25 Hours of Thunderhill: Highlights & Hijinx
Watch almost-stock E36s and Miatas go head-to-head with pro GT3 cars and prototypes.
Have you ever driven a Mazda Miata? Maybe driven one at your local race track? How about during a short sprint race during a sanctioned NASA event? What about during a 25-hour race alongside prototype race cars and GT3 cars in the rain? Welcome to the 25 Hours of Thunderhill.
Maybe one of the most diverse grids in racing within an official race within the U.S., this endurance race has been running for almost two decades at this northern California race track. While multi-class racing is nothing new, there are few times where you’ll see this level of difference between cars on track. Sometimes, it looks like its more a Nurburgring open test day open to any passenger vehicles than a full-blown race. Thanks to Toyo Tires on YouTube, we get to see the highlights of this impressive race.
As if this particular race wasn’t spicy enough, the rain and constant bad weather proved to be an obstacle to overcome for both the drivers and the teams. As if going 10/10ths at night for hours on end wasn’t difficult enough, doing it in the rain is a whole other level of difficulty. Unfortunately, as a result, many cars retired because of the poor conditions, but a lucky few pushed on through the strife.
Toyo Tires, being one of the main sponsors of this racing event, captured an incredible amount of professional footage. Even if you don’t know anything about this race but love racing, you’ll be able to appreciate the cinematography. Sometimes, simply watching the beauty of race cars in movement is more than enough.
One of the most incredible stories from the race actually comes from the winners of E3S class. The team, A+ Racing, is managed by a high school teacher and run by high school students. They have entered this event 17 times over the course of decades and this was their first-ever win. Congrats to all the race winners, it definitely was an experience to watch. See you at next year’s race!
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