to my spine....its just a priceless feeling, yet it would've been a bit better if I would've been the one behind the wheel.
I hope to go up there soon with a fun, reliable car and healthy motor.

I feel I typed too much, enjoy the pics.


Raul walking around with his camera.
The green hulk next to Eric's Ek and you can see Tony's EG in the back. Note the brake setups by Rcrew in the EKs
Part of the group talking about BBQs
Here's Jose in his 4x4 EM1, and riding shotgun is Abraham
Tony's clean EK, the new Volks just give a complete different look to the car. 

Blurry picture of Tony on turn 10
Christian in his stock S2000
Dan's friend and his fast hatch. 
Evan's EM1, with new heart. I love this coupe. 
Here's Jose again about to take that apex.
Check out the gangsta lean that Abraham and Jose have!! 4x4 status!!

Erlin and Christian having a little friendly battle!


Erlin having another battle. 
Daniel in his M3, guy was drifting and gripping that day, wish I had stopped by where he was to go on a ride with him, next time. 
The youngsters! 
Mark Barajas ready for his first session



Clean DC2
This Type R was parked next to us, really clean and simple. 
Eric's EK, I actually met Eric three years ago when I bought a set of type r headlights from him. Really cool guy. 


Me about to go on a ride with Dan in the Green Hulk
The Green Hulk, in that picture is not me but Raul's cousin going on the ride

Tony's girlfriend having Dan as an instructor




Aaron and his miata. 

Raul's Checkerd Truck!






This lotus was insanely fast, Dan chased him for quite a bit..



These guys had communication issues








Tony on the last straight before turn 15