View Full Version : Thunder Road/Gordonsville,VA/www.thunderroadrc.com


Jesse Bean
10-02-2005, 01:55 PM
Thunder Road/Gordonsville VA www.thunderroadrc.com

Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Arlington, VA
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:54 am Post subject:

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got my first look at just how big the track is gonna be yesterday. it's awesome. fewer obstructions for flying inside too! i didn't actually measure the running line but i's gonna be darn close to the marquis, snowbird track. i personnally can't wait to get goin on the new rug. Ernie's got a busy schedule for t-road this season and it looks like it just keeps getting better every year for thunder road. corner width of over ten feet wide which is over two feet wider than the previous track's dimensions and the straightaways are gonna create some great dragracingto the corners. judging from the filling left under the old carpet, at the end of the day yesterday lin and john did a fantastic job with the floor leveling. it's gonna be like glass when we're done. no more lap counter contraptions! the new system lays the counter in floor under the carpet. we cut the grooves and layed the counter in the floor last evening and testing showed greater transponder strength to the counter than before. this should eliminate what minimal problems we'd had in the past with counting. i'm really excited about this season with new battery technology being approved and motor improvements, i'm gonna have lots of new stuff to play with this year. on top of everything jaco/smc with the influence of bryan trying to help us out, jack is stepping up to help keep thunder road on a streak of creating some modern trends with their backing in this winters racing. i'm especially happy about these guys intending to hold a large road-race prior to snowbirds. that race will guarantee success with jaco/smc (the benchmark of battery matching and tire manufacturing) bringing there best drivers to thunder road for a shakedown before there big trip to the snowbirds. this will create a backbone for thunder road introducing our new road-course layout. you can't get much better simulation of the snowbirds race when you have "the" carpet used for their big race installed as thunder roads test bed. i have a jrx-s on order and the 1/12 scales getting a makeover in the next coming weeks.
uspancarchamps org. has graced us with a series race to kick of our 2005-'06 season which everyone is chomping at the bit to get started.
thanks to all who are helping the season at thunder road get on the ground after a long summer. there's word around of more tracks in the md/va area shutting down and cutting losses during a relatively slow time for track owners. i as a racer appreciate the help from everyone behind the scenes that are helping make thunder raod a premier track in this area even during a time where tracks are disapearing. it's a battle of the fittest and ernie's thunder road is surving by making it more appealing every year. Good Job and keep it up EP!

Jesse Bean
10-02-2005, 08:52 PM
tt :thumbsup:

Echeconnee
10-02-2005, 09:09 PM
Nice track guys!

Jesse Bean
10-16-2005, 10:34 PM
we've got light! the new flourescent lighting looks great thanks to mclin. we're putting the finishing touches on the track this wednesday. a new wall was framed up to completely enclose the tracks facilities. this is gonna really look good when it's completed and will add to the brightness. thanks to steve herndon for that! i've been itching to to run on this thing, so i hijacked ernie's 12th scale and took it for some laps. i have to hand it to snowbirds b/c the dimensions which we copied really seem to be a perfect fit for our cars. the corners ice is about 16feet wide. and the straights are a little over 11 feet wide. this really creates a great balance of corner handling and straightaway speed. the corners are now wide enough to allow the car to be turning long enough to make chassis handling a bigger issue and i think that it will allow a broader range of driving styles b/c now i think you will be able to loosen up the car a little more because it's such a smooth transition through the corners. then the straights will present some really high speeds allowing the new motors of today to really shine showing a variety of torque getting up of the corner and i can only imagine what the rpms will be when it comes time to turn left again. i have never seen a smoother track than what we have now. before the carpet was installed the concrete was filled and leveled and then ground to a glass smooth finish. i didn't witness a single bump in this thing. we had people standing around the track at different positions who were also very excited with how smooth this surface is. i've seen the road-course layout and it's gonna be fast! what we have in store may create a situation where thunder road will have to open during another day in the weekend to cater to the touring cars and other road racers. i'm imagining the 12th scales are gonna be rocket ships with all the room. 10 ft lanes everywhere will allow the touring cars to navigate easily through all the turns and the 12th scales will have to have mod motors to feel like they are even on a race course. we're gonna see some "SPEED" out of these things. ernie's trying to get a road race planned for november since this thing has turned out so well. don't forget that this weekend is a uspancar championship race and we are starting with a clean slate even for the locals who've been gearing up from a long summer. C-Ya this weekend,
Jesse Bean :wave: