Prelude at Thunderhill + Superlap Battle

[KCMachine]

Hello everyone, my name is Colin, I'm a new vendor here. Whenever I go on roadtrips I write about it and post on the various forums I'm on, and they seem to enjoy it! Thought you all would like it as well:

A bunch of car events got piled onto me last weekend, and it was a tremendous amount of fun. I've been busy and financially tied up with my work, so I hadn't been able to go to the track in almost 2 years. It was due time, and my friends at Blacktrax in Milpitas were hosting a track event at Thunderhill, so I decided to make the trip up. Before that though, last Thursday was also Superlap Battle where I went to go watch Ryan Gates compete! Here are the pics.

Ryan's car hadn't been out since 2 years ago, same event, as he's been busy with his 311RS project, among other things.




Evasive brought out their old time attack monster.
















Walked around the paddock a bit.


Ryan addressing his adoring fans. Actually, one thing you don't get through pictures is how down to earth Ryan is. He's an incredibly nice guy.














Evasive's FRS was having engine trouble so it wasn't out on the track unfortunately.






I spent the prior 2 days prepping the Prelude, had to smog it too, but it passed fine!






















Ryan doing his wheel cleaning ritual.




Behind us, a team was setting up for a Porsche track day.




















(It's not real CF)




























Tom Tang's S2000




After the event I went home, and the next morning I put my header and exhaust setup back on, we also were able to make a battery tray before I left!


I headed up north, I needed to get there at 5 because I had a tuning session at Blacktrax.


My engine mods on the Prelude are:
Cold air intake
Hytech header
High flow cat
Custom exhaust
Type S (11:1) pistons
Greddy emanage

I was really happy with the results:


Earlier in the day I decided that I wanted to go camping that night, so I headed out to Big Basin State Park to sleep amongst some redwoods. I got there around 11pm and was super lucky to stumble upon some other wannabe campers who knew which spots were still available. Saved me so much time and hassle.

The next morning was glorious.














I met up with Jei and Nat of Blacktrax, we got packed up and caravanned to a hotel near Thunderhill. The next morning was the track event!










Loved this McLaren throwback liveried S2000.












S13 on the right has an LS swap.




Chatted with the owner of this NSX for a while, very nice guy.








So sleek.












The track day was great, Thunderhill is a really fun track. I loved the very smooth track surface. The thing that was most crazy though was the blind cresting hill, which can be taken at a high speed, but I would always have to brake.

The end of the day concluded with a gorgeous sunset, which prompted for an impromptu photoshoot. I got some dinner, headed back to the hotel, and came home the next day.








Some random notes:
It was fun being able to learn a new track, as I hadn't been to a new one for quite some time now. Overall I enjoyed Thunderhill more than Buttonwillow. The track itself has a better flow of turns and the track surface is a million times better than Buttonwillow.

I've now spent a lot of time going back and forth between the Prelude and the NSX, and it actually makes me love both even more. You can definitely feel the solidness of the NSX, but its inputs are also very heavy as compared to the Prelude. Everything about it is heavier, so the car feels heavier, even though it's physically lighter. I also thought it was interesting how my car awareness has definitely improved over time, as I am now able to point out where the Prelude's handling is lacking. I'd attribute it to the fact that I now have much more experience with multiple car layouts in performance environments.

I'll say it, RWD > FWD, but, FWD is very underrated and I love it on the track for its forgiving dynamics at the limit.

[Seanskeezy]

Solid. Surprised no one replied just yet. I used to run a 97 Black Prelude a few vehicles prior to my FR-S and loved it for the most part beyond it having 110k miles when first purchased. Yours remains gorgeous for its age.

I also used to track over at Thunderhill from time to time with my old 2006 Yamaha R6. Love the track but couldn't compare to any other as it's the only one that I'd been on.

[KCMachine]

Originally Posted by Seanskeezy

Solid. Surprised no one replied just yet. I used to run a 97 Black Prelude a few vehicles prior to my FR-S and loved it for the most part beyond it having 110k miles when first purchased. Yours remains gorgeous for its age.

I also used to track over at Thunderhill from time to time with my old 2006 Yamaha R6. Love the track but couldn't compare to any other as it's the only one that I'd been on.

Thanks! Awesome, the Prelude remains dear to my heart, it's been a great car to me.

Thunderhill is a great track, you're lucky you haven't been to any bad ones

[hmong337]

Thank you for the catalogue of pictures.

I have to agree, rwd > fwd. But that's not to say thrashing around a dc2 type r wouldn't be fun!

[Andrew025]

Dang, makes me kind of miss my prelude. Had a 5th gen type SH and a 4th gen before that.

[KCMachine]

Originally Posted by hmong337

Thank you for the catalogue of pictures.

I have to agree, rwd > fwd. But that's not to say thrashing around a dc2 type r wouldn't be fun!

You're welcome! I agree, would love to smash a DC2R around the track.

Originally Posted by Andrew025

Dang, makes me kind of miss my prelude. Had a 5th gen type SH and a 4th gen before that.

Awesome, mine is an SH, great vehicle dynamics for a FWD car!

[bestwheelbase]

I know a number of very dedicated enthusiasts who speak highly of their time in Preludes of that vintage.

Thanks for sharing your adventures.

[KCMachine]

Originally Posted by bestwheelbase

I know a number of very dedicated enthusiasts who speak highly of their time in Preludes of that vintage.

Thanks for sharing your adventures.

They are very underrated cars overall, especially in a track environment where the long wheelbase helps with how smooth and stable the car is.

There were a few autox champions back in the day who drove Preludes!