My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[dogbone]

I went to Chuckwalla on Saturday for the Bimmer Challenge series. Phew---it was an intense couple of days due to some logistical and technical issues.

Getting ready for the track day proved to be busy. We replaced wheel speed sensors, O2 sensors (almost 7 years old and throwing a bunch of codes), changed oil. And I had some new Pirellis to be mounted at the tire shop. The shop struggled with the new tires. It took them quite awhile to get them on. Sometimes new Pirellis need to be inflated up to 150psi to get them to pop onto the rim......yikes. The tires had a ton of dried soap goo on them when I got them back......I decided to wash them off because I just could not stand the idea of driving them with this gnarly slippery crap on them. I also washed the car while it was at Minicorsa. Wanted it to be fancy shmancy looking for Bimmer Challenge!

I also took the trailer to the trailer shop for axle maintenance and a couple tweaks.

Great. Everything got done and I headed out in the middle of Los Angeles Friday rush hour for my 200 mile drive. 10 miles in, I was hearing funny noises from the trailer. Then I looked back and saw brake smoke pouring out from my trailer. I pulled over on an offramp, and one of the wheels was falling off.....c'mon, I just had it serviced that day! When I jacked up the trailer, the wheel literally fell off. The whole brake drum just pulled away with the wheel attached to it. Obviously, the trailer shop didn't do something correctly. I was totally stranded. It was 4:30. I called the trailer shop. The owner answered. He jumped right on it. He immediately said they would come out to me and fix it on the side of the road. They were about 40 miles away in terrible rush hour traffic. They arrived by 7PM, and they took everything off the spindle and rebuilt the entire hub with all brand new parts. In motorsport, we always talk about how, sometimes, after you get work done, things don't work or something goes wrong. The question is, how do vendors deal with it when something goes wrong. These trailer shop guys were all over it and had to spend quite a bit of time and money to fix it. While I'm bummed that their original work failed for whatever reason; I'm very grateful for how they handled it.

I was back on the freeway by 8PM. By then, traffic was flowing more smoothly. The rest of the drive was uneventful. Got to the track at 11:15PM. Phew.

Bimmer Challenge was challenging and interesting. I'll write about that in the next post.

Sad sight Friday night:









Happy trailer at Chuckwalla Saturday morning!

[dogbone]

Bimmer Challenge - Chuckwalla CCW event write up:

I mentioned in a previous post that I was quite curious how this weekend would stack up. In the weeks/days leading up to the event, in my class, two E36 M3's with 400+hp and race tires were signed up, a 2015 M3 with 550hp and Pirellis was signed up, James Paick was signed up with his E92, but my main competitor in the points standings, Alex Chang, was not signed up. I found this interesting because if Alex didn't compete this weekend, from a points standpoint, there was no way he could win the series. And he had committed to a bunch of events already. Well, on Friday---the day before the event, Alex signed up. (hehe I'm surprised he was even able to sign up at the last minute like that because Speed Ventures had already signed up almost 165 drivers for this event......) Anyway, Alex was in, and this was making the weekend even more interesting and challenging. For people that don't know him, Alex Chang has a very impressive Z4M that weighs 2800lbs, has active aero, Pirelli DH, and all the race bits you would expect, and he's a very good driver. Between Alex, Joe Yang from Trinity Autosport and me, there's been several tight results and close competitions this year. A couple events have been won/lost by less than 0.1 sec.

Looking at this specific event, I had not driven Chuckwalla in the CCW direction since 2014. My previous best back then was 2:03. I had to work to get the track in my head as quickly as possible. And let me tell you, I was all over the place at the beginning of the day. I had DH scrubs on the car, and I was a mess----couldn't find the proper spots to be on the track, couldn't find the proper pace in the rounders, I was sliding around, I was trying to find braking zones, fighting traffic.....my first session was messy. Results after first session: Me: 1:57.9, Alex: 1:55.0. I changed tires to slightly better scrubs and went back out, got one clean lap at 1:56.2 and then I was in constant traffic. But I was ok with the traffic. I just settled in and decided to practice the different parts of the track. The most important thing I did was push the scrubs beyond their limits in all the different rounders of the track so I could feel the car's behavior as it was losing grip. (This was important because I had new slicks with me in the trailer and I wanted to know the feel of the car on the course as the tires were going past their limit. Pushing new slicks to their limit right off the bat can be challenging---especially on a track like Chuckwalla that just has rounder after rounder, so knowing the feel of the car on a particular course as it loses grip is important.) Results after 2nd round: Me: 1:56.2, Alex: 1:54.8.

After the second session, the air was still cool and now, after sliding around, I felt like I could run the new slicks and get something half decent out of them. So, I put them on for the 9:55AM session. All good. I headed off to grid. As I was driving to grid, I could hear a grinding noise through my ear plugs. I took my place in the grid, hopped out and looked at my brake pads, and........there was no brake pad on the driver front caliper outside pad---all you could see was backing plate....Ack!


I immediately jumped in the car and ran back to the trailer to assess the situation. How could I have missed this???? I checked the pads at the end of last weekend and had more than 8mm on them. I should have been fine. I looked at the other three pads in the front calipers-----and they were all fine.....I guess something may be up with my front driver AP caliper.....I did not have a fresh set of pads with me (I ordered some last week), but I did have some half used 18mm pads. This was my only option, so I went with it. But the damn caliper pistons are IM-freaking-POSSIBLE to push back into the calipers, so I struggled---first of all, with no pad material, the backing plate was right up against the rotor, so there was no room to push the backing plate back. Second, the caliper is so damn wide that the Girodisc pad spreader can't push the pistons very far. (I have to create some kind of magnetic stackable spacer system for the spreader so I can push the pistons all the way back.) Geezus.....Anyway, this did not go quickly. (With my old AP kit, I could have replaced the pad and still made the start of the session!) Took me 40 minutes to fully deal with the situation. Obviously, I missed my session. Alex continued to get faster: 1:54.6. By 10:30, the car was back together, but my session was not until 11:10AM. Ugh.....the weather continued getting warmer......I considered asking if I could jump in the session at 10:45, but I did not want to interrupt their session. I decided to just wait my turn.

Here's how I approached my drive with the new slicks: Regardless of how the session went, I would only run the new slicks once. I did not want to waste all the high grip at Chuckwalla. I basically viewed the one session as a scrubbing in of the tires for Buttonwillow next month. I knew that I did not have the finesse/knowledge to drive this direction of the track elegantly---hitting all the apexes perfectly, getting the braking zones right, getting on the gas perfectly, etc. I just didn't have enough seat time going this direction to know all the nuances of the track, so I decided to go with the brute force method. Come in hot, use the new slicks to hold the ground, and then mid-turn, push them to the edge (this is where sliding the car around earlier would come in handy). It wasn't going to be pretty but I figured brute force---grip and power---was what I had to work with. In my mind, it was better to miss an apex because I came in hot, than to sit back and be tentative and waste the grip because I'm a chicken. Result: 1:52.7. The lap wasn't a piece of artwork, but it was enough to get a decent result and win the day. With more practice, there's plenty of room for improvement. I ran one hot lap with those tires and immediately came back into the pits and pulled them off the car.

Fast lap: (Trying something new with my videos. Putting a short drive-by of the car.)

Bimmer Challenge this year consists of 11 events, and your top seven performances count toward your point total. Based on the current points standings, I have calculated that, next month at the last event of the season at Buttonwillow 13CW, I can win the series for 2018 with a 4th place or better finish. 13CW is what I consider to be my home track. I would love to make a nice showing in the cool winter air with fresh slicks. I'm hoping I have a shot at a 1:46 with those tires. (I was on a 1:46 pace with new DH in February, but I had a shifting problem right before Sunset that the Slon Workshop pan seems to have solved so I'm hopeful.)


So, it was a weekend of ups and downs. For a short period of time, I was worried I might not be able to get out to Chuckwalla due to the broken trailer. If I didn't show up, I had no chance of winning the series. I want to thank all my friends who were willing to help me get to the track if the trailer shop guys couldn't sort out the wheel issue. One friend volunteered to bring his trailer up from San Diego if I was out of options. (And his wife was totally fine with it! She was telling him he better get going!! haha!) I am fortunate to have a great circle of friends in this motorsport community.

[roastbeef]

great vid, you inspire me. its really cool to see you dance with the car.

i'm curious, why do you butterfly the laptimer out on the front grill where it blocks airflow?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

great vid, you inspire me. its really cool to see you dance with the car.

i'm curious, why do you butterfly the laptimer out on the front grill where it blocks airflow?

Thanks!

I'm simply trying to put the transponder as low to the ground as possible. I never gave it much thought otherwise to be honest.

Maybe you found the cause of M3's overheating!!

In thinking about a different spot to put it, the only other spot on the front bumper area would be the tow hook, but I only have a strap up front. I guess I could change that out to a hook and zip tie to the hook. I just don't want to put it higher up.

As it is, for some reason, I get dead transponders from event organizers on a frustratingly regular basis. I'm afraid to put the unit higher up and potentially have more problems.

[roastbeef]

I zip mine on my rear tow hook. Never any issues. Doesn't seem to get too hot or anything.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

I zip mine on my rear tow hook. Never any issues. Doesn't seem to get too hot or anything.

Heat has always been my main concern on the rear bumper. I had a plastic license plate surround on there and the darn thing deformed due to heat after one event..... I didn't want to risk melting a rented $400+ transponder.

There are events where I don't run a transponder. I have not detected any difference in the car's temps with or without the device there. But you've got me thinking. I'll look into it a bit.

[M3 Number 86]

I wasn't able to make it but was texting with said ppl.
New DH are crazy grip!

[M3 Number 86]

was that on the 2 or the 134....james/alex/me/others live in that area. SUcks but glad it was worked out.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

was that on the 2 or the 134....james/alex/me/others live in that area. SUcks but glad it was worked out.

I was on the 134 going East, and parked it on the off-ramp at Pacific Ave. Luckily the offramp goes from one lane exiting the freeway to two lanes plus a full shoulder lane. I parked it in the shoulder lane and sat there for 3.5 hours. I just lucked out that the off-ramp had that kind of width. Originally, I was going to get onto a surface street or go into a parking lot and check things out. But when I saw all that room on the off-ramp, I pulled over right away. Glad I did. Not sure that wheel would have survived a 90º turn onto a surface street.......

You know what I thought was lame was that no police officer or anyone like that stopped to check on my situation. I thought they stop and check out stuff like that---especially given the amount of time I was sitting there. I had the hazards blinking. So much for my CA tax dollars at work.....wait....I don't live in CA anymore!!!

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

I wasn't able to make it but was texting with said ppl.
New DH are crazy grip!

It was one of the nicest weather days I've ever seen at Chuckwalla. Missed ya out there.

Yeah new slicks are nice (obviously). But the grip is a bit sneaky---meaning it's not a night and difference over a decent scrub. I wasn't running my fast lap knowing how it was going. I don't put the predictive lap time page of the AIM on. I can't drive like that---staring at the AIM after every corner and then hoping I can live up to what the computer is predicting. hehe I think I'd be up for a lot of disappointment!

The only thing I have up is those red and green lights that tell me if I'm up to half a second faster or slower than my best of the day. I can see that out of the corner of my eye. Beyond that, I don't know. So, when I was finishing the lap on the front straight, I had no idea where I was aside from being at least half a second faster than my previous fastest. When I saw 1:52, it was a pleasant surprise.

[M3 Number 86]

Yeah we both live two exits to either side. I'm usually out there Friday nights with my family for dinner but didn't go that night. Wish I was there to help! Glad it worked out for you though.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

Yeah we both live two exits to either side. I'm usually out there Friday nights with my family for dinner but didn't go that night. Wish I was there to help! Glad it worked out for you though.

I woulda laughed pretty hard if you rolled down that off-ramp and stopped to see what the hell I was doing sitting there! Would have been a pretty classic moment....

I was fortunate that the trailer shop was still open. I called them within the last 30 minutes they were still open. It would have been a MUCH longer night if they weren't able to fix my trailer. If I couldn't reach them or they couldn't fix my trailer, I had a couple trailers that I could borrow, but my biggest issue was, what do I do with my trailer? I learned from the trailer shop owner that I could still move the trailer on three wheels. I thought that was interesting-----not that I have any desire to try it......

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I woulda laughed pretty hard if you rolled down that off-ramp and stopped to see what the hell I was doing sitting there! Would have been a pretty classic moment....

I was fortunate that the trailer shop was still open. I called them within the last 30 minutes they were still open. It would have been a MUCH longer night if they weren't able to fix my trailer. If I couldn't reach them or they couldn't fix my trailer, I had a couple trailers that I could borrow, but my biggest issue was, what do I do with my trailer? I learned from the trailer shop owner that I could still move the trailer on three wheels. I thought that was interesting-----not that I have any desire to try it......

Def not with that cargo in it.

I mean a wheel can stay on with four studs lol

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by dogbone

It was one of the nicest weather days I've ever seen at Chuckwalla. Missed ya out there.

Yeah new slicks are nice (obviously). But the grip is a bit sneaky---meaning it's not a night and difference over a decent scrub. I wasn't running my fast lap knowing how it was going. I don't put the predictive lap time page of the AIM on. I can't drive like that---staring at the AIM after every corner and then hoping I can live up to what the computer is predicting. hehe I think I'd be up for a lot of disappointment!

The only thing I have up is those red and green lights that tell me if I'm up to half a second faster or slower than my best of the day. I can see that out of the corner of my eye. Beyond that, I don't know. So, when I was finishing the lap on the front straight, I had no idea where I was aside from being at least half a second faster than my previous fastest. When I saw 1:52, it was a pleasant surprise.

I saw you there, and was having a great laugh at how competitive you and Alex were getting - he was constantly getting updates on your times. I saw you in the distance putting on brand new Pirellis and thought it was getting super serious!

Didn't get a chance to say hi unfortunately, was busy spending hours ripping apart my engine manifold to replace another failed $80 sensor. Lol.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by redpriest

I saw you there, and was having a great laugh at how competitive you and Alex were getting - he was constantly getting updates on your times. I saw you in the distance putting on brand new Pirellis and thought it was getting super serious!

Didn't get a chance to say hi unfortunately, was busy spending hours ripping apart my engine manifold to replace another failed $80 sensor. Lol.

I had no idea you were there until I was in my truck heading to the airport! I saw your name on RaceHero, and I was like---whaat?!! Where was he??? hahaha! I was pretty buried in my own tech stuff most of the day. It was definitely busy, and then I had to leave for the airport by 1:45.

Regarding the competitiveness in B1: I like the fact that everyone in B1 has been throwing their best at the Bimmer Challenge series this year. There's been some close results. As I mentioned before, a couple events have been decided by less than 0.1 sec. I come from out of state now to do these events. I don't go through all this effort to show up and cruise around. I want to run my car as hard as I can and get the best results possible. If my times are good enough for the win, great. If someone else can put the pieces together to run the fastest lap of the day, I give them all the credit in the world.

When you really look at this Challenge series----there's no big lucrative contingencies, there's no sponsorship deals, there's no tv coverage, there's no racing careers hanging in the balance, but that doesn't mean the competitive aspect of it is diminished. In fact, the competition aspect of the series is THE thing---finding open track and driving fast laps, calculating the overall points from your best seven events, strategizing what events you'll attend, bringing the correct hardware/gear. And you see people bringing new slicks, active aero, super light cars, lots of power....that's how you end up in B1 Class. No one is holding back. And why should they? After all the stuff that's been done to our cars, is someone really going to begrudge a person showing up with new tires to get the most out of their setup?? That seems silly. Joe Yang started the first event of the season at Chuckwalla CW on brand new slicks. Did anyone complain about that? I don't know....But I had to race against him and I didn't worry about it. Honestly, if someone is going to worry about stuff like this, then they should just race in a spec series.

It takes a lot of commitment to be on the podium of an 11-part Challenge series. And no one knows this better than you! You're the only person that's been to all 10 events so far!! And that includes overcoming the damage to your car in Vegas. You got right back at it! Talk about commitment and competitiveness! I admire that! Is that any less serious than me putting on decent tires?

For my part, I went in with a plan on how I wanted to run my day on Saturday. With only two events left, this event was important in the overall standings. If I didn't win here, I would HAVE to win at Buttonwillow next month. On this thread, I was pretty clear that I had been watching the signups, and was sizing up the competition as much as possible. I had done the math on the points standings, looking at the different possible scenarios, and I was surprised that Alex Chang was not signed up. It made no sense that, after all his commitment all year long, he would just walk away (yes, I know he and his wife had a baby a couple months ago). The math was simple----if he didn't show up on Saturday, then he had no chance of winning the series. I prepared for the weekend as though he was going to be there. I knew that Chuckwalla favors light cars. In my opinion, for my car, tires were going to make or break the day. Sure enough, he signed up the day before the event. I was not at all surprised to see his name in the list.

And he came out guns blazing. He was 3 seconds faster than everyone right off the bat! What a fantastic start! Of course, I was watching his results too. And he kept getting faster every session. But I just stayed on my game plan. I needed to be patient and get that darn track in my head. Once I felt that I had some understanding of the track, I moved onto the better tires. But let me tell you, I was frazzled from my brake issues and missing the 9:55AM Red (advanced open passing) session. This was forcing me to run the new tires over an hour later in the Black (intermediate point-by) group which was risky. In the Black group, I knew I would only have one hot lap to get a decent result before I started catching people. So, the pressure was on to get things right on the first hot lap because I refused to run the new tires in traffic and I also refused to run them more than one session. The outcome was not guaranteed, that's for sure. In fact, none of the events this year have been easy wins. And I love that. Who enters a series like this and wants everything handed to them on a silver platter? Where's the challenge in that?

Anyway, all this to say, yup, B1 has been competitive this year. Alex, Joe, James, Gabe.....we've all been running hard and committed to this series all year long. I don't think anyone has been holding back. I wouldn't want it any other way. And maybe to someone looking in from the outside, it seems stupid to worry about all this crap for a silly series tucked into a crammed 165-driver HPDE that doesn't even guarantee clean laps.... But I'm enjoying it and I'm glad I'm in the middle of it.

[rhyary]

Originally Posted by dogbone

....And maybe to someone looking in from the outside, it seems stupid to worry about all this crap for a silly series tucked into a crammed 165-driver HPDE that doesn't even guarantee clean laps.... But I'm enjoying it and I'm glad I'm in the middle of it.

This is a track subform. Not make my car pretty subform.

So I doubt anyone interested in this subform would think your attitude is silly. I can only speak for myself, but i would say inspirational, not silly, would be how I would describe your posting.

[Azeka1]

Originally Posted by rhyary

This is a track subform. Not make my car pretty subform.

So I doubt anyone interested in this subform would think your attitude is silly. I can only speak for myself, but i would say inspirational, not silly, would be how I would describe your posting.

I'll echo that. Have been following everyone's progress on social media and wish we had something similar here in the NE. NASA TT is the closest we have but there is something special about a single marq TT series like this. Congrats to all of you on a great season!

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by rhyary

This is a track subform. Not make my car pretty subform.

So I doubt anyone interested in this subform would think your attitude is silly. I can only speak for myself, but i would say inspirational, not silly, would be how I would describe your posting.

Originally Posted by Azeka1

I'll echo that. Have been following everyone's progress on social media and wish we had something similar here in the NE. NASA TT is the closest we have but there is something special about a single marq TT series like this. Congrats to all of you on a great season!

Yeah, the BMW-specific aspect of this challenge is fairly unique. I dig it. And we have to give credit to the guys who busted their butts to organize it and get all the sponsors on board.

In B1 Class, this 10th event at Chuckwalla CCW was very important to the overall standings. It pitted the top points competitors directly against each other with only two events to go. B1 was still completely up in the air going into this past weekend. And then, I had the extra drama surrounding the event with all my tech issues. I just wanted to document it. I enjoy doing it. Thanks for the feedback!

[Eddybro]

Holy smokes that car is dialed in! Flying!

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Eddybro

Holy smokes that car is dialed in! Flying!

Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[dogbone]

I was going to write a post about the AIM Solo 2 DL and G-forces, but forget that! The official results have been posted for Bimmer Challenge setting the stage for the last event at Buttonwillow 13CW on Dec. 22! Let's do some Bimmer Challenge Best-7-of-11 Series points-standings analysis in all the classes! Sheesh, who cares about AIM G-forces anyway? Probably no one.

Of the 5 classes, the series winners in three of the classes have already been decided before the last event: (Your best 7 performances count out of the 11 events offered. 10 points for 1st place, 8 for 2nd, 6 for 3rd, 5 for 4th, 4 for 5th.)

-B2: Charbel Elian has locked up B2 and also has the highest overall point total of the year across all 11 events. He won't be running the last event because his car is down for repairs. No matter. No one is close to his point total. He's got the full 70 points in the Best-7-of-11 points chase. The next closest person has 48 points.

-B4: Mike Clark has been crushing it all year long as well. He's 6 for 6. No one else in B4 can get to 60 points with only 7 events being counted. I’ve been chatting with some people who have wondered if Mike Clark will skip the last event to help give his brother Matt a shot at 2nd for the season in B4. (Matt has signed up but Mike has not yet.) Actually the race for 2nd and 3rd in B4 could be quite interesting depending on who shows up. Someone was worried that Steve Lee from EAS kind of came out of nowhere at the last Buttonwillow event and is getting pretty fast. They said he ran a low 1:58 recently and is only getting faster. If he shows up and wins the day, it could literally toss the apple cart on it's side in the race for 2nd and 3rd. Anyway, I don't see Steve in the sign ups, but B4 is complicated for 2nd and 3rd and could be all up in the air depending on who attends.

-B5: Michael Favuzzi has this one all wrapped up too. Robert Choo and Tony Gosorn were tearing up the track in B5, but they just didn't attend enough events to contend for the Best-of-7 points chase. Michael proves that being consistent throughout the whole season is important.

There are two classes that are not decided yet: B1 and B3.

B3: Alex Goodrich has 54 points from the best 7 results out of his 10 showings in the series points chase. If he could win the last event, it would replace a 6 point performance with 10 points, giving him 4 additional points for a total of 58. If Brian Namniek (at 50 points via 6 events) got 2nd, he would get 8 points and be at 58 and they would tie for first. If Brian wins the day, he would end up with 60 and Alex would have 56 if he got 2nd. Alex's and Brian's times have been very close all season long. They were only 0.4 sec apart at the last Buttonwillow event in October (with Brian winning). They were 0.09 sec apart in Vegas and 0.08 sec apart at Auto Club!! (with Brian winning both). If both guys attend, it's going to be a big shootout in B2.

B1: Alex Chang and Gabe Shadid (me) are both at 60 points. It's the only Class where the top two points competitors enter the last day with a tie. Exciting! So, how’s B1 shaping up? We have arrived at those 60 points via a different number of events. Alex is at 60 points via 7 events. I am at 60 points via 6 events. I have already signed up for the event. Alex has not signed up yet, but just like Chuckwalla, I am going to make the wild assumption that he is attending. So, given that Alex has already attended 7 events, he is looking to replace his lowest points performance (6 points at Auto Club) with a better one (10 points for 1st or 8 for 2nd), which would add 4 or 2 points to his total points. This means that, in the Best-7-of-11 Points Chase, the maximum possible points Alex can attain this season, if he wins on Dec. 22, is 64 points.

I have 60 points, and since I've done 6 events, whatever points I get in my 7th event will simply be added on to the 60. Given that the max Alex can get is 64 points if he wins the day, I have to place at least in 4th place to get 5 points, and I would win the season with 65 points. Currently, as of this writing (12/8/18), 5 people are signed up in B1. Assuming Alex signs up, that makes 6 people in B1 so far. Looking at past attendance during this season, aside from Bimmerfest, usually the highest number of attendees in B1 is 6 people. So currently, I would need to beat two people to get 4th. As I've said before, Buttonwillow 13CW is my home track and I am planning on running hard with good tires, so I hope to make a better showing than 4th place. A new personal best would be nice!


Anyway, that's my take on the upcoming finale event on Dec. 22. Hopefully, it will be a good weather day and everyone can run hard in the cool weather and make it an interesting and challenging day!

If you're curious to see the standings: Bimmer Challenge Standings

[roastbeef]

you should bring a set of rain tires just in case it rains... if it rains and you're the only one with rain tires, you should be doin pretty good, no?

i wish i could have made it to more events this year... theres always next year.