Thunderhill... riding a Tesla... and my $150 racing mod
So friday was track day... I was invited to participate in an event up at Thunderhill in Willows. The way these go is simple: bring your own car and helmet (and anything else, of course), choose a run group (I elected to be in the slowest), and you get to take said car on an actual race track with several other crazies doing the exact same thing. Nobody times you, it's not a race, although it sure feels like one. It's just a way to drive your car in a way you could never do on public roads.
Since the other option was to wake up at 4AM on friday morning then drive for over 2 hours to get there in time, I instead drove up on thursday night and stayed at a motel. Went to the driver's dinner, which felt a bit odd in the sense that I was one of the youngest folks there. This is apparently not a sport for the young. I eventually did make a connection with Julie, an aviation structural engineer from Pasadena who happened to be the only female racer amongst 50 odd car nuts (at the dinner; next morning there were more), and who turned out to be extremely sharp and a delightful conversation partner until we broke to get some sleep.
I was woken up the next morning at a few minutes to 6 by the angry snarl of a Ferrari V8 right outside my window. Adrenaline started coursing through my blood instantly. Vroom! I got dressed, put my racing shoes on for the first time in almost 9 years, and checked out. Stopped at a gas station to fill up both gas and air in the tires, following Julie's recommendation to overfill somewhat at 45PSI in the back and 42PSI in the front.
Drove to Thunderhill, got to the paddock, and started realizing that my car - a CLK55 AMG - was going to be rather ordinary in this collection. Still, by the end of the day I had only spotted one other Mercedes - a CLS63 AMG - and I hadn't seen it go on the track. So everyone started referring to me as the Mercedes guy. I'm still not sure if it was a polite way of making fun of me.
But that's OK, because it was truly delightful to be around these cars. Amongst newer cars, there were more than a couple Ferrari 360's and 430's. There was a 550 which drew some attention. Several Lamborghini's, a couple of Ford GT40's (including one that ran in our slow group), and a number of other exotics - some of them still with the dealer sticker on the windshield! - made a showing. Then there were the classics, like souped up NSX's, M3's and M5's, spec Miata's, older Ferrari's (such as several 308's, one of my favorite designs), a wide selection of Porches old and new, and many other rides. There was even an Alpha. Oh, and Julie's MR2, which she brought in to practice for her actual race on Saturday. Speaking of which, she proved herself to also be amazingly kind by doing two things for me: one, arranging for me to be in the passenger seat of a Corvette Z06 driven by John in the first run group, so I could get a sense of the track before I got on there; and two, loaning me peel-n-stick car numbers to put on my car instead of the painter's tape I was going to use.
The real attraction though was the Formula 1 car originally driven by Gilles Villeneuve and Ricardo Patrese circa 1978. Yup, someone brought a real F1 car to the track. Holy moly. That was a sight to see, especially once it got on the track. Must be fun to be able to do that.
The driver's meeting had a great energy to it, and then I approached the fellow from Hooked on Driving who got me an instructor to ride with me in my first session. That turned out to be very valuable as he pointed out several elements that made my first run much better than it would otherwise have been. But all that paled next to the big surprise of the day: the folks from Tesla had sent two of their cars out and were going to offer rides during the lunch break! oh boy!
My two morning sessions proved several things. First of all, the Pirelli P-Zero tires I have aren't that bad for street tires, but they behave a bit like race tires in that they have to warm up to become grippy, and until they did, I had to fight some pretty severe understeer (the car is dialed that way for safety, but with cold tires it's terrible). The difference between the first and fifth laps was quite noticeable. My car's body roll, which is practically non-existent in normal "hard" driving on public roads, became rather obvious on the track. Still, all in all the car behaved well, was pretty balanced, and easy to drive pretty fast. At least, it would be in theory, but it was during those two session that I learned why the "nanny button" exists on my console.
In fact, it was the first time in my life that I finally understood why car people hate ESP. That thing sucks the life out of the car at speed. It does. I would try to take corner, one which I felt sure could be taken with pedal to the metal, 7 at 70 MPH and the sucker would kick in, eliminating power and killing my exit speed. Take corner 2, a long wide sweeper, at anything near the limits of adhesion? fuggedaboutit. And so on. It slowed me down so much I wasn't enjoying the ride as much as I knew I would, and it made me embarassingly slow. I started swearing at it. I finally decided - for my afternoon session, it's going off. I want to play without the nanny.
Lunch came - the food at Thunderhill is phenomenal, by the way - and then we went to check out the Tesla's. A long line had already formed, which we joined, and our timing turned out to be providential when the time window for rides ended with me being the last one to go. Waiting there for the ride and listening to these cars was eery. They don't sound like cars. You see these things and you expect something - anything - but all you get is something akin to a low-level jet whine as they pick up speed. And oh boy, do they. Just seeing them launch is worth a pump of adrenaline. But feeling it... when it was my turn I had a sense that it was going to be quick, but even so I wasn't expecting all that torque. I knew the numbers, under 4 seconds to 60 and so on. But sitting in that tiny car (essentialy a Lotus Elise) and actually experiencing it is a whole different story. Wow. And the Tesla guys were nice to their cars, too.
I got back on track for my third session, forgetting to turn off the ESP, and in two laps I dropped out to do so. I HAD to. It was getting frustrating. And what a difference it made! I must have cut 10 seconds off my lap times with that little change alone. Suddenly I could drive the car "right". I started passing everybody - it was a thrill to get by all these 430's and GT3's, although surely their drivers were a lot more concerned about their rather expensive vehicles than I was for mine, so were keeping well within their limits. I then experienced my spin-out, on the esses at turns 11-12. I was chasing a 430 that was being driven reasonably well, simply trying to hold on because it was fun. I was doing well until we got to the esses, and it was then that I was reminded that as much fun as the CLK55 can be, a Ferrari 430 is a somewhat better car. The spinout wasn't bad and Thunderhill is great for that because it has tons of runoffs. I ended up in the grass reminding myself of the old adage "drive your own car, not somebody else's".
But I was going a lot faster for sure. Corner 7? now I was it at 85 MPH and higher, whereas before the nanny would kick the power out at 70. Corner 2? squealing tires all the way at the limits of adhesion, but hitting the Apex and entering 3 right on the racing line. My speed at the end of the front straight finally hit 120, whereas before I struggled with getting about 110. The car felt so much better. And at least now I know what its real limits are as opposed to what the computer says. I will therefore be a lot safer driving it.
As another indication of my improved driving, my average MPG went down from 7.7 to right around 6, by virtue of having power always available and using it throughout. It was kinda funny, actually, to see a gallon burn every 2 1/2 laps or so.
I actually ran out of gas in session 4, so had to drop out and go get some more at the $3.95/gallon Thunderhill station. Then I got back on the track, and on my last lap, had my big scare - I got the meatball. Shit! I drove out and parked it, and the smoke coming out of the front left was pretty obvious. I popped the hood with my heart racing and looked at it with one of the track folks. He looks at it and says calmly "you got oil spilling all over". I hated him at that moment. But then I looked again and said "it's not oil, it's coolant". It sure smelled like coolant. I tasted it. It was coolant. Since the coolant level was low but not expired, I drove the car slowly to the track mechanic, MCE Racing, and asked Kevin what he thought.
He looks at this, confirms its coolant, and says he can't figure it out without pressurizing the system. It's friday evening, he won't be able to do anything until the morning, I'll have to stay the weekend or get it towed... dammit! but then he stops and say "oh, there it is". The coolant hose sprung a leak. Apparently it expanded a bit because of the hard driving, and the pully gouged it straight through. He pulls it out and not only is it true, but the hose itself is really thin, making it easy for this to happen. I was stunned. What kind of stupid design is that anyway? of course, the hose is some molded specialty mercedes part, not a normal hose, the nearest mercedes dealership is in Chico, stay the weekend, and so on...
But then Kevin gets a glint in his eye and says "wait a sec, let me look". He goes in the back and digs out a 90-degree hose piece and tries to fit it on - it fits. It's a thicker hose too. He thinks he can fix this, but he needs to be able to join the pieces... so he goes back to his shop and get this - he machines a coupler right there and then. I was wondering what he was doing until he emerged with this shiny 4 inch stainless steel tube that fits perfectly his hose on one end and the rest of mine on the other, and says that he just manufactured it. How brilliant is that? Puts it all together, fills it with distilled water, and the car is good as new. In fact, better than new, because this sucker will not get messed up by the pully no more. I decided I'm keeping it. I'm going to call it my "$150 racing mod". He also told me it's something that he has seen happen to many cars from many brands, so I shouldn't feel bad. I still think it's ridiculous, but what do I know.
I missed the 5th session because the car was in the shop, but overall, the day was great fun and I would want to do it again. And I'm starting to think about getting that supercharger kit again...
Since the other option was to wake up at 4AM on friday morning then drive for over 2 hours to get there in time, I instead drove up on thursday night and stayed at a motel. Went to the driver's dinner, which felt a bit odd in the sense that I was one of the youngest folks there. This is apparently not a sport for the young. I eventually did make a connection with Julie, an aviation structural engineer from Pasadena who happened to be the only female racer amongst 50 odd car nuts (at the dinner; next morning there were more), and who turned out to be extremely sharp and a delightful conversation partner until we broke to get some sleep.
I was woken up the next morning at a few minutes to 6 by the angry snarl of a Ferrari V8 right outside my window. Adrenaline started coursing through my blood instantly. Vroom! I got dressed, put my racing shoes on for the first time in almost 9 years, and checked out. Stopped at a gas station to fill up both gas and air in the tires, following Julie's recommendation to overfill somewhat at 45PSI in the back and 42PSI in the front.
Drove to Thunderhill, got to the paddock, and started realizing that my car - a CLK55 AMG - was going to be rather ordinary in this collection. Still, by the end of the day I had only spotted one other Mercedes - a CLS63 AMG - and I hadn't seen it go on the track. So everyone started referring to me as the Mercedes guy. I'm still not sure if it was a polite way of making fun of me.
But that's OK, because it was truly delightful to be around these cars. Amongst newer cars, there were more than a couple Ferrari 360's and 430's. There was a 550 which drew some attention. Several Lamborghini's, a couple of Ford GT40's (including one that ran in our slow group), and a number of other exotics - some of them still with the dealer sticker on the windshield! - made a showing. Then there were the classics, like souped up NSX's, M3's and M5's, spec Miata's, older Ferrari's (such as several 308's, one of my favorite designs), a wide selection of Porches old and new, and many other rides. There was even an Alpha. Oh, and Julie's MR2, which she brought in to practice for her actual race on Saturday. Speaking of which, she proved herself to also be amazingly kind by doing two things for me: one, arranging for me to be in the passenger seat of a Corvette Z06 driven by John in the first run group, so I could get a sense of the track before I got on there; and two, loaning me peel-n-stick car numbers to put on my car instead of the painter's tape I was going to use.
The real attraction though was the Formula 1 car originally driven by Gilles Villeneuve and Ricardo Patrese circa 1978. Yup, someone brought a real F1 car to the track. Holy moly. That was a sight to see, especially once it got on the track. Must be fun to be able to do that.
The driver's meeting had a great energy to it, and then I approached the fellow from Hooked on Driving who got me an instructor to ride with me in my first session. That turned out to be very valuable as he pointed out several elements that made my first run much better than it would otherwise have been. But all that paled next to the big surprise of the day: the folks from Tesla had sent two of their cars out and were going to offer rides during the lunch break! oh boy!
My two morning sessions proved several things. First of all, the Pirelli P-Zero tires I have aren't that bad for street tires, but they behave a bit like race tires in that they have to warm up to become grippy, and until they did, I had to fight some pretty severe understeer (the car is dialed that way for safety, but with cold tires it's terrible). The difference between the first and fifth laps was quite noticeable. My car's body roll, which is practically non-existent in normal "hard" driving on public roads, became rather obvious on the track. Still, all in all the car behaved well, was pretty balanced, and easy to drive pretty fast. At least, it would be in theory, but it was during those two session that I learned why the "nanny button" exists on my console.
In fact, it was the first time in my life that I finally understood why car people hate ESP. That thing sucks the life out of the car at speed. It does. I would try to take corner, one which I felt sure could be taken with pedal to the metal, 7 at 70 MPH and the sucker would kick in, eliminating power and killing my exit speed. Take corner 2, a long wide sweeper, at anything near the limits of adhesion? fuggedaboutit. And so on. It slowed me down so much I wasn't enjoying the ride as much as I knew I would, and it made me embarassingly slow. I started swearing at it. I finally decided - for my afternoon session, it's going off. I want to play without the nanny.
Lunch came - the food at Thunderhill is phenomenal, by the way - and then we went to check out the Tesla's. A long line had already formed, which we joined, and our timing turned out to be providential when the time window for rides ended with me being the last one to go. Waiting there for the ride and listening to these cars was eery. They don't sound like cars. You see these things and you expect something - anything - but all you get is something akin to a low-level jet whine as they pick up speed. And oh boy, do they. Just seeing them launch is worth a pump of adrenaline. But feeling it... when it was my turn I had a sense that it was going to be quick, but even so I wasn't expecting all that torque. I knew the numbers, under 4 seconds to 60 and so on. But sitting in that tiny car (essentialy a Lotus Elise) and actually experiencing it is a whole different story. Wow. And the Tesla guys were nice to their cars, too.
I got back on track for my third session, forgetting to turn off the ESP, and in two laps I dropped out to do so. I HAD to. It was getting frustrating. And what a difference it made! I must have cut 10 seconds off my lap times with that little change alone. Suddenly I could drive the car "right". I started passing everybody - it was a thrill to get by all these 430's and GT3's, although surely their drivers were a lot more concerned about their rather expensive vehicles than I was for mine, so were keeping well within their limits. I then experienced my spin-out, on the esses at turns 11-12. I was chasing a 430 that was being driven reasonably well, simply trying to hold on because it was fun. I was doing well until we got to the esses, and it was then that I was reminded that as much fun as the CLK55 can be, a Ferrari 430 is a somewhat better car. The spinout wasn't bad and Thunderhill is great for that because it has tons of runoffs. I ended up in the grass reminding myself of the old adage "drive your own car, not somebody else's".
But I was going a lot faster for sure. Corner 7? now I was it at 85 MPH and higher, whereas before the nanny would kick the power out at 70. Corner 2? squealing tires all the way at the limits of adhesion, but hitting the Apex and entering 3 right on the racing line. My speed at the end of the front straight finally hit 120, whereas before I struggled with getting about 110. The car felt so much better. And at least now I know what its real limits are as opposed to what the computer says. I will therefore be a lot safer driving it.
As another indication of my improved driving, my average MPG went down from 7.7 to right around 6, by virtue of having power always available and using it throughout. It was kinda funny, actually, to see a gallon burn every 2 1/2 laps or so.
I actually ran out of gas in session 4, so had to drop out and go get some more at the $3.95/gallon Thunderhill station. Then I got back on the track, and on my last lap, had my big scare - I got the meatball. Shit! I drove out and parked it, and the smoke coming out of the front left was pretty obvious. I popped the hood with my heart racing and looked at it with one of the track folks. He looks at it and says calmly "you got oil spilling all over". I hated him at that moment. But then I looked again and said "it's not oil, it's coolant". It sure smelled like coolant. I tasted it. It was coolant. Since the coolant level was low but not expired, I drove the car slowly to the track mechanic, MCE Racing, and asked Kevin what he thought.
He looks at this, confirms its coolant, and says he can't figure it out without pressurizing the system. It's friday evening, he won't be able to do anything until the morning, I'll have to stay the weekend or get it towed... dammit! but then he stops and say "oh, there it is". The coolant hose sprung a leak. Apparently it expanded a bit because of the hard driving, and the pully gouged it straight through. He pulls it out and not only is it true, but the hose itself is really thin, making it easy for this to happen. I was stunned. What kind of stupid design is that anyway? of course, the hose is some molded specialty mercedes part, not a normal hose, the nearest mercedes dealership is in Chico, stay the weekend, and so on...
But then Kevin gets a glint in his eye and says "wait a sec, let me look". He goes in the back and digs out a 90-degree hose piece and tries to fit it on - it fits. It's a thicker hose too. He thinks he can fix this, but he needs to be able to join the pieces... so he goes back to his shop and get this - he machines a coupler right there and then. I was wondering what he was doing until he emerged with this shiny 4 inch stainless steel tube that fits perfectly his hose on one end and the rest of mine on the other, and says that he just manufactured it. How brilliant is that? Puts it all together, fills it with distilled water, and the car is good as new. In fact, better than new, because this sucker will not get messed up by the pully no more. I decided I'm keeping it. I'm going to call it my "$150 racing mod". He also told me it's something that he has seen happen to many cars from many brands, so I shouldn't feel bad. I still think it's ridiculous, but what do I know.
I missed the 5th session because the car was in the shop, but overall, the day was great fun and I would want to do it again. And I'm starting to think about getting that supercharger kit again...
posted by Blinkered at 8:36 AM
2 Comments:
That is freakin' amazing! I was drawn into the race.....
It really was pretty amazing... I look forward to next time. Let me know if you wanna join up.
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