Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5

[Jake]

Post-VIR "March Madness" Update: 147,750 miles

So, after spending three days playing around at VIR, in mostly dry, grippy conditions, I can say that every penny I've spent on fixing the rust and all the time I've invested in installing/tweaking/re-installing suspension and safety gear has been very well spent.

Both Jeff Curtis and DJ drove the car over the weekend, and the three of us came to the consensus that between the safety gear (remember, my prior track time in this M3 has been with stock safety/full interior) and the suspension fixes/rust repair, the car is very balanced and a total riot to drive. I ran it over the scales on Sunday morning and with a full tank of gas and me in the car, it's down to 3275 lbs. So, I shed a lot of weight when I removed the carpet and seats, but added some back with the roll bar and two track seats. There is more weight to lose (headliner, door panels, A/C, sound system, lighter wheels, etc) but for now, I think I'm keeping it at 3275 with some creature comforts.

I'm on this Ground Control setup which actually rides pretty well on the street and is very composed on track. The car is pretty quick, and speeds on the "new VIR" are higher. I spent the weekend re-learning both the car and the track, so I was not as fast overall as I could be, and I know there is a ton of time I'm leaving on the table -- primarily, I need to compress my braking zones a LOT.

Dan got to take the car out for a Hyperdrive on Saturday and had a lot of fun with it there, too.

Things to do next:

• Fix the fuel starve. All E36's have this issue when tracked hard. There's only one fuel pump for a saddle-style gas tank, so on hard turns, the motor starves. There is apparently a kit to fix this. My car starves at a tick above half a tank, which means you need to refuel often. It's annoying.
  
• Order new camber bolts for the rear of the car, since mine are seized.
  
• Install the four rear balljoints that I already have.
  
• Keep tweaking the length of sub-belt on the driver's side. It was too short, now it's a hair too long.
  
• Check health of brake pads and take inventory of the spares I have from Jim Khoury's old car. Thinking I may want to step up to a slightly more aggressive compound, but I don't know what I have to "step up" with.

Next events are Summit Point in April and VIR again in May... and I might run up to NJMP in May as well. We shall see. I'm loving this TT + E36 thing, though.