kolosy build / track journal-ish

[kolosy]

It’s amazing what a difference confidence in braking makes. I went back to Blackhawk farms with the freshly installed paragon rear bbk and put up a 1:17.17. That’s 1.5 seconds faster than my last pr, and puts me in the top 10 for the year on the catalyst leaderboard.

I know I shouldn’t be chasing times and all that, but it’s pretty fun to be running a 150k mile 10 owner M3 at the same pace as the GT4RS I was playing tag with all day.

And there’s definitely plenty of room for improvement. I’m still cheating in on turn in on the fast straights, and need to work on being smoother. But the car is a champ.

[kolosy]

Oh and pirategenes this I think answers your question of what I thought of the rear bbk. It’s a little hard to disentangle from what were clearly warped rear rotors before, but the new setup is really linear and repeatable, with excellent modulation characteristics.

[pirategenes]

Originally Posted by kolosy

Oh and pirategenes this I think answers your question of what I thought of the rear bbk. It’s a little hard to disentangle from what we’re clearly warped rear rotors before, but the new setup is really linear and repeatable, with excellent modulation characteristics.

Awesome to hear and thanks for the feedback! My rear kit is on the way and I can't wait to get it installed to complete the full Paragon setup. I've really been loving the front BBK from them and I'm hopeful with the addition of the rear kit, I can shave some time off my PB's too.

1.5s on a ~1:17 track is a huge difference. Congrats on the new PB!

[Redd]

Car sounds glorious! Gets my adrenaline pumping just listening to it.

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by Redd

Car sounds glorious! Gets my adrenaline pumping just listening to it.

Yeah the full catless super sprint f1 sounds awesome at the track. Just don’t be anywhere near 2700 rpm lol.
Also — had my buddy drive the car and got to hear it from the outside for the first time. That sounds even better.

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by kolosy

It’s amazing what a difference confidence in braking makes. I went back to Blackhawk farms with the freshly installed paragon rear bbk and put up a 1:17.17. That’s 1.5 seconds faster than my last pr, and puts me in the top 10 for the year on the catalyst leaderboard.

I know I shouldn’t be chasing times and all that, but it’s pretty fun to be running a 150k mile 10 owner M3 at the same pace as the GT4RS I was playing tag with all day.

And there’s definitely plenty of room for improvement. I’m still cheating in on turn in on the fast straights, and need to work on being smoother. But the car is a champ.

Agreed, it is much harder to be good with the brakes when there's an issue. It also sucks spending thousands upgrading rear brakes but it is a much bigger performance upgrade than most people think.

Didn't you have a rear brake issue? I'd be interested to get your feedback on pad life. I think you'll get a lot more life out of the front pads.

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

Agreed, it is much harder to be good with the brakes when there's an issue. It also sucks spending thousands upgrading rear brakes but it is a much bigger performance upgrade than most people think.

Didn't you have a rear brake issue? I'd be interested to get your feedback on pad life. I think you'll get a lot more life out of the front pads.

i did, yeah. i definitely had a warped rotor back there (measured runout on it and it was 8 thou or more). i ran this time with a backwards front rotor on the driver side (they sent me two rights by accident) and it was definitely way hotter than the passenger side and so it nuked that pad, but i'm getting the right set on shortly and then will re-baseline. better front pad life was part of what i was looking for with this upgrade so hopefully it happens.

[flipm3]

Hardcore build! Great wheeling at BHF.

Hope you were able to snag a M2CS allocation.
My lightly modified G87 M2 turns 15s at BHF all day on really beat up Cup 2Rs and S3Rs.

Hope to see you at a track soon!

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by flipm3

Hardcore build! Great wheeling at BHF.

Hope you were able to snag a M2CS allocation.
My lightly modified G87 M2 turns 15s at BHF all day on really beat up Cup 2Rs and S3Rs.

Hope to see you at a track soon!

Thanks! I did, deciding if I want to keep it. A bit concerned about it still being porky at 3700lbs and steering feel. My G82 felt a little too isolated when I had it on track.

[kolosy]

Just got back from a weekend at Mid-Ohio with MVP. Awesome track (my first time there), awesome group, but man was there a lot of drama.

I left for the track from Chicago (it's about 5.5 hours away) after work on Friday. Goal was to get there around 11 that night, and the airbnb was right next to the track so plenty of time to make it to Mark's hard cutoff driver meeting at 715 the next day.

About an hour into the drive, my buddy (who was towing his 911 turbo s) calls and says his friend, who was also driving the tow rig had a medical emergency and they had to go to the hospital. They ended up bailing on the weekend (though the friend turned out fine in the end)

An hour after that, I can feel and hear the trailer rattling. A lot. I pull over, several times, trying to figure out what's going on. Try bungy-ing down various bits that I think could be rattling, no dice. Check the tire pressure of the tires. All good -- around 60psi. Then about 90 miles from the track, at around 1130 at night, I hear a pop from the back, and start seeing sparks from under the trailer. I pull off to the shoulder to find this lovely view



I proceed to call uhaul for assistance, which all things considered they do provide in a timely fashion, it takes about an hour and a half. This is basically the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, so that kind of response time is actually not terrible. By the time all is said and done, I get to sleep at 2AM, needing to be up in 4 hours. But we make it.

Half-way through the day, guys rolls past the trailer and yells out "hey your trailer tire is flat". Yeah. Second tire went flat. Guy comes out, says the belts inside exploded and poked through the rubber. At least this one they did while I was on track.

Speaking of track -- Mid Ohio is a lot of fun. I ran it a few times on the sim at home just to get my bearings, but of course the real thing is so much more. By the end of the first day I was moving relatively quickly and had a pretty good idea of the line.

However, after the first session of the second day, I went to bleed my brakes and spotted something not so fun.



Huge downer, especially since I felt really good after a full night's sleep and having internalized the previous day. Not a whole lot you can do at that point, so I loaded up the trailer, and started saying my goodbyes around me. Then one of the guys I was chatting with asks why I was packing up, and when I showed him the tire goes "you can run my spare set if you want"

I knew track rats were awesome, but this was next level. I ended up running two more sessions on his Proxes RR and setting a PR on them (despite them being his "crappy" tires).

At the end of the day, I walked away with a PR of 1:40.6, which given my first timer status, and the fact that the Kumhos are slow, I'm pretty happy with. There was a surprisingly deep field of E90s there which was cool, including a couple of fully prepped ones. One of them running on slicks, with the owner saying he'd been going to this track for 18 years was running 1:36s, so I feel like that's a solid start.

Aaand that's a wrap for the E90's season, and maybe a little longer. After a full season (~15 days) of having to go to the uhaul the night before, drive it home, load up the car, and then afterwards drive home, drop the car off, drive the trailer to the uhaul and finally drive back home, I've decided to park the E90 and got a dual duty car.



The new kid is here, it already stole the Forgelines from the E90 (which is why it was on Kumhos that I had forgotten the number of days on and got in trouble in the first place), and has gone to the track once. I hope to get a few more days in this season with the GTS to get my bearings. In the meantime, the E90 is for sale (but I won't be sad if it doesn't sell).

[former 240 s14]

You're not coming to Road America now?!?!?!? Sad face

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by former 240 s14

You're not coming to Road America now?!?!?!? Sad face

i am! just with the GTS

[former 240 s14]

Originally Posted by kolosy

i am! just with the GTS

Ahh very nice, can't wait to see you there. We'll have a group of another F80 and my buddy who is bringing his track 350z (even though he has an E92 that is very nice.)

Prepping the car this weekend, let's freaking go!

Rubin

[pirategenes]

Originally Posted by kolosy

Just got back from a weekend at Mid-Ohio with MVP. Awesome track (my first time there), awesome group, but man was there a lot of drama.

I left for the track from Chicago (it's about 5.5 hours away) after work on Friday. Goal was to get there around 11 that night, and the airbnb was right next to the track so plenty of time to make it to Mark's hard cutoff driver meeting at 715 the next day.

About an hour into the drive, my buddy (who was towing his 911 turbo s) calls and says his friend, who was also driving the tow rig had a medical emergency and they had to go to the hospital. They ended up bailing on the weekend (though the friend turned out fine in the end)

An hour after that, I can feel and hear the trailer rattling. A lot. I pull over, several times, trying to figure out what's going on. Try bungy-ing down various bits that I think could be rattling, no dice. Check the tire pressure of the tires. All good -- around 60psi. Then about 90 miles from the track, at around 1130 at night, I hear a pop from the back, and start seeing sparks from under the trailer. I pull off to the shoulder to find this lovely view

Attachment 3828134

I proceed to call uhaul for assistance, which all things considered they do provide in a timely fashion, it takes about an hour and a half. This is basically the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, so that kind of response time is actually not terrible. By the time all is said and done, I get to sleep at 2AM, needing to be up in 4 hours. But we make it.

Half-way through the day, guys rolls past the trailer and yells out "hey your trailer tire is flat". Yeah. Second tire went flat. Guy comes out, says the belts inside exploded and poked through the rubber. At least this one they did while I was on track.

Speaking of track -- Mid Ohio is a lot of fun. I ran it a few times on the sim at home just to get my bearings, but of course the real thing is so much more. By the end of the first day I was moving relatively quickly and had a pretty good idea of the line.

However, after the first session of the second day, I went to bleed my brakes and spotted something not so fun.

Attachment 3828136

Huge downer, especially since I felt really good after a full night's sleep and having internalized the previous day. Not a whole lot you can do at that point, so I loaded up the trailer, and started saying my goodbyes around me. Then one of the guys I was chatting with asks why I was packing up, and when I showed him the tire goes "you can run my spare set if you want"

I knew track rats were awesome, but this was next level. I ended up running two more sessions on his Proxes RR and setting a PR on them (despite them being his "crappy" tires).

At the end of the day, I walked away with a PR of 1:40.6, which given my first timer status, and the fact that the Kumhos are slow, I'm pretty happy with. There was a surprisingly deep field of E90s there which was cool, including a couple of fully prepped ones. One of them running on slicks, with the owner saying he'd been going to this track for 18 years was running 1:36s, so I feel like that's a solid start.

Aaand that's a wrap for the E90's season, and maybe a little longer. After a full season (~15 days) of having to go to the uhaul the night before, drive it home, load up the car, and then afterwards drive home, drop the car off, drive the trailer to the uhaul and finally drive back home, I've decided to park the E90 and got a dual duty car.

Attachment 3828138

The new kid is here, it already stole the Forgelines from the E90 (which is why it was on Kumhos that I had forgotten the number of days on and got in trouble in the first place), and has gone to the track once. I hope to get a few more days in this season with the GTS to get my bearings. In the meantime, the E90 is for sale (but I won't be sad if it doesn't sell).

Sorry to hear about such a stressful track event and glad you came away unscathed.

That F82 M4 GTS will be a beast on track! I rode in one at Grattan last year and it was amazing!

I'm curious about those V730's. I have one that corded on the inside too. Only after 5 track days and it was the front passenger that did it (other three show no cords yet...). I'm wondering if I have too much camber, but am only at -3.5. Which tire did that for you, and any ideas about the conditions (camber or otherwise) that might have contributed to it?

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by pirategenes

Sorry to hear about such a stressful track event and glad you came away unscathed.

That F82 M4 GTS will be a beast on track! I rode in one at Grattan last year and it was amazing!

I'm curious about those V730's. I have one that corded on the inside too. Only after 5 track days and it was the front passenger that did it (other three show no cords yet...). I'm wondering if I have too much camber, but am only at -3.5. Which tire did that for you, and any ideas about the conditions (camber or otherwise) that might have contributed to it?

thanks, I'm looking forward to getting some seat time in it!

this was the driver front tire (and like you, only one corded). the track I run the most tends to beat on that corner the most, too, fwiw. when i took off the borrowed set, the owner who was in an E46 330 said that the wear on those tires looked like i was running too much toe out. i run -3.8 camber, 1/8" toe out in the front, and -3, 1.4" toe in in the rear.

what's interesting is when i corded the bridgestones, it was the rear ones and both on the inside, at the same time. the fronts were still ok.

[jmeenach]

Have you ever considered buying a used trailer? I would assume that would be cheaper and easier than building an entire new car, especially considering the level of work that's been put into the e90!

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by jmeenach

Have you ever considered buying a used trailer? I would assume that would be cheaper and easier than building an entire new car, especially considering the level of work that's been put into the e90!

The issue isn’t the cost of the trailer, it’s the place to keep it. I live in the middle of the city, and while I’m very fortunate to have a full garage and a wide alley, I don’t have anywhere where I can park the trailer, at least anywhere close enough to be practical.

[pirategenes]

Originally Posted by kolosy

thanks, I'm looking forward to getting some seat time in it!

this was the driver front tire (and like you, only one corded). the track I run the most tends to beat on that corner the most, too, fwiw. when i took off the borrowed set, the owner who was in an E46 330 said that the wear on those tires looked like i was running too much toe out. i run -3.8 camber, 1/8" toe out in the front, and -3, 1.4" toe in in the rear.

what's interesting is when i corded the bridgestones, it was the rear ones and both on the inside, at the same time. the fronts were still ok.

Very interesting.

My last set of RE71RS's corded after four track days and cord was showing on both edges on all four tires. So, that felt like I got everything out of them. These V730s, with the same alignment, after five track days only one (current front passenger) is very slightly showing cord and the other three look ok. So, they definitely last longer, but that one corded one means the set is done. Arg. I run a similar alignment to yours. Might tinker with more neutral toe in the front...

Not sure these V730s will be worth it again. Though they do make them in 295/30/18 so might consider it, but doubtful. Probably moving on to CRS V2 or P1's next.

Have fun with the M4 GTS!

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by pirategenes

Very interesting.

My last set of RE71RS's corded after four track days and cord was showing on both edges on all four tires. So, that felt like I got everything out of them. These V730s, with the same alignment, after five track days only one (current front passenger) is very slightly showing cord and the other three look ok. So, they definitely last longer, but that one corded one means the set is done. Arg. I run a similar alignment to yours. Might tinker with more neutral toe in the front...

Not sure these V730s will be worth it again. Though they do make them in 295/30/18 so might consider it, but doubtful. Probably moving on to CRS V2 or P1's next.

Have fun with the M4 GTS!

You’re full interior though, right? I got 9 days out of the kumhos, and 6 from the Bridgestones.

[pirategenes]

Originally Posted by kolosy

You’re full interior though, right? I got 9 days out of the kumhos, and 6 from the Bridgestones.

Yes fully loaded minus just driver Cobra Nogaro. Need something that can handle the full weight better.

That sounds like great numbers you’re getting out of those tires.

[jmeenach]

Originally Posted by kolosy

The issue isn’t the cost of the trailer, it’s the place to keep it. I live in the middle of the city, and while I’m very fortunate to have a full garage and a wide alley, I don’t have anywhere where I can park the trailer, at least anywhere close enough to be practical.

Ah, got it. I retract my comment! haha

[kolosy]

soo.. new year, new lease on life for the E90. between the (expectedly) crap resale value of a custom built track car, the fact that i did the custom building and was super sad to see it go, and the fact that the mrs agreed that there's no reason to take a 30K+ L on it, I'm going to keep it in the fleet, and go back and forth between in and the GTS. I snagged 10'x20' RV storage spot near me that should fit an enclosed trailer and that'll be the plan.. store the car in the trailer in the spot, grab it when i want/need, take the GTS from the home garage when I don't.

sooooo... to keep throwing greenback kindling into the fire, next up is a bottom end refresh. Car has 151K on it now, including 40 track days in the last 2 years. Rod bearings were done around 50k miles ago with ACLs, and given their age, track time, and also the doom and gloom around mains these days (including one that happened in front of me on track this season, another sitting at the shop that I use for bigger projects, and unfortunately our very own former 240 s14 ), i'm going to do a bottom end refresh.

Shop quoted me $5500 in labor to pull the motor and do the mains which doesn't feel terrible. At that point I might as well do the rod bearings again since it's free and am probably going to do the same sump baffles (and dip stick) as Rubin as well as throw in solid motor mounts.

Any other "while you're in there" bits? I'll do the m-porium vanos cups since the engine will need retiming anyway, too...