GTS3 E46 - Back to fun

[D_Eclipse9916]

New wheels came in.... sessy sessy!


Can't wait to see these mounted up next year.

Learned a lot at the November VIR event. Somewhat out of the ordinary since it as an HPDE only event, but a great weekend to get a bit more comfortable with the car. I had a lot of fun instructing my friend Kristin and taking my time going out for sessions. It was a great way to play with shocks, tire pressure, sway bars, wing level, and brake bias to see how the car reacted to certain changes.

Unfortunately I also discovered issues....
AIM was not working at October VIR with NASA but I fixed it for this event and was only doing 128-130mph down the backstraight (that's the same speed my gts2 car was). I then took my friend Jim's GTS3 car out and confirmed my fears of being down on power.


I am 10-12mph slow on the backstraight. Going to run a leak-down test to make sure the motor is good. If it is, a simple retune by Randy will have me back ready to go. I wanted to retune anyway for a higher HP in GTS3, and MAX power for TT3.

I also had to get use to whatever differential is in this car. It has high lockup on accel and decel causing the car to buck. It probably was fine on low grip tires, but when I threw on some nicer scrubs for the audi event, it became a mess. Binding and popping on exit that was costing me serious time. Ordering a DiffsOnline Diff with all the goodies that were in my gts2 and SpecE46 car. Should solve that issue easily.



I am also awaiting a wew wing setup from Brooks Motorsport Composites. The trunk mount broke the carbon fiber trunk, luckily a friend was parting with his so I have a replacement CF trunk, but the wing will now be mounted to the chasssis.

Lastly, deciding on a paint/vinyl scheme. The car has had a rough life (road racing since 2001). Once I pulled off the orange vinyl, I realized why they vinyled. It would be stupid expensive to have everything fixed in paint, so I am thinking a simple vinyl scheme. I am thinking of something simple like below. White coverage, with the M stripes from corner to corner. Simply add sponsor decals and numbers and be done.

Also considering maybe a blue or red coverage. Gloss this time..