My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[///Mobbin]

Nice looking result! Here's to some trouble free track days ahead!

[dogbone]

Car worked well at HPR on Friday. So, I’ll change the oil today. Then I’ll get some tires mounted this week. And that’s it—-I’ll be ready to head to Chuckwalla on Thursday. I’m gonna break the drive into 2 days. There’s no point in slamming the drive into a 17 hour day, and then having to drive on track the next day.

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Car worked well at HPR on Friday. So, I'll change the oil today. Then I'll get some tires mounted this week. And that's it—-I'll be ready to head to Chuckwalla on Thursday. I'm gonna break the drive into 2 days. There's no point in slamming the drive into a 17 hour day, and then having to drive on track the next day.

New DCT cover was leak free? Congrats Gabe on the long long journey back to your monster e90!

[SYT_Shadow]

Glad the shakedown went well! Have a safe drive!

[dogbone]

Let's file this one under: Wait----what!???

The drive from CO to CA went well. Took the southern route through NM and AZ. Stopped in Phoenix and had lunch with fsmtnbiker . Enjoyed seeing his personal shop. Plus, he hooked me up with some spares.

The weekend weather was looking pretty good at Chuckwalla--especially Sunday with a high of 77ºF. PCA San Diego was the event organizer. I always say that I like their TT format. After doing the weekend, I standby that comment----I just like their format. (Only 5 cars per group. One warm up lap, two hot laps. After the end of the second hot lap, stop and turn around and come into the pits the wrong direction. (No cool down lap.) Works great.)

Saturday:
Was really happy that the car wasn't overheating. The first session of the weekend, I had 10 timed laps. I am confident I can say that the project of sealing up the gaps so that the air is forced air into the main coolant radiator has been a solid success.

Now here comes the most frustrating revelation of the weekend: I was at the event with okusa . At some point, he decided to compare his tire gauge with mine. He had a brand new gauge. Mine has been in service since late 2019. After comparing them, he comes over and is like,"uhhhhh your tire gauge is showing over 3 psi different than mine. And mine is brand new." I was like what????? uh oh. The reason okusa had bought a new tire gauge was that some time ago, he had compared his older gauge with mine and saw a discrepancy and I stood by mine, so he decided to replace his. After scratching my head about the topic, I decided to go try and find another gauge to compare to. So, I went and found a tech shop that was supporting like 15 cars at the event. I asked them if they had a tire gauge that they knew was accurate. He pulled out a digital tire gauge that he said he trusted.

We went to some random car and tried the 3 gauges.
His digital gauge read: 29.8 psi.
okusa's gauge read: 30.2 psi
My gauge read 26.5 psi.......!!!!! uh oh

How long has my gauge been bad? I don't know but it's been at least a year because okusa compared them at this same Chuckwalla event last year. I know the gauge was ok when I first bought it because I compared it with other gauges. But at some point in 2020 or 2021, it went rogue.....argh.

This means, every time I've been setting cold AM first session psi at 22, it's actually 25.5. sigh......I guess one could argue that with time attack-style driving where you just do a couple laps, it may not be the worst thing in the world to have more air in the tires since you're not driving them a long time, but still the situation sucks. So, thanks to okusa for being persistent on this topic and digging it up. I have now bought two new gauges---a digital and an analog. Glad to have these new gauges before doing Global Time Attack.

Anyway, as Saturday concluded, I had the second fastest lap for the event so far. The fastest lap was put down by a 992 Cup Car. Wow, what a piece of artwork that car is!

Prior to leaving CO, I had felt that the car setup felt different to me after being put back together. I seemed to have more front grip than I was used to. Tail felt more loose than before. I bought a dedicated digital angle finder. Just before leaving CO, I had the alignment checked. While the car was on the perfectly flat alignment platform, I used the angle finder to check the splitter angle. It was at -3.2º. The old setup had less angle. So, I added more rear wing angle. The setup felt well balanced at Chuckwalla. I didn't add anymore wing.

Sunday:
I had Pirellis that were in pretty good shape--only a couple runs done on them at VIR in April. I had been debating whether I should save them for GTA in November, but I was able to get Michelin S8 Mediums for GTA, and the weather was nice, so I decided to run them.

My previous best going CW was 1:48.38 in Feb 2022. So, that's what I was shooting for. Since I've gotten the car back, I've been feeling like I've lost a step, so it was important for me to feel like I was building speed and confidence.

First session, no one went very fast. On Saturday, there had been a fair amount of sand blown on track. And Sunday, there was still stuff blowing on track.

Second session, things got faster---ran a 1:49.3. Was happy things were going the right direction.

Third session, the first two lap were ok--1:49.6, 1:49.8. Took an off lap. Tried again---1:49.4. Was mystified why I couldn't do better. Took another off lap, looked at my gas, decided I had enough gas to try one more time. Went for it and put down a 1:48.30---PB by .08 sec. Let me tell you what a relief that was. I was sooo happy. And then-----that happiness lasted for about 30 seconds because on my cool down lap, the car dropped into limp mode......it had run perfectly all weekend up to that point.

Came in and read the codes and it was the same code as a month ago with the throttle actuator monitoring! fsmtnbiker was saying the Throttle Position Sensor can throw the same code. So, we're gonna replace them when I return to CA in early November.

I asked the event organizer if I could test the car in a random session. He said yes. The car worked fine. I did the TT. The car was fine. I got 2nd place in the TT behind the 992 Cup Car.

Anyway, the weekend had its ups and downs. In the end, I was most happy that I was building confidence while attacking the Chuckwalla course. The car felt good and it was encouraging me to push harder. Setting a new PB was an emotional victory for me. Hopefully, we can remedy the randomly occurring limp mode before GTA. Looking forward to finally trying Michelin S8 Mediums!

The lap: While looking at the data, I lost 0.44 sec to my previous best from the exit of T5 through T7. Plus, I had to pass a car while going towards the Bowl. This means, the car can do a solid 1:47 if I put the pieces together.

[SYT_Shadow]

Great writeup! Glad you beat your pb, I'm sure you'll beat it by more and get to that 1:47!

Last week there were multiple 992 cup cars at vir with Chin, along with the rest of the gt3 imsa grid haha.

[Redd]

Originally Posted by dogbone

We went to some random car and tried the 3 gauges.
His digital gauge read: 29.8 psi.
okusa's gauge read: 30.2 psi
My gauge read 26.5 psi.......!!!!! uh oh

That's something I've noticed as well. I have a small digital pressure gauge, and a big analog one with air attachments for track use. Both are Michelin branded and both were bought within one year of each other, with the analog one being slightly newer.

The analog one has read 2 psi higher than the digital one since Day 1. I don't know which one to trust. I've gone to a friend's tire shop who also uses the same Michelin analog one and mine reads higher than theirs as well. Wth.

[roastbeef]

just curious, what were the brands and types of tire pressure gauges you had trouble with and what did you replace them with? mechanical/digital?

[okusa]

Both were the same Longacre analog units and he replaced with one analog and one digital.

[okusa]

I also ran a pb 1:53.58 which was good for 7th fastest of the weekend. I was really fighting both the weight (3,661 with me at 175) and heat (also supercharged), so I was happy.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

just curious, what were the brands and types of tire pressure gauges you had trouble with and what did you replace them with? mechanical/digital?

Ever since my first days of tracking, I have liked the idea of a tire gauge that can equalize itself to the current conditions. Longacre has always offered gauges that can do that. They're the gauges with the knob at the top that you open and close before each use to equalize the unit.

The idea behind them is that conditions change----day starts cold but gets hot. You might start the day in shade but then your gauge sits in the sun. In my case these days, I can be at sea-level or at 6500ft. The idea of having a gauge that can deal with all of that and supposedly be accurate is interesting. So, I have always used a Longacre with that feature. When I start a day that's cool, and then use the gauge later when it's hot, I can hear the pressure hissing out of the knob when I open and close it.

The unit that was bad was one of these kinds of gauges. I replaced the bad unit with an identical looking unit, although the model number is slightly different. Anyway, the new Longacre unit is a 52-52012. Goes to 45 psi. (The hash marks of the 60 psi unit are hard for my aging eyes to see.)

I decided to have a different brand for the digital one: JACO ElitePro Digital found on Amazon. It seems to work nicely. Uses two AAA batteries. Was fairly cheap ($30). Measures in increments of 0.1 psi. Goes to 100 psi. The unit has over 3000 reviews on Amazon and they're really good.

I plan on comparing the two units for awhile. Heck, if it's accurate, I may even use the digital one more because it's easier to read. The digital one doesn't have a pressure equalizer knob, so it will be interesting to see how the two compare over various scenarios.

I'll be using them a lot when I return to CA for Buttonwillow. I'm doing the SoCal Drivers Club day on Thursday Nov 10, the GTA practice day on Friday Nov 11, and then the GTA competition on Saturday and Sunday the 12th and 13th.

[omgzirra_exe]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Ever since my first days of tracking, I have liked the idea of a tire gauge that can equalize itself to the current conditions. Longacre has always offered gauges that can do that. They're the gauges with the knob at the top that you open and close before each use to equalize the unit.

The idea behind them is that conditions change----day starts cold but gets hot. You might start the day in shade but then your gauge sits in the sun. In my case these days, I can be at sea-level or at 6500ft. The idea of having a gauge that can deal with all of that and supposedly be accurate is interesting. So, I have always used a Longacre with that feature. When I start a day that's cool, and then use the gauge later when it's hot, I can hear the pressure hissing out of the knob when I open and close it.

The unit that was bad was one of these kinds of gauges. I replaced the bad unit with an identical looking unit, although the model number is slightly different. Anyway, the new Longacre unit is a 52-52012. Goes to 45 psi. (The hash marks of the 60 psi unit are hard for my aging eyes to see.)

I decided to have a different brand for the digital one: JACO ElitePro Digital found on Amazon. It seems to work nicely. Uses two AAA batteries. Was fairly cheap ($30). Measures in increments of 0.1 psi. Goes to 100 psi. The unit has over 3000 reviews on Amazon and they're really good.

I plan on comparing the two units for awhile. Heck, if it's accurate, I may even use the digital one more because it's easier to read. The digital one doesn't have a pressure equalizer knob, so it will be interesting to see how the two compare over various scenarios.

I'll be using them a lot when I return to CA for Buttonwillow. I'm doing the SoCal Drivers Club day on Thursday Nov 10, the GTA practice day on Friday Nov 11, and then the GTA competition on Saturday and Sunday the 12th and 13th.

lmk if you need some trackside support.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by omgzirra_exe

lmk if you need some trackside support.

Really appreciate that!

For now, I plan on doing what I normally do, which is do it myself. But have you ever been to a GTA event? There's a bunch of interesting cars out there. Come up and check it out! You can hang in my trailer and watch me do my tech stuff. hahaha

[omgzirra_exe]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Really appreciate that!

For now, I plan on doing what I normally do, which is do it myself. But have you ever been to a GTA event? There's a bunch of interesting cars out there. Come up and check it out! You can hang in my trailer and watch me do my tech stuff. hahaha

i've been attending GTA for years i try not to miss a day, but of course with schedule permits, i would be there saturday. met a lot of my closes friends at GTA.

my friend is actually still the enthusiast class record holder and he's going back to break it in his E90 M3 lol.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by omgzirra_exe

i've been attending GTA for years i try not to miss a day, but of course with schedule permits, i would be there saturday. met a lot of my closes friends at GTA.

my friend is actually still the enthusiast class record holder and he's going back to break it in his E90 M3 lol.

Very cool. Well, then I hope to see ya out there.

[dogbone]

Let's file this one under: Buttonwillow 13CW——lookin’ forward to seeing ya again!

This week, I am excited [and a bit nervous] to return to Buttonwillow 13CW. I consider Buttonwillow to be my home track (although I haven’t put a real lap there in a long time). Buttonwillow 13CW offers many different kinds of challenges within its 2.7 miles---it has high speed rounders, tighter/decreasing radius rounders, Esses, blind hilltops with turns, you need to attack the berms to be fast there, Bus Stop is a very challenging and odd turn, and then there's Off Ramp---literally everything about Off Ramp is a compromise---the line on entry is a question mark, the braking needs to be done in two parts because of a drop in the pavement as you approach the turn, there are two types of pavement as you exit due to a fix--so you start your exit on black-top, then you cross the white concrete fix as you go start up the hill, then you go back to black-top, the exit is uphill and off-camber.....I mean, how much can you throw into one turn?, there are throwaway turns like the entrance to Cotton Corners, and the first and last turns can be challenging to keep your minimum speed high. There are lots of ways to get it wrong at that track. If I had to guess, I'd say I have more laps around Buttonwillow than any other track-----not that that means I have the place all figured out.

Over the years, I've seen that many people use Buttonwillow 13CW as a benchmark. People come from far and wide to put their cars up against 13CW. And the results are always interesting. All I can say is that 13CW doesn't just hand out the quick lap times. Many people have left the place frustrated. And I can put myself in that category. Buttonwillow has not been kind to me in recent times. My PB of 1:47.21 is from Feb of 2018---almost 5 years ago..... It has been two years since I've put a full pace lap down at Buttonwillow. 2021 was lost due to electrical and transmission problems.

I feel like I have a fair amount of re-learning to do this week. To that end, I have been digging hard through my AIM data and lap videos. I've been hunting for my fastest minimum cornering speeds through each turn. I have a long history of over-slowing for Bus Stop, Phil Hill and Sunset. Anyway, it's been interesting (and at times frustrating) digging through my old data and videos.

Since last year was a bust, I still have never put down a full pace lap at Buttonwillow with the MCS 3-ways or the Zebulon aero. That just seems ridiculous to me, but that's the situation. Having just driven at Chuckwalla, I feel like the setup on the car is good. Front grip seems very good, so I think the task will be to make sure the tail of the car stays in the rear. I'll be paying close attention to the car's behavior/balance in Riverside (the long high speed rounder) and adjust the wing as necessary.

Looking at the weather for the week, it looks amazing. Lows in the 30s/40s, highs in the low 60s. I don't think you could ask for a better outlook. Hope it lives up to the forecasts. (It has been raining in SoCal until this afternoon. Hope the ground can dry up a bit.)

I mentioned before that I will be trying Michelin S8 Medium slicks for the first time this week. I'm very curious to see how the Michelin Mediums feel. My main worry is that the Michelins are narrower than what I normally run. The 27/65-18 Michelin isn't particularly wide when compared to the 305 Pirelli I always run. Will the S8 compound make up for the deficit of rubber? Will be interesting to find out.

1:46.....is it possible for me to do it? I just don't know. The data says yes it’s possible, but to get there, conditions have to be perfect and I can’t make ANY mistakes. Will conditions be perfect? I don’t know…..the rain means that a bunch of people could drag mud onto the track. If that happens, no chance. Can I drive the track cleanly? That remains to be same. I’ve driven the pieces of a 1:46 when splitting the track into 5 segments. In 2018, I had a 1:46 going as I exited the Esses, and then the car double-upshifted heading towards Sunset, killing the acceleration. That lap ended up as my PB of 1:47.2. In the end, I just need to put myself into full learning mode and be patient and consistent. Quite often at Buttonwillow, I run my best lap right at the end of the day. With good cool weather, the hope is that the car can still pull hard even late in the day so that all the pieces can come together.

The GTA Finals competition will be live-streamed on YouTube. You can get there by going here: https://globaltimeattack.com/live/

[omgzirra_exe]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Let's file this one under: Buttonwillow 13CW——lookin’ forward to seeing ya again!

This week, I am excited [and a bit nervous] to return to Buttonwillow 13CW. I consider Buttonwillow to be my home track (although I haven’t put a real lap there in a long time). Buttonwillow 13CW offers many different kinds of challenges within its 2.7 miles---it has high speed rounders, tighter/decreasing radius rounders, Esses, blind hilltops with turns, you need to attack the berms to be fast there, Bus Stop is a very challenging and odd turn, and then there's Off Ramp---literally everything about Off Ramp is a compromise---the line on entry is a question mark, the braking needs to be done in two parts because of a drop in the pavement as you approach the turn, there are two types of pavement as you exit due to a fix--so you start your exit on black-top, then you cross the white concrete fix as you go start up the hill, then you go back to black-top, the exit is uphill and off-camber.....I mean, how much can you throw into one turn?, there are throwaway turns like the entrance to Cotton Corners, and the first and last turns can be challenging to keep your minimum speed high. There are lots of ways to get it wrong at that track. If I had to guess, I'd say I have more laps around Buttonwillow than any other track-----not that that means I have the place all figured out.

Over the years, I've seen that many people use Buttonwillow 13CW as a benchmark. People come from far and wide to put their cars up against 13CW. And the results are always interesting. All I can say is that 13CW doesn't just hand out the quick lap times. Many people have left the place frustrated. And I can put myself in that category. Buttonwillow has not been kind to me in recent times. My PB of 1:47.21 is from Feb of 2018---almost 5 years ago..... It has been two years since I've put a full pace lap down at Buttonwillow. 2021 was lost due to electrical and transmission problems.

I feel like I have a fair amount of re-learning to do this week. To that end, I have been digging hard through my AIM data and lap videos. I've been hunting for my fastest minimum cornering speeds through each turn. I have a long history of over-slowing for Bus Stop, Phil Hill and Sunset. Anyway, it's been interesting (and at times frustrating) digging through my old data and videos.

Since last year was a bust, I still have never put down a full pace lap at Buttonwillow with the MCS 3-ways or the Zebulon aero. That just seems ridiculous to me, but that's the situation. Having just driven at Chuckwalla, I feel like the setup on the car is good. Front grip seems very good, so I think the task will be to make sure the tail of the car stays in the rear. I'll be paying close attention to the car's behavior/balance in Riverside (the long high speed rounder) and adjust the wing as necessary.

Looking at the weather for the week, it looks amazing. Lows in the 30s/40s, highs in the low 60s. I don't think you could ask for a better outlook. Hope it lives up to the forecasts. (It has been raining in SoCal until this afternoon. Hope the ground can dry up a bit.)

I mentioned before that I will be trying Michelin S8 Medium slicks for the first time this week. I'm very curious to see how the Michelin Mediums feel. My main worry is that the Michelins are narrower than what I normally run. The 27/65-18 Michelin isn't particularly wide when compared to the 305 Pirelli I always run. Will the S8 compound make up for the deficit of rubber? Will be interesting to find out.

1:46.....is it possible for me to do it? I just don't know. The data says yes it’s possible, but to get there, conditions have to be perfect and I can’t make ANY mistakes. Will conditions be perfect? I don’t know…..the rain means that a bunch of people could drag mud onto the track. If that happens, no chance. Can I drive the track cleanly? That remains to be same. I’ve driven the pieces of a 1:46 when splitting the track into 5 segments. In 2018, I had a 1:46 going as I exited the Esses, and then the car double-upshifted heading towards Sunset, killing the acceleration. That lap ended up as my PB of 1:47.2. In the end, I just need to put myself into full learning mode and be patient and consistent. Quite often at Buttonwillow, I run my best lap right at the end of the day. With good cool weather, the hope is that the car can still pull hard even late in the day so that all the pieces can come together.

The GTA Finals competition will be live-streamed on YouTube. You can get there by going here: https://globaltimeattack.com/live/

if you need to break some nerves, and get on a sim let me know!

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Let's file this one under: Buttonwillow 13CW——lookin’ forward to seeing ya again!

This week, I am excited [and a bit nervous] to return to Buttonwillow 13CW. I consider Buttonwillow to be my home track (although I haven’t put a real lap there in a long time). Buttonwillow 13CW offers many different kinds of challenges within its 2.7 miles---it has high speed rounders, tighter/decreasing radius rounders, Esses, blind hilltops with turns, you need to attack the berms to be fast there, Bus Stop is a very challenging and odd turn, and then there's Off Ramp---literally everything about Off Ramp is a compromise---the line on entry is a question mark, the braking needs to be done in two parts because of a drop in the pavement as you approach the turn, there are two types of pavement as you exit due to a fix--so you start your exit on black-top, then you cross the white concrete fix as you go start up the hill, then you go back to black-top, the exit is uphill and off-camber.....I mean, how much can you throw into one turn?, there are throwaway turns like the entrance to Cotton Corners, and the first and last turns can be challenging to keep your minimum speed high. There are lots of ways to get it wrong at that track. If I had to guess, I'd say I have more laps around Buttonwillow than any other track-----not that that means I have the place all figured out.

Over the years, I've seen that many people use Buttonwillow 13CW as a benchmark. People come from far and wide to put their cars up against 13CW. And the results are always interesting. All I can say is that 13CW doesn't just hand out the quick lap times. Many people have left the place frustrated. And I can put myself in that category. Buttonwillow has not been kind to me in recent times. My PB of 1:47.21 is from Feb of 2018---almost 5 years ago..... It has been two years since I've put a full pace lap down at Buttonwillow. 2021 was lost due to electrical and transmission problems.

I feel like I have a fair amount of re-learning to do this week. To that end, I have been digging hard through my AIM data and lap videos. I've been hunting for my fastest minimum cornering speeds through each turn. I have a long history of over-slowing for Bus Stop, Phil Hill and Sunset. Anyway, it's been interesting (and at times frustrating) digging through my old data and videos.

Since last year was a bust, I still have never put down a full pace lap at Buttonwillow with the MCS 3-ways or the Zebulon aero. That just seems ridiculous to me, but that's the situation. Having just driven at Chuckwalla, I feel like the setup on the car is good. Front grip seems very good, so I think the task will be to make sure the tail of the car stays in the rear. I'll be paying close attention to the car's behavior/balance in Riverside (the long high speed rounder) and adjust the wing as necessary.

Looking at the weather for the week, it looks amazing. Lows in the 30s/40s, highs in the low 60s. I don't think you could ask for a better outlook. Hope it lives up to the forecasts. (It has been raining in SoCal until this afternoon. Hope the ground can dry up a bit.)

I mentioned before that I will be trying Michelin S8 Medium slicks for the first time this week. I'm very curious to see how the Michelin Mediums feel. My main worry is that the Michelins are narrower than what I normally run. The 27/65-18 Michelin isn't particularly wide when compared to the 305 Pirelli I always run. Will the S8 compound make up for the deficit of rubber? Will be interesting to find out.

1:46.....is it possible for me to do it? I just don't know. The data says yes it’s possible, but to get there, conditions have to be perfect and I can’t make ANY mistakes. Will conditions be perfect? I don’t know…..the rain means that a bunch of people could drag mud onto the track. If that happens, no chance. Can I drive the track cleanly? That remains to be same. I’ve driven the pieces of a 1:46 when splitting the track into 5 segments. In 2018, I had a 1:46 going as I exited the Esses, and then the car double-upshifted heading towards Sunset, killing the acceleration. That lap ended up as my PB of 1:47.2. In the end, I just need to put myself into full learning mode and be patient and consistent. Quite often at Buttonwillow, I run my best lap right at the end of the day. With good cool weather, the hope is that the car can still pull hard even late in the day so that all the pieces can come together.

The GTA Finals competition will be live-streamed on YouTube. You can get there by going here: https://globaltimeattack.com/live/

Stoked to see an E9x running up against some of the new badass chassis's out there. Are you running limited or unlimited? I'm heading down Thursday for SDC, excited to run some 60* afternoon sessions before "winter" in California comes.

Do you happen to know the E9X record for CW13?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by omgzirra_exe

if you need to break some nerves, and get on a sim let me know!

Appreciate it! When will you be there?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by spxxx

Do you happen to know the E9X record for CW13?

You know, that is a good question. I don’t know. I have heard that Casey from Racewerkz may have run a 1:46 when he had the white E92. But there’s no record of it or posting of it that I’m aware of. Brett Strom said he ran a high 1:46 in one of his crazy E92 builds, but again no record of it or posting of that either.

Aside from those two stories, I’m not aware of anyone else that has claimed doing a sub-1:47 on this platform. If anyone else has knowledge of a sub-47 lap on this platform that has some kind of verification possible, I’d love to hear about it.

So, while I am not claiming the record, I do believe I’ve posted the fastest video with full AIM data up to this point for the E9x M3. Again, if I’m wrong, then please show me. I’d love to know about it. Maybe I can claim the E90 M3 record?

[omgzirra_exe]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Appreciate it! When will you be there?

i am aiming to come saturday, but not sure when. its one of those weeks at work.. were a weekend might be needed.. lol

[Ab28]

Glad to see the car back in action. Have always enjoyed reading up on this thread.

Do you happen to know what brand the pieces are that hold your fender on to the top of the bumper?