2013 Thunderhill HPDE

What is an HPDE like at Thunderhill Raceway?

 

It's a chance to drive your car in a fun, safe, learning environment, on one of the the most fun tracks in Northern California. It's a chance to learn more about yourself, your driving skills, and your car. It's a chance to meet and socialize with a diverse group of people who really enjoy our Audi brand of cars.

 

If it is your first or your tenth time attending an Audi driving event we're confident that you'll have a great time. Novice drivers will spend a few hours on the morning of the first day in a classroom session, followed by an hour of exercises in a parking log where they will develop skills and learn the practical side of vehicle dynamics. The class and exercises are designed to enhance your car control skills by applying them to your car, in a controlled and safe environment.

 

During all on-track driving activities students drive their own cars, and are accompanied by Audi Club instructors who sit in the passenger seat and who assist the driver as they improve their driving skills. During the exercise session, students drive their own cars, and are coached by instructors that are observing their progress from outside the car as they progress through the exercise.  This process provides each student with the foundational knowledge that they will need in order to get the most out of the event.

 

After the car control sessions, the balance of the learning is on the track.  Students are aggregated into Run Groups which are established to allow students to be on track with other drivers of similar experience. Novice students always have an instructor in the car during on track sessions. To ensure that the club provides each student with a safe and secure environment, passing is allowed only on designated sections of the course, and under controlled circumstances. The race track does not have side streets, stop lights, pedestrians, or any of the other distractions that we must address while driving on public streets.  Because of this, the time you spend on the track provides a great opportunity to safely learn advanced driving techniques and explore the capabilities of both car and driver.

 

Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA is the location of the annual ACGG Thunderhill HPDE. Thunderhill is a 3.0 mile SCCA track that contains all types of corners that you are likely to experience in your day-to-day driving. This track includes several elevation changes, short & long straight-aways, and a number of technical turns, yet it is considered to be one of the safest, and best tracks in America for drivers to improve their driving skills.  This unique combination of safety and complexity create the recipe for a great driving experience. Thunderhill recently underwent $1.5 million dollars in improvements including repaving and a new covered area in the paddock. This Audi Club event will give you an opportunity to improve your driving skills and learn more about your cars capabilities in a safe and controlled environment. Leave the track on Sunday night with driving skills that will enhance and improve your daily driving experience.

 

Event Details

 

The event will take place beginning in the afternoon of Friday, January 11, 2013.  Check-in and technical inspection will take place on that Friday afternoon at the track, with registration continuing until 7PM, and technical inspection ending at 6:45.  During the check-in process, a light meal will be served.  Friday evening will also include a meeting for all 1st timers, as well as a manadatory meeting for all instructors, and a mandatory meeting for all registrants.  Details about the times of these meetings will come in your welcome packet, but you should assume that the meetings will take place from approximately 7PM - 9PM.

 

The track will open early on Saturday morning and Sunday morning, at approximately 6:30.  Lunch will be served at the track, and is included in the registration price.  The track will close at approximately 5PM each day, and we will have a banquet and raffle on Saturday evening.  The banquet will take place at the track, within the main meeting center.  Exact timing and details will be sent to you as part of the welcome packet, which will arrive by email, approximately 1 week prior to the event.

 

Who are we?

 

The Audi Club Golden Gate is a chapter of the Audi Club of North America (ACNA), which is a 501c(3) non-profit organization with the purpose of educating its members in driver education, driver safety training, and education about the Audi brand. The Audi Club Golden Gate serves the members in Northern California, and Northern Nevada areas, but our events are open to anyone. To support the educational experience, Audi Club Golden Gate offers a variety of different types of events for our members.  In addition to HPDEs, we also offer our members access to new product launchs at local dealerships, technical seminars, fun drives, social events, tours, etc.  Audi Club Golden Gate enjoys an excellent level of support and participation in our events from our sponsors.  We often offer special arrangements with these Audi dealerships, and well recognized private service centers around the geographic proximity to Northern California. Many of our sponsors offer discounts to club members.

 

As a member of ACNA, you automatically become a member of the Audi Club Golden Gate if you live in the two states listed above. You will receive a quarterly magazine from ACNA, as well as periodic emails from us to keep you up to date on all the scheduled events happening throughout the year. 

 

This HPDE at Thunderhill will be an exciting, fun, and educational two days of learning on a terrific race track. Learn your car and how to use the advanced capabilities of your car, in a controlled environment. Leave the event with new driving skills that will enhance your daily driving experience. Mingle with other Audi owners and club members for new friendships and lasting memories.

 

Go to www.audiclubgoldengate.org for information about the club.

 

The headquarters hotel for the event is the Holiday Inn Express in Willows, CA.  Be sure to mention you re with the Audi Club to receive a room rate of $109/Night, for 2 nights.  To obtain this rate, you must call the hotel directly, and book through the front desk.  You can reach the hotel at 530-934-8900.  If you call early in the AM, the front desk agent might transfer you to the 800 number, and the 800 number will not know anything about the discounted rate, so if that happens, hang up, and call back later.  There are only 20 rooms guaranteed at this rate, so act fact.

Our goal for this event is to register more students and instructors than we have ever registered for the January event at Thunderhill, in all of our years of running this event.  So, we've decided to try something a little different with the pricing for this event.  Please take a look at the new price structure, and if you're excited about the price reduction, then please share it with your friends, and bring some new A or B students along with you.  We're confident that with your help, we'll be able to put 120 registrants on the track for this event.  Pricing is as follows...

The cost of this event is $300 for students until and including Dec 2nd, 2012, and $400 for students beginning on Dec 3rd, 2012.
The cost of this event is $150 for instructors until and including Dec dnd, 2012, and $200 for instructors beginning on Dec 3rd, 2012.

Registration ends on January 3rd, 2012 at 1:00 PM PST

For this event, we've decided to give each registrant with an over-the-shoulder track-bag, which should be the perfect bag for carrying misc. items as you attend races, and other sporting events.  The bag is high quality, and will be embroidered with the club logo, and the event name and date.