redpriest HPDE journal

[admranger]

You show up in Vegas without proper notice for your local supporters? -10. Return trophy and prizes.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by admranger

You show up in Vegas without proper notice for your local supporters? -10. Return trophy and prizes.

My bad 😔. It was a hectic week!

[redpriest]

I ended up selling the GT3 back to the dealer, while I await the arrival of my 992 GT3 RS in October! In the meantime though, I picked up a short term lease on a 992 Turbo S. This car is tremendously fast and very confidence inspiring.

The thing about the car is that you can feel the AWD working at the very limit, so if you don't feel the front end moving under power than you know there's more time at the table. It was a hectic week of planning, I ended up doing 5 track days in 1 week, so I squeezed in a private track day in the 992 Turbo S on that Thursday.

I was pretty tentative in spots but I couldn't believe it when I was hitting 153 mph at the end of the front straight at Thunderhill 3 mile:

For reference, my E92 post stroker gets 138 mph (but not at current stage of development) and my 992 GT3 did 140 mph.

Car is truly a jack of all trades car; if you could only have one car, this would be the one to have (maybe in cabrio form).

[redpriest]

That following weekend, for the 22nd and 23rd of April, we went to Sonoma. Fortunately for me, Sonoma is only 90 minutes away vs the 7-8 hours to Vegas and 8-9 hours to Chuckwalla, hah. It was a very relaxing weekend in contrast to Vegas.

During the first two sessions, it was pretty close to my other Bimmer Challenge competitors, but I was practicing on pretty much heat cycled out Pirellis. I had the 2 HC Pirellis I had put on for Vegas available, and I swapped to those. I was able to set a pretty good time, but I knew there was more time on the table. I basically blew turn 11 because the old predictive time got me overly excited. Braked in too deep and it compromised the corner in what could have easily been 42s.

This was the 3rd session, and I didn't think it was going to get any better, as it was getting quite warm at the end of the day.

Unfortunately Day 2 was no faster, in fact, it got worse. I ended up gambling in the first session and not fueling enough and ended up puttering down the back straight with fuel starvation. I barely made it to the pits.

For whatever reason, that 2nd day, times just got worse. But still, that hero lap on day 1 was enough to secure fastest BMW time for the weekend.

[redpriest]

Did I mention that for Sonoma we were able to install the Motorsport24 hood that shipped as part of a group buy from unrivaled auto?



I'm not entirely happy with the small gap in the front. We kept one shock and the center clasp despite having aerolatches. I've seen aero latches rip right out of the radiator supports here at this very track (Sonoma) so I wasn't willing to risk it.

For Streets of Willow prep next week, I'm taking the car to TC Design to fabricate some bespoke seat mount uprights for my Recaro pro racer RMS 2700Gs. All the current solutions we've tried I sit too low in the car as well as having the harnesses being at unsafe angles.

Honestly, out of all the upgrades I'm more excited about the Recaros as they fit me perfectly and keep me a lot more stable than my current Sparco Ergo. Additionally, the Sparco Ergo kills my back and I have to use added padding.

Car at the moment on 1/2 tank of fuel is around 3069 lbs. Hoping to lose some more weight and I think TC Design has some ideas on getting more out of the car.

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

Man I miss having TCD in my backyard to help w my build and development.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by redpriest

Did I mention that for Sonoma we were able to install the Motorsport24 hood that shipped as part of a group buy from unrivaled auto?

I'm not entirely happy with the small gap in the front. We kept one shock and the center clasp despite having aerolatches. I've seen aero latches rip right out of the radiator supports here at this very track (Sonoma) so I wasn't willing to risk it.

the m24 hood leaves a little bit to be desired. its expensive and i'm curious if its just a fiberglass hood with a top layer of carbon. the vents are obviously fiberglass, but i've never seen the understructure unpainted... i kinda suspect it to be fiberglass. secondary to that, the bulky under-hood portions could be trimmed/cut/drilled further to reduce weight.

i'm kinda curious about that failure you talked about. i've seen people use the hood latch/headlight brackets to mount, and those seem less stout than the radiator support. the radiator support has a metal core, but has a pretty large surface area for washers under the mounting point. kinda worrysome.

on another note, do you think a flexible seal would help? i'm envisnioning something like this press-on seal that would attach to the hood and make contact with the body to curtain it from airflow. might look unfinished against a white car though...

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/do...l-style~wiper/

[Redd]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

on another note, do you think a flexible seal would help? i'm envisnioning something like this press-on seal that would attach to the hood and make contact with the body to curtain it from airflow. might look unfinished against a white car though...

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/do...l-style~wiper/

I don't think it's airflow getting under the hood and 'pushing' it upwards. If you look at how a hood is designed, it's basically a large airfoil - low velocity, high pressure zone underneath (aka engine bay); high velocity, low pressure zone above. The airflow wants to suck the hood upwards.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

the m24 hood leaves a little bit to be desired. its expensive and i'm curious if its just a fiberglass hood with a top layer of carbon. the vents are obviously fiberglass, but i've never seen the understructure unpainted... i kinda suspect it to be fiberglass. secondary to that, the bulky under-hood portions could be trimmed/cut/drilled further to reduce weight.

i'm kinda curious about that failure you talked about. i've seen people use the hood latch/headlight brackets to mount, and those seem less stout than the radiator support. the radiator support has a metal core, but has a pretty large surface area for washers under the mounting point. kinda worrysome.

on another note, do you think a flexible seal would help? i'm envisnioning something like this press-on seal that would attach to the hood and make contact with the body to curtain it from airflow. might look unfinished against a white car though...

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/do...l-style~wiper/

I literally saw it happen directly in front of me at Sonoma. E46 hood slammed up against windshield through the esses, blinding him. He was very lucky to make it without hitting a wall. Saw whatever happened, it ripped the supports right out of the radiator, wrecking the radiator of course. I don't know if weather stripping would fix the issue.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by Redd

I don't think it's airflow getting under the hood and 'pushing' it upwards. If you look at how a hood is designed, it's basically a large airfoil - low velocity, high pressure zone underneath (aka engine bay); high velocity, low pressure zone above. The airflow wants to suck the hood upwards.

yea i guess i figured since he mentioned he was less than thrilled about the gap that he thought it was a contributing factor... maybe it is, but just less significant than i thought.

[redpriest]

TC had some time to install some custom mounts for my Recaro PRO RMS 2700G



They're mounted on Porsche 996 sliders which work quite well. Exceptionally pleased with the seat + mounting system. There is zero play in any direction, which is the primary problem I have in other cars, such as my E46. You never quite feel super secure.



In my previous seating setup, I wasted so much energy trying to keep myself braced in the seat even with 6-point harnesses. At the end of the day, or even after 4-5 laps, the pain would be excruciating to the point where I had to take a break.

Not anymore, at Streets of Willow, I was able to attack for the entire session or as long as the car would put up with it. In 84-90 degree heat, I could do 9 or so hotlaps before I would need to take a break.

[roastbeef]

so what you're saying is the e46 has some play in the seat? thats a bit alarming...

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

so what you're saying is the e46 has some play in the seat? thats a bit alarming...

A lot of off the shelf sliders for track cars have a little bit of play. Like, it will wiggle a couple mm. It's not confidence inspiring.

[redpriest]

Bimmer Challenge is in a summer break, but that doesn't mean I am. Development continues.

New DCT lightweight flywheel. I saw there was some previous issues with reliability on this thing but this is supposedly a strengthened and improved version. We'll see!



New livery:



I also have a plastics4performance lexan rear screen and front windscreen coming in, but it looks like it's delayed until August.

Also!!

Zebulon flat-bottom + diffuser is in the works. Getting someone to scan the bottom of my car to send in.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by redpriest

A lot of off the shelf sliders for track cars have a little bit of play. Like, it will wiggle a couple mm. It's not confidence inspiring.

you've probably read a previous post of mine, but seats kinda freak me out a little bit. the worst casual track drving injury (besides death) i've heard of was seat mount bolts sheering and the entire seat shifting forward and compressing the driver's spine. i don't know the physics behind it, but adding a millimeter or two of play in a seat just doesn't "sit" well with me when thinking about what shock weight can do.

this is why i was kinda partial to brey krause. they test their equipment to nhtsa standards. i'm not saying other brands aren't safe, but i don't see many other brands marketing that they abide by that standard;

"The R-926X seat mount line has been tested and certified by an independent lab to handle the types of forces required by the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. DOT and SAE J385 Rev.MAR 95, Motor Vehicle Seat Belt Anchorages-Performance Requirements."

[redpriest]

Yeah, I 100% agree with you. This is why I went with TC design to manufacture a safe solution to replace my BK mounts.

[roastbeef]

sheesh, your bk's are what is screwed up? maybe something is wrong with them. when i tried their sliders, the seat was solid, but it was too high. i'm happy with the floor mounts, no movement whatsoever.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

sheesh, your bk's are what is screwed up? maybe something is wrong with them. when i tried their sliders, the seat was solid, but it was too high. i'm happy with the floor mounts, no movement whatsoever.

The seat itself is just crazy. Even if I had the correct BK floor mounts for them it just wouldn't work; I wouldn't be able to see over the dash.