BMW CCA San Diego Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, March 16-17 2013

[IrishCoffee]

Originally Posted by admranger

For a school, running two track configurations for the novices would be a nightmare. It's hard enough getting the info we feed them at the pace we feed them to stick. Throw in a completely new track to memorize and it's overload central. My recommendation to Dan, as his B/C classroom instructor would be to not do it. We alternate directions each year so just come back the following year and bingo, new track. I just wish there was a closer hotel...

The racers wouldn't care, they can adapt to pretty much anything. As long as there is some racing, it's all good.

Ah I wasn't sure if you were the classroom instructor. I was in the B group. Thanks for leading those classes!

So was the E90 the car you had the incident with? I had a lot of trouble with turn 17 before the straight in my E92. I kept wanting to feed throttle but it wasn't wanting to go with so much steering input.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by IrishCoffee

Ah I wasn't sure if you were the classroom instructor. I was in the B group. Thanks for leading those classes!

So was the E90 the car you had the incident with? I had a lot of trouble with turn 17 before the straight in my E92. I kept wanting to feed throttle but it wasn't wanting to go with so much steering input.

YW. I enjoyed it. The B group was moving along real well in last session on Sunday.

Yes, I ran out of talent in the 16/17 complex. I was applying more and more throttle entering 16. I was going pretty good and was flat in 3rd just a smidge before the apex. That didn't quite work out as well as I had intended...too much throttle and too much steering input.

[Ti-Jean]

I was there as well. Had a great time with the group except my car was overheating very easily. I could only get 2-3 hot laps before the overheating message popped on my i-Drive. I had to drive in 4-5th most of the time to manage this situation. You can see I'm driving in 5th from T10 all the way to T16 trying to cool down in the last lap of the video (~7:35). But it's all good... made me practice getting on the gas early since I had basically no torque coming out of the corners.

I let a good friend drive my car in the C group. That was his first time on track and he had a great time. Lucky him... he didn't have any problem overheating the car. The problem he ran into is that he had to go through 3 instructors on Sunday. They were all getting car sick ... should I remind him... smooth inputs

Here are a few laps from that week-end. Are any of you in my video?

[OC3]

^

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by Ti-Jean

I let a good friend drive my car in the C group. That was his first time on track and he had a great time. Lucky him... he didn't have any problem overheating the car. The problem he ran into is that he had to go through 3 instructors on Sunday. They were all getting car sick ... should I remind him... smooth inputs

Man I feel terrible about that. He was definitely progressing nicely on Saturday. I get the feeling the frustration with multiple instructors on Sunday might have stunted his growth.

Problem was, we had just the right number of instructors so every instructor had 2 students. When one gets sick, well, then it's basically a huge juggling act.

[Ti-Jean]

Originally Posted by The HACK

Man I feel terrible about that. He was definitely progressing nicely on Saturday. I get the feeling the frustration with multiple instructors on Sunday might have stunted his growth.

Problem was, we had just the right number of instructors so every instructor had 2 students. When one gets sick, well, then it's basically a huge juggling act.

Totally understand about the juggling part, I have to say that the group handled it very well and was able to find replacements for him without loosing much if any track time at all. It just made it a bit harder to work on improvements since it was a re-start each session. This was just a small road bump in an overall awesome week-end!

By the way, he absolutely loved your instruction on Saturday. You definitely left a very good impression with him. He couldn't stop telling me how good of an instructor you are. He called me a few days after getting back in town and told me the event "screwed-up" his driving... he's trying to apex turns around town and getting on the throttle coming out of the corners. I think he's hooked

[aus]

I had two VERY different instructors on Sat and Sun. The Sat instructor called the apex cones "reference cone" and didn't care about hitting every apex, while the Sunday instructor wanted all the apex hit. It really messed me us because I was looking at the apex so much, I wasn't looking up like I was Saturday. Both were good, but were looking for different things and I had to adjust to each one, which is cool with me.

The instructor shortage also put some guys in the A group who didn't want to be there. I have one friend who wasn't happy about that and probably won't be doing anymore CCA events, which sucks, because it's the only time I really see him, Beside, the more students, the more events we can have (if there are enough instructors).

.

Also, are most of you guys running DSC off or MDM? I've been pretty happy with the Euro MDM. It saved me a couple times when I got on it too much; one time was where adamranger left his mark.

.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by aus

Also, are most of you guys running DSC off or MDM? I've been pretty happy with the Euro MDM. It saved me a couple times when I got on it too much; one time was where adamranger left his mark.

Glad I wasn't the only one who got loose there...

Also glad I didn't have an in-car camera to capture me yelling "nooooooooooooooooooooo" as I went around. Before that happened, I'd never had to get at the yellow flag tent since I started this journey 18 years or so ago.

[chili cheese]

Originally Posted by Ti-Jean

Here are a few laps from that week-end. Are any of you in my video?

That's me in the white E92 that appears at about the 1 minute mark. You eventually pass me at the front straight. I was parked in the pits a few cars down and chated with you quite a bit regarding your KWs as that is the set-up I plan to run on my next car. You were pretty fast out there!

[chili cheese]

Originally Posted by aus

Also, are most of you guys running DSC off or MDM? I've been pretty happy with the Euro MDM. It saved me a couple times when I got on it too much; one time was where adamranger left his mark.

.

I ran full DSC off both days for the first time, using the 18x10 square NT01s. It was a little different.

[Ti-Jean]

Originally Posted by chili cheese

That's me in the white E92 that appears at about the 1 minute mark. You eventually pass me at the front straight. I was parked in the pits a few cars down and chated with you quite a bit regarding your KWs as that is the set-up I plan to run on my next car. You were pretty fast out there!

Awesome! I remember talking to you. Feel free to contact me anytime you want to discuss suspension. I'm no expert but I can certainly talk to you about my experience with the KW clubsport.

[chili cheese]

Originally Posted by Ti-Jean

Awesome! I remember talking to you. Feel free to contact me anytime you want to discuss suspension. I'm no expert but I can certainly talk to you about my experience with the KW clubsport.

Thanks!

[Ti-Jean]

Originally Posted by aus

Also, are most of you guys running DSC off or MDM? I've been pretty happy with the Euro MDM. It saved me a couple times when I got on it too much; one time was where adamranger left his mark.

I've been running with DSC off for a while now but I did run with Euro MDM for some time before that. My take is that if you're having the slightest hesitation about turning it off... than keep it on, you may need/want the safety net. As many have said, the issue with keeping driving with MDM on is that it may hide some "questionable" driving habits without you realizing. You will have to eventually turn it off to progress beyond a certain point. But this will also come with increased risk.

To me this is not a "black or white" issue. MDM is totally fine for some and totally wrong for others. I sometime hear/read people saying that MDM is slower. From my experience, it has little effect on my lap time but also I will tell you from my experience that it "eats" up brake pads significantly faster when it is on (it's applying individual brake here and there without me really messing up anything). I was going to post a video of 2 sessions back to back with MDM on and off to show how MDM kicks in. I borrowed a data acquisition device (Aim Solo) and decided to take some data on this much debated topics Keep an eye on the Track section, I should have it up soon...

[aus]

Looking forward to your vid. I rarely got into the MDM (that I can tell), but I'm not driving as hard as you

[Ti-Jean]

Originally Posted by aus

Looking forward to your vid. I rarely got into the MDM (that I can tell), but I'm not driving as hard as you

Videos with Euro MDM and DSC off are posted in the thread below:
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=821800

Check it out!

[SneakyDeeky]

Originally Posted by Ti-Jean

Here are a few laps from that week-end. Are any of you in my video?

The 3 cameras combined with the track overlay and G sensor made for a sweet video. Thanks for sharing!

Wish I could have been there... maybe next time.

[aus]

For the peeps who have run this in both directions, which way do you like more and why?

.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by aus

For the peeps who have run this in both directions, which way do you like more and why?

.

Clockwise is faster.

[IrishCoffee]

Originally Posted by aus

For the peeps who have run this in both directions, which way do you like more and why?

.

Well, I think both directions are really fun.

Clockwise I really enjoy the corkscrew down into the bowl. Then again, it's really fun going the other direction in those turns too. I enjoy uphill turns.

I'm not sure I really prefer either direction over the other. They both have their highlights and their throwaway turns.

[OC3]

Originally Posted by The HACK

Clockwise is faster.

Probably because the corkscrew & the bowl are both downhill.

Originally Posted by IrishCoffee

Well, I think both directions are really fun.

... They both have their highlights and their throwaway turns.

Indeed.