redpriest HPDE journal

[StripclubDJ]

Originally Posted by redpriest

You can tell he's mad because his video of the track day isn't cross-posted to 15 different facebook groups.

DAAAYYYYUM

GOTEMM

[roastbeef]

Fuuuuckin brutal in here.

[MPower7]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

I mean I'm in a heavier car, on blown shocks, slower tires, and slept two hours and fifty minutes after drinking quite a bit of whisky, had check engine lights reset multiple times and haven't been back in two years to CVR. Throw in the fact I have about one third of the seat time he had last year and his confidence is astounding. But it's ok.

It's only the first event. He had a good win.

Plus side for me is I already surpassed my total point score all of last year in my first event.

Blown shocks huh,

[StripclubDJ]

Phil just forgot to corner balance and cross rotate the air in his tires


It happens to the best of us

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by MPower7

Blown shocks huh,

it's the running joke used within our group, but it's also a reality

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by admranger

I think this qualifies as severe usage, so don't forget to increase the frequency of your maintenance on your excuse generator.

I have to ask, were you driving flat out or not? I always drive flat out.

Drive Flat Out

Sorry, couldn't resist as that video always makes me laugh.

Sometimes, it just isn't your day at the track and you have to just put it back on the trailer and hope the next event goes better. BTDT.

you guys are killin' me!

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by redpriest

My 98th track day overall, and Round 1 of Bimmer Challenge is at Chuckwalla. Also, Round 1 of the renewed PhiloManilo challenge with M3 Number 86 , who has been, until recently, with aero and Pirellis. I've had to listen to him trash talk me for a year since he's been posting faster lap times in a different class of car.

Now this year we are on relatively even footing since we are in the same class. No aero, "street" tires.

Chuckwalla has been relatively unlucky for me. It's a 1000 mile round trip for me, and the track is out in the middle of nowhere near the Arizona border, with the nearest town being 50 miles away. If you break down you are in for a long trip home.

I've driven all this far several times and then shredded my dedicated track tires in 1-2 sessions and then had to switch to street tires. In my E46, the first time I came out here my alternator started to die. Fortunately I was able to complete that track day and get home.

The next time I came out, my throttle position sensor (TPS) died. I've had this TPS problem before, but it was in the top mounted (easily accessible) position and that's a 5 min swap. Unfortunately, this problem was buried underneath the intake manifold of the engine. I spent that entire track day with the help of my friend Serhan stripping the manifold off and swapping the part with a ready spare. I was able to set a terrible lack of power lap in the morning just to get on the board for points, and spent the next 5 hours disassembling the car to get to the TPS. The clamps attaching the intake hoses to the engine were the biggest pain - they are "one use" and require a special tool to easily unclip. Ugh.

My luck continued with this track day. After a lot of last minute preparations (I had to get the car smogged and street legal - which was a tremendous pain getting the readiness sensors to register), I was on my way with a 9 hour journey. On hour 5, I got a SES light. Oh boy. I read the code, and ALL 4 of my camshaft position sensors were bad. WTF? I had just replaced two of these the last time I came out.

Crap. This was happening just outside of LA on I-5 where you climb up the big mountain near Grapevine. I was 300 miles into a 500 mile trip. I cleared the codes to see if it would happen again. After a couple of power cycles, it showed up again. After debating the merits of continuing on, I decided to do it. I'd drive to the cabin I'd rented at the track, and see if it showed up the next morning. I could definitely feel a loss of power.

The next day, I started the car and the SES light did not show. Maybe a good sign? I did the first session, but once I came back to the paddock, it showed up again. It was hard to judge whether or not I was lacking power or not, since I hadn't driven the car in over a year and didn't really have a good reference, but it felt like it. StripclubDJ helped me read the car, and cleared the adaptations. Maybe this would do the trick for session 2? He also suggested I change the battery; the battery was the original OEM battery from 2010, and since the car had been sitting in storage for a year without a tender, I'm sure it was on its way out.

For session 2, I set my best time of 2:01.08, which was easily a second faster than my best E46 time, and 2 seconds faster than the last time I drove out here with my E92. Problem seemed to be fixed? I also had the fortune to be lined up behind Serhan (black E46) and Simon (orange E46), who both know what they're doing here. Simon's E46 and my E46 are pretty even in terms of car and driver at most tracks, except at Chuckwalla where I'm at least two seconds slower than him.

Chuckwalla is a pretty technical track that rewards patience - I have the tendency to want to early apex these long double apex turns, and since I'm not here often, it's hard to get used to it.

One of the guys I used to TT against in Texas, Ken Orgeron, moved to Arizona and hit Chuckwalla for the first time in his E46 M3. I asked him to post some videos but morning session went well. It will be interesting to see what he can do on sticker A7's.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

One of the guys I used to TT against in Texas, Ken Orgeron, moved to Arizona and hit Chuckwalla for the first time in his E46 M3. I asked him to post some videos but morning session went well. It will be interesting to see what he can do on sticker A7's.

Aero and slicks would make a big difference at this track .. what is he running? 1:55 is fast.

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by redpriest

Aero and slicks would make a big difference at this track .. what is he running? 1:55 is fast.

He said he ran 1:57 on scrub RE71rs and 1:55's on scrub A7's. Gonna look at race hero in a sec to see if he did better. His car is set up similar to mine with respect to power and weight - 330 peak and 3000 lbs.

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

He said he ran 1:57 on scrub RE71rs and 1:55's on scrub A7's. Gonna look at race hero in a sec to see if he did better. His car is set up similar to mine with respect to power and weight - 330 peak and 3000 lbs.

That's pretty fast AriuSen has done 1:54 so far in his z4m.

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

That's pretty fast AriuSen has done 1:54 so far in his z4m.

I know nothing of the track but looking at TT times I'd say 1:54 in a Z4M is hauling the mail.

Ken just reported a 1:54.6.

[admranger]

Running 1:55's is stupid fast. Being it was his first time there? That's insanely fast.

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

I know nothing of the track but looking at TT times I'd say 1:54 in a Z4M is hauling the mail.

Ken just reported a 1:54.6.

Yeah for the first time ever that's pretty fin fast!

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

Yeah for the first time ever that's pretty fin fast!

Seems like it, especially with NA S54.

[redpriest]

So Willow Springs was interesting. Hadn't been there since last year in my E46, so was curious to see if I would beat my best time there. Was actually almost a second slower in my E46.

Now it probably didn't help that my set of RE71Rs were near end of life, but it was actually a struggle for me to find grip. The resealed surface feels like it made things worse? I heard it rained the night before so the track might have been green, but it looked quite dry to me.

Nonetheless, it was sort of a spastic day for me. Got there late, missed 90% of my first session, had to beg to get in another morning session, ended up not getting video at all for it because I forgot to start camera, lol. Rushed to rotate tires because my fronts were getting melted and they had already seen a lot of abrasiveness at Chuckwalla.

Started off with 15 rebound/8 compression on fronts, 14 rebound/8 compression on rear. WAYYYY too stiff - I felt like I was vibrating to death through turn 8 and 9 during the first "real" session I got. Went down two clicks on every thing and it was much softer, and lap time improved.

My PB for the day lap time was compromised by a corvette going slowly around 8/9 during the 2nd session (which I had to grid behind because I missed first session timing - and pregridding impacts everything) - which you can see from the reduced top speed below, but it wasn't like I did any better once I got clear air later during the session - tires had fallen off and I wasn't doing any better driving either.

E46 in blue, E92 in orange:



Slower in almost every corner, and only managed to recover lap time through sheer HP towards the end - but even that wasn't that much over the E46 - because I think, of a bad entrance/exit out of Turn 5. Wasn't able to get that corner right the entire day. Still good enough for 3rd place in Bimmer Challenge though.

Interestingly, when you watch the video, you can see the "lines" where other cars have been because it seems like it's stripping the top layer of the resealed surface at Willow Springs.

[dogbone]

Your braking is what really hurt the E92 lap compared to the E46 lap. You braked earlier (and in several cases, harder) in the E92 on every corner except Turn 9.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Your braking is what really hurt the E92 lap compared to the E46 lap. You braked earlier (and in several cases, harder) in the E92 on every corner except Turn 9.

I definitely did - but it was because I had about 3mm of pad left for this event, and I didn't quite trust late braking, lol. That's my excuse anyway!

I had another set which also had about 3mm left, so, I had backup - haha. I have a new set of pads coming in for next event.

[M3 Number 86]

this thread is full of excuses.....see you Saturday.

#philomaniloshowdown

[redpriest]

Reviving this nEcRo thread hahaha.

It's been a long while since I hit the track - my last event was Buttonwillow in September of 2019. So ... 14 months, give or takes a few days.

Originally, I was planning on making my comeback at SpeedSF's annual Black Friday event, but all the prep work I needed to do on my car was finished and I had tires coming in on that Friday ... so why not? I managed to squeeze myself into the Chuckwalla track day on Saturday, and waitlisted on Sunday (which I managed to get into as well).

I had not driven my E92 since probably December or so really. The alternator ended up dying, so the only way I could drive the car would be to trickle charge it to 100%, sit there in the secret menu and get the voltage on the battery reading on the display. I'd have about 10-15 miles of range tops, and a lot of angst as I sat there watching the voltage drop from 12 to .. 10.5/10.6 and be gritting my teeth. No way to live.

I had just changed jobs, taking a big pay cut to do so going from an established big tech giant to a much smaller private company when COVID hit. I had planned on only taking a few months break, but this seemed like a prudent time to just sit tight and wait. I was fortunate that my job allows me to work remote, but you never know what happens.

I delayed fixing the alternator until this past September/October when I judged it was about time to get everything in order. Replacing the alternator was not too difficult given the DIY on the forum, but it would not budge off the engine block no matter how much anti-seize or tapping I would do. I had to pry the damn thing off, which I managed to do after 3-4 days of wrestling with it.

With that complete, I needed the car inspected and new fluids etc. since the car had been sitting for months. I also needed a new set of tires since my Dunlop Direzza IIIs which I had been trying were pretty worn down. The Dunlops are an ok track tire, they wear fantastically but the grip quality is way down. I could not break into sub 2s at Buttonwillow when I was able to do so with even Federals.

Some friends of mine had some really great experiences with Nankang AR-1s so I decided to try them.

I was not unhappy at all! They have fantastic grip. That, combined with the new surface at Chuckwalla made for an interesting experience. I wasn't even pushing the limit of the tire on Saturday, as I was just getting back into the swing of things. I had no confidence braking, which was not the fault of my brakes, just rust - I learned to dive deeper and deeper and even give trail braking a try.

[redpriest]

On Saturday, I started off doing 2:07s in the first session, with each session getting progressively better and better as I started remembering how to drive again. At the end of the day, when the track was at its hottest, I did a 2:03.275:

On Sunday, things got even better. Although the opposite direction, all of the confidence carried forward on that day - I started off at 2:01.978, and then each session afterward dropped even more time - 2:01.489 and then in the third session my PB of the day 1:59.824.

The last session I was able to put down multiple high 1:59 laps showing that it wasn't just a fluke.

What a great time! I had a huge blast that entire track day even with all the COVID restrictions (mask wearing etc).

[roastbeef]

chuckwalla looks like a good time. i'll have to get out there one of these days when i emerge from my track break.

[redpriest]

Was great meeting old friends and making new - fsmtnbiker was sporting off the Zebulon aero which I am hugely lusting after and now finally got to see in person. I spent a small portion of Sunday picking his brain, so I've got some interesting build decisions coming up for 2021.

Some things I'm thinking of:

Strom Motorsport uprights
MCS 3-way remote coilovers to replace my JRZs
New springs to match MCS coilovers
Zebulon splitter/wing and additional aero
Replace CSF radiator and stock power steering cooler with do88
Supercharger of some sort
Replace steering rack
Replace control arms
Differential

Right now, my car's biggest problem is cooling. I can only do a few hot laps before the car just starts to complain and starts pulling my max RPMs back. I'm hoping that I can fix this cooling issue by swapping over to a full do88 setup. I'm really happy with what the DCT cooler has done for me, so I'm hoping this also helps.

My car is at 170k miles, so I feel like looking at some of the load bearing portions is probably a good idea, especially given 70 track days in the car and plenty of big oofs. All of my bushings and bearings seem to be holding up so this is a big plus.

My differential is still the stock diff and I am almost afraid of changing the fluid. I feel like if I do that, it will fall apart, lol.

I've heard a ton of positive things about the MCS coilovers over the JRZs, especially valving - also having more capability of rebuilding suspension here in the US is a huge plus. When I cracked the endlink connection to the damper housing, I had to wait 4 months over the summer for them to rebuild the suspension.

What's really sold me on the Zebulon aero is the fact that it's still streetable - there was 1-2 inches of upward travel left and the fact that the car was street driven and arrived intact was a huge plus. I will probably purchase a towing vehicle/trailer in the next 24 months, but if that decision gets delayed due to macroeconomics etc. I still need to be able to dive the car to the track.