CCA Spring Driving School

[dnvrdrvr]

I was already signed up for the following weekend with NASA out at HPR. I mentioned earlier, my husband decided I should start driving his car since I'd be using it for competition. Saturday was windy, so no records there. But Sunday was cool and calm and in the second session, I set a personal best time at HPR of 2:05.028. Pretty sure I completely lost my cool, jumped up and down and giggled like a little girl when I heard the good news. The first lap here is The One.

And yes, the silver car in the previous two clips is for sale. Anyone care to finish building it out and come racing with me?

[IN54NITY]

Congratulations on your PB, put jelly on it!

Thanks for posting up! I'm curious, what's your next car? I'm leaning spec 944, I like the high turn out...

P.S. I really liked the sounds on that rolling start. And I dig your lines, mine are very similar. That e46 'dive' to the apex surprised me on T5 in video #1, don't think he knew the track well. (Negative camber to track on far right T5.) IMO that was Ok for race, not so nice for a "school", ok in real race because he was a car length ahead. Your vid clearly shows you had best line because it's obvious you had to wait. Joe put a sneaky move on you on 8 in vid #2, totally sort of kinda unfair because you had traffic...

[dnvrdrvr]

Originally Posted by aleckzandr

Congratulations on your PB, put jelly on it!

Thanks for posting up! I'm curious, what's your next car? I'm leaning spec 944, I like the high turn out...

Thanks! I beat my best lap time by over 2 seconds. Not even on Hoosiers yet (NT-01's)... and I know where I have time to make up still.

I've been given my husband's car and is what I'm driving above. It's a bit of a Frankenstien and so wouldn't qualify for any Spec classes: E36 325is chassis (it essentially donated the tub), M-coupe engine (M52?), M3 everything else (subframe, etc). I was very happy when Bruce said they'd honor other series' classing (like NASA's GTS3 class). It's fully caged with solid aero, suspension, saftey gear. Just needs fire supression and the window net welded in to be ready for Comp.

Originally Posted by aleckzandr

P.S. I really liked the sounds on that rolling start. And I dig your lines, mine are very similar. That e46 'dive' to the apex surprised me on T5 in video #1, don't think he knew the track well. (Negative camber to track on far right T5.) IMO that was Ok for race, not so nice for a "school", ok in real race because he was a car length ahead. Your vid clearly shows you had best line because it's obvious you had to wait. Joe put a sneaky move on you on 8 in vid #2, totally sort of kinda unfair because you had traffic...

That race and the videos really highlight the importance of being aware of everything going on around in close quarters. Here were my observations both during the race and afterwards, watching the vids:

• When it happened, I was surprised at the red E36 closing the door on me in T3... to me it was obvious I had the line through there since we were side-by-side exiting T2 and entering T3. I had to brake REALLY hard there to keep from planting myself into the passenger door. After chatting with alekzandr, I realize I didn't actually have the right to the line.
• The E46... I just wanted to get past him because I knew he didn't know where he was. Did you see him hit the brakes exiting T8??!! At first I thought there must've been a yellow flag and then when there wasn't one, I thought, "Well WTF is going on here... see ya!"
• And I knew Joe had been studying my lines for quite a few laps. I laughed when I saw him pull left up T7 and let him go. We had a good little battle - it was fun!!

Short story: I'm hooked. THE most fun I've had in a car. Ever.

[IN54NITY]

First, I want to call out signes, I distinctly see a camera on your car in dnvrdrvr's 1st vid!



(Personally I didn't film first day, rain put me behind the 8 ball on time. On second day I held the on/off button 5 milliseconds too long on the GoPro on 2nd and 4th sessions so it took a picture instead of filming when I clicked the start button. I won't make that mistake again.)

>It's a bit of a Frankenstien

Wait. I thought you bought that e36 from John S.? (now Ford Boss 302) That's another car?

>I was surprised at the red E36 closing the door on me in T3...

In a real race, that red e36 would have had the "right" to do so as you only came up to the door. Remember the onus is on the driver passing to avoid all contact up until ~you are nose to nose~ (Skip Barber mentions not even nose to front wheel or front fender is good enough), once you have "presented" yourself (completely nose to nose at time of turn in) only then "passed" driver needs to yield one car width + "one coat of paint" (BMWCCA club racing rule, I ~think~ it's 3/4 car width in NASA), otherwise the apex doesn't belong to you.

>Short story: I'm hooked. THE most fun I've had in a car. Ever.

My favorite moments during the whole weekend were "driving" with you and Joe, even though it lasted a short 2 minutes.

P.S. That dust plume looked much much larger in real life.

[dnvrdrvr]

Originally Posted by aleckzandr

>It's a bit of a Frankenstien

Wait. I thought you bought that e36 from John S.? (now Ford Boss 302) That's another car?

Yep, I was driving John's silver E36 M3 the weekend of racing school, and a black E36 3-something last weekend with NASA. The silver one is the one I'm offering up for sale. Interested...?

Originally Posted by aleckzandr

>I was surprised at the red E36 closing the door on me in T3...

In a real race, that red e36 would have had the "right" to do so as you only came up to the door. Remember the onus is on the driver passing to avoid all contact up until ~you are nose to nose~ (Skip Barber mentions not even nose to front wheel or front fender is good enough), once you have "presented" yourself (completely nose to nose at time of turn in) only then "passed" driver needs to yield one car width + "one coat of paint" (BMWCCA club racing rule, I ~think~ it's 3/4 car width in NASA), otherwise the apex doesn't belong to you.

Thanks for pointing that out. We weren't nose to nose - I would say my nose was about at his side mirror. So he knew I was there. And then he chose not to let me by. I chose not to stay in the throttle. And as I typed that sequence of events, I realize how lucky I was the rear-end did come around on me considering we were mid-turn. Big lesson learned. As in, application of Bruce's advice not to put your nose in just because you can.

Originally Posted by aleckzandr

>Short story: I'm hooked. THE most fun I've had in a car. Ever.

My favorite moments during the whole weekend were "driving" with you and Joe, even though it lasted a short 2 minutes.

P.S. That dust plume looked much much larger in real life.

Don't forget the GoPro fisheye makes everything look smaller in the videos. Going into T4, your boot looked MUCH closer through my windshield in real life than it did on the video!

[IN54NITY]

You were looking at my boot closely?

[dnvrdrvr]

Originally Posted by aleckzandr

You were looking at my boot closely?

Yeah and it was HUGE!

[IN54NITY]

It looked huge even with "high" eyes? I thought you were flattering me but now I see you were disgusted. Hey, I keep all my goodies in my boot, and I have a lot of goodies.

[MNm3]

Nice everyone! I like all the vids! I definitely am investing in a camera setup going forward...

[dnvrdrvr]

Originally Posted by aleckzandr

It looked huge even with "high" eyes? I thought you were flattering me but now I see you were disgusted. Hey, I keep all my goodies in my boot, and I have a lot of goodies.

Bah. Bimmer bum is always nice. But from my little E36 yours loomed large - and in a hurry as we came up to T4!

Originally Posted by MNm3

I definitely am investing in a camera setup going forward...

Do it! There's a lot to learn by watching the videos when you get home on the big screen. I've even had in-car camera pointed at me to what I'm doing and have corrected some stuff. WELL worth the minimal amount of money that you'll spend.

[llis]

Originally Posted by dnvrdrvr

Short story: I'm hooked. THE most fun I've had in a car. Ever.

Exactly! My first racing weekend had me grinning ear to ear. It's insanely fun! A different world!

The downside is that it makes DEs rather boring afterwards. It just doesn't compare. If DEs are like archery, racing is like basketball (except everyone's on their own team).

I hope anyone reading this thread who is tempted in the least to try racing will check it out. SCCA and NASA have racing schools (but for those you need a fully prepped racecar), and BMWCCA is sounding like will be hosting a racing school next year.

BMWCCA is looking to bring racing back to our region, but it's up to us to show up and make it worthwhile for the organizers.