Drivers school was even more of an adventure than I bargained for. I thought I had covered all my bases pretty well. I got off work around 2:30 PM and loaded up the van with tools and equipment. Hooked up the trailer, drove the car onto the trailer and tied everything down. I was ready to roll. Thunderhill is around 180 miles north right off of highway 5 by the town of Willows. I left Rohnert Park around 5 PM and headed out. The van handles the race car and trailer very well. I arrived at the Motel 8 in Willows around 8:30 PM as I had stopped to grab a bite to eat along the way.

Friday morning came early and I was up around 6 AM and ready to roll on out to the track. The track opened at 7 AM and I was the first one in line. I sat at the gate until someone came up and told me to sign in and proceed to registration. Once I got registered I found a spot in the paddock to set up shop. When I went to unload the car from the trailer the darn thing would not turn over. A couple of guys came up to give me a hand. The negative battery terminal had worked its way loose. I retightened the connection and it started after that. I unloaded the car and got ready to head for tech.

I had had a traveling tech look at my car so I figured I would breeze right through tech. The scrutineer looked my car over real good. He liked all the mechanical things I had done including the roll cage but they were not impressed with the guidecoat/primer color. I had to use blue painters tape to put all of my SCCA stickers on. They gave me some yellow duct tape to put my numbers on. They hit me on the roll bar height (rear hoop) and told me I would need to lower the seat to be legal. I could race this weekend but would have to fix the height problem prior to the first real race. The only other thing was the fact the front wheels stuck out past the wheel well lip. They said I could put an add-on strip to the lip to meet the GCR. That was all they could find wrong with the car. Not too bad. I got the first tech sticker to put on my roll bar. They would not issue me a log book for the car until I fix those two issues. Close but no cigar.

Our first drivers meeting was at 9 AM. There were three groups-Group 1 was the beginners GT, Production, SS, IT, Prepared, and Sports Racing Catgories. Group 2 was all Formula categories. Group 3 was the Advanced GT, Production, SS, IT, Prepared, and Sports Racing Catgories. Some how I ended up in the advanced group. They introduced all of the instructors and went over some rules and all of the flags. Next we broke up into our smaller groups with our instructor drivers. There were three of us in our small group. We then did a track drive around with our instructor.

After lunch we did two on track sessions of 30 minutes for each group. We were told not to push it but run at a bout 70%. The aim was to learn the fastest line around the track. The roadster was running pretty good but a bit on the hot side. This was the beginning of an interesting weekend. There were many positive comments about how nice it was to see a Datsun Roadster on the track again. We called it a day around 5:30 PM. I headed back to the Motel 8 in Willows.

Saturday morning came early. You don't realize how tired driving a car fast can make you but I slept like a baby the night before. Saturday had 5 30 minute sessions per group. My over heating problem was only getting worse. Greg, a friend that I had met who has a 510 and a 240Z in the SCCA showed up with his nephew. Also, Alan Duquette a fellow Skid Mark came up with his father-in-law. Before I knew it Greg and his nephew Joe were hard at trying to solve the over heating problem. I think it was on my second run that the left rear wheel lugs had come loose. I lost one lug completely. I had meant to check them after each run but there is s much going on it is easy to forget. Greg made several trips into Willows to get me oil, water, a thermostat, an over flow tank, and lug nuts to mention a few things. I ended up missing the last 30 minute session completely.

One problem I had created myself-I had replaced the stock overflow tank with a plastic after market one. Wrong thing to do as the temperature built up so did the presssure. It blew the non-pressurized cap right off. We decided to pull the thermostat housing and remove the thermostat. Alan was working on this but ended up with several stripped bolts that simply would not hold any more. I decided to make a bonzi run for home to pick up the stock overflow tank and some heli-coil inserts to fix the stripped bolts in the head for the thermostat housing. I was hoping I would make it before OSH closed as they are one of the better hardware stores around for parts. I took off around 5:30 PM and arrived at OSH in Petaluma around 20 minutes before they closed. I went home and gathered the other parts I needed. I ate and went to sleep setting the alarm for 2:30 AM. Again, I was exhausted so I slept very well

The alarm went off at 2:30 AM and I got up, got dressed and headed back to Thunderhill. I really had not gotten rested up and found myself nodding off on more than one occasion. Pretty scary stuff. I rolled into Thunderhill around 5:30 AM and decided to take a cat nap in the back of the van. A half hour later I was out working on the car. I removed the thermostat housing and installed the heli-coils for the new bolts. This included drilling and then tapping out the holes. I tightened everything up and checked for leaks. So far so good. I reinstalled the stock overflow tank with the right pressure cap. I had been running on the lean side so I turned the adjustments out some to richen things up.

Sunday was to include two 30 minutes sessions in the morning with two 30 minute all out race sessions in the afternoon. I was still overheating some but not bad. The first session I could not get up to speed at all. The car seemed to be running on two cylinders. It got a little hairy out there with everyone else going at speed. The officials were not too happy with me by this time and the chances of finishing were diminishing by the second. My instructor came up to me and made me an offer. I could throw the towel in now and the SCCA would give me my Vintage Racing license. They had seen enough and would trust me to compete on the track. After completing two vintage events I would be eligible to get my novice permit plus I could legally test at any track accepting an SCCA license. I took it as frankly I was worn out. It is not exactly the end I had in mind but I was pleased to come away with the experience plus a license.

I was one of the few that had his own car at the track. Most people had rented their cars and spent big dollars. I wish I had spent more time on the motor but it is ancient history now. I am in the process of building up a new motor to replace the old one. I plan on doing some testing with it to make sure all is well before I enter another event. I will get some more seat time by doing some VARA and NASA events. I will be back on the track better and faster than ever.

Here are some pictures of Steve's excellent road racing adventure. Enjoy-I sure had a good time. Thanks goes to Alan for taking most of the shots -I just did not have time.

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