Track forum general chit chat.

[silvergray545]

Originally Posted by Kong Sheng Han

I test fitted 18x10 ET25 with 275/35 NT01s after raising ride height. Camber was way off at about 2.5°, and tire was sticking out about an inch. I don't think doing 3.0° with them will be possible, but I may try to test fit again anyways. 9.5 ET22 will require excessive camber, about 3.3-3.5, which I don't need as 3.0 yields perfect tire wear. 9.5 ET35 requires 5mm spacers up front to clear PSS10s; would prefer not to run spacers but I don't have any other options. When I switch to Bilstein Clubsports (someday), I shouldn't need to run the 5mm spacers.

I have a buddy that's running 18x10 ET25 with 265/35s. He runs -3.5 degrees of camber and he still gets a little rubbing. But I think that's totally suspension related. He's running KW V2s. I'm thinking there may be less compression with a stiffer linear spring. I might ask to see if I can test fit one just to get an idea of what the clearance (or lack of) there is. If it's a no go, 9.5 ET35 with a 10 mm spacer in the rear (I'd like to keep the same rear track width) is the way I'll go.

[1MOREMOD]

E46 takes some work to get 275-35 to fit up front on 18x10 et 25. Mine are rolled and pulled a bit as well.

[Kong Sheng Han]

No thanks to pulling. 18x9.5 it is.

[roastbeef]

i noticed tuner has a carbon strut brace for the e9x. looks like a one piece. not sure if it goes behind or in front of the plenum, but it hope it combines with the existing braces and goes in front of the plenum. if so, i think i'm going to pull the trigger.
https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-1...-brace-e9x-m3/

[1MOREMOD]

Originally Posted by Kong Sheng Han

No thanks to pulling. 18x9.5 it is.

Hack saw and some bolt on fender flares then! Wide body style

[Kong Sheng Han]

Good point.

[nholmes]

Originally Posted by DiXiS 18

Were you in the garage with the GT350R and camaro and evo? If so, you were in the garage next to us. I think I saw you a few times out on the track session as well.

Yessir! How many cars did you guys stuff into your two car garage? Looked like you guy had eight cars up in there.

How did your car hold up with the heat?

[DiXiS 18]

Originally Posted by nholmes

Yessir! How many cars did you guys stuff into your two car garage? Looked like you guy had eight cars up in there.

How did your car hold up with the heat?

Na those were some high school kids that had the 2nd half of it. We were the next one over at the end sharing with them. Only had 4 cars, 3 e46 and 1 e92. I was having a bit of heating issues and on the 3rd session before going out seems like I had a huge exhaust leak from the headers so had to pack up early. That may be partially responsible for the car running hot.

[silvergray545]

Originally Posted by 1MOREMOD

E46 takes some work to get 275-35 to fit up front on 18x10 et 25. Mine are rolled and pulled a bit as well.

Originally Posted by Kong Sheng Han

No thanks to pulling. 18x9.5 it is.

Yeah, 18x9.5 sounds like the way to go. I'm wondering how some guys are running ET22. I'd really like to not use a spacer in the rear.

[nholmes]

Originally Posted by DiXiS 18

Na those were some high school kids that had the 2nd half of it. We were the next one over at the end sharing with them. Only had 4 cars, 3 e46 and 1 e92. I was having a bit of heating issues and on the 3rd session before going out seems like I had a huge exhaust leak from the headers so had to pack up early. That may be partially responsible for the car running hot.

Did you spend some time chatting with Ryan March? I think I saw him hanging out in your garage at one point. I should have come over and introduced myself. Typically I don't see too many E9XM at the track, so I should have taken the time to come over. I think the temperature keep me busy.

[DiXiS 18]

Originally Posted by nholmes

Did you spend some time chatting with Ryan March? I think I saw him hanging out in your garage at one point. I should have come over and introduced myself. Typically I don't see too many E9XM at the track, so I should have taken the time to come over. I think the temperature keep me busy.

Ryan is my buddy. He drove with us. I was in the silver E46. Ya I was not having a joyful day dealing with that heat. Will probably take a break for a bit. And will never run NCRC again, that was a freaking joke of an event they hosted.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by DiXiS 18

Ryan is my buddy. He drove with us. I was in the silver E46. Ya I was not having a joyful day dealing with that heat. Will probably take a break for a bit. And will never run NCRC again, that was a freaking joke of an event they hosted.

How bad was it?

[DiXiS 18]

Originally Posted by redpriest

How bad was it?

It was almost as bad as an extreme speed event. There advanced group was a beginner group with any other organization, not even intermediate. There were 2 cars that were really bad, a Toyota Yaris and a old Fiat. They were both driving beyond slow, the speed and distance gapped coming on them was dangerous. I would lap them 2-3 times per session. Finally it got to the point to bring it up to the organizers. So 5 of us went up there and we were essentially told to F off. We are the problem apparently because we drive BMWs. When asked why a Yaris would be allowed in advanced group since it would never be able to do a decent time even with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel we were told it doesn't matter the car, the driver is an advanced driver. So next event I'm gonna take a Prius and sign up for advanced and see what they have to say about that. They are just stubborn and don't want to have to do any work. No download meetings, no changing run groups, no nothing.

[silvergray545]

Originally Posted by DiXiS 18

It was almost as bad as an extreme speed event. There advanced group was a beginner group with any other organization, not even intermediate. There were 2 cars that were really bad, a Toyota Yaris and a old Fiat. They were both driving beyond slow, the speed and distance gapped coming on them was dangerous. I would lap them 2-3 times per session. Finally it got to the point to bring it up to the organizers. So 5 of us went up there and we were essentially told to F off. We are the problem apparently because we drive BMWs. When asked why a Yaris would be allowed in advanced group since it would never be able to do a decent time even with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel we were told it doesn't matter the car, the driver is an advanced driver. So next event I'm gonna take a Prius and sign up for advanced and see what they have to say about that. They are just stubborn and don't want to have to do any work. No download meetings, no changing run groups, no nothing.

These reasons are why I typically like to run with the PCA.

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by silvergray545

These reasons are why I typically like to run with the PCA.

And they're even worse! Freaking nazis. Lol

This one time I ran with poc and they were complaining about me wagging the tail too much. Never mind the driver that wanted to jump out in front of another car going 30-40 mph faster around a banked oval everyone side by side. Smh.

[elim11]

Originally Posted by DiXiS 18

It was almost as bad as an extreme speed event. There advanced group was a beginner group with any other organization, not even intermediate. There were 2 cars that were really bad, a Toyota Yaris and a old Fiat. They were both driving beyond slow, the speed and distance gapped coming on them was dangerous. I would lap them 2-3 times per session. Finally it got to the point to bring it up to the organizers. So 5 of us went up there and we were essentially told to F off. We are the problem apparently because we drive BMWs. When asked why a Yaris would be allowed in advanced group since it would never be able to do a decent time even with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel we were told it doesn't matter the car, the driver is an advanced driver. So next event I'm gonna take a Prius and sign up for advanced and see what they have to say about that. They are just stubborn and don't want to have to do any work. No download meetings, no changing run groups, no nothing.

Worse than extreme? wow thats terrible. I got tricked into buying a "track pack" aka set of like 5 prepaid races. I've never used, nor do I intend to. I would give them away, but I don't have enough enemies.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by DiXiS 18

It was almost as bad as an extreme speed event. There advanced group was a beginner group with any other organization, not even intermediate. There were 2 cars that were really bad, a Toyota Yaris and a old Fiat. They were both driving beyond slow, the speed and distance gapped coming on them was dangerous. I would lap them 2-3 times per session. Finally it got to the point to bring it up to the organizers. So 5 of us went up there and we were essentially told to F off. We are the problem apparently because we drive BMWs. When asked why a Yaris would be allowed in advanced group since it would never be able to do a decent time even with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel we were told it doesn't matter the car, the driver is an advanced driver. So next event I'm gonna take a Prius and sign up for advanced and see what they have to say about that. They are just stubborn and don't want to have to do any work. No download meetings, no changing run groups, no nothing.

Interesting------we had the SAME experience last year at an NCRC event at Laguna Seca. About 10 of us from SoCal were up in NorCal. It was our first time with them. Their initial registration process makes them look really serious. You need to "qualify" yourself as a driver, having to send them a driving "resume" and a picture of your car and blah and blah. I was thinking that was a good sign-----that they were on top of it.

A bunch of us were in the Advanced group. In the first session, there's a totally street convertible Jaguar out there going literally half the speed as everyone else. You would lap this guy every couple laps. He seemed oblivious to the other cars around him. He would close the door on passing. He wasn't easy to get around. I'm thinking, how did this guy qualify himself to be in Advanced???

After the session, at least half a dozen of us went to the event organizer and let him know the Jag was super slow and creating chaos out there. He actually said he would bump the guy down and grabbed a new wristband and car sticker and seemed to go find the guy. We were satisfied that he was handling it.

Next session----the Jag was back out in Advanced and stayed there until the last session of the day, when he finally disappeared.

It was a complete throwaway day, which stinks when you've made the effort to go up to NorCal.

Anyway, I will not be attending anymore NCRC events either.

PCA San Diego is the most strictly run group I have ever run with. Lots of rules and inspections and safety forms creating a safety-points profile for your car and constant lap time monitoring. The organizer bumps people up and down based on lap times. He cruises the pits on his bicycle seeking people out, finds them and moves them to different run groups based on their performance. It happened to me. He rolls up, says "nice driving" and hands me new badging for a higher run group. He's just ITCHING to find people not following the rules and is not shy about shaming them. He calls out people who show up late to meetings and shames them, telling them they have to sit through their own special meeting since they were late. On my registration, I had reported something about my experience incorrectly. I guess he had to look some information up as a result. When I received my envelope with my registration stuff, it had a printed label on it saying that if I did that again, he would charge me an extra $20 to look that info up again…..haha! Whatever, PCA-SD events run smooth as butter. Actually, most PCA events regardless of region are nice.

We were at a recent track weekend and had an interesting experience. I like to do RedLine Time Attack, so I end up at ExtremeSpeed events from time to time. Of course, when you pay $80 for an event, you figure it's gonna be the Wild West out there. And it is. On April 30, I was at Chuckwalla and had one of the lamest track days ever. By 2:30PM, I had 2 hot laps in. It was terrible. They kept black-flagging sessions for spills and offs and who knows what. 2 hot laps by 2:30PM. That's a crappy track day. The event organizer actually called an All-Driver's meeting. He said something like, "I know it's been a bad day out there and as the owner of the event, I want to OFFICIALLY apologize to you. BUT, there's nothing I can do about it." haha! What was the point of that?? However, the very next day--at the same track and same organizer, I had one of the nicest track days I have ever been to….go figure. The difference being that there was probably half the number of people there.

It's a bummer, but crowded track days usually mean days with very few clean laps. The only way I've seen organizers make a crowded track day work decently is to pre-grid by lap times. But that takes a LOT of organization with printed reports, several employees to deal with it, a big area dedicated to pre-gridding, everyone needs transponders or valid timing, everyone needs to get to grid early to get placed properly, and the BIGGEST aspect that is MOST important------>the Start/Finish Line Person needs to be on top of their game. If people show up late to the session, they need to hold up the late-comers until the people on track finish their warm up lap and begin their first hot lap. Then, they can let late-comers out. All the pre-gridding in the world is pointless if you slam a late-comer out on his warm up lap right in front of everyone who has just finished their warm up lap. I don't know why that's such a big mystery…..but it is. I've been to enough track days at this point that sometimes I'll go up to a Start/Finish person and ask them if they're willing to hold up late-comers for a few seconds until the rest of us go by after our warm up lap. Many of them are very nice about it and are willing to. Honestly, I don't think anyone ever asked them to do that.

Hooked on Driving has an interesting grid method. They kind of let you police yourself in terms of gridding. They have 5 grid lanes---the lanes go from fast-to-slow. You choose where you think you should go. It actually worked fine the couple times I've done it.

[nholmes]

Originally Posted by elim11

I got tricked into buying a "track pack" aka set of like 5 prepaid races. I've never used, nor do I intend to..

This felt like a sham from day 1. I have a friend that also had a very bad experience with XS and vowed to never run with them again.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by nholmes

This felt like a sham from day 1. I have a friend that also had a very bad experience with XS and vowed to never run with them again.

To be fair, the 5-pack deal is not a sham. Are their events overly crowded at times? Yes. Does it seem like chaos at times? Yes. Are there a ton of novices running around with no clue? Yes. Have I heard other weird stories about XS events? Yes. Was there a guy at the last event charcoal grilling up-wind from us and we were choking on lighter fluid and charcoal fumes for hours? YES!!!! But I bought a 5-day pack a couple years ago and they included running with RedLine Time Attack in it. They honored all 5 days without any hassles whatsoever. XS 5-day packs are without a doubt the absolute cheapest way to be able to hit the track. Period. No one else can get you on a track for less than $100/day. Now, you may only get 2 hot laps by 2:30PM and get zero clean laps for your $80, but that doesn't make it a sham. It just means my expectations----ummmm---need to be in line with that entry fee. And I still think their RedLine Time Attack is fun! I am very much considering doing another RedLine event this year. I'm just bummed that my awesome 5-pack is used up….hahahaha!

[nholmes]

Okay, so when I said it was a sham I actually meant: "A business model that profits off of you not using all of the track days for various reasons."

[silvergray545]

Wow. You guys have been to some crazy events. The PCA out here is nothing like that. It's literally a group of the nicest people you've ever met. Run groups are put together nicely. They will move you up or down, if needed. If you have a problem with somebody, they will address the issue right then and there. Every event I've attended has been great.

I'm actually doing an event this weekend with the PCA of a different region than I normally go with. Interested to see how it will be. I counted 38 cars in my run group. Mid-Ohio isn't that big!

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by nholmes

Okay, so when I said it was a sham I actually meant: "A business model that profits off of you not using all of the track days for various reasons."

hehe fair enough! Although I have to say it took me over 2 years to use mine, so the pack stayed valid a long time.