Photos from today's open track event 4/17/10

[garner67]

Today I spent the entire day with the Northern California Shelby Club at their first open track event. The event was held at Thunderhill in Willows, CA. There were tons of amazing cars... everything from stock daily drivers to fully prepped race cars. It was my first time on the track since I had my car painted, and it survived fairly well... besides all the bug carnage.

Here are a few pics from the event (sorry no video).

Here's my car after we just arrived early in the AM.

This was my pit neighbor's car. This car was originally built/owned by Bill from StreetorTrack, but I believe Bill no longer is part of SorT.

Here's a beautiful Daytona replica.

An awesome Boss 302 replica build.

Here's a photo of cars running the advanced group. All lining up in the hot pit area; ready to take to the track.

This is a Stang that participated in the Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge last year.

Here's a nice pair... Cobra replica and a new Mustang spec racer

And to just show you there weren't only Fords in attendance, here are a few others...

Brand new ZR1 Vette... unbelievable car. Look at the size of those brake rotors!

Classic Vette.

One of a half a dozen stock cars in attendance.

Now I'm not sure what this car is, but maybe someone here knows what the heck it is. It had a mid engine/trans and an all fiberglass (or maybe carbon fiber) body.

 

[RyanG85]

Nice pictures, looks like a cool event!

 

[aslan]

Chuck called me last night and said that you guys had a great time. Very jealous!
Stan

 

[1497]

Great pics...thanks for sharing.

 

[aslan]

Love the pic of the Falcon in the advanced group! LOL
Stan

 

[lethal289]

Awesome Pics, At first i thought J was there... But then i realized the car in the pic is orange not yellow! :craz

 

[mach514]

Great pictures, I wanted to go soooo bad but I'm saving my track day for the SAAC-35 event in August. I went twice last year, ThunderHill is an awesome place to run the cars.

 

[garner67]

Love the pic of the Falcon in the advanced group! LOL
Stan

Sure you can LOL, but that Falcon could haul the mail, big time.

 

[aslan]

I've seen sleepers like that. Those are the ones to watch out for.
Stan

 

[tarafied1]

looks like a great time, nice pics too. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Shaun]

The red car is now owned by my buddy Dave Gensler. He dropped a 347 Boss block Ford crate motor into it over the winter.

How did your car run? No issues?

I'll be out there for the Shelby National event in August at Sears Point. Trucking my display out there so stop by the vendor area and say hi...

 

[garner67]

The red car is now owned by my buddy Dave Gensler. He dropped a 347 Boss block Ford crate motor into it over the winter.

How did your car run? No issues?

I'll be out there for the Shelby National event in August at Sears Point. Trucking my display out there so stop by the vendor area and say hi...

It was a great day, and Dave, Dave and Lance were great guys to hang out with during the day. My car did fairly well, but I do have a driveline vibration issue I'm trying to sort out. I never noticed it until I was really pushing the car on the track. However, the brakes worked well and the engine ran cool. Each day on the track I learn a little more.

I'm tentatively planning to be at the Shelby Nationals, but their open track fees are steep ($290 + $15 entry fee)! If I do make, I'll definitely swing by to meet you in person.

 

[Anonymous]

Nice pics Mike, glad you had a great time and nothing bad happened. Sure would love to see more vintage iron here in Kansas.

 

[abrahamfh]

Morning Mike, I cant wait to join you guys some day out there.

I heard some rumors of someone crashing a Nascar vehicle on one of the turns out there into a bunch of tires pushing a big cement block 9ft into a lookout tower. Not sure if it was your weekend or the weekend before.

 

[garner67]

Morning Mike, I cant wait to join you guys some day out there.

When you do go, you'll love it!

You're welcome to attend a track event with me before you get your car going. I'd be happy to give you a track ride. Also, I'm sure you could find a ride with someone with a serious track car, too. That's what I did, and I was hooked even before I was able to drive my own car on the track!

I heard some rumors of someone crashing a Nascar vehicle on one of the turns out there into a bunch of tires pushing a big cement block 9ft into a lookout tower. Not sure if it was your weekend or the weekend before.

I didn't hear about that incident. However, a Cobra blew an engine in turn one; a stock car blew an engine in turn 5; and a race prepped fox body car went off at turn 9 and completely destroyed is lower front end, including radiator and oil cooler. It's a little unnerving driving through that oil dry stuff on the track.