Arrive and Drive early 2012 update

Not many Albertans can boast 11 days on the track by the first week of April.  We can.  Fellow track junkies … eat your hearts out.

Our winter track tour has been a resounding success.  We officially started the tour at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway February 24th, in a counter-clockwise direction.  A bit dusty at times, but a small ground Saturday and TONS of track time.  Fun track.  Not a lot of elevation change, but what there is in the perfect place to add a degree of difficulty … and fun.

Two weeks later we were off to Buttonwillow.  It’s a bumpy track, with older pavement that is hard on tires.  But again a fun lap.

Two weeks later (again) we were at Chuckwalla with Speed Ventures running in the clockwise direction.  Interesting how the same corners backwards seem so different.  I think this is my prefered direction.  Busy weekend in Pam Desert as well, with a couple fo spouses and families along for some shopping and fine dining over Spring Break.

February 24th we were at Spring Mountain.  We’ve been to Spring Mountain four years in a row now, with the Las Vegas chapter of PCA.  This time, however, we ran a different track configuration that before.  I likes this a lot more … fewer tight corners and more long straights (or sweeping near-straights).  I’m sure we’ll be back again next year.  Plus thanks to Doug and Shellyanne for inviting us to their home in LV for a BBQ Saturday evening.

And finally this past weekend we were at Thunderhill.  Ran one day over the hill, and the next day the bypass around the hill.  This is my first time running the bypass, and admittedly I needed some coaching to find the blind line.

Not a drop of rain the entire tour.  Rain tires never left the trailer.  We did consume most of the other tires, plus a few sets of brake pads.  Thank goodness we went down with lots of spare parts and consumables.

Thanks to Neville, Felix, Peter, Dylan and Michael.   Great camaraderie and lots of good fun.

Next trip is to High Plains near Byers, CO.  Another challenging track with a lot of elevation change, and a fun group with a great southern BBQ on Saturday night at the track.  See you in Byers.