[icemang17]

Just got back from my 1st track day in the my M3.....

In short...WOW that car is a wicked machine.....here are my thoughts:

The tires are AWESOME...excellent grip compared to the last tires I used on track (in my 928)....sure the M3's suspension design has some to do with it, but the PS2's are on a whole different level compared to the Conti Sport Contact II's on my 928....for example in turn 2 which is a big left hand sweeper....in my 928 (about 100lbs lighter than the M3, but also front engine-rear drive with 50-50 weight balance and 235 front 265 rear tires) I could take at about 60-70mph....in the M3 I could enter the corner at 70+ and exit at 80+....and ususally not engage the MDM.... The 928 would be limited in that corner since the front tires would push and not hold the line...

Of course the extra HP is VERY nice....the engine response is much sharper too....at times almost too much....in sport plus mode the throttle is extremely sensitive...but you get used to it....

The DCT worked great intially...but when I started really pushing the pace it would NOT downshift when I wanted....so it left me powering out of corners in 3rd or 4th when I wanted 2nd or 3rd.....which sounds bad, but really doesn't matter that much since the engine is so flexible and pulls strongly at any RPM....upshifts were always fast and perfect....BUT I did notice towards the end of sessions in the afternoon when the car was hot the shifts did not seem as firm as at the begining of the session...not like the clutch was slipping, just not quite as much of a slam in the seat as earlier, but still a very quick shift....

My fuel economy was 6.5mpg which included cruising around the paddock a little bit....so I would guess the on track economy is about 6mpg as others have reported...so the M is thirsty...since I was blending our crappy 91 octance with the 100 octane unleaded at $7.80 per gallon, gas cost over $100 for the day....

My tires held up pretty good....I started at about 34.5psi cold in front...which would rise to 43.5 when I came off track...the front tires were not rolling on the sidewalls that bad and the temps were around 160-170F when I came off track (the highest I saw was close to 180F in the last session)....the rears started at 35.5psi cold and also rose to 43.5 psi hot and tended to have temps in the 150's to 160F with even wear across the tire....

The brakes were COOKED....I was getting rotor temps above 500F, which is the highest the IR gauges would read.....however I did not experience significant fade, hardly any really..... On my last session the front brakes were literally smoking in the paddock (that can't be good)...so I checked the service interval in the I drive screen....if I remember right ( good luck) it said to change the front pads at 25K before....now it says 12k, OUCH....

The good news is I dropped 10 seconds a lap with a passenger from my previous best times (I had a passenger all day).....to 2:18 and was consistantly 2:21 or better all day when I wasn't stuck in traffic...which is NOT a fast time for Thunderhill, but not bad for a novice like me....I think without a passenger and a bit more seat time I could get maybe a 2:14 or so...

Enough talk here are the pics....video will follow shortly