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Thread: 404: Racecar Not Found - My 1997 M3/4/5

  1. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by GG Emerican View Post
    Saw you on the track at Dominion and peeped into your car to check it out!

    Hopefully my car will be ready for the next event at Dominion.

    You keeping the Kosei's or getting rid of them?
    Ah come say hi next time, I'd be happy to take you for a few hot laps! I'm usually at the front of grid in a tan NASA shirt.

    I'm keeping the Koseis as my "backup" track wheels (going to run a set of BFG R1S's on 'em) with the Apexes as my primary (with Hankook C51's).
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
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  2. #27
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    Where did you get your cage done? I'm looking to transition to w2w next year.

    2002 M3 | ESS VT1-455 | BW Race Exhaust | Hawk Pads | Ground Control Suspension | Whiteline Swaybars

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  3. #28
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    Great write up! Looking forward to seeing your results with some fresh rubber underneath ya ??

  4. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by VALSBM3 View Post
    Where did you get your cage done? I'm looking to transition to w2w next year.
    Blockstar in Springfield. Call 'em up and ask for Gorka. Good dude.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Jfriday11 View Post
    Great write up! Looking forward to seeing your results with some fresh rubber underneath ya ??
    YES. So pumped. The Hoosiers I had were never even close to "new" so while they were pretty grippy, I don't know how much potential they had in them compared to whenever I put them on my car.
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
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  5. #30
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    Thanks. Will do.

    Sent from my SM-G925P using Tapatalk

    2002 M3 | ESS VT1-455 | BW Race Exhaust | Hawk Pads | Ground Control Suspension | Whiteline Swaybars

    Custom Roll Bar | Stripped Interior | Bride | G-Force | SneedSpeed Adjustable Rear Wing | Front Splitter
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  6. #31
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    When will you be down at Dominion next? Need to come say hi and maybe get a ride along

  7. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by GG Emerican View Post
    When will you be down at Dominion next? Need to come say hi and maybe get a ride along
    NASA will be back there October 29/30. Come on out!
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
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  8. #33
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    I missed a writeup from the August VIR event and from Dub Deliverance. Short story is that both events were fine, VIR saw me set a new personal best of a high 2:15 using the new Apex wheels and Hankook C51 tires. I skipped the NASA East Coast Championships this year because dealing with the unexpected death of my roommate/friend and having to move out of the blue really meant my time and money needed to be focused elsewhere.

    With that...

    October 2016 - VIR

    I had been facing an odd issue with my trailer ever since I got run off the side of I-95 back in what, March of this year. The truck would alternate between saying "Trailer Connected" and "Trailer Disconnected" as I drove. All the trailer lights worked fine but the "Connected" message relies on the truck being able to connect to the trailer brakes. It would always work if I brushed the brake pedal, so I brushed it off as a wiring quirk and figured I'd check the wiring later. Unfortunately, "later" ended up being "right as I wanted to leave for VIR." The truck just kept alternating between the two messages while it sat idle.

    I checked the trailer wiring and found some wiring issues with the brakes, which I fixed. Message still was coming up. I fiddled with the wiring harness that hooks to the truck and it stopped. Turns out there was an internal short/break in the wiring. Thankfully, when my friend sold me the trailer, he included a spare harness. So, a quick twist-and-tape job had the harness replaced for the trip. I'll solder things up here soon.

    All of this had me leave about 50 minutes behind schedule, thankfully traffic was light and I made it to VIR by 7:15 PM, just in time for the rain to set in. I unloaded in the rain and wandered over to the garages to hide out until everyone else showed up.

    Saturday

    We woke up to rain. Lots of it. I had my RS3 summer tires on the car but was pretty nervous about going out as this was a LOT of water to deal with. I skipped the 9:30 warm-up session and decided I would only run one green lap of one timed session, for the sake of getting a time on the board for the day and earning some points for the season. With only three of us in class, even a third place finish with an awful time would be better than nothing.

    The tires were awful and the track conditions sucked. I could barely manage 65 mph on the straightaways as the car started hydroplaning. After a very gentle, very slow green lap, I parked it. My 3 minute, 54 second lap time still counted for something as I took third place behind Matthew in his RX8 and Packer in his blue M3.

    I spent the rest of the day pacing and helping on grid. We used my F150 as a pace truck as the full-tread Dueler H/L's would let it go "full speed" and our chief of pace's Celica was facing similar issues to my M3 given the tire selection and age. Lap speeds were not fast enough that pacing in a pickup truck was a dangerous proposition, and I had fun hitting puddles trying to splash friends behind me on the out laps



    Watching the races from my spot in the South Paddock (they had a pace car sit there for easier deployment, should we be needed) was amusing. Lots of offs and thankfully not too much actual carnage.



    Sunday

    I came to VIR this weekend with the goal of beating down my 2:15 lap time (which was a 2-second personal best in August), as in August I briefly saw a 2:14.xx predicted lap appear on my AIM and promptly threw it away as I blew it at T17. So, with Saturday as a throwaway, I figured Sunday was my chance to nab that 14 for the year.

    We woke up to sunny skies and a mostly-dry track. I threw the Apex wheels on, ready for battle. Unfortunately the car had other ideas and during my first session, it was apparent that I had a big misfire problem. The Check Engine light is burnt out and my OBD port was dead, so I had to figure things out on my own.

    Quick pulling of the coils revealed water in the spark plug hole for Cylinder 6, which has happened before in heavy rain. I had the car under my Ez-up but I guess the rain coming from all angles still led to that problem rearing its head again. No matter, I blew the water out and went out for the second session. And... STILL no power. Balls. Ran a 2:24 which was so far off the pace. I came in very frustrated but had some time to diagnose.

    First, had to get the OBD port working, which was thankfully just a blown fuse. With that back online, my scanner showed a code for the cam position sensor and an O2 sensor. Well, an O2 wouldn't cause it to be that down on power so CAS it is. I didn't have a spare, but DJ happened to have one in his trailer, even though his last S52-powered car was sold over a year ago... just my luck!

    My friend Brian stepped in to help swap the sensor. With minutes to spare, I shut the hood and ran to grid. On the pace lap, it felt like power was back, which had me feeling good. I pushed a bit and ended the session with a 2:15.0 which would put me in 1st place for the day, ahead of Packer and Matthew. I was feeling good, but that 14 was still within sight.

    An encouraging text from Packer (something along the lines of "my shock is blown, I'm out, go get that ****ing 14!!!") gave me some motivation for my last Sunday session at 4 PM. Michele was behind me on grid and asked how I was suddenly going faster... my answer was just "more gas, less brake" and I mentioned I was gunning for even more speed this time. She was kind enough to hang back on the pace lap, so as to not run up on my ass on the first couple laps. I pushed and pushed and pushed and finally saw that "14" as I glanced at my AIM screen on the front straight. A quick fist-pump out the window and I lifted throttle to get her by and let her get a few laps in, on the off chance she was holding back for my sake.

    Well, I got right back on the throttle after she went by and pulled another 14 after that! I took the checkered flag feeling good and a check of the results confirmed it - 2:14.67!! Solid placement in the 14s and an easy margin to win TTD for the day. Very, very pleased with how I did and that leaves me very pumped for Dominion and Summit to close out the season!

    I was also using my truck to pace a few times on Sunday. It was far more scary/fun in the dry:



    M3 photos and video coming soon.

    I have a spare O2 sensor, so I'll be swapping that before Dominion. Beyond that, I just have to start figuring out my off-season plans to prep the car and myself for comp school in the spring. Have a few more safety items to add in, and want to do bushings in the rear to ensure it's solid.

    All tucked in to her new garage at my apartment:

    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
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  9. #34
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    See you at Dominion this weekend? Look for me in the "stock looking" e36 M3 sedan.

    Or the car going very slow around the track.. lol

  10. #35
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    Sorry I missed you! Saw a few stock E36 M3 sedans and wasn't sure which was you, plus I was running around between the car and working the event. Are you planning on coming to Fall Finale at Summit the 12/13?

    I had a pretty good weekend, even if it did end with contracting a sinus infection that hit me full-force on Sunday afternoon.

    October 2016 - "Zombie Sprints" - Dominion Raceway

    Another great weekend in the books, even if my fastish driving was rewarded with a sinus infection as I got home.

    I took the afternoon off on Friday so I could try to get down 95 before traffic sucked. Pro tip: it always sucks. Still took two hours to go 55 miles but yay, early entry list!



    Staff got to paddock right up front which was helpful for the sake of sticking together and being near grid.

    Saturday was great, I laid down a 1:36.0 which ended up cinching the win for TTD that day, and also setting a class record for Dominion! Was very pumped with the results. My friend DJ also took home a few casual wins - our college car club was reppin' strong this weekend!





    A buddy came down and got a few sweet shots of some cars, mine included. I think I convinced him to join some of us for the winter Refrigerator Bowl(s) coming up... maybe.




    Sunday was more frustrating. I ran faster than on Saturday (a 1:35.7) but after the first morning session, I couldn't find grip an-y-where. The track seems to be very good at beating up on front right tires and generally inducing drastic levels of understeer. It was bumpy everywhere (moreso than July) and that was disappointing. I am really hoping DR can step their game up and get the track smoothed out now that they have some down time.




    My competitor Matthew (in a white RX8) found the teeniest bit more grip and managed to take the win on Sunday, only half a second faster. We've had some very close competition all season which has kept things fun! I know all of the typical TTD crowd will be at Summit Point in two weeks, so should be a good rematch of sorts.

    My friend Tian got a few shots proving it's definitely how you stand by your car:



    ...although how you race your car is okay too:



    Hot laps from Sunday morning below - fastest lap was #7 at 1:35.7. I have AIM data but DashWare was not working last night to get data overlaid on the video file. I am considering RaceRender but want to get some opinions before buying, given it's $40.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbnBvmldnxI

    Also had a bit of an "oops" moment as part of my last session on Saturday. Tried going faster through T1 and ran out of talent. Apparently the corner worker at T1 only said I was "right on the edge" of being 4-off. The video clearly shows a huge 4-off moment and my final Saturday session should have been DQ'd. I am putting this out there because 1) this session didn't have my fastest lap of the day, so who cares about the results and 2) hopefully my honesty will help with karma or something down the road.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nukRaG_wpyw

    The 2017 Updates
    Going to use this space to figure out what all needs to be done for the car to prep it for Comp School and the ensuing W2W racing.

    Must-Do

    • Buy window net
    • Buy kill switch
    • Buy fire system
    • Take car to Blockstar, have fabricator weld in mounts for above stuff
    • Install above stuff
    • Replace oil pressure switch
    • Buy quick-disconnect steering wheel hub
    • Replace steering wheel with non-dished wheel, sell blue Momo wheel
    • Get tire situation sorted... thinking Apex ARC8 + BFG R1S, Kosei K1 + takeoff Hoosier R6/R7, BMW DSII + Conti DW or similar summer tire for rain/trailer use
    • Apply for Hoosier and BFG contingency programs, add stickerz
    • Get car dyno'd


    Want To Do

    • Rear subframe bushings
    • Diff bushings
    • Motor + trans mounts
    • Address P/S leak - may need new rack
    • Aero - Team HD Racing splitter + used wing
    • Diff?!? Spending crazy money on a differential will be a very hard pill to swallow given all the other costs I've just outlined. But eventually. Maybe.
    • M50 intake manifold? I have the manifold and most of the conversion bits, but I would just have to choke the motor down with a restrictor plate to make proper HP-to-weight ratio. The benefit is allegedly powerband being shifted higher in the revs which could prove nice. I dunno. The car drives well as it is.
    • Larger rear-view mirror


    The 2017 Plan
    So I'm doing Comp School with NASA Mid-Atlantic and will know the exact date once they release the 2017 schedule. Very excited for that. There is much CCR studying to do and car evacuation practicing to do.

    The car slots into GTS2 and the competition has returned in that class with a vengeance, so that's where I plan to race.

    I'll have to see about continuing to TT at least one session a day. It would be a great way to still keep the competition high in TTD (I think the car could stay there, I think... though D may turn into TT4 or something which is another discussion for another time) and if I keep placing high-ish, then yay more free brakes and free Hoohoos assuming I start running them.

    Thankfully, I've got four months to figure all of this out. But, need to jump on it all sooner vs. later so nothing comes down to the wire. Already spoke to my fabricator at Blockstar and he's good with me dropping the car off whenever for the remainder of that work. Once I close out the Fall Finale weekend at Summit Point the 12th/13th, I'll be done for the season and can get started.
    Last edited by Brake_L8; 11-01-2016 at 04:37 PM.
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
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  11. #36
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    Dude, when you went off and your nose started pointing across the track, it scared the crap out of me! I thought for a split second that you were gonna eat that inside wall. I'm glad you were able to hold onto it and recover so effortlessly

    Sounds like you and I have very similar plans over the winter to start prepping for W2W in GTS2. Next year should be a ton of fun!

  12. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jfriday11
    Dude, when you went off and your nose started pointing across the track, it scared the crap out of me! I thought for a split second that you were gonna eat that inside wall. I'm glad you were able to hold onto it and recover so effortlessly

    Sounds like you and I have very similar plans over the winter to start prepping for W2W in GTS2. Next year should be a ton of fun!


    That gravel trap slowed me down well enough, I just focused on keeping the nose pointed where I wanted to go and hoped that as I popped back on track, whoever was behind me (you and Packer?) would give enough of a lane for me to hop back in. So... thanks!

    You coming to play in GT$2 as well? Awesome!! How well does your car fit in the class power-to-weight wise versus the M3? I guess it means you can just be lighter than the rest of us?
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  13. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brake_L8 View Post
    [/COLOR]You coming to play in GT$2 as well? Awesome!! How well does your car fit in the class power-to-weight wise versus the M3? I guess it means you can just be lighter than the rest of us?
    It fits, kinda. I should be able to make around 200hp+/- with little effort, but I'll be seriously down on torque compared to you m3 guys so passing on long straights will be a bit hard if I'm not able to get a solid run out of corners. I do plan on being a bit lighter than the rest of the field.
    I figure next year will be a lot of playing around and experimenting to see what works until I find a winning formula. I had considered just dropping an s52 in, but I like doing silly crap and a 323is being competitive with m3's would be pretty damn ridiculous if I can make it work.

  14. #39
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    November 2016 - Fall Finale at Summit Point

    Fall Finale is always a great weekend as there's no W2W racing, just HPDE and Time Trial, so things are quite a bit more laid back.

    I was able to "coerce" my friend Matt into leaving his E46 328Ci at my place and driving my E46 M3 down to Summit instead. Given I was Chief of Pace for the weekend and just bought the car, dangit I wanted to have it out there in some capacity. So, he drove it down and I towed the E36 per usual.

    My weekend in TT was equal parts uneventful and successful. I left the SD card for my GoPro at home, so I didn't get any video... oops. At least I have data from my AIM.

    The Hankook C51 tires I was running were badly heat-cycled (probably have 30 HC on them now) and I figured it out halfway through Saturday. The first session each morning was all about getting heat into the tires and brakes, so nobody had grip. The second session saw me still fighting (read: drifting) for grip in many places and I was barely getting into the 1:29's, which is a solid street tire time, but not very good for sticky R-compounds.

    So, I threw the RS3 street tires on the car and went back out. It was an immediate improvement. They are two years old and not at peak grip anymore either, but I made it work. Got down into the low 1:28's (I think a 1:28.4 at one point) which was nearly good enough for 1st place both days. Unfortunately, my competitor Matthew had tires that were also dying but hung in there long enough for him to earn high 1:27's both days.

    I did have a theoretical 1:27 lap according to the AIM, which made me feel good. And the 1:28's are a personal best at Summit, so I have nothing to complain about there, either. Based on points standings for the season, I should be the 2016 Mid-Atlantic TTD champion



    The E46 did well as a pace car, too. Even with its donkalicious 19" wheels and 500+ treadwear all-season tires, it held its own and I had a lot of fun with it. The convertibles weigh nearly 400 lbs more than the coupes but they are still plenty fast.



    One of our big sponsors (Mach V Motorsports in Sterling, VA) brought their new shop car out... a shiny new Focus RS. Got to hoon that for a lap, too. Big thanks to Dan at Mach V for that opportunity. It drove about as I figured it would - very stiff, plenty fast, good steering and brakes, and lots of opportunity for oversteer if you're too ham-fisted.



    Overall, great way to end the season! Now time to make a list and get the car ready for Competition School and GTS2 next year!
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
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  15. #40
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    Alright, a few updates and a (gasp!) plan to move forward.

    I've spent some time getting my new-to-me daily driver (an E46 M3 'vert) sorted out and now it's "finish the build" mode.

    Safety
    This is the big push required to have the car ready for Comp School. I have a 4L fire suppression system ready to be installed and am just confirming where I want to mount the bottle/nozzles and if I have enough tubing or need to order more. A Hard Motorsport kill switch and mounting kit has been ordered (I like where it mounts, very clean look) and should be an easy enough install thanks to Eric's diagram and conversation we had this morning. I have a window net as well. The fire pulls and window net tabs will have to be welded in at my fabricator's shop, everything else I can do myself.

    Power
    I have an M50 intake manifold ready to be installed, alongside the Bimmerworld install kit with the various tubes and adapters. Would be great to find the install guide for that kit, just to make sure I'm not missing anything vital as it was purchased from a friend.

    Would also like to finally delete my ASC throttle body - a friend of mine gave me his non-ASC intake boot and I never bothered doing the swap. Just need to do a quick Google consult to see if I need to buy any other parts first.

    I need to purchase some restrictor plates to use both on the dyno and "for real" as the car will make too much power when opened up with the M50 manifold, and I will have to choke it back down a bit. Otherwise, I'll have to run it heavier than is ideal as GTS is a power:weight class (as is TT, ultimately).

    Once the manifold is installed, I'll get the car over to Mach V for some dyno runs as I need an updated sheet for both TT and GTS. The goal will be to get dyno numbers/sheets for each restrictor plate so I have options based on the weight I choose to run.

    Everyone is badgering me to get an upgraded differential but I can't stomach the cost given everything else I'm doing at the moment. Maybe later on.

    Tires
    I have three sets of wheels and would like to maximize the tires I currently have, at least for the first weekend or so.

    Kosei K1 17x8.5"
    Currently at my shop getting a set of 3HC BF Goodrich R1S mounted on these. Plan to use them for the first Saturday/Sunday race weekend and ideally beyond that.

    BMW DSII 17x8.5"
    Also at my shop having the old Hankook RS3 street tires removed (they are at the wear bars), which will be sold to a friend of mine. I need to get some new or gently-used summer street tires on these wheels before the season begins, as they will be used for both trailering the car and any situation requiring a "rain tire."

    Apex ARC-8 17x9"
    Currently on the car with some super-heat-cycled Hankook C51's. It looks great parked in the garage on 'em but they are very much lacking in useful life. Once I get new street tires for the DSII's, these will go to the shop to have the remaining C51's I have installed. I currently have two C51's that are "new" (3ish HCs) and figure I can buy two more to get a useful set. I can use these tires for Comp School and whatever life is remaining, would be a fine tire to burn off in some TT sessions if I choose to go out and run a session each day or something.

    Once I burn through the tires on the Apex and Kosei wheels, I'll re-assess what I want on each wheel. I have heard great things about the BFG so will probably end up with at least one more set of those.

    Aero
    It's not a focus right now (literally everything else is more important to me) but a friend of mine has an extra splitter that he cut a few years ago and is willing to give it to me. He also has some stanchions laying around for a wing, so IFF I find a wing that is appropriately sized for my car and also a decent price, I'll grab it.
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
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  16. #41
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    My buddy Jay came over yesterday and we made some great progress. Having someone else in the garage to just talk through ideas and motivate is super helpful.

    We started out by looking at the fire system (a Spa 4L bottle) and planning the route for the tubing as well as logistics for bottle placement, pull handles, and nozzle placement. Using my incredibly refined PowerPoint skills, allow me to share a diagram of how it's setup:



    So, there are two nozzles pointed at the driver, and three under the hood. Two under-hood nozzles point at the exhaust manifolds and the third points at the fuel rail. The spray pattern is such that I think this will cover enough of what matters most, given I'm in a fire suit and the ultimate goal is to simply buy more time to get out - saving the car is secondary.

    There will be a FIRE pull mounted to the cage on both the driver and passenger side of the car, kinda straight out next to the dash.

    We also got most of the way through installation of the kill switch. I ended up purchasing the Hard Motorsport kit, which, is a bit incomplete (for a 6-pole switch, you must still buy some of your own wiring), but you get a nice metal plate to mount everything to. As it is right now, the car's electronics will cut on and off with the switch. I need to wire up a resistor and a ground per my friend Eric, as it helps prevent any power surging on shutdown. Or something. Whatever, he sent me a wiring diagram so this is what I'm following:



    So, once I get the fire bottle bolted to the floor and the kill switch install finished, I can send the car to my fabricator for those fire pull mounts as well as the window net mount. Should be able to wrap it up today or tomorrow on my end.
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  17. #42
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    More progress!

    Took the car to my fabricator so he could weld up mounting points for the Fire pulls and window net. For those in the DC Metro area, give Blockstar a call and ask for Gorka. Good dude.



    He did some fabricatin' and I had a cheesesteak up the street.





    This is where the pulls and kill switch ended up. I'm very on the fence about the Hard Motorsport panel. On the one hand, it's great to have a solution that's mostly plug-and-play. On the other, I paid a lot of money for the kit and still had to buy all of the wiring to make the 6-pole switch work. You can upgrade from a 2-pole to 6-pole switch but the wiring included is only for the 2-pole. I had to email HM and ask for installation instructions, which were then riddled with typos and bad grammar. Disappointing given the price.





    Window net looks good, thank you to my friend Chris for sending me some leftover straps he had to secure the bottom of it to my cage:



    Finally deleted the ASC throttle body, using only the finest in PVC bits from Home Depot (#TeamHDRacing). Thank you Eric for shipping me the spare resistor so I could fool the computer and keep my ABS.





    And finally, drilled out my steering wheel lock. Easier than expected, produced far more metal shavings than expected.



    Next steps:
    • M50 manifold installation
    • Dyno time
    • Oil/trans/diff fluid drain 'n' fill
    • Tires galore


    I ended up ordering some Hankook RS3's (they're on closeout at Tire Rack, go get a set) to use for trailering and rain driving and autocrossing and whatever else I need them for. Also picked up a set of brand new BFG R1 to use for race tires. They'll be my first-ever set of stickers, I've always bought tires from friends with a few heat cycles on them - so I'm very excited to see how these feel, and how long they last. Several friends told me the R1 > R1S for longevity, even though you give up a little bit of ultimate grip as your tradeoff. I was running competitive GTS2 lap times on older Hankook C51's last year, which are apparently similar to Hoosier R6, so I suspect I'll be okay with just "lots of grip" and not "super extreme grip" for now.

    Dyno time is booked for the 10th of February. The benefit of going to a dyno shop where the owner also tunes Fords is that he can tune my truck after we dyno the racecar.

    Slowly inching closer to Comp School!
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
    Out Motorsports

  18. #43
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brake_L8 View Post
    I ended up ordering some Hankook RS3's (they're on closeout at Tire Rack, go get a set) to use for trailering and rain driving and autocrossing and whatever else I need them for.
    Ha! I ordered the same set. So cheap, so hard to pass up.
    1995 M3...Screwed

  19. #44
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
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    Looking good. I drop my car off with Gorka next Friday for a full cage.

    Sent from my SM-G925P using Tapatalk

    2002 M3 | ESS VT1-455 | BW Race Exhaust | Hawk Pads | Ground Control Suspension | Whiteline Swaybars

    Custom Roll Bar | Stripped Interior | Bride | G-Force | SneedSpeed Adjustable Rear Wing | Front Splitter
    SneedSpeed Brake Cooling Ducts | D-Force LTW5 Wheels/Hoosier R6
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  20. #45
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Arlington, VA
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    I'm bad at keeping this updated so here's another mega-update.

    I spent the rest of the cold months out in the garage. Apartment garages are awesome, because they're surrounded by dwellings that have heaters running in the winter. So, I was in my garage working on the car in a t-shirt, in February. Sweet.

    Tires got mounted, fluids got changed, and my friend Joey took some time with various bits of metal and my Dremel to make a button panel to replace the center console, as well as two little clips/hangers that keep the front windows secure for transport.



    The car got dyno'd twice, once uncorked and then with a restrictor plate in place. The motor is pretty healthy and made 220 whp/232 wtq wide open, with the stock S52 intake manifold. The 55mm restrictor plate pulled it down to 214 whp and 219 wtq, which is a better place to be for the sake of weight.

    Video of the uncorked dyno run - thanks to Kevin of FlimFlam Speed for this one:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXfoHWbxUd0

    My dyno graph has this crappy spot where power falls (drastically) and then picks back up. I suspect the VANOS is pretty dead, having never been rebuilt with 155k on the unit. I have a refreshed Dr. Vanos unit ready to go in next weekend. The plan is to install that and the M50 intake manifold and get it re-dyno'd, hopefully with a much healthier curve.

    We also honed in the alignment. I had been fighting an understeer issue last year, so the caster was increased (while pulling a hair of camber out) and helped with turn-in.

    Front
    Caster: 6*
    Camber: -3.2*
    Toe: -0.03" (per side)

    Rear
    Camber: -2*
    Toe: 0.05" (per side)

    Finally, I had the car weighed. It was 3200 lbs with half a tank of fuel and me inside. Wayyy too heavy. Thankfully, I still had a lot of "easy" items to pull out. All of the sound deadening "tar" came out - easier than expected with just a heat gun and scraper - as well as bits of unnecessary wiring and other little things. I had roughly 57 lbs of ballast in the car from last year, so that came out as well.



    Based on the scales at VIR last weekend, I pulled about 120 lbs out of the car. Great success, although I'm allowed to be even lighter.

    So then, Comp School!

    I got the car prepped (ish) and headed to VIR last Thursday afternoon.



    I already had my Annual Tech done (thanks, Deren and Mach V!) so I just had to unpack, get my Annual sticker, and enjoy the sunset. Ran up to the Tavern and had dinner with a few Corvette TT/instructor buddies. Stayed for another drink or two with my friend Zach (who did his first-ever HPDE this weekend!) once he got in.



    Comp School
    Friday morning rolled around and I was equal parts excited and nervous for the day. Is my driving really that good? Did I study enough for the written exam? Laura grabbed a shot of me checking tire pressures before the day began - after that, I handed the car off to my friend Chris (he was my crew for the day) and headed to class.



    Class was pretty interesting. We talked a lot about racecraft and how to be smart and safe in various situations. The day was structured with 45ish minutes of classroom time followed immediately by 40ish minutes of track time, running drills that we had discussed in class just before.

    My car made it through the first round of drills - basic warm up, rolling start and racing - just fine. Chris filled it up with gas and I came out for the second session. Hopped in and it wouldn't hold an idle at all (it'd die if I was off the throttle). Got out on track and it could hardly crack 100 mph on the back straight. Crap. Also, I had some severe shaking from the brakes when applied. Double crap. I knew I had to just "keep moving" as coming in early from a track session could jeopardize my chances at passing the school. So, I pressed on and tried to carry momentum without using the brakes much. It worked enough to finish the session.

    I came in, Chris and I got the car in the air and immediately found two cracked brake rotors. I set about replacing them (only had one spare, of course...) and he looked into the rough running issues. It threw 4 codes related to O2, fuel trim, cam angle sensor, and "multiple misfires detected" (no shit) so we figured a bad ground or vacuum leak.



    Unfortunately, time was running short over my lunch break and I only had one of two rotors swapped, with no fix for the poor drivetrain condition. With 8 minutes before class (and subsequent track time) I took off sprinting down the paddock to our chief of compliance, Jeff's, paddock spot.



    I think I showed up looking like my ass was on fire and babbled something about "I have less than 10 minutes until I need a car and mine is broken and I have wheels that will fit yours and you're not driving it today and I'll put gas in it and we can talk money later on but can I rent it please and thank you?" He just smiled and was like "of course, bring your wheels over and we'll get them on while you're in class." Jeff and Sri are life savers.

    My (new) noble steed for the day:



    So, I finished the day in a rented Spec E46 on my RS3 summer tires. Our post-lunch drills included starts (standing and rolling) as well as side-by-side and leapfrog drills - all of which were a lot of fun. I realized as I came up to the first standing start that I had no real idea where the optimal "launch RPM" was for Jeff's car, so I just picked ~4200 rpm and went for it. Laid some pretty impressive 11s but it worked.

    We concluded the track portion of the day with a fun race, where all of us students mixed it up with Real Life Racers for 25 minutes or so. After the race, we got pulled in for our egress test (out the door in 7.5 seconds in a car I hadn't practiced in, booyah) and then back to the classroom for the written test.

    Only ~8 of us out of the 21 ended up passing and earning our licenses, and I was one of them. This is my "hooray, where's my beer and I have to fix my car" face.



    Thankfully, I found a spare rotor (again, from Sri Racing) and the rough running/codes were all due to the ICV hose popping off of the intake boot. Quick fixes FTW.

    Doing It For Real
    Practice on Saturday morning was like any old HPDE, but with more speed and more talent all around. Not too bad.

    Qualifying both days was like TT, except people aren't nice about "oh, I should let him get a run, he's on a flyer lap" and you really have to just say "screw it, I'm gonna get mine" while being a little nice but not too nice about it.

    The races, holy cow. Cobetto and Xavier talked about having a plan and being prepared to immedately change it up. My plan lasted from the start stand to about 500' past it. I didn't see the green flag on Saturday's race and just laid into the throttle when I heard the guy next to me do it. I was also in 3rd gear, which was a poor choice given my stock 3.23 rear end. Totally blew the start, lost the pack of GTS2 guys, and spent the entire 25 minute race worrying about getting in peoples' way, thinking how slow my car was out of corners, and overall just trying to keep my nose clean.



    Sunday was much, much better. I qualified ahead of the other GTS2 rookie. Made the decision to judiciously use 2nd gear to make up for my lack of corner-exit power. Also had a good chat Saturday evening with Cobetto about holding my own versus safely getting people in other classes by me.

    The start on Sunday was more solid, I still couldn't quite hang in Turn 1 (everyone wants to be there and it's a total dog fight) but focused on using all of the available power and again, being clean.

    Ended the race on Sunday 6th out of 8 and now have 2 of 4 clean races required to move from my provisional license to the hard card.



    Up Next
    I've already got some wheels in motion (RIP Visa card) to get this car more competitive. Turns out building to the bare minimum of the rules doesn't go very far, who'dathunk that?

    In some particular form of order...

    • AKG engine and trans mounts
    • AKG solid differential mounts
    • DiffsOnline 3.64 LSD to replace my can't-leave-a-****ing-corner 3.23
    • Aero


    Onward! Looking to have the mounts and diff installed before Dominion at the end of April.

    Last edited by Brake_L8; 03-30-2017 at 09:29 AM.
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
    Out Motorsports

  21. #46
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brake_L8 View Post
    Only ~8 of us out of the 21 ended up passing and earning our licenses, and I was one of them.
    1. Congrats!!
    2. Holy crap that's a much smaller percentage than I would have guessed.
    3. Any recurring themes among the people that failed / tips for a guy headed to comp. school soon?

  22. #47
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by OCRentAPopo View Post
    1. Congrats!!
    2. Holy crap that's a much smaller percentage than I would have guessed.
    3. Any recurring themes among the people that failed / tips for a guy headed to comp. school soon?

    • Don't crash. Someone crashed a HC car in the first or second session of the day.
    • Don't break. Two other HC Integras blew up. One of them borrowed a car to continue on, as I did.
    • Don't hit stuff, or other people. They want to see clean, controlled driving.
    • Don't go off if you can help it. Two wheels off because you carried too much speed somewhere is fine, a giant four-off is less fine. Again, keep your nose clean and show control.
    • Drive the damn car. This is racing school, not driving-to-church school. Most of our group was called out by the instructors (who go out and drive the drills with everyone) for going too slow. Cobetto should not be able to pass Mustangs on the back straight in a SE30. They were getting wigged out by the side-by-side drills... my partner and I were not and it helped us. Get out of Oak Tree and stand on it like any other DE/TT/race. Same thing everywhere else. Push, just not to 11/10ths.
    • Study for the test. Read the Competition section of the CCR, repeatedly. Know your flags, know your passing scenarios, know your penalities. I didn't think the test was hard, but I studied.


    That's about it, really. It was a really fun day and all of the drills were both useful and entertaining - I wish more of the higher-up HPDEs would have sessions that focused on skills like this, too.

    Good luck - when are you going to do the school?
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
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  23. #48
    MDR629 is offline Just Go Faster BMW CCA Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Philly
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    169
    My Cars
    E36 M3, E61 535, E66 760
    Good read, thanks for sharing. I would highly recommend PFC 2 piece front rotors at a minimum for your brake rotor issue. They're not cheap, but totally worth the money.

    I was cracking front rotors and also having bad shuddering while braking (only when on the track and only when the rotors came up to temperature). All of that is gone with the PFC 2 piece rotors. However, I still have tiny cracks forming so I'm going to finally do brake ducting this season. I dunno why I drag my ass on that so much when I know it's so beneficial to pad and rotor life haha.
    Interests include: Any VIN beginning with "WBS", any engine code with a "7" as the second digit, any Individual car, and all things Touring.
    http://www.bavarianspecialties.com

  24. #49
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brake_L8 View Post
    • Don't crash. Someone crashed a HC car in the first or second session of the day.
    • Don't break. Two other HC Integras blew up. One of them borrowed a car to continue on, as I did.
    • Don't hit stuff, or other people. They want to see clean, controlled driving.
    • Don't go off if you can help it. Two wheels off because you carried too much speed somewhere is fine, a giant four-off is less fine. Again, keep your nose clean and show control.
    • Drive the damn car. This is racing school, not driving-to-church school. Most of our group was called out by the instructors (who go out and drive the drills with everyone) for going too slow. Cobetto should not be able to pass Mustangs on the back straight in a SE30. They were getting wigged out by the side-by-side drills... my partner and I were not and it helped us. Get out of Oak Tree and stand on it like any other DE/TT/race. Same thing everywhere else. Push, just not to 11/10ths.
    • Study for the test. Read the Competition section of the CCR, repeatedly. Know your flags, know your passing scenarios, know your penalities. I didn't think the test was hard, but I studied.


    That's about it, really. It was a really fun day and all of the drills were both useful and entertaining - I wish more of the higher-up HPDEs would have sessions that focused on skills like this, too.

    Good luck - when are you going to do the school?

    Thanks, Jake. Helpful info. Mostly common sense stuff. I'll have to get my car out and test for a day for reliability. It's a huge box of unknown. I've read the CCR a few times but will read more, especially on penalties -- never focused on those. Shooting for the last comp. school this year in May at VIR. We'll see how much pain that VISA can take.

  25. #50
    Join Date
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    Congrats! That's awesome. I got a real rush reading that living vicariously. I'm just a cage budget away, unless i decide to do SCCA SRFs.

    Quote Originally Posted by Brake_L8 View Post
    • Don't crash. Someone crashed a HC car in the first or second session of the day.
    • Don't break. Two other HC Integras blew up. One of them borrowed a car to continue on, as I did.
    • Don't hit stuff, or other people. They want to see clean, controlled driving.
    • Don't go off if you can help it. Two wheels off because you carried too much speed somewhere is fine, a giant four-off is less fine. Again, keep your nose clean and show control.
    • Drive the damn car. This is racing school, not driving-to-church school. Most of our group was called out by the instructors (who go out and drive the drills with everyone) for going too slow. Cobetto should not be able to pass Mustangs on the back straight in a SE30. They were getting wigged out by the side-by-side drills... my partner and I were not and it helped us. Get out of Oak Tree and stand on it like any other DE/TT/race. Same thing everywhere else. Push, just not to 11/10ths.
    • Study for the test. Read the Competition section of the CCR, repeatedly. Know your flags, know your passing scenarios, know your penalities. I didn't think the test was hard, but I studied.


    That's about it, really. It was a really fun day and all of the drills were both useful and entertaining - I wish more of the higher-up HPDEs would have sessions that focused on skills like this, too.

    Good luck - when are you going to do the school?
    My questions exactly. Thanks for the info.

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