slcook54 - Track Journal

[slcook54]

Fast (slow) Lap - 2:08.82

[roastbeef]

you can save a little more with the aerocatch latches if you get rid of the oem latches. i believe the provisions on the m24 hood put the aerocatch latches into the radiator support bracket. they are close to three pounds. you'll have to come up with a simple L bracket for the headlight mount, but you could trim the latch to reduce weight. i'd also get rid of the cable and latch... probably worth 6-8 ounces at least.

[slcook54]

Track #18 & #19 - 12/17/22 - 12/18/22

Prior to the Day

After the prior issues with my tune, I decided to give Randy at Epic a call and I was immediately sold. He has a race tune that disables the feature that put my car into limp mode on the previous day. After installing the tune, I didn’t notice a material difference in speed, but the car hauls. It’s very smooth through the entire rev rage. I'll toss it on the dyno in the near future.

We also mounted fresh RE71RS’s in 275/35 square on the Titan7's.



12/17/22

I booked two days with OnGrid for the bargain price of $250. It was my first real time at Thunderhill East with the E92 where I was able to complete more than a single lap. Out of the gate, everything felt dialed. In my first session, I was immediately 6 full seconds faster than I was in the F80 CS a couple of weeks earlier. The new 9668 kit felt extremely predictable and the RE71RS's are a major step up from the NT01.

If I can get two more days out of the 71RS, I do not see myself moving away from this tire, it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. With that being said, I am committed to running 295/30/18 square going forward. This will be my last set of tires on a 275/35 square setup.

In the first session, I also accidentally hit the M button without noticing and was immediately like "WTF is going on with the car?". It was my first time truly realizing how much MDM had been intervening.

In my second session, I knocked another full second off with a 2:01.54, while being slightly held up by the S2000. I was feeling good, the car felt great and I wanted to keep pushing to establish a solid baseline with the car. Immediately after my fast lap, another car kicked up a bunch of dirt and mud after the bypass while I was on a flyer, I saw it too late and had a fairly big off into the grass.



I was okay and the car seemed to be okay too. At the recommendation of a buddy, I found a hose and sprayed all the mud and grass off the car and then made my way over to the on-site tire shop. I had them remount the tires and balance the wheels. The tire shop also had an air compressor handy, which I used to spray off all the dirt I could find. Aside from losing one of my splitters (RIP), there was no discernible damage to the car. I figured I probably messed up the alignment, but after doing a couple of pulls on the street, everything felt fine. I ended up missing the 3rd session, but got back out there for the 4th session, with the only goal of building my confidence back up. In that regard I was successful. I decided to call it after the 4th session as the 5th session was only 15 minutes and also combined two different run groups.



12/18/22

I don’t know if it was me or the car, but I couldn’t get into the groove on Sunday, I logged a couple of 2:03’s but couldn’t get my hot pressures right and decided to retire after the 3rd session. I felt I'd extracted enough value from the weekend and called it a day.

What’s Next

Reflecting on the year, I’m very happy with my 1:42 at Laguna and 2:01 at Thunderhill East. There is plenty of work to do and time to chip away in 2023. I am planning to log around 20-25 days next year starting with SpeedSF at Thunderhill East on 1/14 - 1/15

The car will be going under the knife January, most notably will be the addition of full Bimmerworld aero. Most of my friends seriously tracking these cars have full aero and have told me it's good for 3-4 seconds around most of the NorCal tracks. I can’t wait to feel the car with real downforce and another 100lbs removed from the car.

Here’s what else is on the docket in January

Maintenance overall

- Injectors
- Plugs
- M Power Throttle Actuators
- Slon vanos cover
- Fuel Filter / Pump
- Valve covers and gaskets
- Fuel tank vent valve
- Replace transmission felt cover
- Replace windshield

Upgrades

- Mjunkee GTS style armrest
- KMP wheel
- Bimmerworld Ultralight Wing and Splitter
- Install Brake Ducting
- Karbonius Plenum







Future Upgrades
- In talks with driftflo on a Drexler GT4 differential
- M24 door cards and hood should be arriving in January
- Bimmerworld carbon trunk ordered with a 6 month lead time
- Conversion to 295/30 square setup
- Gold BBS E88’s on order 18x10.5 square. I will have RIA’s in 10.5 square and E88’s in 10.5 square and will sell both sets of my current wheels. I don’t plan on taking wheels on the track anymore.

Big shoutout to Phil at Bimmerworld for hooking it up with BW blanket, socks and gummies

[slcook54]

Lots of areas for improvement here, but happy given it was my first time out with the E92.

[rhyary]

sorry to hear about your off.
Never a fun thing to see dirt all over your car

[Hein Jockins]

Glad the car is okay, and an exciting list of up grades in the future! Curious what your thought process was for moving off MDM to full DSC off. MDM chews through my front pads and is so much more intervening than future F Gen MDM. A track vet once told me to keep the nannies on unless I'm okay wrecking my car.. hence I've left it on, but I feel pretty inhibited.

[RugbyBro]

Yo do you touge tho?

[omgzirra_exe]

how the hekc you come across a BW UL WING LOL

[derbo]

Originally Posted by omgzirra_exe

how the hekc you come across a BW UL WING LOL

He ordered it duhhhh

[omgzirra_exe]

Originally Posted by derbo

He ordered it duhhhh

i thought they were discontinued

[derbo]

Originally Posted by omgzirra_exe

i thought they were discontinued

https://www.bimmerworld.com/Body-Aer...Race-Wing.html

Just got to wait for stock

[omgzirra_exe]

Originally Posted by derbo

https://www.bimmerworld.com/Body-Aer...Race-Wing.html

Just got to wait for stock

sheesh its been that long then haha.

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by omgzirra_exe

sheesh its been that long then haha.

They are made to order. Carbon trunk is worse, 6 month wait.

[omgzirra_exe]

Originally Posted by slcook54

They are made to order. Carbon trunk is worse, 6 month wait.

yeah i was trying to order one back in like june? and it said back ordered or something, when i was originally making my bulk bimmerworld purchase.

i guess i shouldved asked.

[tougetrained]

subbed

[slcook54]

Track Day #20 - #23

1/14/23 - 1/15/23 & 1/28 - 1/29

This thread is overdue for an update. I’ve logged 4 track days since my last update and have made some notable progress at Thunderhill East. The car has also received several significant updates.

Prior to the Day

With the car crossing 65k miles, I wanted to do a maintenance overhaul. This included:

- Injectors
- Fuel Filter and Fuel pump
- Fuel vapor detection pump
- Spark plugs and spark plug tubes
- Timing cover gasket
- SLON vanos covers
- Throttle actuators and tank vent valve
- Valve cover gaskets (powder coated wrinkle black)
- Fresh transmission undertray
- New windshield. This made a huge difference, old one was beat up.

Modifications

- Bimmerworld Ultralight Wing
- Bimmerworld front splitter
- Karbonius matte carbon intake. I'm underwhelmed. The Dinan intake provided a nice bump in sound, this added a touch of volume, but nothing material. For the price, I’d skip this. I don’t care about the under hood bling, I just wanted a touch of weight savings and more intake sound.
- KMP steering wheel
- mjunkee armrest
- E90Anthony DCT knob, painted black and alcantara DCT and e-brake boots









Thunderhill East (Bypass) - 1/14 & 1/15

January in California was WET! I have lived in San Francisco for 13 years and have never seen it rain as hard as it did in January. Unfortunately, I was caught in the middle of it on my drive to Thunderhill. I decided to switch wheel setups and tossed on the E88’s which have PS4S's mounted. The drive to the track was horrible. It was dark, windy and I was hydroplaning for most of the drive. I considered turning around several times, but I white knuckled it and made it there safely.

Given the conditions, I knew it was a car control weekend and wasn’t really focused on pushing the car. I wanted to keep it on the track and build up my muscle memory as I was scheduled to come back two weeks later. Saturday stayed extremely wet all day. Sunday was drier but still wet in several key turns. I found pace on Sunday, but was running ~15 seconds off my pace from my prior outing. The car also felt odd on full aero and PS4S. My best time was 2:14.54.

Thunderhill East (Bypass) - 1/28 & 1/29

Prior to the day, I had VT realign the car. They only had the rear at -2.0 and I wanted it closer to -2.5. For whatever reason, they were only able to get it to -2.2. We also found two slight bends in my right side E88’s. They said it wasn’t worth swapping barrels since it’s very slight. I’ll likely do that at some point, annoying.

Saturday conditions were absolutely perfect, clear, cool and dry. I tossed the RE71RS’s onto the car and was ready to lay down some solid times. Everything was lining up.

While you can work your hardest to control all the variables, you can’t control other drivers, you just have to roll with it. In my second session, I beat my previous best time by a full 3 seconds logging a 1:58.70. I was eating into that time by a full second on my next lap, but a Camaro put it into the tire barrier in T12 and the session was red flagged.

I was happy to get into the 58’s considering that there were obvious mistakes to fix. I completely missed the apex in T9 and scrubbed way too much speed. This corner is uphill and cambered, but also blind. You can carry more speed then you think. I know it, I just need to commit harder next time. It reminds me of T6 at Laguna. I also came through T10 at a faster pace and braked too late for T11. I ended up scrubbing too much speed and this corner is critical to setup the straight. If I nail these two corners, it will have me in the 56's

There are also smaller areas to focus on. T1 could be faster and T3 I can have the car dancing a bit more. One hurdle I was happy to cross was only lifting for T8. I was going through here at 90mph last time. I picked up a full 10mph, which is critical going up the hill. There is still more time to find here. I stopped braking and just lifted, but I can lift even less next time.

Later in the day, I had a 1:57 lined up on three separate occasions but encountered traffic or flags each time.

Sunday was wet and freezing, the weather was on and off. I ran the third session and it immediately started raining. I finished the session and decided to call it for the weekend. The day ended up getting drier for sessions 4 & 5 and in hindsight, I wish I would have stuck around, but it is what it is. spxxx laid down a very respectable 1:55.9. I vow to keep up with him better next time. It was also great hanging with spooni.

I also had the chance to shoot some real shots of the car, enjoy.

















2023 Plans

- Core4 floating lug nuts
- Bimmerworld carbon brake backing plates and ducting
- M24 hood and door cards, these keep getting delayed, but should be shipping in 2-4 weeks
- Bimmerworld carbon trunk
- E90 rear HVAC conversion or block off plate
- Delete the entire sound system, amp, subs, stereo, speaker, door cards, etc.
- Flossman fenders have been downgraded to a 'maybe'. I was talking to Dominik and they don’t provide any additional width over stock. It's a costly product with shipping for no real benefit aside from looks and maybe a touch of aero.
- Figure out how to fit 295/30 square, I’m not sure what this is going to take, but I don’t want to ditch my helper spring or fiddle with my suspension right now. I think VT can make it work with some fender rolling and a 12mm spacer. To be determined.
- I’d like to get the car around 3250-3275lbs on a full tank. I’m currently at 3,397.
- Drexler GT4 differential

Next Track Days

- 2/25 & 2/26 with BMW CCA at Thunderhill East
- 3/11 & 3/12 I signed up for a 2-day drifting training with Bay Area Drifting. I'm not happy with my on the limit driving and countering oversteer. Practicing this on the track isn't very practical and candidly dangerous, so I'm happy to spend two days practicing with someone else's car.

[slcook54]

Thunderhill East (Bypass) - 1/28/23 - 1:58.70

[//steve\\]

Always like to see the updates! Car looks fantastic! Still want to see it with the other other wheels

[DrFerry]

Originally Posted by slcook54

I also had the chance to shoot some real shots of the car, enjoy.
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.
- 3/11 & 3/12 I signed up for a 2-day drifting training with Bay Area Drifting. I'm not happy with my on the limit driving and countering oversteer. Practicing this on the track isn't very practical and candidly dangerous, so I'm happy to spend two days practicing with someone else's car.

Thanks for the update. It's great progress and news. I'm loving the professional photos too. You have a gorgeous E92 M3. My E92 is also Melbourne Red.

I can almost guarantee the Bay Area Drifting school will be money well spent by you. As Race Team Manager Carol Smith once said in one of his books (link below), "the most efficient money a Team Manager can spend to reduce lap times is spent on improving the driver".. Though IMO the second most efficient way to reduce lap times is 'better' tires. That is providing the driver has the skills to exploit what the tires might have to offer..

As you pointed out, car control is difficult to learn on the racetrack - and can be way more embarrassing then learning to dance on the dance floor - in more ways than one. If you can find a large piece of asphalt somewhere *after it rains or during rain* - such as a baseball or football stadium parking lot, or just a large parking lot that's relatively empty (even at night), try driving in large circles (of about 200ft diameter) while progressively adding gas until your at the limit and all of the tires are 'talking' to you. Then gently add more gas (to increase rear tire slip angle) and perhaps open the wheel a little (to reduce front tire slip angles) as the rear end starts to step out. Keep adding throttle and probing the limit with the gas pedal until your driving the car around the circle in a steady state over steer slide. Practice this until you've mastered steering the car in the slide with the gas pedal (drifting) as well as counter steering to hold the car at a specific drift angle.

During this phase of car control skill development it's important for the brain and inner ear to 'feel' the build up and reduction in lateral G-Forces while entering a slide, holding the slide, and reducing the slide yaw angle or yaw rate (varying the rotation attitude of the car). Being able to sense yaw rotation and weight transfer and 'manage' both of these with gas and steer angle are the keys to beginning to master car control.

The next exercise to practice and learn is how rapidly (rate) to reduce steering wheel angle (by how much) as rear grip during the slide either returns to you or diminishes. Most instructors all talk about "steering into the slide" but rarely speak about when to reduce the steering angle nor how rapidly or how to sense by how much. As grip starts to diminish during a slide (yaw rotation and yaw velocity start to slow down) then the driver must return the steering wheel rapidly to zero or risk provoking a snap spin in the opposite direction. Some refer to this snap effect as a 'tank slapper' or snap spin..

There are various resources out there - to help those savvy enough to want to do so - to learn car control. Wet surfaces, snow and ice (I know it doesn't snow in SFA but there are ski resorts in the mountains) and winter car control clinics where one can learn these skills in a safe environment. Once learned, it's like learning to swim i.e. one never forgets though one can be come rusty as one ages and reaction times increase...

PS: There are other exercises such as pitch and catch which teaches how to use trail braking, steering and throttle applications to provoke weight transfer and solicit oversteer on demand (drift initiation) but this post might become too long to explain those. Perhaps they're for another post.
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Here's something we did with Richard Hammond from Top Gear on this same subject.
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https://www.sae.org/publications/books/content/b-704/
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https://michelinpg.com/car-control-training-draft/
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https://michelinpg.com/

[spxxx]

Really wish my car was as pretty as yours, good hangs at T-Hill. Pictures look incredible! I feel the same about my lap, T6 hurts me a lot & T7-8 complex can make or break a lap (I've seen 1sec deltas in laps with a 3-4mph difference in exit speed from T6. I think I lose the most time in T9 too, I know there's grip but I'm just too scared to commit. I had a massive off there when I first started tracking annnnddd then started a fire last year LOL...

FWIW, No one is ever happy with T7. My min-speed was ~101mph Sunday and I still kick myself every time I look at data/video. The paint on the curbing at T-Hill gets incredibly slick when wet and that's not somewhere you want to go off. Try taking it one gear up and staying flat (5th or 6th) depending on your gearing/speed.

[derbo]

Originally Posted by spxxx

Really wish my car was as pretty as yours, good hangs at T-Hill. Pictures look incredible! I feel the same about my lap, T6 hurts me a lot & T7-8 complex can make or break a lap (I've seen 1sec deltas in laps with a 3-4mph difference in exit speed from T6. I think I lose the most time in T9 too, I know there's grip but I'm just too scared to commit. I had a massive off there when I first started tracking annnnddd then started a fire last year LOL...

FWIW, No one is ever happy with T7. My min-speed was ~101mph Sunday and I still kick myself every time I look at data/video. The paint on the curbing at T-Hill gets incredibly slick when wet and that's not somewhere you want to go off. Try taking it one gear up and staying flat (5th or 6th) depending on your gearing/speed.

One day I'll join you all, when the moons and planet align.

[slcook54]

Track Day #24 & #25

2/25/23 - Thunderhill East (Bypass)


I found three more tenths last week. I was hoping to push for 57's next time, but this upcoming Friday has rain in the forecast. I'll do a full write-up after my next outing.

I think pulling 2nd gear in T11 and finding a later braking point and carrying more speed through T9 should help me get into 57’s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TTsIb7YsJo