glFusion Site

July 4th Friends & Family Track Day

shell — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:32:18 -0100

Track Topia and Z2 Track Days are proud to announce Friends & Family Day at Thunderhill. This is a unique track day designed for everyone to be safe and have fun. It is open to both cars and motorcycles (in separate run groups). This is a day to bring your own student and coach them or bring your friends and family and give them rides. Come share Thunderhill!

There will be lots of track time in six 25 minute sessions divided into 3 run groups: Advanced Drivers, Novice Drivers, and Motorcycle Riders. Included for all that attend will be a catered lunch by the Thunderhill Grill.

• 2 drivers under the same registration: $150.00 each

• Single driver: $199.00

• All friends and family passengers ride for free!

Come give rides, come get rides, have a great track day and still be home for fireworks!

Rental Days Available At Thunderhill

shell — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:15:01 -0100

Attention all clubs, organizations, track day providers, individuals, and production companies. Thunderhill Park has some great rental dates in June, July, and August. The following dates are available now!

June 18, 19

July 6, 10, 24

August 7, 8, 15, 22

Contact Shannon Ell today at 530-934-5588 ext. 103 or e-mail shannon@thunderhill.com

Share |

...

Sound Limits At Thunderhilll - Please Read!

shell — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:00:31 -0100

Be advised Thunderhil Raceway has a 103 sound limit and mufflers are required. We wanted to remind you of these requirements and let you know they will be strictly enforced. This means anyone attending events at Thunderhill should be fully prepared to follow these requirements. If you are over the 103 limit, you will be blacked flagged. Thunderhill will then give you an opportunity to correct the problem. Once you are back out on track, if you are still over the 103 limit you will be asked to trailer the car or motorcycle for the rest of the day.

We wanted to give you this friendly reminder so you can come prepared and are not caught off guard by sound issues. As always we want you to have a great experience whenever you attend events at Thunderhill Raceway!

Thank you,

Thunderhill Management

Share |

...

Silicon Valley Ferrari At Thunderhill Raceway

shell — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:48:45 -0100

Buy your Ferrari from our good friends at Silicon Valley Ferrari 1-888-848-5754

sales@ferrarisiliconvalley.com ...

Open Test Days!

shell — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:22:45 -0100

Motorcycle Open Test May 11, 2012: This test day is open to race prepared motorcycles only. No street bikes allowed. Full Race gear required. Rates for this day are $180 for a full day. Half day rates are not available.

Open Test Day July 27, 2012: This test day is open to race prepared cars only. No street cars allowed. No convertibles allowed without a rollbar or factory roller protection. Rates for this day are $250 for a full day and $200 for a half day.

Track management reserves the right to pull anyone off the track at anytime if they are posing a threat to the safety of others. Open Test Days Are Also Subject To Age Requirements. Please Contact The Track Office At 530-934-5588 Ext. 100 For More Information.

Share |

...

Teen Car Control Clinic

stuart seitz — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:27:36 -0100

Dozens of teens got a chance to hit the track at Thunderhill Raceway Monday afternoon. The track time was a reward for the hard work the young drivers put in at the car control clinic. The course, offered by the National Auto Sport Association, featured six drills meant to prepare the teens for some of the most dangerous situations they may encounter on the road. "When you are on the regular road, you never go to the cars full potential. So just seeing how it does that and how you handle that is really useful," Erin Kennedy, a 17-year-old driver said. Thunderhill Raceway will be hosting two more car control clinics this year on July 31 and November 23.

Share |

...

Thunderdrift Groupon!

stuart seitz — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:26:43 -0100

Groupon is now offering a half off deal for Thunderdrift. Learn how to slide, drift, burnout and swing a car in a safe and controlled environment.

Click here for more info: www.groupon.com/deals/thunder-drift

Thunderdrift Website: www.thunderdrift.com ...

Teen Car Clinic February 20, 2012

shell — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:20:29 -0100

Thunderhill will be hosting our next Teen Car Control Clinic on February 20, 2012 presented in partnership with NASA.

You can sign up for this exciting event now at: www.nasacarcontrol.org

Share |

The Teen Car Control Clinic (TCCC) gives students real-world, hands-on experience behind the wheel of their own cars. Students go through training that includes, but not limited to: skid control, emergency stops, reverse driving, parallel parking, hazard avoidance, freeway merging, and much more. NASA hosts these events because it’s our belief that we can make the streets safer for everyone, and at the same time, save the lives of inexperienced drivers. More teens are killed in auto accidents each year than by any other means. It is our mission to prevent as many avoidable accidents as possible.

Don't miss out on a chance to do the best thing you can do for your young driver today! Sign Uup today! ...

The 2012 Schedule Is Posted Here.

shell — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:34:18 -0100

The Thunderhill 2012 event schedule is posted here. http://thunderhill.com/calendar/index.php

We have some awesome dates available for rent throughout the year. Call today at 530-934-5588 ext 103 for more details!

Share |

...

The NASA 25 Hour From Another Point of View

stuart seitz — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:07:23 -0100

Much is written about the incredible effort and adventures of those who race in America’s newest race- rage, the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. All of it is enjoyable and most of it is amazing. Here is another story about the “25”.

The 25 all began when NASA’s Jerry Kunzman, one of those people in the sport who has vision and sees a different world than the one in front of him, decided that there should be a 25 hour endurance automobile race and that NASA should put it on. At this point most people would start thinking of all the reasons why such a thing could not happen and even why it “should not “happen. Not Jerry. Where to hold such a race was relatively easy as well for Jerry because that guy who has been at the helm of Thunderhill Park since before there was a Thunderhill Park, David Vodden thinks the same way as he does. “Everything is possible,” Vodden says and, according to him, the one desperate need of the sport is to continue to change, to make the sport different, exciting and the talk of the entertainment industry. Done. The vision thus became the “25 Hours of Thunderhill”. And the plan is to keep this event at Thunderhill forever, no matter how big it becomes or how many entries it attracts or how many other tracks and sponsors come calling with money in hand. It is, and forever shall be, the “25 Hours of Thunderhill!”

To execute an event of this magnitude takes a lot of work. For Thunderhill it started with getting permission to run around the clock. The County of Glenn said yes but not until track management spent time with key neighbors and offered overnight accommodations away from the area along with other incentives. The event makes sound and at 2 am, even a sound that will not move the meter past 60 db on the sound meter, can be heard as a hum and can be troublesome, especially if you are not a race fan. Done.

Setting up for food and fuel is a big deal too. The track offers catering to teams with more and more of them skipping the heartburn of Costco, stacking, delivering, cooking on small BBQ’s and taking all the leftovers home. Fuel requires the help of the good folks at Paul Oil and Mitch Hart of Sunoco. Estimates of usage are provided by teams through NASA and the system of assuring capacity is put into place. A tanker truck loaded to the top stands buy as inventories of fuel are burned off on Saturday. At just the right moment the above ground track storage tanks are re-filled and the second phase begins. There has never been a shortage but just in case, the track has a tertiary back up system in place with local fuel supplier Gandy and Staley. Most entrants comply with the NASA mandate to use track fuel but some find ways to beat the system. This impacts inventories and places the revenue from fuel sales outside the folks who have the investment in making the event happen. NASA is aware of those who fudge and has plans to address this game-playing at the 10^th annual edition of the 25.

Staffing is a challenge. Imagine the overtime! The track adds local kids from the Willows High school, Butte College to everyone that has worked even one day in the year and calls them all to duty. The event manager Ray Mudd gets the day shift as supervisor with team members Bob Maybell taking the Saturday PM shift and Shannon Ell taking the midnight to 6am shift. There is always a senior manager at the track during the event. The track CEO, David Vodden actually spends all the 25 + hours of the event at the track but at least 7 of those hours are on the track racing in the EO, E2 or some other class. Vodden has a different management perspective of the race. A three-podiums in nine starts perspective.

About 5000 people participate in the event with most of these folks coming along with the entrants in the form of family and friends, crew and sponsors and even car owners. They all get in FREE based on the entry fee paid to NASA. Another 250 attendees pay a single $10 admission to see the incredible spectacle that is the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Between the F-15 USAF fly by, the ceremonies and incredible start and the awesome finish, fans get more for their $10 than any other motorsports event in the nation. [Price vs. value].

As one might expect there can be some major challenges that come along when you combine all this adventure, energy and people into a single but great venue. One year there was horizontal rain and the VIP tent became a kite. One year there was fog that only the drivers on the track can describe. Some went through therapy to recover. A major delay from the fog made this the only 25 hours that did not complete 25 hours. There was a brown out at 11pm one Saturday night of the race that only exceptional work by track staff and PG&E crew prevented from being a major concern. The track updated this transformer by more than double for the next year’s event. In 2011 there was a power failure off site just twenty minutes before the start of the race. While it did not affect the entire system it too could have been major but thanks again to PG&E and key staff energies the race started on time under full power! Some of this stuff comes under the miracle category.

The list of activities that the track goes through to make their part of the 25 happen is far more impressive than what has been shared here but it should be more obvious that the execution of the northern hemisphere’s longest and fastest growing underground endurance road racing event is a big deal. As the event continues to grow and catch on in more corners of the automobile and motorsports world, future 25’s will be even more impressive! The work that will be done to make it all look easy will get better and better.

Next year is the 10^th anniversary of this most-talked about event. Plans are already in the works to make it an event that will be talked about forever. This started with moving the date one week closer to Christmas to get everyone who attends the PRI show in Orlando Florida to come calling. The 10^th annual 25 Hours of Thunderhill will take place on December 8^th and 9^th with testing on the 6^th and 7^th. Mark you calendar and be a part of the longest endurance automobile race in the nation, but don’t tell anyone. We want to keep this event a “happening” for that special group of racers who convene for no other reason than the pure test of man and machine.

See you at the 10^th annual 25 Hours of Thunderhill in 2012. ...