Billy does Buttonwillow

That’s right! I finally popped my Buttonwillow cherry. Last April, I made the trip down there with Pat to create content for the blog by documenting his journey. Some of you may remember that it didn’t go as planned. He ended up blowing his motor on his third lap out, and we had to get his car towed all the way back to Vegas. Let’s just thank the Lord that a few days prior to us leaving he had gotten a “sign” to get AAA before we drove down there. Anyways, the event that he had signed up for was a “Test Day” put on by Buttonwillow themselves. I instantly fell in love with how the whole thing went, and I knew that one day I had to attend. You basically buy 8 hours of track time, and you can come and go on track as you please; no run groups, no sessions, not really many rules. The only thing they stop for is a 30 min lunch, and the occasional black flag (only because someone is broken and needs to get towed in).

Not only was the scheduling for the “Test Day” absolutely fantastic, but it took place at the iconic Buttonwillow track! Buttonwillow is renowned among grassroots motorsports enthusiasts in California and is conveniently located about 45 minutes northwest of Bakersfield, CA. Situated just off the 5 Freeway, it’s nestled in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farms. I couldn’t contain my excitement as I prepared to hit the track; it’s a thrilling opportunity to gauge my skills against others and truly test my limits, with no doubt in my mind that I would achieve a personal best. Almost everyone who indulges in track racing has experienced the thrill of Buttonwillow at some point in their lives and has eagerly shared their lap times.

Before embarking on my journey to Buttonwillow, I needed to address the worn brake pads on my 4-door. Despite pushing my luck for two track days, I chose to take one more risk. However, after that, I realized it was time to replace the old pads. With financial constraints in mind, I turned to my neglected EG and decided to salvage my Project MU Club Racer pads and rotors from it. Equipped with Spoon twin blocks, which have the same pad size as the NSX calipers on my 4-door, I confidently prepared for the road ahead.

These pads and rotors only have two track days on them.

Below you can see the rotor on the left is my old worn-out one from the 4-door, and the one on the right is the new(ish) one from my EG.

And below is how worn the pads were! It was a very good thing I decided not to press my luck a third time.

And here they are, all swapped onto the 4-door.

My work schedule is all over the place, sometimes I work in the mornings and other times I’m working late into the night. This makes it hard to prep and work on the car during the week for me. I knew that I needed to get them swapped at the beginning of the week sometime because I would be working until 5 pm on Thursday night and we needed to head out that night.

It’s a 5-hour drive to the motel, and the track goes hot at 9 am Friday morning. There was no time to wait until the last minute. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I did. Earlier in the week, I swapped the brakes over and test drove the car to make sure it worked. However, I didn’t bleed the brakes, and this being my first time at Buttonwillow, I didn’t want anything to go wrong.

Pat had just informed me that we could bleed the brakes Friday morning at the track, and I was confident that everything would go smoothly. However, a last-minute unforeseen emergency prevented Pat from joining me on the trip. This meant that I had to tackle the event on my own. Although the idea of going solo to an out-of-state track event was a bit daunting, I embraced the challenge. I knew that I had to rely solely on myself to fix any car issues that may arise and ensure my safe return home. Despite the fact that Pat was originally supposed to be my personal instructor and provide guidance based on his experience, I accepted that I would be venturing onto the track without his support. It was a steep learning curve for me, given that I had never driven a single inch on the track and still needed to bleed my car’s brakes. Yet, I chose to see this situation as an opportunity to grow and learn. While Pat had always been my rock, his absence for this event only fueled my determination to step out of my comfort zone and venture into this new experience with confidence, ready to face any challenges that may come my way.

It was time to put on my big boy pants and get ready to make my solo trip to Buttonwillow. I got off work, rushed home, and began to get everything packed up. I had to wash my car (my car is crappy enough, it needs all the help it can get), bleed my brakes, and pack up all my tools/supplies I would need in case anything happened. Angie was able to help me get my brakes bled and helped get all my stuff packed up. I was loaded up and hitting the road at 8 pm that night. It was 365 miles to the motel, and I was tired, anxious, and incredibly nervous. All I knew is that I had to make the event no matter what. If I shied away from this, I would have really let myself down.

A few months back, I installed a Grams 320lph fuel pump in my four-door. At the time, I felt like I was demanding a lot from my motor, and I figured that adding a bigger fuel pump would help keep the motor “hydrated.” I was just going to throw on a Walbro 255lph pump, but I was given the Grams 320lph pump and decided to try it out. I had installed it a few track days ago and noticed that I would go through fuel pretty quickly when on track. This wasn’t that big of a deal; it just meant that I could only go out for about three sessions before I needed to fuel up again. That night, I fueled up before I got on the freeway, and I made it to the state line before noticing my fuel gauge was unusually low for only having driven about seventy-five miles. I managed to make it to Barstow but had to pull off there for fear that I wouldn’t make it to the next gas station about an hour away.

I snapped some pictures of the car, and got one hell of a price shock… LOOOK AT THOSE FUEL PRICES!!

I confidently leaped back onto the road, determined to maintain my unwavering focus on the fuel gauge. Uncertain of the number of gas stations remaining between me and the motel, I pressed on for another 75 miles before making a calculated decision to stop for gas once more. With only approximately 150 miles left until reaching the motel, I reassured myself that a full tank would undoubtedly carry me all the way there.

Notice how ridiculously low the car squats in the back, struggling under the heavy burden it carries. We’ve got not one, but two spare wheels/tires, ’cause, you know, one is never enough. And let’s not forget the full-size jack, just in case we need to perform some acrobatics while changing a tire. Oh, and speaking of acrobatics, we’ve got two jack stands to keep the car balanced while we work our magic.

But hey, it doesn’t end there. We’ve also got a whole crate filled with every fluid and part imaginable, just in case we need to perform some impromptu surgery on the car. And let’s not forget the 30-pound toolbox, ’cause you never know when you might need to fix something mid-drive. Safety first, right?

And just when you thought we were done, we’ve got a helmet for those hair-raising moments, a water sprayer to keep things cool, a bag of soft goods for extra comfort, a camera bag for those professional blog shots, and even a skateboard, ’cause who needs a car when you can shred the pits, right?

So yeah, our car might be sitting low in the rear, but hey, at least we’re prepared for anything and everything that comes our way. Time to hit the road and show the world what we’ve got! Keep calm and carry on…or in our case, carry everything imaginable in the trunk!

The gas prices here were just as bad.

I confidently sprinted back onto the road, poised to conquer the final stretch of my journey. As I pressed onward, a sudden realization struck me: I needed two hundred dollars to secure my registration for the event scheduled the following morning. Uncertain whether cash was the only acceptable form of payment (as it turned out, they also accepted cards), I veered off the beaten path, taking “Pat’s shortcut” through Arvin. Spotting the first ATM in sight, I swiftly pulled into the nearby bank parking lot. Hastily, I snapped a few additional photos, captivated by the idea that they would add an extra element to my captivating tale. Retrieving the required sum from the bank, along with my trusty tripod from the car, I deftly positioned the vehicle, adjusted my camera, and prepared to embark on a series of mesmerizing long exposure night shots.

The home stretch was a breeze. I simply had to conquer Arvin and jump on the Five North for a pleasant 15-minute drive until reaching the motel exit. Last time Pat and I stayed at this motel, we enjoyed a racer discount, paying only twenty-five dollars. However, tonight was a different story. It seemed that the universe had conspired against me, as the price had suddenly jumped to fifty-five dollars. Despite this setback, I remained undeterred. With a 6 AM wake-up call, I calculated that I was essentially paying ten dollars per hour for a good night’s sleep. As I settled into my room on the second floor, I couldn’t help but notice the peculiar aroma of weed and unpleasant body odor emanating from the room below. Determined not to let it ruin my night, I resorted to creative measures. I slept with the bathroom’s exhaust fan on, to prevent any contact high. Prudently, I chose to keep my distance from the bedding, opting to sleep on top of the blanket, wearing my hoodie with the hood firmly over my head, and hands tucked into the pockets. I was determined not to let even an inch of my skin touch that questionable bed, for fear of contracting an unwanted visitor. As I drifted off to sleep, the comforting sounds of Rocko’s Modern Life played softly from the TV.

Five hours later, my alarm goes off. It’s 6:27 am and 43 degrees outside. I open the door to see if my car was broken into or not (it wasn’t). Drive to get gas (it’s still $5.29 a gallon), and get some caffeine.

You must get back on the 5 freeway and drive north for another 15 minutes before you get to the exit for the track. I arrived at the track at 7:30 am, paid my two hundred dollars, and found myself a spot to call my own for the day.

Here’s a few of the cars that I was sharing track time with. (there was also about ten different s2000’s, a couple 944’s, some Miata’s, a fit, and a corolla.) It’s hard to document and do the event.

The driver’s meeting was at 8:30 am, where the massive crowd of thirty-three drivers met to just cover the bare minimum. What layout we are doing, protocol for black flag, open passing, and what time lunch was. Seriously, that’s it, the meeting lasted about 15 minutes.

9:00 am! It was time. I was about to drive my first-ever lap of Buttonwillow. I was so nervous… I clearly had the slowest car, and for sure, I was the only person who had never done this track before. I waited until a few guys headed out, then pulled into the hot pit and awaited the signal to enter the track. I pulled out of the hot pit and merged into the racing line. I had NO clue how the track went, and I was even wondering if I would be able to memorize the track in one day. Once I hit “Cotton Corners,” I was completely lost. There were no brake markers, and the elevation changes were more than I was expecting. As I entered Bus Stop, coming out into Riverside, I couldn’t believe how fast this track was. I cautiously approached Phil Hill, up then down, into the sweeper, still having no idea what I was doing, just trying to stay on track. As I came out into the esses, then finally into Sunset and onto the front straight, I had done it. I had completed my first lap of Buttonwillow CW 13 and didn’t get in anyone’s way. For the next 45 minutes, I exploited the fact that there weren’t too many cars out and just tried to learn/memorize as much as I could. Finally, I came in to give the car a once-over and let it cool down.

The best part about the “Test Day” is that you can come in and go out as you please. The car was all good, and I was ready to head back out. I went out and continued to push harder and harder, working on setting up brake markers and becoming familiar with the blind corners at Cotton Corners and Phil Hill. The scary thing about the open test day is that people can and WILL pass you ANYWHERE! I made it another 30 minutes before deciding I was ready to put the AIM in the car and start getting some baseline times.

It was challenging to get clean laps since I was so slow, and I was just trying to stay out of people’s way most of the time. The first clean lap I got was a 2:14.26, and I was simply happy to be sub 2:15. I also knew that I would be able to get a better lap as the day went on and I got more familiar with the track. I texted Pat to show him the time I did, and he asked me what my line was through the sweeper. He told me to hit it like a double apex. Basically, I would trail brake into it, apex the first inside corner, then hit the outer apex of the sweeper, and finally hit the inside apex coming out as straight as possible into the esses. I headed back out eager to try the line that Pat had instructed me to take, and on the second lap out, I was able to hit 2:13.9 using his line suggestion. Even though he was 350 miles away, he is so familiar with this track that he was able to assist me via text.

I knew that going into this event my tires were on their last leg, but what I didn’t know is how quickly this track would wear them down. Having an open diff was causing the passenger tire to wear much more than the driver. Heading into “off-ramp,” I downshift into second, and then it’s a tight right where you can pretty much floor it, running wide to the outside as you exit onto I-5 and head into Cotton Corners. I’m also assuming that running hot laps for more than 30 minutes at a time was also consuming tires at a much faster rate.

After lunch, I went back out and achieved my personal best (PB) for the day: a time of 2:12.18. It was incredibly close to a 2:11. During that session, after achieving the 2:12.18 time, I continued to push harder in an attempt to reach 2:11. However, I encountered fuel starvation issues and had to come off the track to refuel. I noticed the issue when I tried to blip the throttle to downshift going into the “off-ramp” and experienced a delayed rev halfway through. Then, when I floored it in second gear coming out of that corner, the car had a slight hiccup. The cost of fuel at the track was $5.49 per gallon, a whopping twenty cents more than at the gas station near the hotel (which was only 15 minutes away). Despite the higher price, I decided to refuel at the track due to the convenience factor being worth the extra twenty cents per gallon.

I feel like after that, my tires were completely worn out; they had given me the 2:12 and that was the end of it. From then on, I was only able to get 2:14s, and I was sliding all over the place. After another 45 minutes of trying to fight traffic and struggle with the worn-out tires to get that 2:11, I came in, and what I saw blew me away. My tires were horrible!

I didn’t want my day to end since I was having so much fun. I rotated the tires around and headed back out, not trying to PB but just getting as much seat time as possible. I figured that the smoother I could be on worn-out tires, the faster I would be next time I came with new tires. (There is a tire shop on the premises. I almost went and asked them to flip my tires but was afraid of what their reaction would be to me wanting to flip them.)

It was almost 4pm and I headed back out to get some much-needed seat time, but by this time I was fatigued from not eating since the night before, only drinking water all day, lack of sleep, and I was incredibly sore from the abuse of just being in the car after almost 100 laps, and more than 200 miles on track. (I averaged twelve laps per session and went out 7 or 8 times. Each lap is 2.68 miles, so 2.68 x 12 = 32.16 miles x 7 = 225.12 miles)

By now, my tires were officially done. I came in and was going to call it a day. There were still another 30 minutes left until the day was over, and I felt like I was going to shortchange myself if I didn’t go until the very last minute. I rotated the tires once more, taking the best two Nankangs and putting them up front, and then taking the old Federal RS-R tires I had as spares and putting them on the rear just to see how bad it would be. The Federals are at least 8 years old, and even though there is plenty of tread, they were super dried out. I went out one final time, taking it slowly. I was able to get into the 2:16’s, but it was super sketchy. The rear was sliding all over the place and would oversteer in the worst possible areas of the track. It was awesome though to feel the differences between the tires and how drastically they affected me on track. These kinds of experiences are what help you become a better driver. At the end of the day, there were only a handful of people out, so I wasn’t worried about messing up anyone’s lap.

Keen eyed readers will notice that these are actually Angie’s spare set of wheels from her FIT. 15×7.5 konig dekagrams, with 205/50 federal rsr tires.

I packed everything back up and headed back home.

I had such an amazing day. I was able to surpass my expectations I had set for myself and become familiar with the track quite quickly. Once again, I’m astonished by how much abuse my car takes. Clocking almost one thousand total miles in only 24 hours, and not skipping a single beat (except running low on fuel). This thing is truly a testament to how tough SOHC motors are. I’m going to say that I wasn’t too comfortable after sitting in the bucket seat for that many miles, and on the way home, I was wishing I had a stock seat to sit in. I encourage anyone to try and make it out to one of these “Test Day’s.” It may seem a little overwhelming at first, but everyone there is polite and respectful. If you practice good track etiquette, everyone will be cool with you. Don’t worry about breaking or going off. People were doing this all day long! When people would go off, if they could keep driving, everything was fine. It was unfortunate though because this caused a lot of dirt and rocks to get on the track, making it slippery in certain areas. I would say that this is as close as you can get to wheel-to-wheel racing without actually doing it. It’s not like a normal HPDE event where they specifically tell you not to race anyone; there really aren’t “enforced” rules when out on the track.

If you’re at all nervous about taking your first step towards hitting the track, I would suggest you fight the jitters/anxiety and just do it. The only way to gain experience is to actually get out on a track—it’s such a different feeling than you’ll ever get driving on streets. Let my car be the perfect example: You don’t need anything special to get out on the track, stop making excuses for yourself. Just put some higher temp brake fluid in, and you’ll be fine. Yes, I have pads, but if it’s truly your first time on a track, you won’t be able to be fast enough to exceed the limits of stock pads. If you do, then all that means is you’re ready for some upgrades. I have the cheap Tein’s, street tires, SOHC motor, full interior, and a stock steering wheel. YOU CAN DO IT TOO!

Thanks for reading the story about my trip to Buttonwillow, and please! If you have any questions at all about doing your first track day, where to sign up, what you need for it, will your car be adequate, or anything else, DO NOT hesitate to reach out to me. Comment below on this post, email me at Billy@functiontheory.com, or DM me on Instagram @functiontheory. I want to help you get out there and use your car!

I had some GoPro issues while I was there, for some reason it said my memory card was full when clearly it wasn’t. So, I was only able to get this 8 min clip. It’s raw and uncut and doesn’t include my PB lap. Sorry.