Track forum general chit chat.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by admranger

For the diesel to be worth the extra maintenance, etc., you need to do miles. I don't do miles really. Even with a 2400 mile cross country drive I'm just a bit over 10.4k miles with a year under my belt!

Plus, in Vegas I had plenty of solar to use to charge the car. Solar miles were essentially freebies for me in Vegas. Didn't know I'd end up here in DC.

sweet. an electric vehicle with a solar house would be ideal. i've explored solar for my house, i'm just such a low energy consumer (even with the smart car) that the system isn't worth the cost.
the fiance drives almost 60 miles a day, so a diesel x5 is in our future. it is also going to serve as a tow rig (maybe).

[Richbot]

I tried preserving my M3's battery with a trickle charger and it didn't make much difference; it's nice to keep voltage from dipping into the "electronics freak out" level though when the car sits. IMO don't waste your money and just use the BMW one if you still have the stock battery; my lead acid batteries failed after 3 years no matter what I did so I switched to a LiFePo.

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

sweet. an electric vehicle with a solar house would be ideal. i've explored solar for my house, i'm just such a low energy consumer (even with the smart car) that the system isn't worth the cost.
the fiance drives almost 60 miles a day, so a diesel x5 is in our future. it is also going to serve as a tow rig (maybe).

Just picked up a 2015 Fiat 500e for almost nothing and with the CA PGE benefits it's basically free (without solar)

Never thought I'd actually be happy with a CARB policy...

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by spxxx

Just picked up a 2015 Fiat 500e for almost nothing and with the CA PGE benefits it's basically free (without solar)

Never thought I'd actually be happy with a CARB policy...

the electric car is one of the best things i've ever done. i just hit my two year anniversary and i'm eligible for the $2,500 rebate again. still waiting on my $450 edison check for doing nothing.
i did a $1k down, $86/mo lease and want to get the down payment lower to get more cash back. even if i get the exact lease deal, its still $1,500 and a basically free car to drive for another three years.

[NoCarrier]

Originally Posted by Mantii

The VR headset itself is the Oculus. Some people may find the resolution a bit off putting vs a traditional monitor, but it is really not bad at all. Sitting inside the cockpit and moving around like you would in a real car is absolutely amazing. The sense of speed and hitting the apexes is so much easier and life like vs looking at a 2d screen with no depth perception. Wheel to wheel racing in VR gets my blood pumping and it's so much fun, and safer. I put on the headset, good headphones, and it's like you have a helmet on.

The entire rig consists of:

-Oculus VR headset
-Fanatec Clubsport Wheel Base
-Fanatec Clubsport V3 Pedals
-Fanatec BMW GT2 Steering Wheel/Formula Wheel
-Fanatec 1.5 Shifter (6 speed and Sequential Modes)
-RSeat RS1 Assetto Corsa Edition Cockpit
-Butt Kicker Gamer 2 combined with SimVibe software to simulate the butt feeling of bumps, rumble strips, etc

Overall, a ton of fun and sometimes I loose track of time once I strap in. Makes the winter months a little easier to bear.

What is your sim of choice?

[Mantii]

Originally Posted by NoCarrier

What is your sim of choice?

It would have to be Assetto Corsa right now. I also enjoy RaceRoom Racing Experince. Waiting on Project Cars 2, hopefully its not a disaster like the last one. I'm part of RD (RaceDepartment) and they have club races every day for for European and US members in different time zones. Its a ton of fun, clean racing with a great community with varying skills. Why pay a monthly service fee for iracing when you can have a similar experience for much less.

[Mantii]

Just a quick update on my cage...finally coming together

[roastbeef]

that looks fantastic!

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I've been using the Solo DL for several years. Most people here know I'm quite happy with it.

A few things come to mind as you get ready to use it at the track.

-The GPS Manager app is your friend: Using the app, I recommend that you clear out all the silly pre-setup track profiles the AIM is jammed full of. They are unnecessary, and make a long cluttered list of tracks and you will never use 99% of them. I cleared them all out and made my own, and now my Track list is manageable with just the tracks I care about. Plus, I found that many of the pre-setup Start/Finish lines were not to my liking. I sat down one day with Google Earth and found the finish lines at all my tracks. But you don't need to bother with Google; just go to the Start/Finish line of your track in the morning before the track goes hot and create a new track with the AIM while standing on the Start/Finish line. It's super simple. And now you have a good Start/Finish. I've given my profiles to my buddies and now we can directly compare laps based on the same GPS markers.

-The GPS Manager app is your friend again: I like setting up segments in the lap profile in the GPS Manager app because as soon as you load the session into the Analysis software, you automatically have a few built-in segments and you can see sector times and a Theoretical Best that actually means something to you. (The pc software can auto-create a lot segments for a track, but I have found that a theoretical best based on 30 track segments is not really useful. The corners are too isolated and don't take into account connected features. Seeing three or four track segments can help you account for the flow through several features. And it's best to put a segment marker on the early-to-middle part of a straight before a braking zones so you can't fake a fast segment by FLYING in and logging a great speed into a corner and then flying off the track after the segment ends.) Creating these segments does have an odd side effect though. While on track, the AIM will usually just show you whatever page you'd like to see. However, with the built-in segments, the AIM flashes up each segment time while driving. So, it is possible that you glance over at the AIM to see Predictive timing or Water Temps or something like that, and it's flashing up your segment time at that moment. So, then you need to glance back at it a few seconds later to see what you wanted to see. If that would bother you, then building segments into the GPS Manager lap profiles may not be for you. Which leads me to my next point......

-I recommend not spending a lot of time admiring the AIM while on track. I suggest just taking a quick glance at the Start/Finish line. Some of my friends seem to stare at the damn thing. I don't know how they drive while staring at it. There's one page on the AIM where you can see a +/- for the current lap versus the previous fastest. My friend can tell me how well a certain lap was going versus previous laps at many different spots on the track....Ugh. Are you driving or staring at a tiny computer screen? I have heard many times that great laps were ruined because someone saw their awesome Predictive Time on the AIM and tried to "live up" to what it was showing......and then they overdrive and mess the lap up. Just drive! Look at the data later.

-I have found over the years that, for some reason, the AIM seems to run more reliably and more accurately when it's session memory is empty. I used to let months and months of tracking sit on the device, and then it seemed to act funky as it got full. When I cleared out the sessions, it seems to work perfectly again. Am i imagining things? I don't know......Anyway, I say run it, download the data, and then Clear the memory. You can always find the DATA folder and copy the sessions elsewhere if necessary. Track Profiles and Session data are two different things and don't get erased the same way, so when the software warns you that all memory is being erased, it's only the session data.

-The AIM Analysis software is SUPER annoying when you first try to use it. It is NOT user friendly or intuitive.....at all. But it is powerful. And as you get used to it, it just gets more and more useful.

-The AIM Sport customer service people are SUPER helpful. if you have questions, they are very knowledgable and friendly. Let me give you an example. I was wondering if you could look at how a car is accelerating. The lateral G's seemed useful, but the longitudinal information wasn't as useful on it's own. I called the AIM people. They said, "oh yeah, we'll get our expert guy to help you." This guy wrote an equation for me that would use the longitudinal data to calculate ft/sec acceleration. You can add that calculation manually to the AIM parameters and it just shows up in the graphs like any other parameter! It's fantastic! Now I can compare how my car accelerates versus my friend's car that also has a supercharger. Like I said, the software is powerful, but it is NOTTTT intuitive.

-I am impressed that the AIM can sit in the hot sun on a hot track day and just keep working. An iPhone overheats in 10 minutes sitting in the sun. The AIM can sit in the car all day and it's fine.

-If you want to make videos with nice data overlays, the AIM pc software easily exports csv files that can drop right into a template inside programs like Race Render. There are pre-done generic templates you can use, but I didn't find those satisfying. I recommend taking the time to make a nice looking template for your overlay videos. To setup a template with custom dash background graphics takes awhile, but once you're done, you have a nice unique look for all your future videos. And making future videos is VERY quick with a template in Race Render. The longest/hardest part is syncing the video and data which has to be done by hand.

-Another thought on videos and GPS data points: If you have a good microphone recording your exhaust, the most important thing to synchronize is the RPM data with the sound of the revving. If those are off, the video looks and sounds ridiculous. As a result of lining those two things up, your data will most likely NOT synchronize perfectly with the visual of crossing the Start/Finish line. I have considered changing my Start/Finish GPS point to see if I could get the data's Start/Finish to sync better with the video, but if I do that, it will be harder to compare old laps with new laps in the AIM software because now you've changed the GPS. hehe this is a bit of a rabbit hole. My advice here: Create a lap profile by standing on the Start/Finish line, and live with that GPS start point forever. Or if it is too far off with the video, then change it right away so that your future sessions can all directly compare with each other.

-Something I did to familiarize myself with the AIM before using it at the track: I made my neighborhood block into an AIM racetrack profile. hehe I GPS-marked a sign on my street as the Start/Finish line. Once that was set, I drove around the block and made that loop a track. It works great! You can put the AIM through all it's paces, including downloading the data into your computer and analyzing your driving-around-the-block performance!! I highly recommend it!

Anyway, enjoy the AIM! I love having access to all the data it provides. I have learned a LOT from it.

You can adjust the data afterwards as well to set start/stop and it'll adjust all the times.

With video it would help too especially at ACS with that real start line.

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by Mantii

Just a quick update on my cage...finally coming together

[Mantii]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

that looks fantastic!

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

Thank you sirs. Should have a couple more updates tomorrow. Can't wait to get this thing where it belongs

[macdude357]

Originally Posted by spxxx

Just picked up a 2015 Fiat 500e for almost nothing and with the CA PGE benefits it's basically free (without solar)

Never thought I'd actually be happy with a CARB policy...

Can you elaborate? I'm looking to get something to take the mileage off my M3 and we have a free charging station at work so an electric car would be that much cheaper in my case.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by macdude357

Can you elaborate? I'm looking to get something to take the mileage off my M3 and we have a free charging station at work so an electric car would be that much cheaper in my case.

How far is your total daily commute?

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by macdude357

Can you elaborate? I'm looking to get something to take the mileage off my M3 and we have a free charging station at work so an electric car would be that much cheaper in my case.

PGE offers a $500 initial check & 2 new rate options for EV owners that give you lower kwH rates. If you have free charging/parking at work it's a no brainer (assuming your total commute is <65ish miles)

VW has a super cheap lease offer ($70/mo) on the e-golf with little down. All of these car companies are offering pretty wild deals on EVs for the CA credits. I picked up a 2yr old Fiat for $6,500 still under factory warranty for 1.5yr and battery warranty for ~6yrs. Previously I was paying $15/day for parking and gas, yet to see the PGE bill increase/decrease.

Really it's just allowing me to enjoy my E82 for longer while being too impatient to wait for the Model 3.

[///Mobbin]

Just flashed the GTS DCT tune following this thread, it's brilliant! Can't wait to try it on the track in S6!

[roastbeef]

how many of you track guys have tried the CSF radiator for our cars? worth it? or does it need to be used in concert with other solutions? price isn't terrible...

[Mantii]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

how many of you track guys have tried the CSF radiator for our cars? worth it? or does it need to be used in concert with other solutions? price isn't terrible...

I have the CSF Radiator and oil cooler on my e46. I haven't really put it through the paces and but will report at the end of the month. Hopefully it translates directly to the e9x platform.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by Mantii

Just a quick update on my cage...finally coming together

What are your plans for door protection?

Also, since you are doing a super nice cage anyway, are you going to do a floor loop and mount your seat to it? Cage holds up better than the unibody in a crash and your seat will stay in the correct position for your lap and sub harnesses (assuming you mount harnesses to seat loop).

[okusa]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

how many of you track guys have tried the CSF radiator for our cars? worth it? or does it need to be used in concert with other solutions? price isn't terrible...

Save your money. CSF is complete garbage. I have both the radiator and PS cooler and have lots of AIM data which definitively proves both stock units run cooler. If you've ever wondered why CSF never posted any data now you know.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by okusa

Save your money. CSF is complete garbage. I have both the radiator and PS cooler and have lots of AIM data which definitively proves both stock units run cooler. If you've ever wondered why CSF never posted any data now you know.

Copy that, thank you Sir.

[chamba002]

[IMG]Untitled by Chamba, on Flickr[/IMG]

I couldn't resist and picked up Fortune Auto 500 coilovers! No more wheel gap and of course Im going to corner balance before the next track day.

[ayao]

Originally Posted by okusa

Save your money. CSF is complete garbage. I have both the radiator and PS cooler and have lots of AIM data which definitively proves both stock units run cooler. If you've ever wondered why CSF never posted any data now you know.

Puzzled by this. The N54 crew seems to feel like the CSF stuff is reasonable.