My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by StripclubDJ

Don't wanna thread jack
But this is cars and coffee tech'd and certified lmao

I need carbon doors now tho

You coupe guys have no excuses when it comes to lighter doors!! Well, maybe except if you don't have a cage......

Wait wait wait wait wait!!! Please tell me those aren't the original orangey angel eyes!!!!! That's like 5 seconds on track right there!! Do you even mod bro?!

[StripclubDJ]

Originally Posted by dogbone

You coupe guys have no excuses when it comes to lighter doors!! Well, maybe except if you don't have a cage......

Wait wait wait wait wait!!! Please tell me those aren't the original orangey angel eyes!!!!! That's like 5 seconds on track right there!! Do you even mod bro?!

I had to save weight on the nose like you, so halogen angel eyes were the answer to going sub 2 bro

[dogbone]

I'm off to Texas today. Looking forward to seeing how it goes at COTA this weekend at the Chin event. They have an interesting run format. Curious to see how that goes. This is the first event at COTA since they repaved around 40% of the track. (///Mobbin warned me that in the past, rocks on the track were an issue after pavement work......we'll see)

Never been to Texas before. Looking forward to some great steak!

///Mobbin and OG Shark will be there. Looking forward to meeting them. Been chatting with them this week.

The car is still in transport. Should arrive this afternoon. Once it arrives, we'll pull the headlights out and replace them with the carbon blanks. I'm bringing a shipping scale with me to weigh what we remove.

So----yeah.....lots of new stuff this weekend!

[b4hand]

Damn it. I am in Germany, not getting back until Sunday. Guess I'll see you at gridlife. Also, go to Terry Blacks BBQ in downtown. Some good Texas bbq there!!

[dogbone]

A quick post before I'm off to COTA this AM.

Yesterday proved to be full of interesting moments. Of course, it was a busy day of travel and setup.

First, I want to thank OG Shark who made his COTA garage available to us last night. By the time we were working on the headlight blanks, it was totally dark out, so it was awesome to have the lighted garage. So----thanks!

Regarding the headlight blanks-----they're in. How much weight did I lose? Well, I don't know what Bimmerworld is talking about, but it is NOT 40 lbs. It is only 15 lbs. I weighed the pieces with my shipping scale as they were removed.....Bimmerworld will be getting a stern phone call next week.

The other challenge of note: As we were getting settled at COTA with the trailer, I realized that one of my bags was not in the trailer. The bag containing my helmet, neck restraint and new vinyl numbers for the new carbon doors was missing. Somehow, the bag got moved and didn't make it into the trailer. It's been confirmed that it's still sitting in San Diego......I was definitely panicked. I was getting ready to run to Winding Road and spend a lot of money. (They were going to stay open late for me.) But then, my friend, who's doing the trip with me said, "I have my second helmet with me!" He has been carrying around a brand new Stillo ST5---same exact helmet I use---for like two years and has never used it!!!! It's even the same size! The transport driver is a pro racer, so he gave me his Hans. And we taped cheesy-ass fluorescent green numbers on the side. So, I'm good. I gotta tell you though----I've always used NecksGen. Never had a Hans on before. I prefer my NecksGen to the Hans.

So, it was a bit of a rocky start, but we seem ready to go.

[rhyary]

@dogbone, do you have measurements (mm) of your front spoiler off the ground?

Good luck this weekend

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by rhyary

@dogbone, do you have measurements (mm) of your front spoiler off the ground?

Good luck this weekend

Looks to be around 3 inches.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by rhyary

@dogbone, do you have measurements (mm) of your front spoiler off the ground?

Good luck this weekend

84mm or 3 5/16”.

[admranger]

Checklists, how do they work?

And do the helmet owner a solid, buy a couple balaclavas. It’s sticky in Austin. Balaclavas will keep the sweat out of his helmet lining. Swap between each run for some extra drying time.

[PrimeBMW]

Bimmerworld: you are lucky they even had the headlight blanks in stock. I can't tell you how many times they said they were in stock only to be actually back ordered for three months.

[PrimeBMW]

I guess they have a Superlap Battle at The Ridge (Washington) this summer. I might have to give it a try.

[tsk94]

Interesting note how little weight the headlight blanks save. I was a bit skeptical of them saving 40 lbs, but Bimmerworld is usually pretty reliable with that kind of information so I assumed it was true..

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by admranger

Checklists, how do they work?

And do the helmet owner a solid, buy a couple balaclavas. It’s sticky in Austin. Balaclavas will keep the sweat out of his helmet lining. Swap between each run for some extra drying time.

Haha well, that one is not on me. I delivered everything in one pile correctly two weeks ago and flew back to CO. Someone moved it and then it was missed.....

[Bartledoo]

Have you ever thought of adding those fancy splitter diffusers to your front splitter?

[roastbeef]

Didn't they say the modules were included in that weight? Is there more crap to remove? Or is it all self contained?

front splitter is looking pretty tired sir.

*patiently awaiting cota impressions*

[dogbone]

Just got home from COTA. It was a weekend of ups and downs. The track is very challenging, but fun to drive. Very glad to have had an opportunity to drive there. The repave of the track is fantastic. All the major problems that were on the track before the repave are gone. The grip felt fine and will just continue to get better. I believe it was already improving on day 2. It is an amazing facility.

There were a lot of people attending the Chin event so clean/open laps were very difficult to come by. I was hoping that being Super Bowl weekend, people might ditch early. Nope. I only had a few unimpeded laps all weekend. My best lap of the weekend was a 2:21.3. Sadly, no video of that lap. I can make a video of a 2:22 lap......argh.

Ultimate lap time was not my goal this weekend. Learning the track was the goal. I knew that a lot of people would be there. I was more focused on sectors/segments. I created 6 segments of the track in the AIM Solo setup. Could I keep improving parts of the track if open track was a problem, and then put it all together at SuperLap in a couple weeks? Looking at the sectors, I drove the pieces of a 2:20.3. I have no doubt the car can go under 2:20, but it will take some open track and decent weather to do it.

No surprise, I was hesitant on track at first. I just didn't want to do anything dumb. I can happily tell you that the time on the video game was very valuable to me. I knew the layout and that really helped. I ran a 2:26 my first session. Learning where to brake was the biggest and most important task. I'm still working on that. But by day 2, I was being much more aggressive with braking and tossing the car around. I do believe that my car is under-sprung for COTA. It leans pretty hard in several places. Ah well----not going to do anything about that.

The Yokohama tires that we are required to run felt good. There was a last minute switch of spec tires. We're not running regular Yoko Touring car slicks. We're running GT series medium compound tires. (They didn't have the originally spec'd touring car super soft, soft or medium tires in stock, so they had to make the GT tires available.)

Socially, the weekend was AWESOME! Met OG Shark and ///Mobbin and many other people. Everyone was great. OG Shark made his garage available to everyone. That was a central spot for BMW guys. Thanks again for that! There was just a great group of people there. Had some good Texas steak on Saturday night.

My car is having some intermittent issues that are causing the engine to hesitate and the rev limiter to lower during driving. Something is up and we had several people scanning the car. It is SO frustrating. We thought we solved it, but the problem came back on the second half of Sunday...... I'll type more later about this later because I would love some ideas from the forum.

As of this typing, the East coast part of our trip is looking uncertain at best. I always said that the East Coast could only happen if both my friend's Cup Car and my car were running properly. My friend's Cup Car was leaking oil like crazy. The rig is definitely turning around and going back to CA after SuperLap. The question is, can his engine be dealt with in a period of time where maybe we send the rig all the way to the East Coast in one shot and keep the trip going? I have no idea. But right now, the plan is to bring the cars back to CA. Plus, my car is also not running 100% either.

Anyway, I feel like I know the meat-and-potatoes basics of the tracks now. I'm comfortable tossing the car around trusting that it will stick. Unfortunately, my learning process was slowed by the car's problems. But I felt like I was in the flow of the track by mid-day Sunday. The 2:22 lap that I ran was done at the end of Sunday when it was 78ºF and it was my 10th lap of that session. And the tires were no longer fresh. This gives me hope that I'm going to be able to go under 2:20 at SuperLap----as long as weather allows it.......and the car runs normally.....

So, I'm looking forward to SuperLap, but I'm worried about the gremlins that appeared this weekend. We'll see!

[DRLane]

If you do get video uploaded, I'd be psyched to see it!

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by DRLane

If you do get video uploaded, I'd be psyched to see it!

Agreed!

[dogbone]

I don't have video of my 2:21 fast lap. Here's how that dumb-ass moment happened. Chin Track Days sets up the first session of the day as a 40 minute session. Well, I don't need 40 minutes. So, I decided to split the session up into two smaller sessions---run 10 minutes, let the car rest for 15 minutes, then run the last 15 minutes. The strategy worked great for running laps. So, I started the camera and went out for the first 10 minutes. Then, I came in and stopped recording. Then I went back out, and guess what I forgot to turn back on.....yup, I'm a genius.

But, I did have the camera running for pretty much everything else, including the 2:22. As I said before, I really like this 2:22 because it happened as the 10th lap of the session with the oil really hot (look at the oil gauge climb) and the ambient air at 76ºF and the tires were on their 4th session. Basically, I am being more aggressive in this lap, which I'm happy about. I can't say I did everything right, but I was pushing and looking for limits.

So, here is my 2:22:

[maicol76]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Just got home from COTA. It was a weekend of ups and downs. The track is very challenging, but fun to drive. Very glad to have had an opportunity to drive there. The repave of the track is fantastic. All the major problems that were on the track before the repave are gone. The grip felt fine and will just continue to get better. I believe it was already improving on day 2. It is an amazing facility.

There were a lot of people attending the Chin event so clean/open laps were very difficult to come by. I was hoping that being Super Bowl weekend, people might ditch early. Nope. I only had a few unimpeded laps all weekend. My best lap of the weekend was a 2:21.3. Sadly, no video of that lap. I can make a video of a 2:22 lap......argh.

Ultimate lap time was not my goal this weekend. Learning the track was the goal. I knew that a lot of people would be there. I was more focused on sectors/segments. I created 6 segments of the track in the AIM Solo setup. Could I keep improving parts of the track if open track was a problem, and then put it all together at SuperLap in a couple weeks? Looking at the sectors, I drove the pieces of a 2:20.3. I have no doubt the car can go under 2:20, but it will take some open track and decent weather to do it.

No surprise, I was hesitant on track at first. I just didn't want to do anything dumb. I can happily tell you that the time on the video game was very valuable to me. I knew the layout and that really helped. I ran a 2:26 my first session. Learning where to brake was the biggest and most important task. I'm still working on that. But by day 2, I was being much more aggressive with braking and tossing the car around. I do believe that my car is under-sprung for COTA. It leans pretty hard in several places. Ah well----not going to do anything about that.

The Yokohama tires that we are required to run felt good. There was a last minute switch of spec tires. We're not running regular Yoko Touring car slicks. We're running GT series medium compound tires. (They didn't have the originally spec'd touring car super soft, soft or medium tires in stock, so they had to make the GT tires available.)

Socially, the weekend was AWESOME! Met OG Shark and ///Mobbin and many other people. Everyone was great. OG Shark made his garage available to everyone. That was a central spot for BMW guys. Thanks again for that! There was just a great group of people there. Had some good Texas steak on Saturday night.

My car is having some intermittent issues that are causing the engine to hesitate and the rev limiter to lower during driving. Something is up and we had several people scanning the car. It is SO frustrating. We thought we solved it, but the problem came back on the second half of Sunday...... I'll type more later about this later because I would love some ideas from the forum.

As of this typing, the East coast part of our trip is looking uncertain at best. I always said that the East Coast could only happen if both my friend's Cup Car and my car were running properly. My friend's Cup Car was leaking oil like crazy. The rig is definitely turning around and going back to CA after SuperLap. The question is, can his engine be dealt with in a period of time where maybe we send the rig all the way to the East Coast in one shot and keep the trip going? I have no idea. But right now, the plan is to bring the cars back to CA. Plus, my car is also not running 100% either.

Anyway, I feel like I know the meat-and-potatoes basics of the tracks now. I'm comfortable tossing the car around trusting that it will stick. Unfortunately, my learning process was slowed by the car's problems. But I felt like I was in the flow of the track by mid-day Sunday. The 2:22 lap that I ran was done at the end of Sunday when it was 78ºF and it was my 10th lap of that session. And the tires were no longer fresh. This gives me hope that I'm going to be able to go under 2:20 at SuperLap----as long as weather allows it.......and the car runs normally.....

So, I'm looking forward to SuperLap, but I'm worried about the gremlins that appeared this weekend. We'll see!

nice track car~!!!
What spec wheels and tires do you use most? rim size, offset, square or stagger and etc.

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I don't have video of my 2:21 fast lap. Here's how that dumb-ass moment happened. Chin Track Days sets up the first session of the day as a 40 minute session. Well, I don't need 40 minutes. So, I decided to split the session up into two smaller sessions---run 10 minutes, let the car rest for 15 minutes, then run the last 15 minutes. The strategy worked great for running laps. So, I started the camera and went out for the first 10 minutes. Then, I came in and stopped recording. Then I went back out, and guess what I forgot to turn back on.....yup, I'm a genius.

But, I did have the camera running for pretty much everything else, including the 2:22. As I said before, I really like this 2:22 because it happened as the 10th lap of the session with the oil really hot (look at the oil gauge climb) and the ambient air at 76ºF and the tires were on their 4th session. Basically, I am being more aggressive in this lap, which I'm happy about. I can't say I did everything right, but I was pushing and looking for limits.

So, here is my 2:22:

Agh so how am I supposed to post up my 2:26 this weekend after you dropped this in here???

[roastbeef]

i thought you would have gone faster on the back straight, but i guess you start from a lower speed than turn 9 at big willow.