My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Montaver

I have only run HPDE with NASA North East but they are awesome. Faster and more 'aggressive' than BMWCCA in a good way. At events I have attended the driver downloads are great, everyone is courteous, quick on point by's etc. I met another guy who went on the same journey, HPDE, TT and now he's racing an E36. Its a slippery slope! I'll be at Palmer with NASA in a few weeks and WGI in October if anyone wants to say hello.

I've run with a lot of organizers, and I have never seen anyone work harder than NASA at attracting people into w-2-w racing. I respect that.

For me, TT is as far as my competitive journey goes, but I feel no shame in that. TT can be highly competitive. And it is definitely it's own discipline.

Fun stuff!

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by Montaver

I have only run HPDE with NASA North East but they are awesome. Faster and more 'aggressive' than BMWCCA in a good way. At events I have attended the driver downloads are great, everyone is courteous, quick on point by's etc. I met another guy who went on the same journey, HPDE, TT and now he's racing an E36. Its a slippery slope! I'll be at Palmer with NASA in a few weeks and WGI in October if anyone wants to say hello.

Not to hi jack dogbones thread, but I am hoping to make NASA WGI event. Nationals are two weeks before and I am not local but I want to make WGI at least once this year.

[fsmtnbiker]

Glad you had a good experience with NASA Rocky Mountain. I ran with them for many years and the group there is great. Most of the TT3 records are still mine, but that probably won’t last much longer. HPR keeps getting faster with the new pavement and curbing... I suspect a 1:50.99 is possible on a perfect day in a TT3 car. The class has gotten slowed down just a little since I ran there but the track is a lot faster.

I’m enjoying CA but I do miss the group and tracks there in Colorado.

[Richbot]

The more I club race, the more TT appeals to me. I started in solo a billion years ago, and have been club racing for about 13, and it seems to strike a happy balance between the frenetic give me maximum warp, scotty pace of autocross with the opportunity to really stretch the legs of a fast car, and without the consequences for somebody losing it next to you in a corner or balking you at the wrong moment and losing you 10 spots. I'm leaning more and more toward building a TT car but I just can't bring myself to make the leap when my racecar is so cheap to run and so fun to drive and the fields are so big. The appeal of "it's just you, the car, the track, and the timer" is stronk.

I totally respect TT as a discipline because the timer doesn't lie so people don't lie to themselves near as much

If only the damn spec racer wasn't so fast and cheap to run. If only the competition wasn't so close and so numerous. Oh well. #firstworldproblems

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by fsmtnbiker

Glad you had a good experience with NASA Rocky Mountain. I ran with them for many years and the group there is great. Most of the TT3 records are still mine, but that probably won’t last much longer. HPR keeps getting faster with the new pavement and curbing... I suspect a 1:50.99 is possible on a perfect day in a TT3 car. The class has gotten slowed down just a little since I ran there but the track is a lot faster.

I’m enjoying CA but I do miss the group and tracks there in Colorado.

I seem to recall seeing that the TT3 record was a 1:52.xx. So that was you? Cool. Do you have video of that lap?

My E92 will never get close to that time---full weight, no aero. Anything I do with the E92 is just for jollies---a slightly modified street car just having fun turning laps. But if I bring my E90 out here for a summer, then it'll be game on in [hopefully] TT1!

I was watching TT1/TTU guys turning 1:48s and 1:49s. Very cool.

Anyway, I'm in no hurry with the E90 in CO. My current thought is to maybe bring it to CO just for the summer here in 2020. Then, take it back to CA in the Fall.

I still want hit some East Coast tracks with the E90 too! So many fun things to dream about!

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Richbot

The more I club race, the more TT appeals to me. I started in solo a billion years ago, and have been club racing for about 13, and it seems to strike a happy balance between the frenetic give me maximum warp, scotty pace of autocross with the opportunity to really stretch the legs of a fast car, and without the consequences for somebody losing it next to you in a corner or balking you at the wrong moment and losing you 10 spots. I'm leaning more and more toward building a TT car but I just can't bring myself to make the leap when my racecar is so cheap to run and so fun to drive and the fields are so big. The appeal of "it's just you, the car, the track, and the timer" is stronk.

I totally respect TT as a discipline because the timer doesn't lie so people don't lie to themselves near as much

If only the damn spec racer wasn't so fast and cheap to run. If only the competition wasn't so close and so numerous. Oh well. #firstworldproblems

Yeah, I definitely love going against the clock. It's just part of my nature to be drawn to that. Something about being in a w-2-w race and having someone bump me purposefully off track seems wrong....haha

When I was in the NASA classroom, the head race instructor was talking about how some guy he would compete against had bumped him off track on purpose during a race, and that this was like the 10th time this guy had done that to him.....and then he paused......and he said, "but that's because he was getting back at me for bumping him off track 12 times!" hahahaha ok, I laughed at that because it was funny, but that is just not why I go to the track. Don't get me wrong, I admire good racecraft, but---well, let's just say I wouldn't do that with my E90. I'd need some shit-box racer. Then I'd be willing to donate my door paint to someone else's door.

Anyway, I'd bet you would have a great time building up a TT car. But don't do it with an M3. Get a Miata and drop an LS motor in there and then go to town!! That thing would be a rocket! Miatas clean up at SuperLap Battle.

[Richbot]

Purposeful contact has never happened to me other than the occasional consensual bumpdraft. It's the accidental, or dumb oopsies by others that sometimes ruin a day.

SCCA doesn't, typically, let people stick around long for provable intentional contact. This is why cameras are important race gear. It's pretty mickey-mouse to force somebody else off track and there is a protest process if you're treated unfairly whcih can result in the other driver being DQed, fined, imprisoned, executed by SCCA. I have never felt the need to protest somebody though I did come close when some guys got together in front of me and caused a race-ending crash, that was more emotional and upon reflection, it was just one of those deals in racing. That was like 10 years ago now.

Contact in aero classes is pretty damn rare. Nobody wins

I've spent enough track time in miatas - no more miatas for me life's too short. Anything I built would have 8 or more cylinders and make fun noises. MAybe an exception for an S2000. My current car, unfortuantely for me, runs C6Z laptimes for miata consumables/fuel cost, and I always have somebody fun to race against. It's tough to justify moving. And "real" racecars are so much easier to work on and keep up when used for "real" tracktime. I don't think I could go back to a unibody/tub car.

[fsmtnbiker]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I seem to recall seeing that the TT3 record was a 1:52.xx. So that was you? Cool. Do you have video of that lap?

My E92 will never get close to that time---full weight, no aero. Anything I do with the E92 is just for jollies---a slightly modified street car just having fun turning laps. But if I bring my E90 out here for a summer, then it'll be game on in [hopefully] TT1!

I was watching TT1/TTU guys turning 1:48s and 1:49s. Very cool.

Anyway, I'm in no hurry with the E90 in CO. My current thought is to maybe bring it to CO just for the summer here in 2020. Then, take it back to CA in the Fall.

I still want hit some East Coast tracks with the E90 too! So many fun things to dream about!

I don’t have video of the 52.3, I might have traqmate data. I have video of a bunch of 53’s here from a year prior: https://youtu.be/d_N7R08i73c

I’d really like to build a TT1 car out of my E36. It just needs a drivetrain. Need to buy a wrecked E9x M3 DCT and swap the whole drivetrain. I think probably 1:44s, maybe faster with a really well setup car.

CO is a real challenge when it comes to cooling. That 20% less atmosphere makes it really hard to keep things cool.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by fsmtnbiker

I don’t have video of the 52.3, I might have traqmate data. I have video of a bunch of 53’s here from a year prior:

I’d really like to build a TT1 car out of my E36. It just needs a drivetrain. Need to buy a wrecked E9x M3 DCT and swap the whole drivetrain. I think probably 1:44s, maybe faster with a really well setup car.

CO is a real challenge when it comes to cooling. That 20% less atmosphere makes it really hard to keep things cool.

I looked at the track records awhile back. As I recall, your TT3 times are better than the TT2 times! Very nice! I didn't realize an E36 chassis had done that. Great stuff. In the video you linked, I love how fluid you are at the limit with the countersteers. Very natural.

So, you still have the E36, but it needs a new drivetrain?

Thinking about going to High Plains tomorrow (Friday). Always fun to put some laps in there. Been staying away from the CA heat.

[fsmtnbiker]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I looked at the track records awhile back. As I recall, your TT3 times are better than the TT2 times! Very nice! I didn't realize an E36 chassis had done that. Great stuff. In the video you linked, I love how fluid you are at the limit with the countersteers. Very natural.

So, you still have the E36, but it needs a new drivetrain?

Thinking about going to High Plains tomorrow (Friday). Always fun to put some laps in there. Been staying away from the CA heat.

Yeah, there wasn’t ever a super-serious TT2 build locally that I recall. TT1 has only recently been fast with Val, Hsun and Isaac in their C6Z’s. I really miss running the E36, as you note it was setup really well and easy to drive right on the hairy edge. The S54 that was in it expired, and I started to go down the LS swap road. Then I moved to CA and that got mothballed - I have another E36 with a built S52 in it that I might just swap in, it should be 280-290whp and it would be a really competitive TT3 car again. Given the lack of (affordable) shop and garage space out here the chances of me doing anything more exciting are pretty slim.

I miss being able to go to HPR on any given Friday and get a bunch of open laps in. It’s not quite as close or cheap to do that here in the Bay!

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by fsmtnbiker

Yeah, there wasn’t ever a super-serious TT2 build locally that I recall. TT1 has only recently been fast with Val, Hsun and Isaac in their C6Z’s. I really miss running the E36, as you note it was setup really well and easy to drive right on the hairy edge. The S54 that was in it expired, and I started to go down the LS swap road. Then I moved to CA and that got mothballed - I have another E36 with a built S52 in it that I might just swap in, it should be 280-290whp and it would be a really competitive TT3 car again. Given the lack of (affordable) shop and garage space out here the chances of me doing anything more exciting are pretty slim.

I miss being able to go to HPR on any given Friday and get a bunch of open laps in. It’s not quite as close or cheap to do that here in the Bay!

I met Val a few weeks ago at the NASA HPR event. Nice guy. He just bought an E92 so he had a few questions about it. Amazing that he can fabricate all that carbon stuff on his Vette.

So, do you do all the work on the car yourself?

Speaking of open lapping Fridays at HPR-----I did go to High Plains Raceway yesterday, buuuuuuuut I ended up choosing not to drive on track. They had something like over 60 people signed up for the production car group. The track employees were actually recommending people NOT drive and just take a credit for another day. I took the credit. I wanted to ask them why they didn't move to three run groups and do 20 minute sessions instead of 2 groups 30 minutes----split the production car people into 2 groups. I would happily take 20 decent minutes over a 30 minute slug fest. But I didn't want to ruffle feathers. I haven't been going there long enough to cause trouble yet.

I knew a couple people so I hung out for a bit and chatted and ended up watching the production car session. I could see maybe 1/2 of the track and I counted 36 cars in my view at one time. There had to be between 50-60 cars on track at the same time.......And it was an unholy mix of super fast cars (can you say tube-chassis race truck and a new Viper ACR?) and totally street cars like Ford Focus, Honda Civic, and an Audi SUV. Quite often, there was a train of 20 cars going down the back straight.....drivers were saying that people were diving corners......it was the Wild West out there. No thanks. I'm not THAT desperate to drive. In my opinion, the track should either limit sign ups, or change their session format when a ton of people show up. I see no reason to stick to two 2 run groups 30 minutes each when the track is power slammed with drivers.

Anyway, it turns out there was a Vintage race/event coming up this weekend, so the place was quite busy. Lots of interesting cars to see.

[roastbeef]

you can be the colorado speeddistrict... a little more money for a better experience. start your own track day company.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

you can be the colorado speeddistrict... a little more money for a better experience. start your own track day company.

hehe a few years ago, I really wanted to put on a track day. I did a fair amount of homework on the topic. I never followed through on it, but the desire to organize an event does still lurk in the back of my mind.

The events put on by HPR are usually mellow and pleasant. Before a big event, however, the attendance is far higher (3-4x), but they didn’t make any adaptation for the massively higher turn out——other than to encourage people not to drive and offer a credit to a different day. But it’s not easy to walk away when you live far from the track. The guy behind me in the registration line came from 3 hours away. He didn’t want to drive 6 hours and not get some track time. He decide to stay.

[roastbeef]

ooof, i imagine there aren't many tracks out there if dudes are driving three hours. that kinda sucks.

[fsmtnbiker]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

ooof, i imagine there aren't many tracks out there if dudes are driving three hours. that kinda sucks.

There are 3 tracks within 2 hours of metro Denver. It’s not too bad, but HPR is the only one that does really regular/well-attended open days. On a Friday before a vintage event it’s always bad because ALL the vintage guys have to come out and try to get their antiques to run.

The Friday before NASA, PCA or BMWCCA weekends is always a safe bet.

[dogbone]

Heading to CA this AM. First item is to get the Bimmerworld power steering reservoir installed. Really curious to see if that cleans up the constant mess in my engine bay over the last seven years.

I’ll be visiting Willow Springs on Saturday with Turn 8, and then on Sunday, it’s Auto Club Speedway with Speed Ventures. Gonna jump in and do Bimmer Challenge at ACS. I haven’t done Bimmer Challenge yet this year. I’ve missed the competition and camaraderie. Looking forward to catching up with the guys!

And maybe just maybe my engine bay won’t be glistening with oil for the first time—-ever!

[Exclusivs]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Heading to CA this AM. First item is to get the Bimmerworld power steering reservoir installed. Really curious to see if that cleans up the constant mess in my engine bay over the last seven years.

I’ll be visiting Willow Springs on Saturday with Turn 8, and then on Sunday, it’s Auto Club Speedway with Speed Ventures. Gonna jump in and do Bimmer Challenge at ACS. I haven’t done Bimmer Challenge yet this year. I’ve missed the competition and camaraderie. Looking forward to catching up with the guys!

And maybe just maybe my engine bay won’t be glistening with oil for the first time—-ever!

Sweet! Definitely report your findings & enjoy the upcoming driving !

[dogbone]

Had a fun weekend in CA at Willow Springs on Sat and Auto Club Speedway on Sunday.

First item on the list was to install the Bimmerworld power steering reservoir. Minicorsa installed that. Install went fine. Oooh shiny!



The question was: will it solve the spewing power steering fluid? This topic is of great interest to me because with the Track Spec hood vents installed, when a liquid like blower fluid or power steering fluid vent-----they vent right onto the windshield now. So, I've been spending quite a bit of time and effort to cut down on this bullshit of fluids spewing everywhere. At one point, so much blower fluid spewed in my engine bay, it dripped every-damn-where, to the point that we thought my JRZ damper was leaking fluid. The JRZ was fine. The crap on the damper was spewed Vortech supercharger fluid.....enough already.....

Anyway, the answer is no, the power steering reservoir didn't magically eliminate spewing. There was still fluid on my windshield. I talked to Bimmerworld today to confirm how much liquid should be in the reservoir. We're very close to what they recommend---within 1/8". (I may try removing a bit more liquid to see if that helps.) I had a wrist sweatband with me. I put that on there, and the fluid stopped hitting the windshield. So, I'll keep experimenting with it and see if I can improve it. I like that the unit is metal. I hope that it can dissipate heat a bit better than the plastic. The reservoir gets VERY hot after driving.


Turn 8 TrackDays hosted the event at Willow Springs. Super nice people. They really aim to please. The driving crowd that shows up for their events has been courteous (although I didn't know anyone there). I wish these guys luck as they continue to grow the brand. The weather was hot and windy. When it's 75ºF for the 8AM session, you know it's gonna get hot. The wind was pretty intense. It kicked up early. I could really feel the cross breeze moving the car around on the front straight. Never the best feeling.

I wasn't trying to set any new PB at this event. I was just trying to get back into the flow of driving since it's been a couple months. The most interesting thing I was able to do was actually on Friday night before the event. I arrived Friday evening to drop off my trailer, and the place was a ghost town. Whenever I see a quiet facility, I ask if I can do a track walk. They said yes. I've said it before----I LOVE track walks. I've never done one at WSIR. So, I grabbed my (manual) scooter and actually started at Turn 8/9. And then I worked my way all the way around the track for a full lap. Very cool. Picked up some new small insights about the track. I never realized how much banking there is in Turn 9. I knew there was some, but it's actually quite a bit.

Unfortunately, whoever drove the track prior to the Saturday track day dumped a long stripe of oil from before the entry of Turn 9, all the way to pit lane......right on the driving line. They had put the white powder down, but this oil was coming up through it......blah Behold the beautiful oil stripe, I mean California sunset during my track walk......oooohh.....shiny......

That dang oil stripe persisted for most of the track day......it definitely broke my concentration in Turn 9. Ultimately, I think it looked worse than it felt, but still......not confidence inspiring, especially at the most dramatic spot on track.



On Sunday, it was off to Auto Club Speedway with Speed Ventures. I had signed up for Bimmer Challenge. I haven't done any BC events this year yet, so I was excited to run with them. And I knew a bunch of guys going, so I was looking forward to a social day, and it was quite social! You know, I'm finding at regular HPDE days, that more non-driver spectators are showing up to check out the scene and see some crazy cars. It makes for even more social atmosphere which is nice.

Anyway, I had some good tires with me. And I was debating whether to run them or not. While I wanted to do well in BC, I didn't want to run the tires in bad weather. I said that if the temps were in the 60s, I would run the good tires one session. If it was in the 70s at the start, I would just run garbage tires all day. Our first session was at 9AM, and the temps were looking to be 66ºF, so I slapped on the fresh Pirellis. I always hesitate running good tires on a first run at a track that I haven't been to in long time---especially a crazy track like Auto Club, but I refused to run them when it's hot out, so I decided to go for it. I was hoping that driving at WSIR the day before could allow me to have my head in the game, and I could just go out and maaaaaybe get a new PB on the fresh tires.....didn't work out. I ran a 1:44.4, which was good enough to win Bimmer Challenge, but I was 0.9sec off my personal best. I was too conservative on the Oval, and even with new tires, I was not feeling the grip several corners. And it wasn't just me----many people were complaining that they couldn't find grip. I was watching people sliding around in turns in front of me----something must have been on the pavement..... So, I ran the good tires for two laps, came in and took them off.

Once scrubs were on the car and I wasn't worried about lap times anymore, I just went out and had a great time rolling laps all day. I was goofing around chasing Porsches, tossing the car around a bit. Even as it got hot, I was having fun running full sessions because my lap times were 4-6 seconds off max pace, so I could run as much as I wanted.

So, it was a good weekend. Two tracks, some competition, some family time with my parents who still live in CA, a bunch of camaraderie/socializing and fun driving. My flight was delayed until 10:15PM (which got me home at 2:30AM), but it's ok, I was analyzing data and making videos in the airport, so it was all good!

Here are my two Auto Club laps with the good tires (1:44.5, 1:44.4). Not my best driving. For me, it really does take a bit of time to get into the flow of Auto Club. ACS simply has some unique challenges that, for me, take some time to work into. The Oval is a massive test of nerves---perhaps the biggest test of nerves in all of CA. Braking correctly for Turn 9 is tough (not sure I did it right at all the whole day). The Playground is sorta dumb, but you gotta hammer that section to get a good lap time. In fact, just about every time you go to Auto Club, the Playground is setup slightly different due to the cone placements.....so----if you think about it---every time you go to Auto Club, you get a new personal best based on the slightly different configs!!! (c'mon, you can't blame me for being positive!)

I guess there's one other thing worth mentioning. I have an interesting project that is finally, officially underway------I am part of a small group that is having carbon doors being fabricated for the E90. There are no production-ready carbon fibre sedan door vendors in the USA. Motorsport24 in Germany is the only company that can readily produce sedan carbon doors, but we didn't want to deal with the overseas stuff. So, a fabricator is molding the doors now. Hopefully, in a couple months, I will have something to show you. There's still quite a few things to figure out, so the process is nowhere close to being finished, but at least the project is officially off the ground now. For now, I plan on leaving the carbon visible (no wrap, no paint), so it should be an interesting look. My current OEM fully gutted doors weigh 35lbs each. I am hoping that the carbon doors weigh around 10lbs each. If that's the case, I will be able to shed 100lbs from the middle of the car. That would be cool. Anyway, we'll seeeeeee.

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I guess there's one other thing worth mentioning. I have an interesting project that is finally, officially underway------I am part of a small group that is having carbon doors being fabricated for the E90. There are no production-ready carbon fibre sedan door vendors in the USA. Motorsport24 in Germany is the only company that can readily produce sedan carbon doors, but we didn't want to deal with the overseas stuff. So, a fabricator is molding the doors now. Hopefully, in a couple months, I will have something to show you. There's still quite a few things to figure out, so the process is nowhere close to being finished, but at least the project is officially off the ground now. For now, I plan on leaving the carbon visible (no wrap, no paint), so it should be an interesting look. My current OEM fully gutted doors weigh 35lbs each. I am hoping that the carbon doors weigh around 10lbs each. If that's the case, I will be able to shed 100lbs from the middle of the car. That would be cool. Anyway, we'll seeeeeee.

Very cool news! Looking forward to see how those shape up the next couple months.

[slicer]

The BW reservoir didn't work for a friend of mine as well. Another friend also tried the reservoir extension from the company in San Diego without success. The name escapes me.

I use a Brembo motorcycle reservoir as an overflow and it has worked flawlessly. Zero issues and cheap. Have you tried that yet? See pic. I think KAIV did a write up on this years ago. I also noticed that BMW themselves used the same technique on the Z4 GT3 Race car. I confirmed in person in the paddock in Long Beach a few years ago. Check out the pics below. First one is my car. The second is a Z4 GT3. You can see BMW's solution in the lower left corner.

Coolant by slicerM, on Flickr

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by slicer

The BW reservoir didn't work for a friend of mine as well. Another friend also tried the reservoir extension from the company in San Diego without success. The name escapes me.

I use a Brembo motorcycle reservoir as an overflow and it has worked flawlessly. Zero issues and cheap. Have you tried that yet? See pic. I think KAIV did a write up on this years ago. I also noticed that BMW themselves used the same technique on the Z4 GT3 Race car. I confirmed in person in the paddock in Long Beach a few years ago. Check out the pics below. First one is my car. The second is a Z4 GT3. You can see BMW's solution in the lower left corner.

Yes, I had the insert in the vent hole and a catch can. Didn't work very well for me. I still needed the sweat wristband around the cap. I think the insert that goes into the vent is important. Not sure we nailed that. There's not a lot of room to work with.

I was hoping the extra sizing of the BW reservoir could help prevent the liquid from spewing as much. I'm not ready to give up yet. I want to remove a bit more liquid and see how it goes. I still have hope. Interesting to see a full-on pro racecar with such a primitive little fix......

[kyippee]

Yikes. Sorry to hear the BW reservoir didn't eliminate the issue. What PS cooler are you running? I am considering the do88 one, currently have CSF PS cooler and 3D Design PS spacer but have some PS spitting. (still using a MF towel ziptied around)