Thunder Hill

I experienced my first "track day" as my husband would say. We took Friday off and went up to Willows, CA to a track called Thunder Hill. It's in the middle of no where and it took us 2.5 hours just to get there. The only things that I saw there were, gas stations, fast food restaurants, motels and of course a Walmart.

The day started at 7am, when we got up. We got ready in the hotel/motel and headed over to the track, but not before I got my starbuck..hehe. The place was pretty bare as expected since it is a track. There was one overhang for about 30 cars to park underneath and just as we got there, it was filled up. Luckily a friend of ours had an extra E-Z up canopy that we were able to borrow, otherwise we would have been roasting in the sun.
As I watched all the participants there I was surprised to see how much stuff they brought for one day of driving. Folks has coolers, lawn chairs, car tires, tools, jacks, etc. You name it they brought it. It was kind of interesting.

From aobut 8-8:30 am, the organizers gave the participants a lecture of the events of the day and the rules of the track. At about 8:30 the first group started heading out to the track. The folks were seperated in 3 groups, beginners, imtermiates and advanced. They had instructors there to ride along with all the beginners and intermiediate folks if they wanted it. So pretty much there 3 groups took turns going out on the track from 8:30 until noon, which was LUNCH TIME. My favorite time, since I didn't drive. In the afternoon, it was more driving. This went on until 5pm.

Since I was not driving, my day pretty much went like this....listened to my iPod shuffle, read my magazine, talked to my husband and friends when ever they were not out on the track, talk to other friends that were there, walking to the bathroom (it was hot, so we had to kepp hydrated) and taking pictures. Even though it was a long day, 9 hours, it went my much faster than I thought and I must say, it was kind of fun.

During the day, as I watched folks go out onto the track I was a bit curious, so I asked an instructor for a ride. Bad idea. This guy, didn't ease my in as I would expect him to. Instead, he went out hard, as fast as he could, passing about 15 people. It was almost as if he was trying to show off. By the end of the ride, I felt sick and it took me 30 minutes just to recover. I think there was no need for him to push it so hard especially since it was my first time . I had racing seatbelts on and still I felt like I was being jerked around. Never once was I scared, but I just think that my stomach couldn't take it.