My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[dogbone]

Week 5 of Dogbone Racing League at VIR is in the books.

Forum dude gmx joined the league from Australia (!!) and let's just say.......he's not slow!!......holy cow. He ran the fastest lap in the race. I didn't have a chance to talk to him because he wasn't on the audio chat, but for some reason he didn't run in qualifying so he started last. But he still finished second in the race!!

I continue to be in awe at the lap times people are putting down. The front of the race is a real battle. Very cool to see. Too bad I'm nowhere near the action.

5 weeks in, the standings continue to tighten up. niacin continues to jump up the standings. He didn't join the league until a couple races in, so he's playing catch up in the standings. But he took a solid win by 13 seconds tonight.

tsk94 keeps his 1st place overall lead, but the gap to Andrew Lim narrowed a bit. tsk94 had to work his way back up after something.....I don't know what....happened fairly early in the race. SYT_Shadow did a good job working to solidify 3rd place overall.



So, that's the first half of the 10 week season done.

Next week is Laguna Seca. That will surely be interesting. Heck, every week is interesting. Guys are showing up and dropping the fricking hammer.

[dogbone]

Week 6 of Dogbone Racing League at Laguna Seca is complete. We've entered the second half of the season, and the highly competitive racing continues. niacin continues to push the pace and climb the standings. He won both qualifying and the race. tsk94 took 2nd place in the race and extended his overall lead in the series.

Here are the results:


I wasn't able to race this evening because I'm away from the house for a few days. But I was able to hang out on Discord and chat with the boyz as they raced. That was cool. I'm enjoying chatting with the crew that's racing. Nice guys.

More and more guys seem to be scheduling real track days. I'm glad to hear that people are getting back to it. I'm trying to figure out how I'm getting back to the track. But the logistics are pretty complicated. We'll see.

Next week, Dogbone Racing League visits Road Atlanta for Week 7. That's an interesting track. Turn 2 should prove interesting in a racing setting.

[CanadianE90]

I'm not sure if I have ever read an entire thread on a forum before, nevermind one with 85 pages. Awesome build!

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by CanadianE90

I'm not sure if I have ever read an entire thread on a forum before, nevermind one with 85 pages. Awesome build!

Thanks! I gotta ask----how long did it take to get through it?

Are you already involved in motorsport? Or interested in getting into it?

[CanadianE90]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Thanks! I gotta ask----how long did it take to get through it?

Are you already involved in motorsport? Or interested in getting into it?

Took about a week to get through it all whenever I had some downtime. I think my wife was starting to wonder what I was up to lol.

As for being into motorsports I am a bit. I've owned a few cars that saw the odd track day S2K, R32 GTR, STi, RX7....then kids happened. Trying to get back into it with the E90.

I also own/organize a Time Attack series here in Canada called CSCS so I am at the track most weekends, just not behind the wheel.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by CanadianE90

Took about a week to get through it all whenever I had some downtime. I think my wife was starting to wonder what I was up to lol.

As for being into motorsports I am a bit. I've owned a few cars that saw the odd track day S2K, R32 GTR, STi, RX7....then kids happened. Trying to get back into it with the E90.

I also own/organize a Time Attack series here in Canada called CSCS so I am at the track most weekends, just not behind the wheel.

A week---yeah, sorry, I can't give that back to your wife! Maybe I'll have to babysit the kids one night so you can go out to dinner with her to make up for it! hahahahaha A few months ago, I went through the whole thread to make the Table of Contents that you see on Page 1. Over the years, I have received many nice PMs and posts from people about the thread. I really appreciate that. I was worried that the thread was getting so long that stuff was getting hard to find. I wanted people to have a way to find things more quickly, so I decided to try the idea of the Table of Contents. I hope it's working. Anyway, it took me many days to get through the thread because I re-read a bunch of it.

That's very cool that you own/organize a time attack series! I love time attack. Hopefully, my ramblings about my experiences in time attack were at least a bit entertaining! The experience at SuperLap Battle at COTA in Feb was amazing. The energy from all the spectators was just awesome. Never had that kind of experience before.

I just checked out your CSCS time attack page. Very cool. I see that you still split categories by class and drivetrain. That's nice. It seems like some organizations are moving away from separating out the drivetrains. Global Time Attack stopped doing that recently......now I have to compete against AWD cars......blah. I understand that reducing the categories increases the number of people that you're directly competing with in a class which can make things exciting. With 12 categories, sometimes you're only up against one other person because things are so split up, but I have no business competing against a fully built GTR. Of course, I guess it can feel good if you can say that you fended off the AWD cars and were still able to hit the podium. Everything has two sides I guess.

Is coronavirus affecting your schedule/business much? From past years, it looks like you don't really get going until mid-May.

[CanadianE90]

Originally Posted by dogbone

A week---yeah, sorry, I can't give that back to your wife! Maybe I'll have to babysit the kids one night so you can go out to dinner with her to make up for it! hahahahaha A few months ago, I went through the whole thread to make the Table of Contents that you see on Page 1. Over the years, I have received many nice PMs and posts from people about the thread. I really appreciate that. I was worried that the thread was getting so long that stuff was getting hard to find. I wanted people to have a way to find things more quickly, so I decided to try the idea of the Table of Contents. I hope it's working. Anyway, it took me many days to get through the thread because I re-read a bunch of it.

That's very cool that you own/organize a time attack series! I love time attack. Hopefully, my ramblings about my experiences in time attack were at least a bit entertaining! The experience at SuperLap Battle at COTA in Feb was amazing. The energy from all the spectators was just awesome. Never had that kind of experience before.

I just checked out your CSCS time attack page. Very cool. I see that you still split categories by class and drivetrain. That's nice. It seems like some organizations are moving away from separating out the drivetrains. Global Time Attack stopped doing that recently......now I have to compete against AWD cars......blah. I understand that reducing the categories increases the number of people that you're directly competing with in a class which can make things exciting. With 12 categories, sometimes you're only up against one other person because things are so split up, but I have no business competing against a fully built GTR. Of course, I guess it can feel good if you can say that you fended off the AWD cars and were still able to hit the podium. Everything has two sides I guess.

Is coronavirus affecting your schedule/business much? From past years, it looks like you don't really get going until mid-May.

The table of contents helped a lot, but I quickly realized it was easier to just read the whole damn thing! So far I purchased the Slon DCT pan and BW lugs because of your thread.

The time attack thing is a bit of a hobby business my full-time gig is a commercial print shop and we do vehicle graphics etc. Funny you mentioned COTA, we had a Supra and TypeR down there that we wrapped.




As for CSCS, we cancelled round 1 but the rest of the season is a go. It will likely be run with competitors only and no spectators as the restrictions up here are still pretty tight.

In regards to classes, We see the reason for putting all the drivetrains together in our highest class "unlimited" but in the rest of the classes we have enough cars to field them by drivetrain.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by CanadianE90

The table of contents helped a lot, but I quickly realized it was easier to just read the whole damn thing! So far I purchased the Slon DCT pan and BW lugs because of your thread.

The time attack thing is a bit of a hobby business my full-time gig is a commercial print shop and we do vehicle graphics etc. Funny you mentioned COTA, we had a Supra and TypeR down there that we wrapped.

As for CSCS, we cancelled round 1 but the rest of the season is a go. It will likely be run with competitors only and no spectators as the restrictions up here are still pretty tight.

In regards to classes, We see the reason for putting all the drivetrains together in our highest class "unlimited" but in the rest of the classes we have enough cars to field them by drivetrain.

The Slon pan is great. And the BW studs are good. I just think ultimately that 14mm is the proper solution for these cars if they hit the track hard. (At the very least, 14mm in the front.)

I was hanging out with Jackie in the Supra at COTA. Car looks great! Cool that you did that. The Integra didn't attend COTA in 2020. And I wasn't there in 2019, so I haven't see that in person.

Yeah, I understand combining drivetrains in Unlimited. The cars are supposed to be insane regardless of drivetrain. There's the Canadian dude with the Civic FWD that crushed everything at Buttonwillow. Amazing car. Saw that up close.

Good luck with your season!

[SYT_Shadow]

The TOC is an awesome add Mr Bone, I used it the other day to read some more on differentials

[dogbone]

Week 7 of Dogbone Racing League is complete! This week we attended Road Atlanta. And what a race it was! First, I am pleased to report that we had a completely clean start------until we got to the back straight and then------it was a meleé!! Four cars were duking it out down the back straight and let's just say it got a bit crazy! You could see the carnage from further back on the straight!

niacin continued to put down the insane lap times. This is the second week in a row that he set the fastest qualifying and won the race. I think we need to add about 8000 lbs ballast to his car.....yeah, 8000 lbs should do it.

tsk94 came in 2nd in the race and continued to increase his overall lead in the series. While niacin is moving up the standings quite aggressively, there isn't enough time for him to catch tsk94 in the standings as long as tsk94 keeps finishing high in the standings. (niacin missed the first couple races of the season.)

Here are the latest standings:


Next we have Mid-Ohio. Oh man.....I don't know anything about that track! Who setup this ridiculous schedule? Oh wait.....that was me.

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Week 7 of Dogbone Racing League is complete! This week we attended Road Atlanta. And what a race it was! First, I am pleased to report that we had a completely clean start------until we got to the back straight and then------it was a meleé!! Four cars were duking it out down the back straight and let's just say it got a bit crazy! You could see the carnage from further back on the straight!

niacin continued to put down the insane lap times. This is the second week in a row that he set the fastest qualifying and won the race. I think we need to add about 8000 lbs ballast to his car.....yeah, 8000 lbs should do it.

tsk94 came in 2nd in the race and continued to increase his overall lead in the series. While niacin is moving up the standings quite aggressively, there isn't enough time for him to catch tsk94 in the standings as long as tsk94 keeps finishing high in the standings. (niacin missed the first couple races of the season.)

Here are the latest standings:


Next we have Mid-Ohio. Oh man.....I don't know anything about that track! Who setup this ridiculous schedule? Oh wait.....that was me.

A formal protest has been filed - eagerly awaiting the results... the guilty party - and you know who you are - justice is coming!!!

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by OG Shark

A formal protest has been filed - eagerly awaiting the results... the guilty party - and you know who you are - justice is coming!!!

That looks like some serious Texas justice there!

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by OG Shark

A formal protest has been filed - eagerly awaiting the results... the guilty party - and you know who you are - justice is coming!!!

Damn I forgot OG is from Texas.

[dogbone]

Week 8 of Dogbone Racing League is complete! Mid-Ohio (with Chicane) is full of twists and turns. Very challenging. I enjoyed learning this track.

We had a smaller turnout this week due to some scheduling conflicts. No matter. The competition was still high. tsk94 put the hammer down in both qualifying and the race. He went home with both wins. His driving continues to be super consistent.

A new driver joined the series tonight--- forum dude Ti-Jean came on board. He's not quite done putting his rig together. He's still waiting for pedals so he was able to jerry-rig some old X-Box pedals to get going for now. Anyway, his rig will be awesome when it's done. Glad he could jump in and get a sense of the racing vibe!

I crashed in the first turn. I was on the inside, touched that darn flat berm and spun like an ice-skater. So frustrating. Ah well.

Here are the current standings with two more races to go. tsk94 has a solid overall lead now that he should carry quite easily to the end.



Next week----Week 9 is Sebring. hehe another track I know nothing about. But that's ok. Learning Mid-Ohio was great. Looking forward to seeing more new twists and turns!

[RaceBear]

Great thread, I have been following it for a while but just joined the forum. I am in the very beginning phase of my full race car build and I had a couple of quick questions.

I have deleted the Heater core and am busy trying to plumb the remaining cooling system. There is a heat exchanger for the DCT placed right above the transmission and plumbed to an auxiliary pump. Did you remove that heat exchanger since all it does it warm up transmission oil and really not required on a dedicated race car or did you just bypass the heater core.

Not sure if you removed the A/C but if you did, did you remove the idle pulley and only run the tensioner for the power steering pump. Also do you have a recommendation for belt.

I plan on starting my own build thread as soon as I get some time, but not sure I can compete with your detail. I am building an endurance car so a little different considerations than competing for best times but your thread has been a great help.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by RaceBear

Great thread, I have been following it for a while but just joined the forum. I am in the very beginning phase of my full race car build and I had a couple of quick questions.

Glad you came on to say hi!

Originally Posted by RaceBear

I have deleted the Heater core and am busy trying to plumb the remaining cooling system. There is a heat exchanger for the DCT placed right above the transmission and plumbed to an auxiliary pump. Did you remove that heat exchanger since all it does it warm up transmission oil and really not required on a dedicated race car or did you just bypass the heater core.

Not sure if you removed the A/C but if you did, did you remove the idle pulley and only run the tensioner for the power steering pump. Also do you have a recommendation for belt.

Argh.....I wish I could answer your questions. I didn't do the work to remove that stuff. Racewerkz Engineering in Burbank, CA did. I actually got a similar question recently and reached out to Racewerkz. Since the work was done over 5 years ago, they couldn't remember my pulley setup. The pulley setup changes based on the year of the car. As far as the heat exchanger, I just don't know.

Regarding belts, I have a supercharger, so I have to use specific belts, so I can't help there either......sorry......

Originally Posted by RaceBear

I plan on starting my own build thread as soon as I get some time, but not sure I can compete with your detail. I am building an endurance car so a little different considerations than competing for best times but your thread has been a great help.

I look forward to seeing your build! It would be great to hear about what went into an endurance build. As far as detail----you can start with some pix and keep adding over time. 5 years into this thread, I still feel like there's lots to talk about.....at least when coronavirus isn't kicking our asses.......

[romero1990]

not sure if anyone asked. I am curious about the 2 bumper clips. can we have some close up photo?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by romero1990

not sure if anyone asked. I am curious about the 2 bumper clips. can we have some close up photo?

Here's a few pix that show it decently:

This mod really solved my problems with the fender pulling away, plus it also removed some infrastructure stuff on the underside which allows for a bit more clearance.

There's a top-mounted version and an underside mounted version. I have the top-mounted version.

[dogbone]

On the topic of those latches: I guess it's worth mentioning that at this point, it's pretty easy to remove my bumper/lip/splitter combo. They're all connected to each other, so they move as one unit. There are the four bolts at the top above the kidney grills. There's the two fender/bumper latches. And there's three bolts that connect the rear part of the splitter to the oil pan skid plate. That's it. The bumper can be removed in just a few of minutes. And replacing it is just as quick.

Of course, it's much easier to do if there's two people because the bumper/lip/splitter combo is bulky and awkward to hold on to for just one person.

[SYT_Shadow]

Something I don't get about the latch is that the wheel flare is plastic in the M3. How does the plastic hold any force from the bumper?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Something I don't get about the latch is that the wheel flare is plastic in the M3. How does the plastic hold any force from the bumper?

The majority of the holding is from the four top bolts. All I can tell you is that they've been sitting there fine for several years.

[dogbone]

Week 9 of Dogbone Racing League is complete! This week we visited Sebring. That is a challenging track.

We had a light turnout this week with 4 drivers. I think some other online racing challenge was going on, and some people had other commitments.

tsk94 won qualifying. However, during the race, he ran out of gas and had to pit. SYT_Shadow was able to take the win. With this win, he leaps into 2nd overall.

Here are the results:



The series will conclude next week with a visit to Spa-Francorchamps. Looking forward to it!