My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by okusa

Count me in...for the trailer part, but I'll fly and meet you there.

Nice try homey. You're driving the first shift through Arizona.

[Datka]

Hey dogbone, I just came back from WGI where I tested my new to me aero set up and BFG R1 S tires.
I am going to open a new thread in this track section when I have time with my feedback and a few videos. You are welcomed to join the discussion there

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Datka

Hey dogbone, I just came back from WGI where I tested my new to me aero set up and BFG R1 S tires.
I am going to open a new thread in this track section when I have time with my feedback and a few videos. You are welcomed to join the discussion there

With that big grin at the end-----is it safe to assume that things went well? C'mon---throw dogbone a........bone!!!!

[Datka]

Originally Posted by dogbone

With that big grin at the end-----is it safe to assume that things went well? C'mon---throw dogbone a........bone!!!!

Here is a small bone for you.
I had a few issues. The biggest one was that my suspension wasn't ready for such sticky tires. I started 25 cold all around as you suggested and immediately noticed that something wasn't right.
Front tires were squealing like street tires, we both know that good r-comp. tires should be dead silent.
Car was under steering heavily in slow speed corners.
The big grin means that we were able to fix that problem a bit by increasing front tire pressure by 3 PSI and the car came alive.
Still was understeering a bit, but not as much. Need more neg. camber up front.
As we expected I set my fastest lap times ever at this track with r1s/aero.
Will come back with more details in a new thread

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Datka

Here is a small bone for you.
I had a few issues. The biggest one was that my suspension wasn't ready for such sticky tires. I started 25 cold all around as you suggested and immediately noticed that something wasn't right.
Front tires were squealing like street tires, we both know that good r-comp. tires should be dead silent.
Car was under steering heavily in slow speed corners.
The big grin means that we were able to fix that problem a bit by increasing front tire pressure by 3 PSI and the car came alive.
Still was understeering a bit, but not as much. Need more neg. camber up front.
As we expected I set my fastest lap times ever at this track with r1s/aero.
Will come back with more details in a new thread

Interesting. I haven't heard of anyone running 28 psi cold in an R1S. If you're shooting for 32 psi hot, one would normally think that 28 is too high.

So does that mean you ended up running the fronts at 28 psi cold? And you had the rears at 25 psi? (That would definitely be a non-traditional setup.)

I'll be curious to hear more in your new thread.

[Datka]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Interesting. I haven't heard of anyone running 28 psi cold in an R1S. If you're shooting for 32 psi hot, one would normally think that 28 is too high.

So does that mean you ended up running the fronts at 28 psi cold? And you had the rears at 25 psi? (That would definitely be a non-traditional setup.)

I'll be curious to hear more in your new thread.

Well, 32 hot was not good, so it was no longer my hot temp. target.

[leo95se]

37-38 hot works for me. I start at 28-30 cold, depending on ambient temps, and bleed down after the first session.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by leo95se

37-38 hot works for me. I start at 28-30 cold, depending on ambient temps, and bleed down after the first session.

Well, I guess I'm just the odd-ball on this one. I wonder if it has something to do with my car being lighter than non-gutted E9x M3's.

I just can't run the psi's that high on non-Hoosiers. The car just feels nervous to me. (For whatever reason, Hoosiers love being run at 40 psi hot. When I spoke to Hoosier, they recommended I start with 33 psi on their tires....yeeks)

In July, at Thunderhill, I wasn't careful about the psi's in the late AM as it got hotter. (Start of the day was 65º. By Noon it was 100º.) The car was nervous on track---wouldn't hold. I checked psi when I came in and they we're like 39 hot.....argh. Simply too high for me. I let them cool down between sessions, put them back to 25 (they were around 28-29) and immediately set a new personal best next time out.....what can I say----all I can do is share my experiences.

Anyway, I'm always happy to hear the experiences of other people. Hopefully, others can learn from what we've all seen.

[leo95se]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Well, I guess I'm just the odd-ball on this one. I wonder if it has something to do with my car being lighter than non-gutted E9x M3's.

I just can't run the psi's that high on non-Hoosiers. The car just feels nervous to me. (For whatever reason, Hoosiers love being run at 40 psi hot. When I spoke to Hoosier, they recommended I start with 33 psi on their tires....yeeks)

In July, at Thunderhill, I wasn't careful about the psi's in the late AM as it got hotter. (Start of the day was 65º. By Noon it was 100º.) The car was nervous on track---wouldn't hold. I checked psi when I came in and they we're like 39 hot.....argh. Simply too high for me. I let them cool down between sessions, put them back to 25 (they were around 28-29) and immediately set a new personal best next time out.....what can I say----all I can do is share my experiences.

Anyway, I'm always happy to hear the experiences of other people. Hopefully, others can learn from what we've all seen.

What you say makes sense to me. Conti scrubs were happy at 34-35. I think the weight of the car requires it. Beyond 39 or 40 and it’s squirrely but under 35 it rolls onto the sidewalks. It’s a fine balance I guess

[///Mobbin]

My tire pressure mantra:
-start low but not so low the car is squirmy and rolling onto the sidewalls (past the arrows if your tire of choice has them)
-max hot pressure should not make the tires greasy until I am at least 3/4ths through the session and for morning sessions they really shouldn't get greasy at all
-as temps rise throughout the day, tire pressure should be lowered to account for this, someone told me their rule of thumb is 2 psi out per 10 degrees Fahrenheit ambient temp rise

Then I absolutely think ambient temperature, car weight, weight-on-axle, alignment, and tire selection all play into this art of getting pressure right. Have to experiment to figure it out for your setup.

Of course everyone discussing this here already knows all of this but thought I'd throw in my two cents for the benefit of others.

[dogbone]

The weather is finally cooling down here in SoCal. That can only mean one thing! Global Time Attack's Super Lap Battle (SLB) at Buttonwillow 13CW is one week away!

I'll be running in Unlimited RWD again this year. (I've never had any misguided illusions of being able to win, but I did manage 3rd last year.) The Unlimited RWD class has 13 drivers and there are some interesting entries:

-The guy who won last year in an RX7 with a 1:45.9 will be back.
-There are two Nissan 350z entries from Lyfe Motorsports. Those guys build amazing cars.
-A supercharged Miata will be back. Last year, they were having tech problems and still ran a 1:49.0 in the practice session. (Their tech issues prevented them from going below 1:50 during the competition.) The supercharger in that car runs at 20 psi, plus it has huge aero and fat Hoosiers. They claimed it could do mid-40's. I believe it.
-Jason Sharek in the C63 was only 0.3 sec behind me last year. Have you guys seen that C63? That is a serious build. A Mercedes with a sequential gearbox is an unusual sight. His car weighs a bit less than mine, he has a bit more power than me and we both have full aero. So, that should be an interesting German matchup again this year.

There are several other entries that I've never heard of, including an M4, so there's a lot of unknowns. Who knows, there might be another monster lurking among the 4(!) Miatas in the group. And S2000's are always a concern if they're setup well.

For my part, I've been getting faster at all the tracks I've been visiting this year. The car is feeling dialed in and I'm just driving more confidently. My car control is coming along. Even with pushing harder, I haven't spun at all this year. The only off-track experience I had in quite awhile was at Laguna Seca.

The weather next week is looking pretty darn good too-----much better than the 87ºF we had last year. That was terrible for going fast.

I'm still always amazed at the tech crews that show up with some of the cars. Sometimes up to 10 guys are running around a car between sessions.......and then there's little old me---the guy with a sedan, sitting there all by himself in his trailer, wondering if he should eat something, or if it'll make him sick during the next session..... Even the Event Photographers mostly ignore the little lonely blue sedan.....zero paddock shots.....boohooo I think I need a crew. You know, just to run around the car and make me look legit! Actually, I do plan on quite a few wheel changes over the 2 days. I have several tire setups I want to try.

My current personal best at Buttonwillow 13CW is 1:48.07. My goal is to surpass that next week. Here's to hoping for a little bit of good luck! You definitely need a bit of luck at these time attacks!

[///Mobbin]

I feel like you are representing us, no pressure or anything, just get to the podium~~!

Seriously, sounds like a great event, enjoy and give them a run for their money with there entourages and all.

[Datka]

Third place last year means that you in your car are competitive
You represent e9xm3, so I am rooting for you.
One suggestion, I would hire a bunch of teenagers for cheap and dress them in race uniforms just to run around the car and make you look legit!
Good luck.

[rcracin]

I'd come with a few buddies and pretend to pit crew for you if I wasn't on the other coast. Good luck

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by ///Mobbin

I feel like you are representing us, no pressure or anything, just get to the podium~~!

Seriously, sounds like a great event, enjoy and give them a run for their money with there entourages and all.

No pressure.....I'll have to keep reminding myself......no pressure no pressure no pressure no pressure no pressure no pressure no pressure....Damn it! I'm feeling pressure!! Nah, It's all good. Like I said, the car feels really good, so I'm just excited to get back to Buttonwillow and put in some laps. Of course, those laps better be perfect! NO PRESSURE!

A podium finish again this year would be great, but I'm not counting on it. There's some good competition out there. Should be fun!

Originally Posted by Datka

Third place last year means that you in your car are competitive
You represent e9xm3, so I am rooting for you.
One suggestion, I would hire a bunch of teenagers for cheap and dress them in race uniforms just to run around the car and make you look legit!
Good luck.

Thanks, yeah, the car is good to go. But the driver----well, the driver will always need some work.....

And you're right, that's exactly what I need. A big group of teenage posers running around my car looking super busy and stressed out. Then, everyone will fear me because of the massive commitment I've made into my operation.

Originally Posted by rcracin

I'd come with a few buddies and pretend to pit crew for you if I wasn't on the other coast. Good luck

Oh sure.....use the old I'm-on-the-other-coast excuse.....I totally get it....

[dogbone]

Another Super Lap Battle has come and gone. As usual, it delivered ups and downs and everything in between.

Ultimately, I got 4th place in the Unlimited RWD category with a 1:49.5. And while I'm unhappy about my lap time performance, the competition was stiff enough that regardless of how I could have driven, there was no way for me to move higher in the standings. 3rd place was a 1:47.2. I have never driven that fast. So, 4th was as good as I could do. But overall, I drove poorly, several sessions were hampered by other cars breaking down which prevented running clean laps, and I had some nagging tech issues that ultimately forced me to end early. hehe Motorsport----it can be challenging, exciting and rewarding, but it can also chew you up and spit you out pretty dang quick.

On the Sunday prior to SLB, I went to Buttonwillow to practice. I put on good tires and rolled a 1:48.3---no fuss no muss. I felt like I was ready. I even hoped that a 1:47 was possible. I have yet to roll a 1:47 and I was hoping that this could be the time.

During the SLB practice session on Day 1, I was patient and built up speed slowly on slower older tires. Rolled an easy 1:52. Things felt good. I was optimistic.

However, the first timed session of the event with the coolest air of the day was a waste. On the first hot lap of the day, a car broke down and parked off the outside of Riverside and they Yellow flagged the session for a lap or two. And then they left him sitting there for the rest of the session. If you hooked at Bus Stop, you would have hit him. Combine that with drivers that wouldn't let me by, and me flying off the track and my best lap time was a whopping 2:02 during the first session. I'm glad I could waste my good tires on that ridiculous session. And the next session wasn't until 1:30PM.....too warm to do anything great in my car.

Day 1 overall was frustrating.

And Day 2 was full of pitfalls too. I went out with some fresh R1S tires, and I was driving a 1:48 lap through the final turn and onto the front straight, and I look at the Start/Finish Flag worker, and he's waving a Red Flag to stop everyone on track because a Miata was having a fire issue near Turn 1 on the front straight. I stopped on track and smoke was just POURING out of my brakes. I had done two full-on hot laps and then came to a sudden stop, so the brakes were super hot. With Red Flags, you're supposed to be within sight of a flag station. I couldn't see the Start/Finish worker, so I decided to slowly backup so I could see him. I also figured that would allow me to move the brake rotors. So, I start creeping backwards super slowly. As I do that, I start hearing yelling. I had ear plugs in, so at first I didn't know what it was. But then I hear my name being yelled. It was the Start/Finish guy yelling, "Gabe, your car is on fire! Get out of the car!" I'm like what???????? So, I immediately exit the car, and the fire crew leaves the Miata and comes over to my car. He looks at my rotors and says something is flaming inside the rotors. I was down on my hands and knees and did not see any fire. He guesses that some track rubber caught in my rotors has flamed up because the brakes are so hot. At first he was thinking of spraying water in there, but then he decided not to because it would most likely crack the rotors. I was glad that he didn't. He finally decided that whatever he saw in there is fine and he tells me to do a lap under the Yellow caution flag to cool things off and just check it out in the pits.

I got to the pits and checked everything out. It was all fine. I talked to several people who had witnessed the event, including the Start/Finish worker. They all said that when I went in reverse, some flaming bits dropped out from under the car. Everyone now believes it to be track rubber that lit up inside my brakes/rotors and fell out when I slowly went in reverse.

Anyway, that was very indicative of how my SLB went----going from a 1:48, to a complete stop under a Red flag, to igniting track rubber in my hot rotors and having to jump out of my car......not how I had hoped it would go.

And I haven't even gotten to my nagging tech issue yet!! I run wide tires on the car. The front tires have been rubbing all kinds of things, including the intake tube for the supercharger. It's been rubbing the side of the tube enough that part of the tube is worn away, which makes it hard for a hose clamp to keep the air filter's ducting attached to the supercharger intake tube--especially if a fat tire is jamming up against it and tugging on it (Damn that Off-Ramp corner!). In fact, at the end of Day 1, the clamp fell off in my paddock area and I didn't notice as I was putting the car in the trailer at the end of the day. But at the start of Day 2, I looked behind my trailer and I saw the hose clamp sitting there on the ground. So, I reattached the clamp before session 1. After session 1, I checked it and it was off again. So, I reattached it and drove session 2, and it was of again after session 2. After session 2, I cut an entirely new section of air hose, used a new clamp and basically started over with fresh equipment. I was actually proud of myself for fashioning a new air duct right there in the paddock. And then in session 3, I am going through the Off-Ramp turn and I see my brand new hose clamp sitting in the middle of the turn. (Damn that Off-Ramp corner!). Time to go home!! So, now I need to sort out some kind of permanent solution for the air duct since I want to keep running as wide tires as possible. And at least now I know which turn was the major culprit! That Off-Ramp turn is nasty in so many ways!

A Miata took 1st place this year, surprising everyone by displacing the RX7 from last year. The RX7 dude thought he had it in the bag again this year with his 1:45.2 and packed the car before the event was over. He didn't run the last session. And then in the last session of the event, the Miata went out there and dropped a 1:44.9 funk bomb on the RX7.....haha! It just goes to show you, it ain't over 'til it's over! I have found that to be a typical strategy---holding your cards close to your chest until the last session and then letting it all hang out. It's a bit risky, but it paid off for the Miata. If the RX7 comes back next year, I'm quite sure he won't be packing up early figuring the victory is assured.....hehehe (Everyone who hears that RX7 is convinced it has a Corvette/LS swap in it. It sounds like big American Muscle jam packed into a light Asian chassis. Pretty wild car. Any RWD car dropping a 1:45 is moving.)

A couple other performances that were notable:

-A 991 Cup Car was out there. I was told it was stock. It was turning 1:41 laps.....holy cow!
-A Miata in the Limited RWD category was dropping some crazy times given the tires on the car. GTA's rules state that Limited can only have a minimum of 100 treadwear tires. The Miata was doing 1:48 out there on 100 treadwear tires!!! yikes! The closest car to him was 3 seconds off his pace! It seems like every year more Miatas show up with crazier and crazier mods. Given their low starting weight, I'm not surprised. (As a comparison, a gutted E90 M3 weighing 3185lbs with bolt ons, full aero and a competent driver was at 1:54 on NT01 in that Class.)
-An Evo ran a 1:40
-The YimiSport STI caught fire in the practice session on Day 1. Those guys left the track and came back in the middle of Day 2 and still dropped some 1:42 laps!! I don't know how the hell they put that car back together overnight, but I'll bet no one got any sleep!
-The BMW M4 that took 3rd place in Unlimited RWD was built by Racewerkz Engineering which is my race shop. In fact, Casey co-drove the car with the owner and Casey was the one who drove the 1:47.2. So, I was competing with my own race shop! hehe That's ok. I'm happy to keep 3rd and 4th place in the Racewerkz family. It was nice to have two Racewerkz BMWs near the top of the list. We were fending off Mazdas, Hondas, Mercedes, other BMWs and Nissans.


Ultimately, I left the event disappointed that I had not put my best out on the track. My biggest takeaway/criticism on my performance was that I was "driving for a lap time", instead of just driving the track. This caused me to over-drive, freeze up, miss corners, push too hard, make mistakes, etc. It just turned into sloppy driving. Next time, I will clear my head and get back to basics: focus on the car's balance, work a clean line and be smooth on the controls. I did drive 0.3 second better than my time last year at SLB, so there's a little bit of consolation there, but it ain't much consolation..... So, I'll just look to improve again next year.

However, it was a fun event from a social standpoint. I know quite a few people out there now. Plus, some friends of mine made the trip out to the event to check it out and it was nice to hang with them. And a group of Racewerkz shop guys and clients went out to a lively dinner which was fun. Good BBQ makes everything better!

So, there it is---my wonderful and glamorous Super Lap Battle 2017 experience.

PS. (I'm a bit fearful that in a couple years, the RWD category at SLB will be all about Miatas, and that everything else will be relegated to finishing much further down the list......This year Miatas won both Unlimited and Limited RWD classes. As we were leaving for dinner at the end of Day 1, all the Miata guys lined up their cars next to each other for a mini Miata-fest or something. Next year, we need to get all the Bimmers to line up for a little BMW love!!!!)

[rcracin]

Thanks for such a detailed account of the weekend!

sucks that you had all that nonsense to deal with though.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by rcracin

Thanks for such a detailed account of the weekend!

sucks that you had all that nonsense to deal with though.

Yeah----it was not an ideal event for me. Frustration seemed to be the name of the game this time around. That's ok. I've learned from it. Every time I do one of these things, I learn something valuable. What did I learn this time? BUY A MIATA! Wait, no that's not what I learned.

[roastbeef]

Is there room to make a tube that flattens out in that area?
If your tube is made of plastic, do you think you could heat it up a flatten it out a bit?

[dogbone]

Argh---I almost forgot! I had one mod on the car to show you! We did this two days before Super Lap Battle.

So many race cars I see have vents over the front wheel to relieve pressure and increase airflow. I figured why not try it? So, I had Racewerkz cut some simple vents in there.

To be honest, I didn't think it would net much difference. And I didn't feel any difference while driving. But I was distracted at SLB with flaming rubber bits, broken down cars and rude drivers. So, I'll take some more time to see if I can feel a subtle change like this.

Photo Courtesy of GTA Facebook page:


I took this shot the day before SLB after washing the car:

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

Is there room to make a tube that flattens out in that area?
If your tube is made of plastic, do you think you could heat it up a flatten it out a bit?

I've talked to Racewerkz about a permanent fix. We have a few ideas. I'll let you all know what we end up with.

[dapopa9]

Are you faster on the R1S than the Hoosier A7's?

I'm surprised more the SLB unlimited guys don't run Michelin/Pirelli or other race slicks. I haven't ran these myself but in talking with some of the bigger budget race teams they tell me they are 2-3 seconds fast than the A7's.