hehe yes, I know it's surprising. Original engine and rod bearings with a VF620 kit and 80 track days. I will say that my experience with VF at the beginning was bumpy. I was (unwittingly) an early customer and had a lot of software problems with the kit. But after some time, they put a tune in there that worked and I've never touched the engine software since. (VF wanted me to upgrade to a new software when the 240 engine software came out, but I refused.)
I get Blackstone reports done, and there's nothing noteworthy in there. In fact, Blackstone remarks about how healthy the engine seems. This was their comment from the last Blackstone I got:
"Nothing new to see here. Your engine just keeps eating up the track days you've been throwing at it, and wear metals are still well below average for this sample. Rock steady wear like we have here is a great sign that all is well for this high performance BMW, and as long as it keeps making wear numbers like this we'll have little to complain about in future reports. The viscosity came in within spec for 10W/60 as well, and no signs of coolant, excess fuel, or moisture are present. Keep enjoying the track days, this engine can take it!"
Here's a few things I've done over these last 4 years to keep the car running as well as I can. I'm not sure if they've helped or not:
-I have never done a Launch Mode with the car. Ever. In my opinion, what is basically a "neutral-drop" is about the most stressful thing you can do to the car. I don't really get off on those kinds of jollies. Road course tracking jollies are my kind of jollies.
-I always let the engine/oil warm up before pushing on track.
-I change engine oil usually after every 2 track days---never ever more than 4 track days goes by without an oil change. minicorsa takes care of this daily type of maintenance for me, and we always laugh because the oil looks brand new coming out. He jokes that he should offer this oil to other customers because it still looks so fresh. (Nik at VF had recommended this change interval as a precautionary measure.)
-On the track, the car has only ever run 100 octane. No 91 octane on track. The software isn't tuned for 100 octane, so the 100 octane is just there for safety. (For those that are new to this stuff, 100 octane is harder to ignite and burns cooler than lower octanes. Lower octane fuel can spontaneously ignite under enough heat and pressure without a spark, which is the last thing you want in any engine, but especially the last thing you want in a supercharged engine.)
-I stay on top of my spark plugs. I don't let them go the stock service interval. I check them much sooner. The heat from the blower system can increase wear and tear on parts like that. And those are the kinds of parts you don't want failing.
-I put a less restrictive X-pipe to allow the exhaust waste to flow a bit easier out of the engine.
Anyway, there's no guarantees with any of this stuff. You just do the best you can. I will probably have the engine taken apart at some point and checked out, and maybe put some higher performance parts in there, but for now, it still seems to be rolling along.