[s-cars] RE: Great, Wet Thunderhills Event! (Long)

[Tom Vandervoort]

Javad & Listers:  Im jealous of those of you going to Laguna Seca.  Have a
fast, safe DRY blast!

Tom
S2 (garaged where it's 2 above Fahrenheit and 22 below wind chill.  WHY do
we live here?!?  Guess it's for stuff like the Minnesota ice trials this
Sunday.)

-----Original Message-----
From: JShadzi at aol.com [mailto:JShadzi at aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2003 7:53 PM
To: tvandervoort at msn.com; quattro at audifans.com; s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: Great, Wet Thunderhills Event! (Long)


Tom, great to meet you and great report, it was definitely the wettest 2
days I've ever spent at a track, that's for sure.

It was nice to be able to drive the car is such low-traction conditions, I
really feel like I learned a lot about controlling the car at the edge since
its so tough to drive at the edge when its dry (I like to drive my car back
home after the event).

Aside for one dry session, I was spinning 4 tires through 3rd gear around
the whole track for 2 days, nice, controlled drifts, and not one occurance
of "spider bite" all weekend  ;)

Anyway, good stuff, looking forward to Launa next weekend.

Javad
80tq.com

>
> Listers:  With my S2 tucked in a garage in COLD Minnesota, I was very
lucky
> to participate in last weekend's Thunderhills Performance Driving School
> sponsored by the Norcal quattro Club Chapter of the Audi Club.  Thanks to
> Dean Treadway for use of his 4000q.
>
> Apologizing to Scott J for stealing a bit from his reporting format,
here's
> my report.
>
> Overall, excellent event run almost entirely in the rain.  Nice technical
> track 2-3 mile track with a lot of terrain changes and a few VERY
> interesting corners.  Rock Dr Larry Boyer ran a fine instructors clinic in
> the rain and managed to come up with some new jokes.  The 2Bennett boys,
> their right hand Danielle, and a bunch of fine members managed to make
> everyone happy!
>
> No major incidents, just a few agricultural excursions into the very wet,
> red Northern California MUD!  Excellent attendance in the area of 75 or so
> largely quattros with a good sprinkling of Pors*hes and B*W's, a Mus*ang
and
> a MINI (driven by fellow S2 owners Brandon and Lynette Hull).
>
> BEST driver(s):  Anyone who could drive the rain line fast, but safe.  And
a
> lot did!
>
> Coolest car:  The Boyer 4000q that many of us know as not too fast from
many
> track events arriving from the 2Bennett garage on a trailer in the dark
> Friday evening.  The ultimate qship (scuse me, Scott) with, are you ready?
> An RS2 engine!
>
> 2nd Coolest car:  Had to be the MINI in a retro green.  Brandon decided he
> should be paid for showing it off to so many people in the rain.
>
> Coolest mod:  Javad's monster custom inter-cooler mounted high in the
center
> of his Audi 90 grill.  Man, he was pushing air through that car!
>
> Coolest Activity:  Believe it or not, all the excercises on Saturday. The
> slalom, braking and lane change were so well organized with so many turns
> that the students loved it.
>
> Coolest Activity Dude:  Dean Treadway running the lane change with an
orange
> cone when the electronics failed.
>
> Coolest move:  Dean jumping out of the way of his student Barb's TT that
> drove RIGHT STRAIGHT THROUGH EVERYTHING in the lane toss!
>
> Best Comment:  Daughter Elizabeth commenting on Dean's move saying, "My
Dad
> sure is ballsy."
>
> Best ride:  Driving the Treadway RS2 on a drying track for a short while
> Saturday afternoon with rain tires.  Whoo-boy, it really hauls!  Thanks,
> Dean!  Makes me glad we did the RS2 turbo and chip upgrade to the S2!
>
> Best turn:  Has to be Turn 5 where you brake up a steep hill, turn into a
> VERY tight +90 degree turn and IMMEDIATELY go down into a VERY steep
> downhill off camber right hand sweeper.  Wow!
>
> Best travelers: The Hulls who came from Princeton, NJ, found that MINI
> somewhere and had a blast at Thunderhills.
>
> Best event feature:  The FOOD!  The best at any event!  Catered at-track
> indoor buffet of brisket and roast potatoes at Noon Saturday.  Catered
> buffet of right-off-the-grill fried chicken and spaghetti with baby bay
> shrimp at Noon Sunday.  Friday and Saturday night: great Mexican food.
>
> Best weather:  Horizontal wind-driven rain at the top of Turn 5 on the
> Friday track walk.
>
> 2nd best event feature:  The gas-powered space heaters drying all the
> instructors clothing after the Dr. Rock track walk Friday afternoon.
>
> Best folks: Everyone who drove, instructed and ran the event.  Lots of
rain,
> no complaints and no  serious incidents.
>
> Tom
> S2 (It WILL spend next winter in California, beginning with
> the Nationals
> this November!)