Good news for racers! The new Toyo RR will now be allowed in SCCA regional events. Previously SCCA Regional SMT competitors were required to use the Hoosier SM6 or the Toyo Proxes RA-1.This change will now give drivers more options with speed and price in mind. The new Toyo RR features a high grip compound tread design that is meant to be affordable to both the amateur and professional racer. After much speculation about the competitiveness of the Toyo RR, Ron Cortez was quoted as saying ” The Toyo RR is overall a more competitive tire than the Hoosier SM6″. Driver Tyler Vance brought a set of used Toyo RR to race at Cal Speedway after using the same set two weekends prior at Buttonwillow, and qualified on the pole for the Saturday race. Tyler went on to win Saturday’s race, ahead of many competitors who were running on new Hoosiers.

Kari, Grant and Tory drive Thunderhill in order to test whether a driver really loses 10 pounds worth of water weight during a race.

Motorsports play a key role for us in improving our street cars and powertrains,” explained Jim Campbell, head of GM’s well-funded motorsports program.

Most auto manufacturers participate in racing programs, from short track sprints to endurance races like the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. They’re even backing new “green” racing events, including one loosely affiliated with Formula One, that proponents say could yield significant improvements in battery-car technology.

Interested in renting our skid pad? If you have 1 car or multiple cars we've got your skid pad needs covered.To find out more information, call Shannon Ell today at 530-934 5588 Ext 103 or e-mail Shannon@thunderhill.com

When last we met, Thunderhill Park was about to open its doors, participating in the birth of a race track and joining the harsh reality in motorsports venue operations. Like most new parents of a neonate, we weren’t exactly sure what we were doing. The track was done as far as we could go. We had a trailer for timing and scoring and another trailer which was basically a place for the stewards and for Pauline Laskin and her race central crew at the grand opening. The track had no curbs and remarkably few walls. The chosen weekend was Halloween and the San Francisco Region of the SCCA was ready. Since 1988 the Club had, in varying degrees, anticipated this event. The buzz within the road racing world and the local community was at an all-time high.

If you have been reading the story of Thunderhill you know we are up to the part where we start construction. We had just gotten permission to build the track and the period of notification to the local area had passed with nary a single complaint. The next step before construction was to announce the successful status of the  track effort. We did this through a video and a site visit plus Wheel press. The  video was made using a helicopter to fly over a track carved into the landscape that sort of replicated the design created by Steve Crawford. We shot the video by hanging off the runner of the helicopter as it followed the path of the track plowed into the earth by our new neighbor Thor Oden. We still have that video. We showed the video at the SCCA banquet in 1992 and we issued press in the Wheel. I think Club members were pleased with what they saw and heard but there were still those folks who thought that Willows was too far away and that this would be the death knell of the project. The original parameter for location was one hour from the intersection of 580 and 680 in Pleasanton.  It had to do with travel time.