My first (almost) real race

[dp35]

Last weekend I took the SCCA racing driver's licensing course at Thunderhill Raceway.  Here's a video of the first lap from the first of three races that took place at the end of the school.  Although these weren't "official" races, they were as real as real gets to all of the drivers.

http://www.vimeo.com/3461294

This was the only dry race we had.  What you can't see in the video are the other 37 cars behind me.  The camera's battery died, so I didn't get footage of the rest of it.  But there was no more excitement.  The only other cars near me were the ones I lapped.

Getting a license to race cars is serious busingess, nothing like motorcycles.  I had to get a physical, fill out applications, study books, take a 4 hour class, take a written test, etc., then I got to go to the 3 day driving school.  Its nice to know that the other drivers on the track have also had as much education & preparation.  The school was set up just like a race, with all the same crew and rules.  They threw out all sorts of combinations of flag situations, and the people that didn't respond correctly didn't get a race license. 

Because the Atom isn't an officially certified race car (for various reasons, including that it doesn't have a class to race in) I rented a Spec Miata, which is the most popular class in SCCA racing, and was the most popular car at the school.  The guys I rented from were super cool and totally dialed.  They had everything we needed, except race rain tires, which we needed badly on Sunday.  So for those two races, I had inferior tires to everyone else, which made it interesting.  I'll post video of that later. 

[Mig]

nice one, good pass up the inside, he wasnt really wanting to give you much room.

keep it up

[Heywood-Yablowme]

Ah..Thunder hill.lovely track. Too bad they weren't using the whole course. I attended a bike race school, there back in 1999,on my brothers race prepped 916 Ducati. Lots of fun!

[NathanE]

good job driving, that BM missed so many apices you would almost think he was driving blind.  Judging from the way he pulled away at the beginning he had a significant straight line speed advantage so getting round him was good work. 

The track looks absolutely fantastic too.  That right hander over the crest looks like one of the most "unsable" corners I have ever seen.  I love circuits wih gradient!

[DFext37 Fielding]

You mullered that 1986 M3, lol.

[NathanE]

[quote="Dext37 Fielding"]
You mullered that 1986 M3, lol.
[/quote]

Have you passed your driving test yet dex?

[DFext37 Fielding]

nope don't want to drive, was my bday present 3 years ago, worst bday present i had.

[Mr.Woolery]

If I ever won the lottery, taking some serious time off to do many schools and getting my racing license would be at the top of my list of things to do...right up there with bathing in cherry yogurt with a goat. 

[Alec]

[quote="Mr.Toad"]
. . . .  I love circuits wih gradient!
[/quote]

You really should try Anglesey then. 

[positron]

Good run! That had to be painful to mash the gas and not go flying by..



Alec.. Lovely scenery.. shame foul weather..

[NathanE]

[quote="Alec"]

You really should try Anglesey then. 

[/quote]

I really want to.  The 5-6 hour drive makes it a bit of a killer though.  I need to work out a two day trip to do it in. 

[DFext37 Fielding]

Nice pics Alec.

[Alec]

[quote="Mr.Toad"]
[quote="Alec"]

You really should try Anglesey then. 

[/quote]

I really want to.  The 5-6 hour drive makes it a bit of a killer though.  I need to work out a two day trip to do it in. 
[/quote]

That's what I did for Goodwood with John Lloyd. I drove down and stayed overnight on the Friday then drove home straight after the trackday on the Saturday.

You could always combine two of the layouts at Anglesey by making it a longer stay as Bookatrack sometimes have consecutive days with either the National/Coastal circuits or the International GP/National circuits on Saturday and Sunday.

They also occasionally have days with the International GP circuit in the morning and the National Circuit in the afternoon either booked individually or as a full day.

I've only ever been on the Coastal Circuit but that's the one I'd recommend as it's the only one that uses the corkscrew.