My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[dogbone]

I just wanna pause here for a moment and thank everyone who has gone on this journey with me on this build thread since 2015. It's less than 100 views away from 200,000.....that's just amazing to me. In 2015, I just thought I'd make a couple posts about my car and show a few pix and be done. I had no idea it would become basically my motorsport blog.

I've met so many nice people because of this thread---both in person at the track and on the forum via posts and PMs. These are people I would have never met otherwise, and I'm proud to call them friends now.

I've learned a lot from this forum over the years. I really had zero knowledge about anything related to motorsport in 2012 when I started going to the track---no prior karting, no autocross, no shifter karts, no BMX racing, no dirt bikes .....literally no experience. I just owned an E90 M3, and it mostly sat in the garage because I worked from home. These days, I get nice feedback from people telling me that my thread is useful to them. I'm glad I can give back to the motorsport community.

Cheers.
-gabe

[Kelse92]

Haha great photos! Robert from Lightspeed is one of my favorite local photographers. He always takes a while to post up the pics cause his new camera literally snaps thousands of photos in a weekend, but he always posts great quality work! I am a fan of the splitter bag photo for sure haha

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

Haha great photos! Robert from Lightspeed is one of my favorite local photographers. He always takes a while to post up the pics cause his new camera literally snaps thousands of photos in a weekend, but he always posts great quality work! I am a fan of the splitter bag photo for sure haha

Yeah, there's quite a few more that are very good. I'll get around to posting more in the future. I just need to Photoshop out those silly tape numbers.....

[dogbone]

As SuperLap Battle at COTA approaches this weekend, I've been trying to get all my ducks in a row.

The weather is looking really good for Saturday and decent for Sunday. Phew.

On the technical side, I spent a lot of time trying to come up with an action plan for the car's issues. At COTA, my car was doing weird things. The rev limiter would rotate around the tach and restrict the revs and then move back out of the way and the car would run normally, but then it would jump down again...... the car would hesitate while on the gas at random times. But none of the codes were related to the engine or transmission. The errors were pointing more to DSC/ABS issues.

In looking at the codes, several people said the front wheel speed sensors looked like culprits. And the wheel speed sensor codes kept coming back after clearing the codes. So, something is up there. I've ordered brand new wheel speed sensors for both front wheels. (In the past, I have had some limp mode issues that pointed to the wheel speed sensors. When we replaced them, the issues seemed to go away.) I have to accept the fact that it gets ridiculously hot in my front hubs. I could see sensors going bad due to extreme heat.

Another thing we found was that half the gas tank had fuel in it, and the other half was empty. The fuel didn't seem to be siphoning between the halves very well. I don't know if that's specifically related to COTA, or something else, but I just replaced the whole fuel pump setup a couple months ago preventatively. (After the fuel pump replacement, it ran totally fine at Buttonwillow and 99.9% fine at Willow Springs, but I did have one tiny hesitation at WSIR.) So, we thought maybe putting more gas in the car would help that. And on Sunday, the car ran fine for the first couple sessions when fully fueled. But then, the revving issues returned even with a full tank. So frustrating.

Then, another mechanic/racer said that he's seen issues that look like this being related to the gas pedal going bad----that gas pedals in BMW race cars go bad more often than you'd think......he said they used to keep three gas pedals in the trailer when racing an E92 M3. Well, after that conversation, I was watching the 2:22 lap video that I posted here, and I was looking at the Turn 16,17,18 section, and as I enter that carousel, the data overlay shows that I get off the gas completely-------except that the car is accelerating and you can hear that I am CLEARLY on the gas.......In all the years of using an AIM, I have never seen that. I wondered, did RaceRender render the data on the video incorrectly? Nope. When you look at the AIM data, there's just no gas pedal activity captured at that moment, but I am definitely on the gas......hmmmm. According to the mechanic, the gas pedal sends signals to more than one place. So, he's saying it is possible that the car is responding to my pedal press and accelerating, but the CAN data could be incorrect and causing problems. So, I've ordered a new gas pedal.

When I get to Austin on Friday, my first set of tasks are to replace the wheel speed sensors and the gas pedal. I've watched videos and both tasks look very reasonable. I hope these things can alleviate the issues I was having. Whatever is going, it's intermittent and weird......and soooooo frustrating.

I'll have two new sets of slicks with me. I plan on running new tires at the start of each day.

I was debating whether to play the video game anymore now that I've been to the track. I took almost a week off of the game, but decided over the weekend to start back up. I've been getting faster in the game in the last day or so. I'm much more consistent in the game now. Having both the game to play and my own videos to watch has been giving me some new insights into the track. I am very eager to see how that plays out.

One of my Unlimited Class competitors introduced himself to me at the Chin event. Very nice guy. He ran at SLB Buttonwillow in November and won the Street class with his Subaru. He said that he had watched my videos of Buttonwillow and they helped him get a sense of the track. Cool. For this event, he's going to be driving his 991 GT3 (that has a Cup Car suspension). He's local to COTA and says that he has upwards of 10000 laps there. I believe it given the lap times he's doing in that GT3. I watched a video of him at the Chin event on new Michelin slicks doing a 2:17 IN TRAFFIC. He thinks the car can do 2:14. Amazing. Anyway, the garage assignments were announced and it turns out we are sharing a garage at SLB, so that's cool.

As this is my 50th birthday weekend, my family will go to Austin on Saturday to celebrate my birthday and hang at the track for a bit. In eight years of going to the track, my family has only been once and they stayed for about 15 minutes and took off. I don't anticipate them spending much time at the track this time either....I mean, they're welcome to stay.....I just know my wife will get bored with the whole track thing very quickly.....hahaha.....That's ok.

As far as looking at potential results, there's 8 cars in Unlimited. I think the podium is a long shot for me. Again, I have to compete against AWD cars, so that's tough. The Lyfe Motorsport Nissan GTR will be there. They did a 2:07 last year. Yup, I'd say that's good for first again. If the GT3 can do a 2:14, I think that has a good shot at 2nd. That leaves 6 cars shooting for 3rd (none of them local to COTA)......a Subaru STI, a GT3RS, a Lyfe Motorsport Nissan 350Z, a Honda Accord, a Ford Festiva, and me. Of those 6, my wild guess is that the STI is probably the quickest. I found it on YouTube. It's fully built. Heck, maybe it can do better than a 2:14. But COTA is tricky. It doesn't just hand out fast lap times out to newcomers. (I don't know if the STI has ever been to COTA.)

Anyway, the podium is not my main concern. I said before, my goal is to simply go sub-2:20. If the car is healthy, I am optimistic. Someone mentioned recently to me that no E9x M3 has done sub-2:20 at COTA. Is that true?

[s0ldats]

best of luck and happy birthday ! can't wait to see the new videos!

[DRLane]

Best of luck Gabe! Will the event be broadcast or streaming?

Hilarious context regarding the family and the track... I'm sure folks on the forum are all too familiar with the fam being less than enthused about dad's activities.

Happy 50th!

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by dogbone

As SuperLap Battle at COTA approaches this weekend, I've been trying to get all my ducks in a row.

The weather is looking really good for Saturday and decent for Sunday. Phew.

On the technical side, I spent a lot of time trying to come up with an action plan for the car's issues. At COTA, my car was doing weird things. The rev limiter would rotate around the tach and restrict the revs and then move back out of the way and the car would run normally, but then it would jump down again...... the car would hesitate while on the gas at random times. But none of the codes were related to the engine or transmission. The errors were pointing more to DSC/ABS issues.

In looking at the codes, several people said the front wheel speed sensors looked like culprits. And the wheel speed sensor codes kept coming back after clearing the codes. So, something is up there. I've ordered brand new wheel speed sensors for both front wheels. (In the past, I have had some limp mode issues that pointed to the wheel speed sensors. When we replaced them, the issues seemed to go away.) I have to accept the fact that it gets ridiculously hot in my front hubs. I could see sensors going bad due to extreme heat.

Another thing we found was that half the gas tank had fuel in it, and the other half was empty. The fuel didn't seem to be siphoning between the halves very well. I don't know if that's specifically related to COTA, or something else, but I just replaced the whole fuel pump setup a couple months ago preventatively. (After the fuel pump replacement, it ran totally fine at Buttonwillow and 99.9% fine at Willow Springs, but I did have one tiny hesitation at WSIR.) So, we thought maybe putting more gas in the car would help that. And on Sunday, the car ran fine for the first couple sessions when fully fueled. But then, the revving issues returned even with a full tank. So frustrating.

Then, another mechanic/racer said that he's seen issues that look like this being related to the gas pedal going bad----that gas pedals in BMW race cars go bad more often than you'd think......he said they used to keep three gas pedals in the trailer when racing an E92 M3. Well, after that conversation, I was watching the 2:22 lap video that I posted here, and I was looking at the Turn 16,17,18 section, and as I enter that carousel, the data overlay shows that I get off the gas completely-------except that the car is accelerating and you can hear that I am CLEARLY on the gas.......In all the years of using an AIM, I have never seen that. I wondered, did RaceRender render the data on the video incorrectly? Nope. When you look at the AIM data, there's just no gas pedal activity captured at that moment, but I am definitely on the gas......hmmmm. According to the mechanic, the gas pedal sends signals to more than one place. So, he's saying it is possible that the car is responding to my pedal press and accelerating, but the CAN data could be incorrect and causing problems. So, I've ordered a new gas pedal.

When I get to Austin on Friday, my first set of tasks are to replace the wheel speed sensors and the gas pedal. I've watched videos and both tasks look very reasonable. I hope these things can alleviate the issues I was having. Whatever is going, it's intermittent and weird......and soooooo frustrating.

I'll have two new sets of slicks with me. I plan on running new tires at the start of each day.

I was debating whether to play the video game anymore now that I've been to the track. I took almost a week off of the game, but decided over the weekend to start back up. I've been getting faster in the game in the last day or so. I'm much more consistent in the game now. Having both the game to play and my own videos to watch has been giving me some new insights into the track. I am very eager to see how that plays out.

One of my Unlimited Class competitors introduced himself to me at the Chin event. Very nice guy. He ran at SLB Buttonwillow in November and won the Street class with his Subaru. He said that he had watched my videos of Buttonwillow and they helped him get a sense of the track. Cool. For this event, he's going to be driving his 991 GT3 (that has a Cup Car suspension). He's local to COTA and says that he has upwards of 10000 laps there. I believe it given the lap times he's doing in that GT3. I watched a video of him at the Chin event on new Michelin slicks doing a 2:17 IN TRAFFIC. He thinks the car can do 2:14. Amazing. Anyway, the garage assignments were announced and it turns out we are sharing a garage at SLB, so that's cool.

As this is my 50th birthday weekend, my family will go to Austin on Saturday to celebrate my birthday and hang at the track for a bit. In eight years of going to the track, my family has only been once and they stayed for about 15 minutes and took off. I don't anticipate them spending much time at the track this time either....I mean, they're welcome to stay.....I just know my wife will get bored with the whole track thing very quickly.....hahaha.....That's ok.

As far as looking at potential results, there's 8 cars in Unlimited. I think the podium is a long shot for me. Again, I have to compete against AWD cars, so that's tough. The Lyfe Motorsport Nissan GTR will be there. They did a 2:07 last year. Yup, I'd say that's good for first again. If the GT3 can do a 2:14, I think that has a good shot at 2nd. That leaves 6 cars shooting for 3rd (none of them local to COTA)......a Subaru STI, a GT3RS, a Lyfe Motorsport Nissan 350Z, a Honda Accord, a Ford Festiva, and me. Of those 6, my wild guess is that the STI is probably the quickest. I found it on YouTube. It's fully built. Heck, maybe it can do better than a 2:14. But COTA is tricky. It doesn't just hand out fast lap times out to newcomers. (I don't know if the STI has ever been to COTA.)

Anyway, the podium is not my main concern. I said before, my goal is to simply go sub-2:20. If the car is healthy, I am optimistic. Someone mentioned recently to me that no E9x M3 has done sub-2:20 at COTA. Is that true?

I know of no E9x M3 that has gone sub 2:25 - certainly could be one out there but I haven't been able to find one. Hence my project 224 - and then you coming along and crushing my hopes and dreams

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by s0ldats

best of luck and happy birthday ! can't wait to see the new videos!

Thanks!

Video------yes.......hopefully I won't space out and forget to record my fast lap this time!!!!

Originally Posted by DRLane

Best of luck Gabe! Will the event be broadcast or streaming?

Hilarious context regarding the family and the track... I'm sure folks on the forum are all too familiar with the fam being less than enthused about dad's activities.

Happy 50th!

Thanks!

Ah!!! Thanks for reminding me about the Livestream! Yes, you can watch both days live via Livestream.

I believe this link is a good place to go for the Livestream: http://superlapbattleusa.com/live/

I'm sure the announcers will continue their barrage of Family Sedan jabs towards my poor car......hahahaha

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by dogbone

As SuperLap Battle at COTA approaches this weekend, I've been trying to get all my ducks in a row.

The weather is looking really good for Saturday and decent for Sunday. Phew.

On the technical side, I spent a lot of time trying to come up with an action plan for the car's issues. At COTA, my car was doing weird things. The rev limiter would rotate around the tach and restrict the revs and then move back out of the way and the car would run normally, but then it would jump down again...... the car would hesitate while on the gas at random times. But none of the codes were related to the engine or transmission. The errors were pointing more to DSC/ABS issues.

In looking at the codes, several people said the front wheel speed sensors looked like culprits. And the wheel speed sensor codes kept coming back after clearing the codes. So, something is up there. I've ordered brand new wheel speed sensors for both front wheels. (In the past, I have had some limp mode issues that pointed to the wheel speed sensors. When we replaced them, the issues seemed to go away.) I have to accept the fact that it gets ridiculously hot in my front hubs. I could see sensors going bad due to extreme heat.

Another thing we found was that half the gas tank had fuel in it, and the other half was empty. The fuel didn't seem to be siphoning between the halves very well. I don't know if that's specifically related to COTA, or something else, but I just replaced the whole fuel pump setup a couple months ago preventatively. (After the fuel pump replacement, it ran totally fine at Buttonwillow and 99.9% fine at Willow Springs, but I did have one tiny hesitation at WSIR.) So, we thought maybe putting more gas in the car would help that. And on Sunday, the car ran fine for the first couple sessions when fully fueled. But then, the revving issues returned even with a full tank. So frustrating.

Then, another mechanic/racer said that he's seen issues that look like this being related to the gas pedal going bad----that gas pedals in BMW race cars go bad more often than you'd think......he said they used to keep three gas pedals in the trailer when racing an E92 M3. Well, after that conversation, I was watching the 2:22 lap video that I posted here, and I was looking at the Turn 16,17,18 section, and as I enter that carousel, the data overlay shows that I get off the gas completely-------except that the car is accelerating and you can hear that I am CLEARLY on the gas.......In all the years of using an AIM, I have never seen that. I wondered, did RaceRender render the data on the video incorrectly? Nope. When you look at the AIM data, there's just no gas pedal activity captured at that moment, but I am definitely on the gas......hmmmm. According to the mechanic, the gas pedal sends signals to more than one place. So, he's saying it is possible that the car is responding to my pedal press and accelerating, but the CAN data could be incorrect and causing problems. So, I've ordered a new gas pedal.

When I get to Austin on Friday, my first set of tasks are to replace the wheel speed sensors and the gas pedal. I've watched videos and both tasks look very reasonable. I hope these things can alleviate the issues I was having. Whatever is going, it's intermittent and weird......and soooooo frustrating.

I'll have two new sets of slicks with me. I plan on running new tires at the start of each day.

I was debating whether to play the video game anymore now that I've been to the track. I took almost a week off of the game, but decided over the weekend to start back up. I've been getting faster in the game in the last day or so. I'm much more consistent in the game now. Having both the game to play and my own videos to watch has been giving me some new insights into the track. I am very eager to see how that plays out.

One of my Unlimited Class competitors introduced himself to me at the Chin event. Very nice guy. He ran at SLB Buttonwillow in November and won the Street class with his Subaru. He said that he had watched my videos of Buttonwillow and they helped him get a sense of the track. Cool. For this event, he's going to be driving his 991 GT3 (that has a Cup Car suspension). He's local to COTA and says that he has upwards of 10000 laps there. I believe it given the lap times he's doing in that GT3. I watched a video of him at the Chin event on new Michelin slicks doing a 2:17 IN TRAFFIC. He thinks the car can do 2:14. Amazing. Anyway, the garage assignments were announced and it turns out we are sharing a garage at SLB, so that's cool.

As this is my 50th birthday weekend, my family will go to Austin on Saturday to celebrate my birthday and hang at the track for a bit. In eight years of going to the track, my family has only been once and they stayed for about 15 minutes and took off. I don't anticipate them spending much time at the track this time either....I mean, they're welcome to stay.....I just know my wife will get bored with the whole track thing very quickly.....hahaha.....That's ok.

As far as looking at potential results, there's 8 cars in Unlimited. I think the podium is a long shot for me. Again, I have to compete against AWD cars, so that's tough. The Lyfe Motorsport Nissan GTR will be there. They did a 2:07 last year. Yup, I'd say that's good for first again. If the GT3 can do a 2:14, I think that has a good shot at 2nd. That leaves 6 cars shooting for 3rd (none of them local to COTA)......a Subaru STI, a GT3RS, a Lyfe Motorsport Nissan 350Z, a Honda Accord, a Ford Festiva, and me. Of those 6, my wild guess is that the STI is probably the quickest. I found it on YouTube. It's fully built. Heck, maybe it can do better than a 2:14. But COTA is tricky. It doesn't just hand out fast lap times out to newcomers. (I don't know if the STI has ever been to COTA.)

Anyway, the podium is not my main concern. I said before, my goal is to simply go sub-2:20. If the car is healthy, I am optimistic. Someone mentioned recently to me that no E9x M3 has done sub-2:20 at COTA. Is that true?

I'm pretty sure you're already the fastest E9X M3 ever at COTA.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by OG Shark

I know of no E9x M3 that has gone sub 2:25 - certainly could be one out there but I haven't been able to find one. Hence my project 224 - and then you coming along and crushing my hopes and dreams

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

I'm pretty sure you're already the fastest E9X M3 ever at COTA.

I-----am pretty darned surprised to hear you guys say that. I had no idea before I went there what other BMW times were. (I don't follow COTA results.)

I was so busy watching videos of Corvettes and Porsches doing 2:15-2:19, I figured that's what I had to shoot at. It didn't occur to me that BMWs weren't at that pace.

Ultimately, I have no idea where I can end up. My AIM data is limited....I really only have a few open laps, and creating too many segments in the AIM software starts to give ridiculous results. So, the focus will be on the basics---continue finding braking limits, grip limits, and then just trying to screw up as little as possible each lap. One important thing for me----since I've actually driven the track, I won't have those new track jitters. I feel like I can get straight down to business right from the first session.

OG Shark---You can blame my wife! This whole trip was her idea!!

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I-----am pretty darned surprised to hear you guys say that. I had no idea before I went there what other BMW times were. (I don't follow COTA results.)

I was so busy watching videos of Corvettes and Porsches doing 2:15-2:19, I figured that's what I had to shoot at. It didn't occur to me that BMWs weren't at that pace.

Ultimately, I have no idea where I can end up. My AIM data is limited....I really only have a few open laps, and creating too many segments in the AIM software starts to give ridiculous results. So, the focus will be on the basics---continue finding braking limits, grip limits, and then just trying to screw up as little as possible each lap. One important thing for me----since I've actually driven the track, I won't have those new track jitters. I feel like I can get straight down to business right from the first session.

OG Shark---You can blame my wife! This whole trip was her idea!!

I think the E9x at COTA has its first hurdle around the 2:30 mark. At that point you really need to jump in real heavy on the modifications. To that point everything was more or less bolt on - but now you really either have to cut some serious weight or look at bumping HP. Either way definitely a big step up in the funding and just do not think there is that big of a market around this area for people interested in going that route with an E9x. Turnkey solutions seem to be the more popular choice for the typical COTA crowd - or at least a platform with a higher starting point in performance.

And even then once you start cutting weight and start getting to a more respectable number you are still comparatively under powered. And since we don't have a lot of room for more power without going FI we hit that second hurdle in the mid 2:2x's. That is where you see a lot of cars from prior race series landing at. Now I think this barrier in a NA car is closer to 2:20 - I think we haven't seen that from the race cars is possibly due to their lack of track time at COTA. Not the easiest track to figure out on a testing day & then go into a race. I think this track in particular needs some solid time spent to work through its quirkiness. A lot of little stuff during its multiple personalities that it throws at you over the 3.4 miles that can really add up.

There is just not that many (if any) builds in this platform out there like yours that have this combination of hp:lbs, the suspension, & the driver to be able to push down that low. Those Porsches & Corvettes (especially the vettes) typically are starting with a much higher baseline than us & also usually aren't stock at those times. Sure there are a few guys that can do that without having to mod the car a bunch, but they are the guys that have usually put in a ton of time out there.

I know you have sub 2:20 in you. I think you can go well below it if the conditions & your car play nice and you get to really focus on the track this time. Sunday morning, no rain, good day Saturday, no gremlins - 2:18...

Do it for us E9x guys - no pressure

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by OG Shark

I think the E9x at COTA has its first hurdle around the 2:30 mark. At that point you really need to jump in real heavy on the modifications. To that point everything was more or less bolt on - but now you really either have to cut some serious weight or look at bumping HP. Either way definitely a big step up in the funding and just do not think there is that big of a market around this area for people interested in going that route with an E9x. Turnkey solutions seem to be the more popular choice for the typical COTA crowd - or at least a platform with a higher starting point in performance.

And even then once you start cutting weight and start getting to a more respectable number you are still comparatively under powered. And since we don't have a lot of room for more power without going FI we hit that second hurdle in the mid 2:2x's. That is where you see a lot of cars from prior race series landing at. Now I think this barrier in a NA car is closer to 2:20 - I think we haven't seen that from the race cars is possibly due to their lack of track time at COTA. Not the easiest track to figure out on a testing day & then go into a race. I think this track in particular needs some solid time spent to work through its quirkiness. A lot of little stuff during its multiple personalities that it throws at you over the 3.4 miles that can really add up.

There is just not that many (if any) builds in this platform out there like yours that have this combination of hp:lbs, the suspension, & the driver to be able to push down that low. Those Porsches & Corvettes (especially the vettes) typically are starting with a much higher baseline than us & also usually aren't stock at those times. Sure there are a few guys that can do that without having to mod the car a bunch, but they are the guys that have usually put in a ton of time out there.

I know you have sub 2:20 in you. I think you can go well below it if the conditions & your car play nice and you get to really focus on the track this time. Sunday morning, no rain, good day Saturday, no gremlins - 2:18...

Do it for us E9x guys - no pressure

COTA is definitely tricky. Some really unique challenges. Obviously, I don't have much time there, but I'm optimistic that I can get the track down well enough to produce a decent result.

I have not made any specific lap time predictions aside from shooting for sub-2:20. But I like your prediction! Would be awesome if it were possible! I will do my best to validate your skills as a fortune teller!

I'm excited to get this all going. I gotta tell ya.....it's pretty hard to concentrate on work around here right now......I'm trying to deliver 3 new albums before I leave for Texas. Boy, what a bad week to be doing that! I mean, the video game isn't going to play itself!!!!

[dogbone]

Tonight I was looking at the SLB signups for COTA and a new name appears in the Unlimited Class. I recognize the name because I've been watching his Corvette 2:17 laps video at COTA. Adam Tobolowsky is signed up with a Dodge Viper. A local dude with tons of laps at COTA in a Viper. Yup, that sounds slow.

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Tonight I was looking at the SLB signups for COTA and a new name appears in the Unlimited Class. I recognize the name because I've been watching his Corvette 2:17 laps video at COTA. Adam Tobolowsky is signed up with a Dodge Viper. A local dude with tons of laps at COTA in a Viper. Yup, that sounds slow.

There some pretty quick guys in limited as well.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

There some pretty quick guys in limited as well.

Yeah, I have no doubt there are very fast guys in every class. The dude who took 3rd last year in Unlimited with a Miata doing a 2:16 is running in Enthusiast Class with an EVO this year.

I will laugh at myself pretty hard if I'm the slowest guy in Unlimited. Ultimately, I just want my car to work, and me to be able to drop the best laps I can. If that happens, and I'm last, I'm totally fine with that. My car is not a traditional time attack machine. It's fairly quick for a BMW, but it's nothing compared to an AWD dedicated TT monster.

For quite awhile, I was the only BMW signed up, but now in Enthusiast Class, there's a 335i. I'm proud to march the BMW banner out there!

[admranger]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Yeah, I have no doubt there are very fast guys in every class. The dude who took 3rd last year in Unlimited with a Miata doing a 2:16 is running in Enthusiast Class with an EVO this year.

I will laugh at myself pretty hard if I'm the slowest guy in Unlimited. Ultimately, I just want my car to work, and me to be able to drop the best laps I can. If that happens, and I'm last, I'm totally fine with that. My car is not a traditional time attack machine. It's fairly quick for a BMW, but it's nothing compared to an AWD dedicated TT monster.

For quite awhile, I was the only BMW signed up, but now in Enthusiast Class, there's a 335i. I'm proud to march the BMW banner out there!

Be sure to have some groceries in the car. That always sets folks off.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by admranger

Be sure to have some groceries in the car. That always sets folks off.

Just what I need----a dozen eggs smashing around in my car!!

You know, maybe I should joke around with the announcers!! Get some coffees and take them up to the announcers and tell them the family sedan picked these up while on track! Some donuts maybe!!? hahahaha

[dogbone]

(Also forgot to mention that the Race Hero app will have live results this weekend too. I’m in Group 1 for the time being.)

[DRLane]

So close, 2:20:29! Sitting 3rd in unlimited. Super psyched to see you break that tomorrow.

[b4hand]

Got to meet Gabe today! This was before his 2:20.29 session. He's got 2:19 for sure

[dogbone]

Crazy weekend at COTA and SuperLap Battle—-an amazing experience.

I was able to get on the podium with 3rd place in Unlimited! My fastest lap was 2:20.13. I had several shots at sub-2:20, but gave it away. Standing on the podium at COTA was a surreal experience—-a huge personal highlight. Very unexpected.

Anyway, I have SO MUCH to write about. But it’s gonna take awhile because I’m still traveling.

But I wanted to say thank you to all the people that helped me this weekend. I REALLY REALLY appreciate what you guys did for me. I’ll explain more later.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Crazy weekend at COTA and SuperLap Battle—-an amazing experience.

I was able to get on the podium with 3rd place in Unlimited! My fastest lap was 2:20.13. I had several shots at sub-2:20, but gave it away. Standing on the podium at COTA was a surreal experience—-a huge personal highlight. Very unexpected.

Anyway, I have SO MUCH to write about. But it’s gonna take awhile because I’m still traveling.

But I wanted to say thank you to all the people that helped me this weekend. I REALLY REALLY appreciate what you guys did for me. I’ll explain more later.

Good work! That's incredible, especially at a track you've only been in once!!!