Went to Thermal Club. All I can say is, HOLY COW! What a facility! Really impressive! The staff is incredible there and the pavement is fantastic.
Had the opportunity to run both the South Palm Circuit and also the full track which combines the North and South circuits - the "Twin Palms" Circuit. Wow! That Twin Palms Circuit is a monster! So much to take in! So many places to screw up!…...
The South circuit simply eats brakes for breakfast. There are 3 corners in particular where you're going very fast and need to stomp on the brakes and then dive into a tight 180º turn. Those turns are brutal on the brakes. I'm used to getting 10 days out of a set of front brake pads in my AP calipers. After 2 days at Thermal with a basically new set, I'd say the fronts only have 1 day left…..If you go to Thermal, make sure you have plenty of brake pad material. I do have to give props to the AP Racing calipers, the Cobalt Friction Pads, and the Castrol SRF brake fluid-----not a single instance of brake fade on 100+ laps across 2 days.
Odd note: I put on new Hankook TDs and could not run faster than my 6/7 day old TD scrubs…..! The times listed below are from scrub tires……both Buttonwillow and Thermal have shown me that fresh pavement doesn't really reward new tires nearly as much as old pavement, but it also does not punish you for running old tires like older pavement seems to do.
Anyway, Thermal is quite wonderful.
E90 M3
Track/course: Thermal Club South Palm Circuit
Best Lap Time: 1:22.79 (AIM)
Brakes: AP Racing - Cobalt Friction XR2 front/XR3 rear
Tires: Hankook TD - 295/30/18 square on Apex Arc-8 10.5" (tires on 7th day!)
Suspension: JRZ RS Pro
Other mods: VF620, Akrapovic X-Pipe with stock exhaust, RD Sport front sway bar, (full interior and no aero parts), Euro-MDM on.
E90 M3
Track/course: Thermal Club Twin Palms Circuit
Best Lap Time: 2:20.97 (AIM)
Brakes: AP Racing - Cobalt Friction XR2 front/XR3 rear
Tires: Hankook TD - 295/30/18 square on Apex Arc-8 10.5" (tires on 6th day!)
Suspension: JRZ RS Pro
Other mods: VF620, Akrapovic X-Pipe with stock exhaust, RD Sport front sway bar, (full interior and no aero parts), Euro-MDM on.
Videos: (unfortunately, the microphone did not get turned on for day 2 for the South Palm lap, so I put some music on there to help pass the time.)
South Palm Circuit
Twin Palms Circuit