curtsm

Over the last month, Shay and I had the opportunity to drive our two GT3s at Thunderhill, Laguna Seca and Sears Point. A number of us from the Northwest arranged with Cantrell Motorsports to have their 53ft transporter take us over a 4 week period to the 3 tracks for 6 track days.

We have fun tracks in the Northwest, but after driving these, if I could make my job work in Northern California, I'd move.

At Thunderhill, we got to drive both the 3 and 5 mile tracks. I really liked the 5-mile, it's like you get two tracks in one - a high-speed circuit with sweepers and then a sudden transition to a technical, curvy club track. The first day was a Cantrell Motorsports day, then the second was with HOD.

There was a no sound limit weekend at Laguna two weeks later (thanks to Moto GP not coming to Monterey this year) and we drove both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a private day and Sunday we ran with the NorCal Shelby club. Lots of fast cars!

The next weekend we did two days at Sonoma / Sears Point with NASA. I signed us up for the fastest run group, what a hoot! It's my new favorite track. You really have to respect this course, but what a wonderful racetrack.

Now that we're back and looking at the cars - new brake pads, new fluids, a couple of rock chips that went through the XPEL.


- curt

etchhead

Awesome pics and sounds like a fantastic trip! I just moved up to Portland from the Bay Area. I drove down to Sears a few weeks ago and trailering down to TH5ml on the 19th. Their tracks are incredible, but am looking forward to checking out the local scene next year. Thanks for sharing!

Spyerx

Looks like a great time. Nice meeting you guys at thunderhill the Cantrell day was perfect!

curtsm

Welcome to the Northwest! We do have fun tracks here - PIR is a blast, The Ridge is a great club track and ORP is a lot like the new 2-mile section of thill.

HOD is here in the Northwest and is organizing the OR-PCA events, NASA is just getting started and we have an active PCA region in the Seattle area: http://pnwr.org. Shay (my wife) is the DE chair starting next year.

- curt

curtsm

Nice meeting you! The Cantrell day was perfect, so relaxed and easy to run all day! Hope to see you again soon! We're likely going to store the transporter and cars in SoCal and do the Southland tracks during the winter, hope to see you!

- curt

usctrojanGT3

Yeah, you guys should definitely come down to Buttonwillow and Chuckwalla. PCA San Diego has a mid-Nov event at Buttonwillow.

curtsm

We'll be there Jan-Feb-Mar, would love to be there in November, but timing's not right -- dang that work travel.

- curt

r6elmo

thanks for sharing. I'm a local and love sears/sonoma/infineon bc i can get there in an hour and always liked it for how technical it was and it didn't favor high HP cars nearly as much as the other tracks. Were you guys able to enjoy Sonoma/Napa and Monterey/Carmel while you were out here too (Not much around willows,ca)?

curtsm

I love sears/sonoma/infineon for the same reasons as you!! It's so technical and after one lap, addictive. The turns flow and the elevation changes are sublime. 2-3-3a, 4-5-6 (6 requires a big commitment to your accelerator pedal), the kink+esses+the pucker factor at T10. Is there a straightaway? Oh yeah, I guess the fastest part of the track seems to be between 6-7 which in the grand scheme of things isn't that long of a straight.

I had dreams about sonoma for a few days after flying home ... must, drive, soon. I hate the addiction sometimes.

We enjoyed a nice dinner at Cucina Paradiso in Petaluma. In Monterey/Carmel we didn't have much time to find great food - Cibo's Ristorante two nights in a row on this trip as it was next to our hotel (Marriott using points). On previous trips we've loved Restaurant 1833, Casanova, La Bicyclette.

Willows give you the choice of Casa Ramos or the Black Bear Diner ... doesn't compare!

- curt

mooty

curt, keep me posted on ur jan - march trip.
i should be doing some driving then.
socal: button willow is lots of fun.
i heard good things about chuckawalla, though never been there yet.
willow springs is worth a trip, but not 2
fontana: i dont have the guts for the oval banks.

usctrojanGT3

Don't forget about Spring Mountain near Vegas. The track is like a small resort. PCA Las Vegas runs there 2-3 times a year as does the Lotus Club.

24Chromium

Thanks for the private day at Thunderhill. Tini set a new personal best on the 3 miler.

_The_ place to eat at Thunderhill isn't in Willows. It's in Ormond. And you have to try the Old 99 at the eastern edge of Willows.

Spyerx

The NorCal guys eat well during track weekends. All places we went were great.

Curtsm the poc and pca will post scheduled soon. There are other run groups like speed ventures. Button willow and chuckwalla are both really fun tracks. Big willow is fast and hard to be fast. Needs big man bearings. Streets of willow is a fun small technical track. Haven't t been to spring mountain but it is supposedly great. Auto club if you want big speed. Also see if you can find a private day at thermal. I've yet to go but maybe Cantrell can use connects to get a day. I'd be in for that.
Keep us posted will hit 1-2 events per month bend of feb heading to cota.

curtsm

You're welcome about the private day. It's so much fun to have open lapping with just a few cars.

Thanks much for the information about the groups to check out. We'll definitely keep you posted and we also love eating well on these trips. It's a bonus when there are also nice hotels near the track.

Regarding Thermal, I talked with Justin about getting a private day at Thermal, that's on my radar and it's great to know you'll be in for that. We might be able to get something, but it's not clear how "exclusive" they are going to be or if we can find someone who can help ...

- curt

mooty

life is about fast cars, cute women and great food.
everything else is just a waste of time.