The following warnings occurred:
Warning [2] Undefined property: MyLanguage::$archive_pages - Line: 2 - File: printthread.php(287) : eval()'d code PHP 8.2.28 (Linux)
File Line Function
/inc/class_error.php 153 errorHandler->error
/printthread.php(287) : eval()'d code 2 errorHandler->error_callback
/printthread.php 287 eval
/printthread.php 117 printthread_multipage



Madison Motorsports
Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5 - Printable Version

+- Madison Motorsports (https://forum.mmsports.org)
+-- Forum: Technical (https://forum.mmsports.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=4)
+--- Forum: Member's Projects (https://forum.mmsports.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=12)
+--- Thread: Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5 (/showthread.php?tid=10430)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 03-16-2016

Video time!

[youtube]wBnS0n1z3CY[/youtube]

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - rherold9 - 03-16-2016

Jake Wrote:Video time!

[youtube]wBnS0n1z3CY[/youtube]

I'm just imagining playing Forza 6 right now. I love playing RA on Forza 6. It's actually super accurate too.

Nice job, T10 really doesn't look too much different than it does in Forza. I bet it's a lot more scary driving it though. It's either you are a super smooth driver or definitely not pushing hard? The video and driving just seems so relaxed to me. Maybe I'm wrong though. Either way looks like a lot of fun :thumbup:

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 03-16-2016

I was definitely being cautious and not pushing as hard as I could -- first event of the season and I had no desire to bring my car home looking any different from when it left Virginia. But T10 isn't all scary, it's just the giant braking zone at the end of the back straight that can be intimidating. I kept braking too early there which was frustrating.

Unless you're taking about T12 (under the bridge to the front straight)? T12 is a "hold your balls and go" move and with no aero, the inside rear wheel picks up and freewheels for a second as you cross under the bridge. You can actually hear it in the video if you listen.

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - rherold9 - 03-16-2016

Oh okay. Was just wondering.

Yeah, I meant T12. My bad. Yeah I feel like the uphill, turning, and then leveling would throw a car off balance a bit if you aren't careful.

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 03-16-2016

rherold9 Wrote:Oh okay. Was just wondering.

Yeah, I meant T12. My bad. Yeah I feel like the uphill, turning, and then leveling would throw a car off balance a bit if you aren't careful.

You can't lift there, either have to maintain throttle (if you're new) or hammer down (if you've done a few laps and remember where the track goes). A yellow S2000 stuffed it in the kinda-rainy Sunday morning session, right after the bridge. My guess is he lifted as the rear got naturally light from that crest, spun it around and went nose first into the wall. Sad

And really, that whole turn onto the front straight starts at T10, once you're back on the gas following the braking zone. Some folks can be flat from T10 all the way to the end of the front straight. I wasn't quite so ballsy but got close toward the end of the weekend.

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - rherold9 - 03-16-2016

Jake Wrote:You can't lift there, either have to maintain throttle (if you're new) or hammer down (if you've done a few laps and remember where the track goes). A yellow S2000 stuffed it in the kinda-rainy Sunday morning session, right after the bridge. My guess is he lifted as the rear got naturally light from that crest, spun it around and went nose first into the wall. Sad

And really, that whole turn onto the front straight starts at T10, once you're back on the gas following the braking zone. Some folks can be flat from T10 all the way to the end of the front straight. I wasn't quite so ballsy but got close toward the end of the weekend.

That sounds like fun. I definitely need to get to RA, maybe at the end of this season.

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 04-18-2016

April 2016 "Spring Rumble" - Summit Point Main

First "regular" event of the season in the books. Road Atlanta was truly a NASA Southeast weekend, so it was great to be back with the Mid-Atlantic family yet again. My weekend was... ugh. It was okay. The last time I was at Summit (November) I came home with a rather mangled BMW. The car and I both came home in one piece this time, so that's always a positive.

I just felt - all weekend - like I didn't drive very well.

I did our Saturday warm-up session on my RS3's, and had a buddy from New York ride shotgun. He was there for HPDE 2 and hadn't been around Summit Main ever, so I figured some "take it easy" laps to knock off the rust would be good for me and helpful for him. Ran some 1:32's and 1:33's in traffic which was alright by me.

Switched to the Hoosiers (R6) and got a hair faster - but not on "Hoosier level" of speed, at all. I think that's what is bumming me out. My best lap was on Sunday morning, at a 1:29.6. That's still kind of a street tire time.

My friend Zack rode with me on Sunday mid-morning and observed my driving, then offered some pointers in the paddock. His biggest observation was that I was a bit violent with my inputs, which was upsetting the car and, as he put it, "holy understeer." He really stressed being more gentle with my brake release and my steering input - said my turn-in was very autocross-esque - and said that with smoother transitions, the car wouldn't fight me so much. He was 100% correct and the rest of Sunday was spent turning laps that were significantly less stressful or rough. That was great.

Zack's schooling produced smoother yet slower laps. I think I was focusing a lot on doing what he said, which distracted me from jumping back on the throttle with enough alacrity to keep the momentum up. Having the stock 3.23 rear end means the car doesn't want to power out of corners nearly as well as Christina's (3.38 "automatic" diff) or the Donovan's (3.64 custom from Diffsonline). So, gotta keep the revs up which I am now seeing in the time deltas.

That said, I ran the rest of Sunday laying down 1:31's that were all within a tenth of each other. Several folks told me the consistency was something to be very pleased with, and I am. My hope is that it transfers to VIR next month and I can pick up more speed while remaining smooth with everything.

Mom and Dad came out on Saturday, and Mom ran her second-ever Hyperdrive, too. Christina hopped in the right seat and gave her a ton of great instruction, which was so fun to hear about. Her first instructor last year really didn't say much, which left her feeling unsure of her abilities. By contrast, Christina got her focused on the driving line and they picked up a bit of speed. She looked way better coming out of T10 this time compared to last year. Victory!

Photos and videos to come, but this one of Grayzen about sums up large chunks of how things felt:

[Image: Wm1buIe.jpg]

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 04-25-2016

Photos from Finish Line are up!

Hang in there lil' corner light!

[Image: qEgnWEx.jpg]

Braaaap.

[Image: Ru9LYWj.jpg]

Being chased.

[Image: Sz8iBZP.jpg]

Christina hopping in with Mom.

[Image: Z74k5NO.jpg]

Mom being chased by some non-Hyperdrivers (session was combined with HPDE 1).

[Image: dY8rrEX.jpg]


And the promised video of me driving semi-slowly:

[youtube]vuYoSkKsVgw[/youtube]

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - JPolen01 - 04-25-2016

Drove so fast you nearly lost the corner light and blew the clear coat right off the driver's door!

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 04-25-2016

Got some work done tonight as I start to prep for Hyperfest at VIR. We have plenty of time (3.5 weeks, ish) until the event but my upcoming weekends are looking busy and if I end up needing to order parts, I'd rather know about it now versus having to rush. So, onward.

Aerocatch latches
The way one of my cage bars fits in the car means I can't re-mount the hood release, which makes opening the hood this awkward dance of grabbing each half of the hood release, twisting them in opposite directions and hoping I don't break fragile/thin ancient BMW interior plastics. Decided it was time to change that and get some hood latches. I went with the popular Aerocatch option versus cheapo hood pins as I liked the looks and stronger peace of mind they provide (latch being open is easy to see, pins not inserted - less so).

Got the pins mounted this evening and started mapping out where I'll be cutting the hood. I need to get proper discs for the Dremel before I can cut into the hood - the regular discs were just breaking so time to get something more durable.

[Image: pYOX8KN.jpg?1]

Brake Bleed Screws
The rear caliper bleed screws were putting up a fight when we tried bleeding my brakes at Road Atlanta. Decided to replace all four screws as they were original to the car. Easy and quick job but I had to use some big ol' vice grips to get the rears off. Need to bleed the system with fresh Motul and I will be good to go there.

Pre-VIR Checklist
  • Finish Aerocatch install
  • Bleed brakes
  • Oil change
  • Inspect brake pad life, lube caliper guide pins
  • Adjust sub-belt length on both seats
  • Remove some ballast (car was 3214 at Summit Point, I can be 3180... would like to pull ~14 lbs which is two plates from the trunk)


Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 04-27-2016

Hooboy. Got one of the two latches installed last night. This is a process but would go quicker the second time around.

Had to go buy a Dremel because the one I borrowed is on the fritz and just wasn't cutting it, pun intended. I ended up using an angle grinder to hack away at the underside of the hood - there are a few layers that need removal underneath to provide clearance for the latch - and the Dremel to do the top-side cutting work.

I'm pretty pleased with how the first one turned out. Won't have time to do the second latch until next week but hopefully it'll be a similar, and faster, process.

[Image: 7v8IOog.jpg]

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - V1GiLaNtE - 04-27-2016

Clean install!

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - JPolen01 - 04-27-2016

V1GiLaNtE Wrote:Clean install!
I came here to say this. :thumbup:

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 05-04-2016

Done!

[Image: cnR2pfi.jpg]

The process of cutting for the second latch went way, way faster since I knew what I was doing (ish).

My buddy Tom is coming over to help bleed the brakes on Thursday after work. I should change the oil and adjust the sub belts, and give 'er a bath. Beyond that, we good.

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - ScottyB - 05-04-2016

those latches look super pimp...nice job!

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - rherold9 - 05-04-2016

Jake Wrote:Done!

[Image: cnR2pfi.jpg]

:thumbup:

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 05-10-2016

Brakes bled. Oil changed. Caliper guide pins cleaned and re-greased.

Need to adjust the belts and give her a bath and I think we're good to go.

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 05-23-2016

May 2016 - 15th Annual Hyperfest at VIR

After four years of being one of "Chris's bitches" - aka green shirt Hyperfest staff - at this event, I finally said "no more" and asked to be put back on the NASA side of the event. It wasn't worth the tow down to only get to drive one day (Sunday) yet take a ton of time off of work. This year, I was able to run Open Practice on Friday and run TT on Saturday and Sunday. Didn't work at all Friday which was super nice and allowed me to focus on driving.

Got to VIR around 4:30 PM on Thursday and was on the staff "early entry" list, so I was able to get in and set up before 99% of other folks. Roped off a ton of paddock space for the "MM and friends" gaggle and seized the opportunity to get photos of my car with an otherwise empty paddock surrounding it:

[Image: 8k8sZq4.jpg?1]

We kicked off the weekend in the Spec3 paddock that evening with some cold beers and grilled meats, per usual:

[Image: FIzjKLl.jpg?1]

So, how'd it go?

Waking up to this on Friday morning put me in a damn good mood, and that's how my weekend went, thankfully.

[Image: 1O5Q97B.jpg?1]

I spent all of Friday running on street tires, just turning laps. We got 2 hours of track time and it was definitely useful. I felt much more "connected" with the car and comfortable on track. Greasing the caliper pins and bleeding the fluid got the pedal feeling as good as an E36 with half-life brake pads will ever feel. My friend Chris hopped in for a session on Friday mid-afternoon and was very helpful with instruction for a few turns. Notably, he got my speed, confidence and consistency up at T3. We worked on Oak Tree but I wasn't consistent there. At least I have some pointers which will give me more to work on next time.

Rain was mostly reserved for the evenings/nights, which was super fortunate. I ran street tires for Saturday morning while the track dried up and switched to the Hoosiers that afternoon. Christina and I had a pretty great battle for lap times on Saturday. She finished the day with a 2:19.215 and I finished with a 2:19.253. Four hundredths of a second difference! That put us at 3rd and 4th, respectively, out of a 7 car field. Curses, foiled again. I'll get you tomorrow, sister.

[Image: 07LsW2r.jpg?1]

Went back out Sunday morning and was again greeted with a semi-damp track for my 8:15 AM session. I ran the street tires and wanted to just put clean laps down, which I did. Nabbed a 2:20 on the Hankooks (remember, Saturday saw a 2:19 on friggin' Hoosiers) so I felt pretty good. Again, the weather gods smiled down on our busted whips and gave us hours of mostly sunny, dry weather, so on went the R6's. A few laps in and my confidence grew a bit. Later braking, back on throttle sooner, and a willingness to push some got me down to a 2:17.8!

Having the Aim Solo in the car has been very helpful. Running on predictive mode, I'm not looking at it the entire drive, but I will glance over on the straightaways if I can. Really nice to see "okay, this is good, keep pushing" or "eh, you blew that lap, get back at it next time" sort of things.

Saturday evening was pretty fun, as Hyperfest often is. Lots of laughs, good food, goofy drifting games, and a little sideways-and-smiling exploration in my truck.

[Image: ov8gP0M.jpg?1]

[Image: E6XIrN2.jpg?1]

I did pick up a small vibration/growl from the front right wheel on Friday afternoon. Pretty sure it's the start of a wheel bearing failure, so after consulting with a few folks, I ordered two front wheel bearings (might as well do both of them) and some Redline grease to preemptively re-pack the bearings before installing.

On to Summit Point in a few short weeks!

[Image: tq47jcZ.jpg?1]

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - JPolen01 - 05-23-2016

Quote:and a little sideways-and-smiling exploration in my truck.
Easily the best part of the weekend. Honestly surprised how well the truck did. A+ driving. I only spilled a little bit of whiskey on myself. :thumbup:

Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Senor_Taylor - 05-23-2016

Sad I missed out on the truck adventure, but the crew and I had our own little adventure on Sunday to make up for it Big Grin

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk