OCTOBER 15, 2022 THUNDER ROAD 2022 7 HOUR SCCA NATIONAL TOURNING RALLY
THUNDER ROAD
OCTOBER 15, 2022
NATIONAL TOUR RALLY
CalClub region. Into the Night Rally Team.
The Odometer Calibration took us past the historic Fort Tejon through the small towns of Lebec and Gorman to the first Restart on the old Gorman Post Road. The rally continued up a portion of the original Ridge Route (CA 99), then east along the north slope of the San Gabriel Mountains to Palmdale following a portion of the Butterfield Stage Line of 1849.
After the first break, the rally continued east along Fort Tejon Road through the historic Valyermo community before turning north across the Antelope Valley to a lunch break in downtown Lancaster. By total coincidence, rally day was also the first day of the Edwards AFB Air Show, so some of the cars got to see the Air Force Thunderbirds and Navy Blue Angels performing as we went through that area, which was a very impressive and unexpected bonus.
After lunch we took the rally onto the Musical Road on W. Avenue G. The Musical Road opened in October 2008. It was originally designed and constructed by Honda as part of a Honda Civic advertising campaign. Using sounds created by our tires driving over grooves in the pavement, it is intended to play the William Tell Overture, can only be heard in the westbound left lane, and is about a quarter mile in length.
We then continued up Sierra Highway, the original US 6, into Rosamond, past the east entrance to Edwards AFB and then west through the Tehachapi wind farm. After the final break in Tehachapi, we followed the old Union Pacific line west past the famous Tehachapi Loop, where the tracks accomplish a large change in altitude by looping over themselves.
After a short hop on the 58 Freeway, the rally came down the east slope of Bear Mountain into the Central Valley. We had planned this to happen as the sun was setting, and the views across the valley at that time were truly beautiful. In general the rally route had been planned for scenic views at particular times of the day, and it seemed to work out quite well. Checkpoint times were chosen to make it easy to count down time crossing the Checkpoints, occurring at the top of the minute, or at 15, 30 and 45 seconds after the minute. This was done to facilitate all classes being able to achieve low scores.
The dinner at Finish was at the Black Bear Diner back in Wheeler Ridge, where the staff and management were extremely helpful, and the food was home-style and very satisfying after the long day’s run.
We want to thank all those who participated, and for all those who helped put the rally together, especially Paul McGaffey, Larry Scholnick, and Sean and Kari Stern. We look forward to seeing everyone next year for Thunder Road 2023.
Submitted by Joe Akerman, Rallymaster.
