1000 Miles of Thunderhill - Lucky Dog
The culmination of many hours of work and plenty of $$$ towards a 30+ year old car. All for the opportunity to race with friends. Seems like a silly endeavor to anyone financially conscious. Lucky for my friends and I we aren’t….
Some of the key plans for the car to make our race day included setting up a live telemetry system for the pits to torment each driver and know where they end up spun off track, spare set of wheel/tires due to our inability to read rules in advance, ignoring the fuel tank aside from it holding gas (more later).
Greg confirming the Wankel is still in there somewhere
Made it to the track!!
Achieved the first victory in merely getting the car prepped, drivable (tested via local neighborhood). First task upon arrival is always setting up paddock stall then making our way to tech. Have to make sure our turd is officially safe!
Followed by making it a real racecar with many sponsor stickers.
The truly isn’t mine….I swear….
Racing with Friends
One of the biggest attractions to racing is the comradery, battling it out with good friends and then recalling your amazing driving talents that evening.
Was able to finally connect with a few distant friends that have been away during the pandemic.
Ran into old racing buddies as well like Mike from the Bernal Dads, their Volvo wagon is way too damn fast…
Jess (right) was technically my competition as she drove a miata also in Class C. They actually drove competitively unlike us whom were just happy to finish with all four wheels.
Always looking forward to the next battles and seeing how we can improve!
Victory from Battle
This little miata decided to use our RX-7 as their braking system. Didn’t turn out well for them, while we ended up with a black flag and minor annoyance for getting hit.
Ooops
Additionally Cole had a fun interaction with a fellow RX-7. It appears to be a no fault contact, we pinched a bit while they were a little too optimistic for the pass. Overall no significant damage to our car aside from two broken wheels.
See below for the fun.
Nice control by Cole during the entire incident. Kept the car from any further damage. Thanks!
Overall the weekend was a great success. We, more specifically Ben, finished the race. Ending in 50th out of 100 cars. A huge accomplishment for our first outing. Enjoyed passing many other cars including ones with aero devices. Hehe…
Many thanks to all my friends whom supported the weekend whether they were present or not.
Colleen - Supplying me with beer and dealing with me
Ben - Being a solid roommate and not too shabby driver
Cole - Great driver, happy to have you on the team again
Amanda/Isaac - Not present this weekend, but helping me get the car built and buying one set of tires
Greg - Checking on the engine and being another set of hands
Mark - Fuel run and extra helping hands, need to get you on the grill next time
Below are a handful of extra pictures from the even and one last fun video.
Until next time!
