My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[roastbeef]

liteblox seems to be the euro solution. i emailed voltphreaks a while back about their remote battery cut-off switch and it took them about four weeks to respond to my email. pretty ridiculous to answer a question. i still like my vph900 and it works just fine, but i don't recommend them to others anymore. i sort of feel like they were victims of covid supply chain issues and maybe they moved on to something else or lost interest. if i started having battery issues and voltphreaks couldn't help, i'd go with liteblox at the moment.

for cooling, have you considered the motorsport24 kit that tilts the radiator forward? you already don't have the a/c condenser in the way, and a decent fab guy could bend up some ducting out of sheet metal pretty easily. the extra benefit of the higher volume of air flow is the added downforce up front.
i forget- which temperature peaks higher; water or oil? i know they are sympathetic to each other, but is one more problematic?
i don't have any experience with this, but they say coated and wrapped headers can help with under hood temps as well. at this point, i'd treat everything under the hood as a contributing overall factor. heat all over the place... try to manage all of it.

[evilspiritM3]

@roastbeef will liteblox ship to the US?

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by evilspiritM3

@roastbeef will liteblox ship to the US?

i have no idea, i haven't tried, but there is always a way. i'm sure they have distributors that are willing to play ball.

[Kelse92]

I think I asked Liteblox a while back and they were unwilling to ship. If you guys find a distributor I think that may help. Personally, I still think the Antigravity would would fine here in a 40aH model.

[fanatic1]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I've been receiving some cool images coming from the COTA SLB event. I'll be posting them here and on IG over the coming days as I continue to get them.

I'm starting with this one because it caught my eye. It's not a particularly great shot of my car----I'm buried way down at the left of the image. But I found it interesting because it shows the top contenders all lined up in front of me. I was proud to be 10th in the grid behind these guys (the top Corvette is not in the picture).

Looking at the results of all the cars in the competition, I put in the 11th quickest time out of 73 cars, and got 5th in Unlimited. For me to have moved into 4th, I would have had to go sub-2:15.....haha no one thinks my car could do that. So, I believe my end placement of 5th was the best I could have done.

Anyway, all this to say, my car may not be a traditional time attack machine, but I'm proud that it can be in the same picture as these other cars---even if it is buried at the far left edge of the picture.


Photo by: @snapssudio

One of the cars that really made me wonder what was under the hood was that white Porsche. He put down a 2:11....holy cow.

That white Porsche was rumored to have an LS swap, have not confirmed

[b4hand]

Originally Posted by fanatic1

That white Porsche was rumored to have an LS swap, have not confirmed

It did

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by fanatic1

That white Porsche was rumored to have an LS swap, have not confirmed

Originally Posted by b4hand

It did

Not surprised. To get a 2:11, you'd have to be putting down some serious horsepower.

[dogbone]

Ooh ominous. Lurking (in the COTA garage).


Photo by: @snapsstudio

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I don't have any plans for new fun projects right now. Everything in front of me at the moment is maintenance issues and figuring out the battery situation. I don't want to keep a 56lbs battery in there. Unfortunately, the 20 AmpHour Anti-Gravity battery didn't work out. I want to try the VoltPhreaks battery that was a bit bigger than my original VPR-P6, but they just won't return my calls or emails. I need to press harder to figure out the battery situation.

So first, I need to get the car back into good shape with a light battery, and then I'm trying to setup a track trip in April. I'll talk more about that as plans get set.

Ok, twist my arm---fantasy list? Get a McLaren 720S. That car in stock trim with a great driver ran 2 seconds faster than my personal best at COTA on Supercar F3R tires......holy crap. What would it have done on full slicks? Anyway, a 720S is definitely not in the cards for me, but it can be on a fantasy list! (haha I know that's not what you meant. Making the car lighter and solving the overheating would be on the "normal" fantasy list.)

Just not much we can do against 700+ hp without going to extreme measures.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by redpriest

Just not much we can do against 700+ hp without going to extreme measures.

Yeah---to do 700+ hp in an E9x M3 reliably, meaning it doesn't need constant attention and babying, means putting a different engine (and most likely trans) in the car.

I've talked to some shops about more power in my car----just dreaming about various possibilities. None involve keeping the S65. It's just not a big-power motor and no one has come up with a viable turbo solution. If you ditch the engine and put something with crazy power and torque, then you're gonna have to ditch the transmission and DME......now it just gets all kinds of crazy. And it doesn't take much investigation to come to the conclusion that an M3 shell is not the ideal platform for going crazy---it's too tall, too heavy and you have to go widebody to put fat tires. (I like the original shape of my car.) Feras Qartoumy is showing the world what RWD platform is the right platform to go crazy on---->Corvette. The sky is the limit with a Corvette at all levels of time attack. Feras dominated COTA and SLB this year, and the Corvettes also dominate in NASA TT in many classes.

Don't get me wrong----I love my car. I enjoy driving it a lot. And I'm proud of how it does in competitions like SLB. I don't put forth a budget to compete with the top contenders, so I'm content to be in the grid right after them. Basically, me and my car have a shot at being "the best of the rest", which is not so bad when you consider what my car is. I think that photo from the SLB grid did a good job of illustrating the situation--you got all the crazy stuff there in the front positions, and then the blue sedan next in line.

For the foreseeable future, I will continue pushing my boundaries with this car as it is and see how far I can go with it. There's always things to tweak, and of course my driving can always improve. Also, I would love to keep exploring new tracks with it.

I'm also looking forward to seeing you out there with your new E92 setup! You should be rocking and rolling in that baby once it's finished!

[Kelse92]

Well, there's always wheel-to-wheel racing action out there if you ever wanted to try that as a next step with the car

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Yeah---to do 700+ hp in an E9x M3 reliably, meaning it doesn't need constant attention and babying, means putting a different engine (and most likely trans) in the car.

I've talked to some shops about more power in my car----just dreaming about various possibilities. None involve keeping the S65. It's just not a big-power motor and no one has come up with a viable turbo solution. If you ditch the engine and put something with crazy power and torque, then you're gonna have to ditch the transmission and DME......now it just gets all kinds of crazy. And it doesn't take much investigation to come to the conclusion that an M3 shell is not the ideal platform for going crazy---it's too tall, too heavy and you have to go widebody to put fat tires. (I like the original shape of my car.) Feras Qartoumy is showing the world what RWD platform is the right platform to go crazy on---->Corvette. The sky is the limit with a Corvette at all levels of time attack. Feras dominated COTA and SLB this year, and the Corvettes also dominate in NASA TT in many classes.

Don't get me wrong----I love my car. I enjoy driving it a lot. And I'm proud of how it does in competitions like SLB. I don't put forth a budget to compete with the top contenders, so I'm content to be in the grid right after them. Basically, me and my car have a shot at being "the best of the rest", which is not so bad when you consider what my car is. I think that photo from the SLB grid did a good job of illustrating the situation--you got all the crazy stuff there in the front positions, and then the blue sedan next in line.

For the foreseeable future, I will continue pushing my boundaries with this car as it is and see how far I can go with it. There's always things to tweak, and of course my driving can always improve. Also, I would love to keep exploring new tracks with it.

I'm also looking forward to seeing you out there with your new E92 setup! You should be rocking and rolling in that baby once it's finished!

What's wild is that AMG GT3 factory race car can be hot on the heels of Feras's monster vette at probably 50% the power. I know it's in the pursuit but man a proper purpose built race car is maddening.

[derbo]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I've been receiving some cool images coming from the COTA SLB event. I'll be posting them here and on IG over the coming days as I continue to get them.

I'm starting with this one because it caught my eye. It's not a particularly great shot of my car----I'm buried way down at the left of the image. But I found it interesting because it shows the top contenders all lined up in front of me. I was proud to be 10th in the grid behind these guys (the top Corvette is not in the picture).

Looking at the results of all the cars in the competition, I put in the 11th quickest time out of 73 cars, and got 5th in Unlimited. For me to have moved into 4th, I would have had to go sub-2:15.....haha no one thinks my car could do that. So, I believe my end placement of 5th was the best I could have done.

Anyway, all this to say, my car may not be a traditional time attack machine, but I'm proud that it can be in the same picture as these other cars---even if it is buried at the far left edge of the picture.

[IMG]http://www.epicscore.com/online/COTA-SLB-GRiD.jpeg[IMG]
Photo by: @snapssudio

One of the cars that really made me wonder what was under the hood was that white Porsche. He put down a 2:11....holy cow.

What on earth is in that Civic?!

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by DRLane

What's wild is that AMG GT3 factory race car can be hot on the heels of Feras's monster vette at probably 50% the power. I know it's in the pursuit but man a proper purpose built race car is maddening.

The GT3 cars are +500k each... I mean you're talking about serious money

One thing is a M4 GT4 which is basically a street car, but the GT3 class is a completely different game

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

The GT3 cars are +500k each... I mean you're talking about serious money

One thing is a M4 GT4 which is basically a street car, but the GT3 class is a completely different game

100% but that's a new delivery. Plus Feras might very well have that in the Corvette.

Just saying, remove all the restrictors or weights on the AMG and that car probably runs circles around the SLB builds repeatedly and reliably. It's not a dog Feras's efforts just an acknowledgment of purpose built capabilities.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

Well, there's always wheel-to-wheel racing action out there if you ever wanted to try that as a next step with the car

You know, it's funny, w2w racing, especially 10-15 lap sprint racing, isn't a draw for me. Beating someone to a finish line or trading paint or developing racecraft aren't my thing for whatever reason. Can't really explain it. Just not part of my personality I guess.

I really do enjoy focusing on going for lap times. The process of learning tracks, digging into the data and looking for ways to gain time and going out and just concentrating on my game and trying to get the job done in one lap is exciting to me.

Something that could be fun to try at some point (with a different car) would be some kind of 24-hour endurance race---even a Lemons race. I have some experience with 24-hour racing in the mountain biking world. I find the strategy and the demands of 24-hour racing to be interesting. Doing it with a car would be fascinating.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by derbo

What on earth is in that Civic?!

hahaha over 800hp, crazy aero, light, and just uhhh overall crazy.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by DRLane

100% but that's a new delivery. Plus Feras might very well have that in the Corvette.

Just saying, remove all the restrictors or weights on the AMG and that car probably runs circles around the SLB builds repeatedly and reliably. It's not a dog Feras's efforts just an acknowledgment of purpose built capabilities.

haha----a GT3 class car is on a WHOLE different level. I would love to hear the amount of $$$$$$$$$ AMG spent developing that car. I'm sure the number is so high, it would give you a nose bleed. No one in TT has access to that level of R&D. When you pay $500k for the AMG GT3, you're not paying for parts and labor; you're paying for the R&D.

And remember, a GT3 class car can do those lap times for an hour straight. TT guys are hoping the car holds together for a single lap.

There's just no comparison.

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by dogbone

haha----a GT3 class car is on a WHOLE different level. I would love to hear the amount of $$$$$$$$$ AMG spent developing that car. I'm sure the number is so high, it would give you a nose bleed. No one in TT has access to that level of R&D. When you pay $500k for the AMG GT3, you're not paying for parts and labor; you're paying for the R&D.

And remember, a GT3 class car can do those lap times for an hour straight. TT guys are hoping the car holds together for a single lap.

There's just no comparison.

I'm aware of the comparison between solo builder vs OEM factory car. That's my point, if you're going to throw $250-$500k at building a GTA why not just go straight to factory built car. I guess in this instance you're forced to run in Pro/Comp given the chassis.

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by DRLane

I'm aware of the comparison between solo builder vs OEM factory car. That's my point, if you're going to throw $250-$500k at building a GTA why not just go straight to factory built car. I guess in this instance you're forced to run in Pro/Comp given the chassis.

Just watched a 991.2 gt3 cup car do 2:08 at COTA. Can be had for $160k. I see what you're saying

https://www.dupontregistry.com/autos...3--cup/2250672

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by DRLane

I'm aware of the comparison between solo builder vs OEM factory car. That's my point, if you're going to throw $250-$500k at building a GTA why not just go straight to factory built car. I guess in this instance you're forced to run in Pro/Comp given the chassis.

I know that you know that I know that you know!

Yeah, in GTA, cars like the AMG GT3 or a Porsche Cup Car or basically any factory built race car get tossed into Pro/Comp. Heck, a McLaren 720S is difficult to class. They put it in Limited Class, and it won by almost 2 seconds.....beating another McLaren, followed by 4 Porsches. (Where did the GTRs and Subarus go?)

Maybe they need another category or two---like a hypercar/super exotic category. And maybe they'll need an electric car category at some point. They had a couple electrics this year.

If you ask me, I prefer the home-brew builds versus the slick R&D-heavy factory offerings. The home brew builds feel like more of the spirit of TT---enthusiasts working within their budgets and time constraints to make their car as fast as possible. But I don't begrudge anyone showing up with a $500k car. Put it out there and show us what it can do! Hope it's faster than my car!

[evilspiritM3]

What's the thinking with GTA not being more power to weight ratio based?