My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by slicer

Wheel and tire goals right there. I'm still driving to and from the track. Taking the leap into a tow rig with trailer is not something I'm looking to do at this point. However, I really need to look into whether I can make a rental truck/trailer work. It's a big limitation to only be able to carry one spare wheel. I could technically put a couple of wheels on the roof, one on the passenger seat and one in the trunk but what a PIA....

With my setup I have a BK harness bar which unbolts with 2 bolts and I can carry 6 tires inside the car.

I get a kick out of this at the track. People are pretty surprised hehe.

I would not trailer anything that is not either 100% track dedicated or something like a M4 GTS, where the depreciation becomes a big deal.

I leave to the track after work and it's impossible to put a trailered car in my work's parking lot.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

With my setup I have a BK harness bar which unbolts with 2 bolts and I can carry 6 tires inside the car.

I get a kick out of this at the track. People are pretty surprised hehe.

I would not trailer anything that is not either 100% track dedicated or something like a M4 GTS, where the depreciation becomes a big deal.

I leave to the track after work and it's impossible to put a trailered car in my work's parking lot.

There's no doubt trailering is a commitment---the truck, the trailer, maintaining the trailer and truck, the parking spot for the trailer. But for me, the benefits of trailering do outweigh any logistical hassles.

[slicer]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Ironically, if you don't have a roll bar, the E90 can put 4 wheels in the back seat. Makes it more track friendly than the E92 from a tire logistics standpoint......how funny is that? I used to roll into the paddock with 4 tires, two floor jacks so I could switch camber from minimum street settings to max at the track, and a bunch of tools. It was quite packed in that car. On further-away multi-day trips to NorCal, I would jam 6 wheels into that car along with all the jacks, tools and luggage......hehe Unpacking the car was an ordeal....

I did the same in my e92 (and my e46) but the GTS cage prevents wheel/tire transport

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by dogbone

There's no doubt trailering is a commitment---the truck, the trailer, maintaining the trailer and truck, the parking spot for the trailer. But for me, the benefits of trailering do outweigh any logistical hassles.

What you're doing is well, well in the realm of 'tow or go home'.

However, there's also room for the 'road warrior' that drives the car every day and also tracks it

[ricardofors68]

Both scenarios are valid, having done both I would say that I think a lot less about driving home in one piece after a day, whereas before I would hold back a bit. My own choices though.

[admranger]

Back in my day, I had to walk to the track uphill both ways...in snow...against the wind.

Kids these days.

Call me when you have a 40' diesel pusher (Banks kit, FTW!) w/a 26' enclosed trailer behind it. What a double PITA that setup was, though the AC was nice.

This weekend I schlepped 4 wheels/tires in the back seat of the E90M3 to Summit Point. Makes the driver's seat a bit too close to the steering wheel though.

[dogbone]

Let's file this one under: YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

I wanted to get a quick update in before I have to run out the door for Bimmerfest this AM----I am very happy to report that the Slon-Workshop DCT Oil Pan seems to have fixed my DCT shifting issues!

I went to Buttonwillow yesterday to shake the car down after the big round of maintenance. I did not have a single shifting problem all day--no auto upshifts, no double upshifts, no refusals to downshift, no shifting into only even gears or odd gears, no nothing. The shifting just worked fine all day long. And I had some laps in the 1:48's and 1:49's.

I am very impressed with the Slon pan. Perhaps just one track day is not enough to make a full conclusion, but it sure went darn well. (Actually this was day 2, but I only had 2 sessions on the first day because of the hub issue.)

I also liked the new Titan 7 rims. Felt good.



The track photographer got a nice rolling pan shot of the car on the new wheels. It's cool how the black wheels sorta disappear.



Today, I'll be out at Bimmerfest at Auto Club Speedway. Looking forward to seeing everyone and having a fun day!

[SYT_Shadow]

That is such good news! Thank you for the update

Good luck at Bimmerfest

Lets see how the dct keeps holding up. This is really a big deal, an actual solve to the dct issues that have plagued this platform

[///Mobbin]

Good to see the Slonik pan and Titan 7 wheels are working well, congrats!!

[RickyBobby]

Sorry if you've already covered this above, but what are your thoughts on sway bars? My car is perfectly balanced, but I'm tempted to add sways as my last step.

[tlrid3r]

Just wanted to add that dogbone's car is a well sorted and very fast car. He clearly has a great level of understanding of car tuning and driving skills.

Thanks for the ride along, great tips. Helped me get a little more consistent and knock off about 1/2 sec of my constant times. Also thanks for some good lap data on the solo.

Great meeting you.

[GerrS65]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

I know I was quick to pipe up about the wheels, but it was out of habit... bad timing for me, I'm getting hitched next month to mrs. beef and have to watch the spending for now.

Mrs. Beef. I laughed out loud. congrats man!

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

That is such good news! Thank you for the update

Good luck at Bimmerfest

Lets see how the dct keeps holding up. This is really a big deal, an actual solve to the dct issues that have plagued this platform

So, car has gone through another hard day at Bimmerfest at Auto Club Speedway. And-----no shifting issues!! This is now three days at 3 different tracks and not a single missed shift or double upshift:

1. a short day at Big Willow. Ran a new personal best so the forces were high, but the day was short because of the hub problem. No shifting issues.

2. Solid Buttonwillow day. Drove a good number of laps. Had fresh, high grip tires. No shifting issues. I ALWAYS (did I mention always?) had problems at Buttonwillow.

3. Solid day at Auto Club Speedway. Had very fresh, high grip tires. Bought two run groups, so I ran a lot of sessions. Drove the first 80% of the course faster than ever, but they changed the course by putting up a tire barrier in the Playground near the end which slows you down, so I didn't set a new faster lap. No shifting issues.

I am very very happy with this Slon DCT pan. I just don't know what else to say.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by dogbone

So, car has gone through another hard day at Bimmerfest at Auto Club Speedway. And-----no shifting issues!! This is now three days at 3 different tracks and not a single missed shift or double upshift:

1. a short day at Big Willow. Ran a new personal best so the forces were high, but the day was short because of the hub problem. No shifting issues.

2. Solid Buttonwillow day. Drove a good number of laps. Had fresh, high grip tires. No shifting issues. I ALWAYS (did I mention always?) had problems at Buttonwillow.

3. Solid day at Auto Club Speedway. Had very fresh, high grip tires. Bought two run groups, so I ran a lot of sessions. Drove the first 80% of the course faster than ever, but they changed the course by putting up a tire barrier in the Playground near the end which slows you down, so I didn't set a new faster lap. No shifting issues.

I am very very happy with this Slon DCT pan. I just don't know what else to say.

That is impressive

You should open a thread in the engine/drivetrain section. This is a big deal, these issues have plagued many members and slonik has actualy solved them.

You've got to spread the word. There are so many aftermarket parts for our cars that do *absolutely* nothing. For one that does...

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by ///Mobbin

Good to see the Slonik pan and Titan 7 wheels are working well, congrats!!

Thanks. Yeah, the car is feeling good. I'm enjoying the new look of the car. And I'm very happy to not be having shifting issues.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by RickyBobby

Sorry if you've already covered this above, but what are your thoughts on sway bars? My car is perfectly balanced, but I'm tempted to add sways as my last step.

I was also curious about what a sway bar would do. I had the opportunity to switch sway bars at the track mid-day. Steve (one of the owners) from EAS was planning on being at Buttonwillow when I was going to be there and agreed to help me switch bars mid-day so I could feel changes between sessions.

We were trying an RD Sport sway bar---only the front. My rear bar is still stock to this day. (The rear requires dropping the subframe to install.....can't do that at the track.....)

So, I drove in the AM with my normal setup, then we jumped under the car, switched the bars and I ran right back out on track.

The car felt less sloppy in the turns. The weight transitioned faster on quick back-and-forth turns like Esses-style turns. It seemed to lean a bit a less. The car felt a bit tighter and more nimble. On that particular track day, as the weather got warmer, everyone's lap times slowed, but I got faster after the change.

I like the stiffer front bar versus the stock bar. These days I don't run it on the maximum stiffness setting. It's on the middle hole.

But, as usual, it's not all just a happy day. There are other considerations. The job of a sway bar is to connect the two dampers. If you paid a lot of money for high quality dampers, and then you connect a super stiff sway bar, then you reduce each damper's ability to react independently to the surface feature they are experiencing. That's not ideal. Another potential side effect of a stiffer sway bar is more understeer, but I didn't sense much if any loss of turn in.

In my particular case, I had a supercharger weighing down the nose and I didn't have very stiff springs on the car, so I had a fair amount of leeway to stiffen things up to some degree. If you have really high spring rates, they may already be restricting the dampers. Adding a super stuff sway bar to the setup may be too much.

For me the order of consideration is:

-suspension choice - single adjustable, dual adjustable, remote canisters, etc. You want the most mature dampers you can find. If you have lame dampers, everything else is going to suffer.
-spring rates - you can't adjust these. So you're stuck until you swap.
-Nitrogen pressure - I have a nitrogen rig and can change the psi. This is often overlooked. When I upped the nitrogen pressure, I felt the car was better able to resist leaning over.....similar to what the sway bar does, but without connecting the dampers together, and without going to a stiffer spring.
-sway bar choice/settings

And then based on those choices you adjust compression/rebound settings.

I'd say, if you're springs aren't too stiff, and your nitrogen pressures aren't too high, then a stiffer sway bar could tighten up the weight transitions a little bit without too many negative consequences. In my opinion, when a car starts getting too stiff---high spring rates, high nitrogen, stiff sway bar---the dampers just cannot react to the subtle surface features, you bounce off berms, etc.

For me, sway bars was not night and day difference. It was a more subtle "feel" thing. My first impression after the first drive on it was the car almost felt a little bit "lighter" in turns because it transitioned the back-and-forth weight quicker.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by tlrid3r

Just wanted to add that dogbone's car is a well sorted and very fast car. He clearly has a great level of understanding of car tuning and driving skills.

Thanks for the ride along, great tips. Helped me get a little more consistent and knock off about 1/2 sec of my constant times. Also thanks for some good lap data on the solo.

Great meeting you.

Friday was a fun day at Buttonwillow. It was nice meeting you and chatting. I don't normally have a passenger seat in the car, so I usually can't give rides, so I'm glad that worked out.

[RickyBobby]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I was also curious about what a sway bar would do. I had the opportunity to switch sway bars at the track mid-day. Steve (one of the owners) from EAS was planning on being at Buttonwillow when I was going to be there and agreed to help me switch bars mid-day so I could feel changes between sessions.

We were trying an RD Sport sway bar---only the front. My rear bar is still stock to this day. (The rear requires dropping the subframe to install.....can't do that at the track.....)

So, I drove in the AM with my normal setup, then we jumped under the car, switched the bars and I ran right back out on track.

The car felt less sloppy in the turns. The weight transitioned faster on quick back-and-forth turns like Esses-style turns. It seemed to lean a bit a less. The car felt a bit tighter and more nimble. On that particular track day, as the weather got warmer, everyone's lap times slowed, but I got faster after the change.

I like the stiffer front bar versus the stock bar. These days I don't run it on the maximum stiffness setting. It's on the middle hole.

But, as usual, it's not all just a happy day. There are other considerations. The job of a sway bar is to connect the two dampers. If you paid a lot of money for high quality dampers, and then you connect a super stiff sway bar, then you reduce each damper's ability to react independently to the surface feature they are experiencing. That's not ideal. Another potential side effect of a stiffer sway bar is more understeer, but I didn't sense much if any loss of turn in.

In my particular case, I had a supercharger weighing down the nose and I didn't have very stiff springs on the car, so I had a fair amount of leeway to stiffen things up to some degree. If you have really high spring rates, they may already be restricting the dampers. Adding a super stuff sway bar to the setup may be too much.

For me the order of consideration is:

-suspension choice - single adjustable, dual adjustable, remote canisters, etc. You want the most mature dampers you can find. If you have lame dampers, everything else is going to suffer.
-spring rates - you can't adjust these. So you're stuck until you swap.
-Nitrogen pressure - I have a nitrogen rig and can change the psi. This is often overlooked. When I upped the nitrogen pressure, I felt the car was better able to resist leaning over.....similar to what the sway bar does, but without connecting the dampers together, and without going to a stiffer spring.
-sway bar choice/settings

And then based on those choices you adjust compression/rebound settings.

I'd say, if you're springs aren't too stiff, and your nitrogen pressures aren't too high, then a stiffer sway bar could tighten up the weight transitions a little bit without too many negative consequences. In my opinion, when a car starts getting too stiff---high spring rates, high nitrogen, stiff sway bar---the dampers just cannot react to the subtle surface features, you bounce off berms, etc.

For me, sway bars was not night and day difference. It was a more subtle "feel" thing. My first impression after the first drive on it was the car almost felt a little bit "lighter" in turns because it transitioned the back-and-forth weight quicker.

Thanks for the write up. You've confirmed much of what I was thinking. The front bar might dial out a bit of the oversteer that I haven't been able to dial out with shocks, springs and pressure.
I run on the softer end of the spring rates because I like the mechanical grip and my ttx keep the motions in check.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by RickyBobby

Thanks for the write up. You've confirmed much of what I was thinking. The front bar might dial out a bit of the oversteer that I haven't been able to dial out with shocks, springs and pressure.
I run on the softer end of the spring rates because I like the mechanical grip and my ttx keep the motions in check.

It sounds like the sway bar could be a good thing to try here.

Alignment could be a topic to visit as well. However, I would do alignment and sways bar changes separately so you can feel each change.

What alignment do you run now?

[dogbone]

Bimmerfest and Bimmer Challenge took place at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday. The weather was just incredible for the end of May. Temps stayed in the 60's and it was cloudy most of the day. Could not have asked for better conditions.

The Bimmerfest show brought out thousands of people. My paddock spot was between the vendor booths and the food trucks, so with all the foot traffic, there was a lot of people checking out my car all day long. Everyone was very friendly. I really do enjoy the general camaraderie of BMW enthusiasts.

Bimmer Challenge was interesting. I was told that I won my B1 class, but that's all I know. There was some confusion in the AM because Speed Ventures seemed to have issues with the timing system. These days, Speed Ventures usually posts times on the Race Hero app which is very handy. But, there was some issue and they weren't doing that. And they weren't printing times for awhile. Some people were saying that they didn't capture the times, but that was incorrect. As a result, no one knew what anyone else's times were. Later in the day, some times were being printed, but it was still messy. Ultimately, at the end of the day, they were not able to hand out all the prizes because the timing issues prevented the Bimmer Challenge organizers from getting a final printout of times.

I had a weird tech issue on Saturday. I have always had weird tech issues at ACS---blown fuses that cut the engine off, misting system malfunctions......just weird stuff that doesn't happen anywhere else. On the second Red Group session, I was on my out-lap, I exited the pits, touched the brakes for the first turn, and a bunch of water---like half a gallon---lurched up through the hood vents and splashed on my windshield. I was like---WHAT THE------??!!! Then, every turn, I was gliding and sliding.....what the hell? I took the rest of the out-lap slowly because I was slipping through the turns and worried about the car. (Apparently, in the driver download meeting after the session, people were pissed that the out-lap pace was too slow.......sorry everyone, I had a tech issue.) So, I pitted immediately, looked under the car and water was dripping everywhere. Someone looked under there in the hot pit and thought I blew all my coolant. I pulled the car into the paddock and water was still dripping away. Since the car didn't get hot, I was able to open the coolant reservoir----totally full. I opened the supercharger cooling intercooler system----totally full......The misting system on my car is fed via the windshield washer reservoir. The cap to the reservoir was open. Did all that water coming spewing out of there? It must have, because it was virtually empty. But why did it belch all the water out the top at once just because I tapped the brakes?? How the heck did it even do that? I wasn't going fast. I just came onto the track. SO WEIRD. Casey from Racewerkz came over and looked at the car and said it looked fine. I got back out the next session and the car felt fine and I ran my best of the day.

Regarding my lap time----I was disappointed that they changed the course slightly by adding some tire barriers to the Playground near the end. This slows the lap down just a bit because you specifically have to go around a new barrier. In the past, you could just carve your own path through that fairly open last part of the Playground ground section. So, I guess we have to consider this a new configuration......I ran 1:43.8 with this new tire barrier. (I haven't made a video yet. I'll try to do that soon.)

I had my passenger seat in this weekend because my brother-in-law was visiting. He had never been to a track, so I had the seat in so I could give him a ride. I ended giving several people rides over the weekend. The biggest reaction I got from everyone was regarding the braking force. Cornering grip and acceleration and overall speed didn't interest anyone like the braking did. Most thought that there was no way we would make the next corner.....hehe. (A couple weeks ago we were talking about braking in this thread, and I'm almost done writing a post about that with some charts. I'll post it soon.)

The car overall ran great both days---Friday at Buttonwillow and Saturday at ACS. The new hubs, new wheels....all that stuff came together nicely. Again, I'm really happy with the Slon-Workshop DCT pan. Such a relief to not have shifting issues all the time.

On a personal note, our family is moving from California to Colorado in a couple weeks, so this past weekend may have been my last track days as a CA resident (unless I do GTA on Sunday, which is doubtful.) I've been living in Los Angeles for 20 years. I can work from anywhere, so we're making it a life adventure to move to a new place.

I will leave my E90 M3 track car in CA for now, so I'll fly back and go hit the CA tracks with my buddies. You CA guys haven't got rid of me yet!!! There's still plenty of things to try at CA tracks! (I still wanna try slicks at Sonoma and Thunderhill. Really looking forward to that.) In CO, I do plan on taking my E92 M3 street car to High Plains Raceway and checking that out. I have my old AP brakes that will go on the E92, I have a set of 9.5" square track wheels with DH scrubs on them, and I had EAS put the CAN bus connection for the AIM in that car, so it can go out and do some fun track days.

On another personal note, I am blown away that my little build thread is approaching 100,000 views. (99,970 at last look.) I guess in the next day or so, it will cross the 100k mark. When I posted pix of my build in 2015, I had no idea the thread would turn into such a long running thing. I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to participate in this thread up to this point. I have enjoyed it immensely. I hope it's been useful and fun for those who have checked it out. I plan to continue writing in here, but the next couple months may be a bit quiet due to the move. (As I mentioned above, I will post about braking characteristics soon.). I do have an interesting project planned for the car this summer......something to make it lighter. Once it really gets going and becomes a real thing, I'll start posting about that in here too.

Anyway, I found a couple more cool pix from the track photographers on Saturday:





Caliphotography took some short video clips from Turn 13. These clips are a bit silly with the slo mo, but they're still fun. They included it in the price, so what the heck, why not.... This was late in the day when I was cruising the track on older tires, so I wasn't hammering the berms.

[BayE30]

saw your car @ Bimmerfest, looked awesome out there on the track!

[DreamTime]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Bimmerfest and Bimmer Challenge took place at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday. The weather was just incredible for the end of May. Temps stayed in the 60's and it was cloudy most of the day. Could not have asked for better conditions.

The Bimmerfest show brought out thousands of people. My paddock spot was between the vendor booths and the food trucks, so with all the foot traffic, there was a lot of people checking out my car all day long. Everyone was very friendly. I really do enjoy the general camaraderie of BMW enthusiasts.

Bimmer Challenge was interesting. I was told that I won my B1 class, but that's all I know. There was some confusion in the AM because Speed Ventures seemed to have issues with the timing system. These days, Speed Ventures usually posts times on the Race Hero app which is very handy. But, there was some issue and they weren't doing that. And they weren't printing times for awhile. Some people were saying that they didn't capture the times, but that was incorrect. As a result, no one knew what anyone else's times were. Later in the day, some times were being printed, but it was still messy. Ultimately, at the end of the day, they were not able to hand out all the prizes because the timing issues prevented the Bimmer Challenge organizers from getting a final printout of times.

I had a weird tech issue on Saturday. I have always had weird tech issues at ACS---blown fuses that cut the engine off, misting system malfunctions......just weird stuff that doesn't happen anywhere else. On the second Red Group session, I was on my out-lap, I exited the pits, touched the brakes for the first turn, and a bunch of water---like half a gallon---lurched up through the hood vents and splashed on my windshield. I was like---WHAT THE------??!!! Then, every turn, I was gliding and sliding.....what the hell? I took the rest of the out-lap slowly because I was slipping through the turns and worried about the car. (Apparently, in the driver download meeting after the session, people were pissed that the out-lap pace was too slow.......sorry everyone, I had a tech issue.) So, I pitted immediately, looked under the car and water was dripping everywhere. Someone looked under there in the hot pit and thought I blew all my coolant. I pulled the car into the paddock and water was still dripping away. Since the car didn't get hot, I was able to open the coolant reservoir----totally full. I opened the supercharger cooling intercooler system----totally full......The misting system on my car is fed via the windshield washer reservoir. The cap to the reservoir was open. Did all that water coming spewing out of there? It must have, because it was virtually empty. But why did it belch all the water out the top at once just because I tapped the brakes?? How the heck did it even do that? I wasn't going fast. I just came onto the track. SO WEIRD. Casey from Racewerkz came over and looked at the car and said it looked fine. I got back out the next session and the car felt fine and I ran my best of the day.

Regarding my lap time----I was disappointed that they changed the course slightly by adding some tire barriers to the Playground near the end. This slows the lap down just a bit because you specifically have to go around a new barrier. In the past, you could just carve your own path through that fairly open last part of the Playground ground section. So, I guess we have to consider this a new configuration......I ran 1:43.8 with this new tire barrier. (I haven't made a video yet. I'll try to do that soon.)

I had my passenger seat in this weekend because my brother-in-law was visiting. He had never been to a track, so I had the seat in so I could give him a ride. I ended giving several people rides over the weekend. The biggest reaction I got from everyone was regarding the braking force. Cornering grip and acceleration and overall speed didn't interest anyone like the braking did. Most thought that there was no way we would make the next corner.....hehe. (A couple weeks ago we were talking about braking in this thread, and I'm almost done writing a post about that with some charts. I'll post it soon.)

The car overall ran great both days---Friday at Buttonwillow and Saturday at ACS. The new hubs, new wheels....all that stuff came together nicely. Again, I'm really happy with the Slon-Workshop DCT pan. Such a relief to not have shifting issues all the time.

On a personal note, our family is moving from California to Colorado in a couple weeks, so this past weekend may have been my last track days as a CA resident (unless I do GTA on Sunday, which is doubtful.) I've been living in Los Angeles for 20 years. I can work from anywhere, so we're making it a life adventure to move to a new place.

I will leave my E90 M3 track car in CA for now, so I'll fly back and go hit the CA tracks with my buddies. You CA guys haven't got rid of me yet!!! There's still plenty of things to try at CA tracks! (I still wanna try slicks at Sonoma and Thunderhill. Really looking forward to that.) In CO, I do plan on taking my E92 M3 street car to High Plains Raceway and checking that out. I have my old AP brakes that will go on the E92, I have a set of 9.5" square track wheels with DH scrubs on them, and I had EAS put the CAN bus connection for the AIM in that car, so it can go out and do some fun track days.

On another personal note, I am blown away that my little build thread is approaching 100,000 views. (99,970 at last look.) I guess in the next day or so, it will cross the 100k mark. When I posted pix of my build in 2015, I had no idea the thread would turn into such a long running thing. I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to participate in this thread up to this point. I have enjoyed it immensely. I hope it's been useful and fun for those who have checked it out. I plan to continue writing in here, but the next couple months may be a bit quiet due to the move. (As I mentioned above, I will post about braking characteristics soon.). I do have an interesting project planned for the car this summer......something to make it lighter. Once it really gets going and becomes a real thing, I'll start posting about that in here too.

Lucky passengers who scored a ride in your car over the weekend! Dang.

Wow, that is very exciting news for you and your family! I lived near Telluride for a while and I have family in Denver, I love that state. I’m sure you guys will too! Something tells me you will be missed in CA

Your thread was the very first one I subscribed to after joining this forum, you have really put together something amazing here. I feel like I need to start at the very beginning and make my way through the whole thing. I can only imagine the wealth of info & knowledge buried in there. It is super awesome for someone like me to have access to something like this.

Good luck with the move!