WCHC - Rd. 13 & 14 @ Thunderhill - August 11-12 2007

[Redstone]

Thunderhill Race Report – August 11th-12th 2007

 

This past weekend we had a great turnout for NorCal H1. 14 drivers showed up to race @ Thunderhill.

 

The K-Series powered cars of Andrie Hartanto and Michael Lee showed up. Michael is usually a SoCal racer who decided to join us up north for some good H1 racing.

 

Neil Vanni also made it back out with his always beautiful H1 Civic Si. Neil had fought over heating problems @ Infineon. He was hoping for better results at Thunderhill.

 

Midnight 2 and Jimmy Chilcott raced in H1 with H4 spec setups. Bob Gill drove his D16A6 ultra super light CRX in H1

 

Jonathon Meris showed up for Saturday with his 4dr blue civic but with an unusual motor. Meris is still waiting for his B-Series VTEC motor to be rebuilt, so he used a stock non-VTEC B18B for this weekend.

 

Mike Lock & Brian Z came out in the green Del sol with a new limited slip diff and gearbox. Finally they will be able to put all that H22A torque to the ground.

 

Rookies Devin Raynal & Dave Wright made it to T-Hill to battle it out once again. Devin made minor changes since last time out @ Infineon. He arrived with fresh wheel bearings and new lower control arm bushings. Dave debuted his new Calculated Risk front splitter & rear wing.

 

Midnight Performance cars showed up with some fancy colored Rota RB’s. Derek Welch & Robert Arguelles showed up just as they were @ Infineon. Welch even ran on the same corded tires for a few sessions

 

New comers AutoSport Garage showed up with their #7 Civic hatchback. Well known driver Dave Brown was there again to pilot the green civic as he did @ Infineon. AutoSport brought their car up to spec by adding the correct amount of weight for their 1.8l engine.

 

Saturday’s race saw Mike Lock on Pole with Hartanto a very close second. Neil Vanni seemed to have overcome his over heating problems and gridded up third. Dave Wright’s new aerodynamic aids seemed to have helped as he lined up 4th. Midnight and Raynal followed with Derek Welch in 7th. The rest of the order was #4 Gill, #79 Midnight, #47 Meris, #59 Arguelles, #13 Chilcott. Michael Lee started second to last due to an off & broken trailing arm during qualifying. Dave Brown started last because his missed qualifying.

 

#22 Mike Lock had a great start and led the class into the first corner. He was followed by Andrie, Vanni, Raynal, Wright, Welch & Lee. Mike Lock pulled out a good lead and won the race. Vanni overheated and had to retire. Hartanto finished 2nd, but was DQ’d because of some contact with a Spec Miata. Midnight 1 had an ECU issue and retired. Brown drove thru the field very quickly and finished 3rd. He inherited 2nd due to Hartanto’s DQ.

 

Finishing Order.

1. #22 Team Goto

2. #7 AutoSport – Dave Brown

3. # 6 Devin Raynal

4. #14 Derek Welch

5. #40 Dave Wright

6. #2 Michael Lee

7. #59 Robert Arguelles

8. #47 J. Meris

9. #79 Midnight 2

10. #4 Bob Gill

11. #13 Jimmy Chilcott

12. #28 Midnight 1

13. #46 Vanni

DQ - #1 Hartanto

 

Sunday saw a few less drivers. Meris went home after Saturday’s race. Wright broke his clutch during a TT session after Saturday’s race. Vanni overheated and only made Sunday practice before packing up and going home.

 

Hartanto got pole for Sunday’s race followed by Brown and then Brian Z in the H22A Del Sol. Welch, Raynal, Lee and Midnight filled the next two rows.

 

Brian Z had terrible luck and popped his motor on the 2nd lap. Bad luck for the GOTO guys. Andrie & Brown had a great race. Brown followed Andrie coming out of turn 15 and was able to pass him and the end of the straight and thru turn 1.

 

Full course caution came out on lap 7 which bunched the whole field up. On the restart Brown and Andrie pulled away. Andrie was able to get back around Brown and win the race. Michael Lee finished 3rd but was DQ’d for an unknown reason. Welch and Raynal were having a great race before the yellow came out. During the yellow they were separated by an RX7 and SpecE30. When the green came out Devin was blocked by both the rx7 and bmw in turn 1 and turn 6. It ruined the chance for a great finish between Derek and Devin.

 

Sunday’s Race Results

 

1. #1 Hartanto

2. #7 AutoSport – Dave Brown

3. #14 Derek Welch

4. # 6 Devin Raynal

5. #28 Midnight 1

6. #79 Midnight 2

7. #13 Jimmy Chilcott

8. #59 Robert Arguelles

9. Bob Gill

10. #22 Team Goto

DQ - #2 Michael Lee

 

We had a great weekend. Ton’s of fun and a great time racing with everyone. Thanks for everyone’s help and advice. See everyone at the seasons’ end race at Thunderhill.

 

Pics will be up later as soon as i find my camera.

[jmeris]

Clear, Concise and Cojent write-up, not too mention quick too!

 

Nice to see everyone out at T-Hill.

 

I forgot to ask you guys about the battery in Devin's car. Who makes it and where can we get it from?

 

thx

jmeris #47

 

Next Stop: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Complex

[slammed_93_hatch]

that was a freckn blast out there, most fun i have had since i started racing.

 

Meris, John, Robert, and paul it was awsome to race with you guys, i had a blast!!

 

thanks for pushing me to run faster!

 

Any H4 guys in NorCal need to get out here!!!

[DaveWright]

Again I had an awesome time out there running with you guys. Was glad to put up another tight race with Devon and close finish with Derek. However, it sucked watching you all race without me on Sunday having my car sitting on jacks. But a good race it was. I will upload the video from Saturday hopefully tomorrow.

[Redstone]

Clear, Concise and Cojent write-up, not too mention quick too!

 

Nice to see everyone out at T-Hill.

 

I forgot to ask you guys about the battery in Devin's car. Who makes it and where can we get it from?

 

thx

jmeris #47

 

Next Stop: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Complex

 

The battery is a Buddy Club. Its the exact same as an Odyseey dry cell battery. The Odyseey is actually cheaper.

[mikeski38]

Good times as always. The culpret in the motor was the #1 rod, failed right down the center. The big end was still torqued and fully functional in the crank.

 

Anyone out there running a helical diff, BUY A KAAZ or similar. Unbelievable improvment!

 

We'll have a new motor ready for backward T-hill next event. See you all there.

[slammed_93_hatch]

 

We'll have a new motor ready for backward T-hill next event. See you all there.

 

K24 time

[Redstone]

K24's are badass and its only an extra 50 lbs penalty over the H22A.

 

 

But the cost of going K over replacing the h22a longblock unbelievably expensive. New h22 longblock is about $1000-1200 where as a K swap is gonna cost around 7-8k. ouch!

[mikeski38]

 

We'll have a new motor ready for backward T-hill next event. See you all there.

 

K24 time

 

Why would I go K? The head was un-damaged on my H, and I did not seem to have any power issues with andrie all weekend.

[Redstone]

Mikes power to weight might actaully be better than Andrie's. Mike's car is also 150lbs lighter and has smaller lighter 15" wheels compared to Andrie's 17's.

 

stick with the H22A mike!

[Andrie]

My report and video is also up on my website.

 

The H22 looks shown to be faster in the straight. Good to have, a budget engine with good power.

 

Graham, post this on Honda Tech too!

[RacerDave]

Just wanted to remark about how great it was to run in HC this past weekend. It's a great group of cars and people that take part in this series.

Congrats to Mike on a great drive to the win on Saturday. Sorry for the motor loss on Sunday.

Congrats to Andrie on a well deserved win on Sunday. You are are fabulous driver and have a great team and car supporting your talents. We had a great side-by-side battle with no paint exchanged throughout the race. This is what racing is all about!!!

Dave Brown

Autosport Garage #7

[RaceTiva]

I just want to say how bad ass it is to race with such a cool group of guys. It is not often that you can find any race series where you can race so clean and competitively. Not to mention the help and feedback from everyone. Last weekend was awesome! I hope we can see some more SoCal racers soon.

Devin Raynal

Redstone Motors #6

[Andrie]

Thanks for the kind words, Dave! A Compliment from you mean a lot to me.

 

And forgot to say congrats to Mike Lock for the win on Sat. Fix that car and we will have quite a battle next year. Shoot, bring it to National!