My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[PrimeBMW]

Trans Am is using DHF this year. I'll be running 305/645/18 front and 325/660/18 rear.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by PrimeBMW

Trans Am is using DHF this year. I'll be running 305/645/18 front and 325/660/18 rear.

Did anyone happen to mention what the "F" means?

Wait----does this mean we just found a new source for 305 DH scrubs???

(Just got into the hotel in St. Louis. The journey is going well. Drove 840 miles today. Got just over 600 miles tomorrow to get to Road Atlanta.)

[PrimeBMW]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Did anyone happen to mention what the "F" means?

Wait----does this mean we just found a new source for 305 DH scrubs???

(Just got into the hotel in St. Louis. The journey is going well. Drove 840 miles today. Got just over 600 miles tomorrow to get to Road Atlanta.)

Ha! Yes I'll have some scrubs. Pirelli and Yokohama 😃

[Bartledoo]

Originally Posted by PrimeBMW

Ha! Yes I'll have some scrubs. Pirelli and Yokohama 😃

Keep the Pirellis local!!

[dogbone]

Argh….sigh……well the tech issues continue and Day 1 is over after session 1……

Got an ABS error code that kept showing up. Turns out the rear right wheel bearing is bad and the wheel was loose when you rocked it with your hands……the bearing is only 1.5 years old…..I spun at COTA in the cold weather on the back straight and went through some gravel sideways. I’m assuming that had something to do with it.

A shop will fix it tomorrow.

It’s a shame because the weather is perfect today…..gonna rain tomorrow….

[dogbone]

Let's file this one under: wait wait wait wait. Oh sorry, that's just what I'm doing right now......

From a driving standpoint, yesterday was a bust. My rear hub bearing issue kept me off the track for the rest of the day. The shop that's fixing it couldn't work on it yesterday, but they are on it this morning. Unfortunately, it's going to take several hours, and in several hours it will be raining.

However, from a social standpoint, yesterday was great. warp10 had invited me to drive with his driving club. It was great meeting him, his father and so many members of the club. Honestly, I wish more tracks had something like that. If they were as nice as the one at Road Atlanta, I would join one. The driving club has their own warehouse building that not only holds cars, but has a comfortable lounge and bar, and a large open area that can easily hold 100 people for the breakfasts and lunches they provide. I was glad that I could experience the vibe of the club. Great group of people.

Thursday was supposed to be an off day for me in my original schedule. I found out today that the track is putting on its own Test&Tune day on Thursday for the PCA race weekend. The weather is going to be nice on Thursday, and I thought it would be a good way to replace the time I lost yesterday and today. So, I went to the track office to see how to sign up. Once I got to the office, they brought race control in to talk to me. They said that since I'm not a w-2-w racer, and I'm new to Road Atlanta, they would not let me sign up until they see me on track. So, I'm hoping I get some time on Wednesday to put down some laps so I can sign up Thursday. The weather tomorrow is sort of questionable.....perhaps a bit of dancing between rain drops......don't know....(PCA sent an email saying that there's 46 people in the DE run group.....I'm figuring that it will be hard to find an open lap with PCA, so I'm eager to get some laps in when the track is more open.)

I'm sitting in the paddock right now typing this, and they already had one lightning pause. The rule is, if there's a lightning strike within 10 miles, they go on a 20 minute hold. If another strike happens, the clock resets back to 20 minutes. It's still completely dry and there's so few cars on track right now.....argh.....so painful to just be sitting here waiting.

[DrFerry]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I found out today that the track is putting on its own Test&Tune day on Thursday for the PCA race weekend. They said that since I'm not a w-2-w racer, and I'm new to Road Atlanta, they would not let me sign up until they see me on track.

Sorry to hear you're having troubles. Here's a link below to PCA Racing Weekend Schedule showing the Sprint, Enduro, HPDE and Advanced HPDE Sessions.

https://clubregistration.net/club_ad...EV.26MAR22.pdf

Here's some info regarding the Rd. ATL Wednesday and Thursday events just incase you need it.

David Murray Days
Tuesday, April 5 –Wednesday, April 6, 2022 This is NOT a PCA event.
http://www.davidmurry.com/event-regi...y-road-atlanta

Road Atlanta Test and Tune
Michelin Road Atlanta will have a track-run Test and Tune Thursday, April 7. This is NOT a PCA event. Contact Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for details: acheung@roadatlanta.com. 770.967.6143 after March 22nd.

https://clubregistration.net/events/...fm/event/11995

Rd. ATL is just about an hour and half from me. It's a track I'm quite familiar with. The weather can be fickle this time of year due to storms coming up from the Gulf and the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are various race shops in close proximity to Road ATL on Winder Hwy, Braselton and Flowery Branch. Hopefully you'll be able to get the bearing replaced and enjoy the PCA Racing Weekend. I've often said to friends and colleagues, "if you can drive Road Atlanta well you can drive any circuit in the world". Just my two cents having driven and tested at many tracks throughout the world.

Here's Randy goin' at it..

.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by DrFerry

Sorry to hear you're having troubles. Here's a link below to PCA Racing Weekend Schedule showing the Sprint, Enduro, HPDE and Advanced HPDE Sessions.

https://clubregistration.net/club_ad...EV.26MAR22.pdf

Here's some info regarding the Rd. ATL Wednesday and Thursday events just incase you need it.

Appreciate the info!

ACI, the shop next door to Road Atlanta, had the car fixed and the alignment adjusted by 11:30AM today. But the rain started at 10AM, it's been raining non-stop since 10AM. Sometimes, it's really heavy. There is some serious standing water on the roadways. My pickup truck has hydroplaned a couple times on the standing water. Anyway, I'm back at the hotel doing some work stuff.

This trip to Road Atlanta is looking like a bust from a driving standpoint. Tomorrow is gonna be iffy with the rain. If I can't demonstrate to the track I'm a safe driver tomorrow, then they won't let me sign up Thursday. The PCA event will have 46 cars in the DE group. Getting open laps is going to be virtually impossible at PCA......I think I'm in for a frustrating week.

[DrFerry]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Appreciate the info! Tomorrow is gonna be iffy with the rain. If I can't demonstrate to the track I'm a safe driver tomorrow, then they won't let me sign up Thursday. The PCA event will have 46 cars in the DE group. Getting open laps is going to be virtually impossible at PCA......I think I'm in for a frustrating week.

Possibly so... Here's hoping you get a break.. Did you bring any "wets" (or street tires) with you? If so you might consider getting a check-off ride when the track is wet/damp (on Wednesday). Remember in the wet you should go up on cold pressures to mitigate hydroplaning and search for some grip on the wet line (off of the dry line).

The wet sessions are typically the least full DE and Club Racing sessions. PCA Club Racing has two H.P.D.E. classes = Normal and Advanced. Given your investment in time and money (and the new wheel bearing) not to mention fuel etc. I encourage you to persevere - it's definitely worth it to get some seat time and experience at Road Atlanta IMO.

Looks like from the pictures of your car (and equipment etc.) you are more involved with BMW Club Racing (https://bmwccaclubracing.com/) than D.E. Just as FYI: The PCA Club Racing events are run very similarly to BMW Club Racing events - but perhaps with even less cars than when BMW Club Racing runs at Road Atlanta. Perhaps that's hard to believe, but the BMWCCA Peach State chapter is enormous and BMW Club Racing H.Q. is right here in Greenville SC (Greer). But anyway, does "getting open laps" mean "no traffic?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by DrFerry

Possibly so... Here's hoping you get a break.. Did you bring any "wets" (or street tires) with you? If so you might consider getting a check-off ride when the track is wet/damp (on Wednesday). Remember in the wet you should go up on cold pressures to mitigate hydroplaning and search for some grip on the wet line (off of the dry line).

The wet sessions are typically the least full DE and Club Racing sessions. PCA Club Racing has two H.P.D.E. classes = Normal and Advanced. Given your investment in time and money (and the new wheel bearing) not to mention fuel etc. I encourage you to persevere - it's definitely worth it to get some seat time and experience at Road Atlanta IMO.

Looks like from the pictures of your car (and equipment etc.) you are more involved with BMW Club Racing (https://bmwccaclubracing.com/) than D.E. Just as FYI: The PCA Club Racing events are run very similarly to BMW Club Racing events - but perhaps with even less cars than when BMW Club Racing runs at Road Atlanta. Perhaps that hard to believe, but the BMWCCA Peach state chapter is enormous and BMW Club Racing H.Q. is here in Greenville SC (Greer). But anyway, does, "getting open laps" mean "no traffic?

No street or rain tires on hand. I just have to hope that the track is dry enough tomorrow. Not looking promising at the moment. TORRENTS of rain are coming down at the moment......I haven't seen rain like this in a long time.

I'm not a w-2-w racing guy at all. TT is my thing, along with DE days. Mostly, I run Global Time Attack, NASA TT, SCCA TT for competition. I run with pretty much any organizer for DE. Ironically, I've only run one BMW CCA event in 10 years.

I visited the Pirelli truck. They did bring the Pirelli DMs. Apparently there's a new DM now called Pirelli DMB. Is it me? Or does that sound like Pirelli DuMB? Maybe I'm just in a bad mood.....hahaha

(Some of the thunder rumbles today have been quite impressive. I grew up in the Washington DC area and saw my share of thunderstorms growing up. But some of the thunder rumbles today have been......impressive......)

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by DrFerry

But anyway, does "getting open laps" mean "no traffic?

Yes, open laps for me simply means a clean lap without traffic.

[DrFerry]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Yes, open laps for me simply means a clean lap without traffic.

How did it go today? The weather cleared up in Greenville, SC so I'm assuming Road ATL was dry today.

[dogbone]

Let's file this one under: hahahaha I'll take it!

After the rain of yesterday, I was worried that the track would still be damp this AM, 16 hours after it stopped raining. It was. And the weather forecasts were saying it would be ok until Noon, but then the rain would hit. They were fairly accurate. I was feeling the pressure to get some laps in before Noon.

I get to the track and the cloud cover is low.....low to the point that some fog is rolling in a few minutes before the day starts. I made sure I was ready to go as soon as the day started. I sprayed Rain-X on my windshield just in case.

I had a couple things on my agenda today. First, I was just trying to get some darn laps. Second, I wanted my on-track behavior to be spot-on because race control was watching me, trying to decide whether or not they would let me sign up for the Test&Tune day tomorrow. Yesterday, race control said, "We don't know you. You don't have a w-2-w racing license. You have never been here before. We are going to say no until you run some laps and show us that you're a safe driver." Ok, I'm happy to put laps in and demonstrate my driving habits, but I need it to stop raining! What is it with me and David Murry Track Days and the rain?? Remember WGI last year with the hurricane?

Outing 1: 8:30AM. Go out on track with scrubs. There are definitely some damp spots to worry about---exit of Turn 1, bottom of the Esses, exit of 10B, outside of Turn12. But the rest of the track was generally drivable although I didn't brake very hard because some areas just had a bad damp look. This was only my second session ever on the track, so I took it easy and was building speed gradually while tip-toeing around the water. Didn't have any problems. Brought it in after 25 minutes.

Outing 2: Scrubs. On my out lap, Black flags appeared when I got to the back straight. For a moment, I wondered if the track was testing my flag station awareness or something. I'm thinking, if they were, that would be pretty wild. Once I was in the pits, I could hear that no one else was on track. Then I found out a Porsche had crashed.

Outing 3: The track was down for quite a few minutes while they dealt with the crash. I never saw it, so I don't know where it occurred. The car was running well, but the scrubs didn't feel great. With the down time, I decided to put better tires on the car. This newer set of tires had 6 sessions on them. The car felt GREAT on them. So smooth compared to the last scrub set. Went out and ran 1:31.3.

Outing 4: Was ready to build on what I had learned. Go out, and mist/drizzle was hitting the windshield....more than I was comfortable with. Abandoned and came in. Decided I need to wait and see what happens with the weather.

Outing 5: After 10 minutes, the misting stopped and the ground was still dry. I decided to give it another try. Come around for my first hot lap----and someone rolled out of pitlane in front of me.....argh. Got around him and reset and rolled a 1:29.99 and a 1:30.04 back-to-back. Was super happy about that. (The 1:30.04 was actually faster for the first half, but the engine was getting hot...couldn't maintain the pace on the back straight.) It was only my fourth session on the track, but I felt like I was starting to feel the flow of the track. For the rest of the session, I chased a Cup Car around. hahaha Probably, shouldn't have wasted the tires on that, but it was fun.

Outing 6: Didn't give the car much rest which was probably a mistake. The engine was hot, the tires were hot, but I still went out anyway. Rolled a 1:30.6. After that outing, I decided to give the car some rest. Wanted to run one more time before the rain arrived. And then right at Noon, it started raining.....day was over. Was a bit angry with myself that I didn't push harder and make it out before the rain, but I could hear a bunch of traffic on the track, and the tires stayed quite warm for a long time.....ah well.

I went to the admin building and found the race control boss. He said they had been watching me all morning. He also said he went and did some homework on me---started talking about my Buttonwillow times. I was a bit surprised by that. Basically, he said that when the track puts on their own Test & Tune, their baseline is that everyone has a competition license. (I have NASA and SCCA TT licenses, but that didn't seem to sway anyone.) He said that they would make a final decision by 3:30PM.

So, I left the track went to downtown Atlanta and got Heirloom Market BBQ. Was really tasty. Best BBQ I've had so far in Atlanta. Really tender brisket.

Got back to the track, headed to registration, and they said I could sign up for tomorrow. So, I'm all signed up. Weather should be good, and I believe the car count is low.


The car felt great today. However------there's no perfect days.......something weird has to happen. On the last outing of the day, I pressed the DSC-off button, and the plastic face of the button fell off and went under my race seat......sigh....for a minute, I couldn't figure out how to press the button without the face being in place. But I figured it out. So, now I gotta go on a fishing expedition to see if I can get the DSC button face back......what the heck.

Anyway-----1:29.99------hey that's a 29 in my book!!! I'll take it! Now I'd like to settle in and work on the braking zones and corner speeds. Have much more to learn. And it would be nice to not have to dodge damp spots. Oh yeah----had to avoid berms today. Nothing good came from getting on berms today.

I debated whether I should make a video yet or not given that I have several more days. I decided to make one for readers of the thread to check out, but I'll leave it Unlisted for now. Hopefully, better laps are possible soon.

[admranger]

In the wet, stay off paint, though inside curbs are no problem.

Laps look like fun.

Oh, and quit grading your apexes. It looked like you were looking down to see how close you got on a few corners.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by admranger

In the wet, stay off paint, though inside curbs are no problem.

Laps look like fun.

Oh, and quit grading your apexes. It looked like you were looking down to see how close you got on a few corners.

haha yes I am guilty of looking at some apexes----ESPECIALLY at a new track. Hey, I'm sight-seeing, ok?

I enjoyed driving the track yesterday. Learning new tracks is always fun. However, I will repeat what I have said in the past----the driving simulators are an INCREDIBLE tool for learning a track before you actually drive it. In 2020, I drove a ton of laps in Assetto Corsa's Road Atlanta profie because I had planned to visit before covid hit. I haven't driven the RA simulator since 2020....didn't matter. The track was still totally in my head. Of course, you still have tons to figure out once you get on the track, but knowing where you are going is a huge help. Doesn't stop me from looking at some of the curbs though!

It rained a fair amount in the middle of the night. So, I think the track will be wet for quite awhile today unless we can get some sun on it.

[DrFerry]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Got back to the track, headed to registration, and they said I could sign up for tomorrow [Thursday]. So, I'm all signed up. Weather should be good, and I believe the car count is low. Hopefully, better laps are possible soon.

Amazing saga chronicle write up. Felt like I was there. Still hoping you get some sunshine, and some dry track time very soon. Thanks for the vid. It was fun to watch. The peanut gallery is cheering - at least from where I sit. PS: Looking forward to even more videos with the D.E. Porsches..

[dogbone]

When you have a good day at the track, all you can do is be thankful at the end of it.....and maybe a bit tired. I'm both!

Weather was BEE--YOO--TEE--FULL. Maybe a tad windy, but who cares. Today's great weather was very very appreciated.

The theme of the day was wheel swapping. I can't even count how many times I swapped tires today. It has to be at least 5 times. The guy next to me actually said something about it. He was like....."uhh....how many times are you gonna switch wheels today??"......Yeah that was tiring....

So, the day started out wet---even more wet than yesterday because it rained during the night, buuuuuut today was sunny and there was a solid breeze blowing. It didn't stay wet for long.

Today was a Test & Tune day hosted by the track. There were two run groups. Basically Faster and Slower. They put me in the slower group. At first I was a bit bummed by that. The slow group was full of 944, Boxter, Cayman, old Porsche I don't even know what they are, etc. I had in some cases almost 400 more whp than some of those cars.....plus big aero....plus....ah whatever......You know what? I didn't really care. I was just thankful the track let me sign up. In the end, I made it work for me and it was great.

Session 1: I actually skipped the first session of the day for two reasons. 1. I didn't want to dance around the wet stuff. I figured I'd let someone else deal with that. 2. I needed to change brake pads and I wasn't in a hurry to get to the track this AM. So, I took my time and swapped brake pads, along with rotating the tires in an X-pattern.

Outing 1: Started with the tires that did my fast lap yesterday. I wasn't trying to be first in the grid, but there was no one there when I showed up. I didn't show up early......where the heck was everyone? I don't know, but I was in the first position. Annnnnnnd then everyone showed up. Whatever, no biggie. I go out, and it's the usual problem----people show up late to grid and get tossed out onto the track in front of the cars on their first hot lap. So it was messy. I came into the pit to reset, and went back out during the same session and I had open track. Rolled a 1:30.3.

Outing 2: Kept the same tires on the car. Decided I needed to change my track entry strategy. The sessions were 30 minutes long. I don't need that much time. I decided to wait and let the first 10 minutes of the session go by before getting on the track---basically let everyone else get on track before me. Where I was pitted, it was easy to see the downhill to T12. I could count the cars and watch for gaps. So that's what I did--found a big gap on the track and jumped on track in the gap. The strategy worked well. Had open track. Rolled a 1:29.8 (new PB).

Even though this was a track-hosted event, David Murry was at the track. Basically, PCA pays him to stay the whole weekend and be available to people for feedback/advice/video and data analysis. I made a video with overlay of the 1:29.8 and I asked David to look at it and the AIM data and give me comments. He came into my trailer and we talked for half an hour. He was very insightful and very nice. He gave me more notes than I could keep in my head for one session. But it was great. We talked almost 15 minutes into my next session. Perfect.

Outing 3: For this session, I had swapped tires to better tires. The weather was nice (67ºF) and I was hopeful that I could push harder. I go to grid 15 minutes into the session after talking to David, and......everyone is sitting in the hot pit......I don't know what happened on track, but they were all just sitting there. A minute later they let everyone back out on track, so I hang back and count to 30 after the last car left---at least [hopefully] no one would be showing up late! Then I go out on track. And again, that strategy worked great. First hot lap, 1:29.6 (new PB). Took two off laps because I had to pass someone. Then I went for it again. Rolled a 1:28.7 (new PB). Was happy with that one. It ain't perfect by any means, but I was being more assertive.

The last two sessions weren't noteworthy.

Looking at the data, I was surprised to see that my top speed had increased significantly from yesterday's top of 153mph. On the 1:29.6 lap, my top GPS speed was 159.1 mph. And I still managed a 158.6 mph on my fast lap a few laps later. I'm wondering if I can hit 160 with good tires in 50-something degree air on a first hot lap. Hopefully we can find out on Saturday.

My confidence/comfort level on the track took a big step forward today. Was happy to see that. I was very tentative on Monday when I started. It wasn't helped but the fact that the new scrub set I started on felt TERRIBLE. I tried them again today after the fast lap and the car felt AWFUL---was shaking, no grip.....I'm throwing those out. Ah well, sometimes you get scrubs and they just don't pan out. That's the game. The scrub set I had at COTA was great.

I was able to secure a set of new DH. The DM's are still available to me, but I was happy to get a set of DH. I will decide by Saturday if I'm also taking the DMs......we'll see.

I also found out today that Global Time Attack does not have the Yoko tire requirement in place for Road Atlanta in May due to supply chain problems, so I could run whatever tire I want......hmmmmm....may consider that event.

Tomorrow is day 1 of the PCA weekend. There's 46 cars in the run group, so it will be a day of trying to see if I can find open laps. If I can, then I will commit to running good tires on Saturday. The weather on Saturday looks incredible----high 56ºF. If not, then I will just cruise the track and be happy with what I ran today.

Here's the fast lap:

And I guess you need the gratuitous Michelin tower shot....but look at that pretty sky! Gee, I wonder...am I over the rain?

[///Mobbin]

A multi-PB day is always a good day, congrats!

Also a day at the track with sunshine is mostly always a good day, even without the PB's, glad to hear your cross-country trip is going well, keep it up

[SYT_Shadow]

Awesome work Gabe. That is really cooking!!

[dogbone]

Got going with the PCA event this AM.

First session, power steering disappeared……not sure what’s up. Steering got super hard. Will take it to the shop in a bit.

Most likely will abandon the event and just fly home today. See if they can fix it by next Thursday and then go to VIR.

I’m bummed, but yesterday was nice, so…..yeah…..

[dogbone]

Sitting here in the Atlanta airport waiting to fly home.

Yay.

I gotta tell ya—-having steering problems resurface so soon…….this one stings. Makes me want to take up basket weaving instead.

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Sitting here in the Atlanta airport waiting to fly home.

Yay.

I gotta tell ya—-having steering problems resurface so soon…….this one stings. Makes me want to take up basket weaving instead.

Any guesses what caused PS to fail?