Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5

[Jake]

Road Atlanta - "Santa's Toy Run" with NASA Southeast

This was my first time going to Road Atlanta, and my first time attending a NASA Southeast event. Mid-Atlantic is known for being fun, friendly and welcoming to new faces and Southeast impressed me with a similar attitude. My friend Tom (does DE's in a gray WRX) said he would come with me. When you have a friend offering to split the towing and take photos all weekend, you take him up on that offer.



We left on Friday around 10 AM - was supposed to be 9 AM but had to deal with some trailer wiring issues (wire insulation stripped, the running lights were shorting out on the metal deck and blowing the fuse on the Denali). I blew through a few fuses as we tried fixing it. Thankfully GM included fuses for every option offered that Denalis don't have... so the four-wheel-steer and HID fuses were donated to the trailer running lamp cause and we were back in business.

Oh, the Denali threw a CEL as I filled up to leave town. My Torque app wouldn't connect to the ECU (common GM problem) so I happily ignored it for the entire trip. Probably a loose gas cap or something goofy.

Made it down to RA with no hiccups aside from some traffic in a few spots. Took about 10 hours including stops for food and fuel. Got the car unloaded and went out to "The Hat" for dinner, which was actually pretty good (and cheap!).



Saturday morning rolls around, we get to the track early to check in and have the all-hands meeting. Pretty standard stuff. It's my first time driving hard(ish) on Hoosiers of my own, I'm at a new track, and I wrecked the car the last time I had it out. Oh, and the sun was rising and was directly in my eyes coming down the front straight and through T1. So, I took it suuuper easy and focused on learning.



That theme carried on to the following few sessions - we got 5 each day. I followed a FR-S for a few laps to try and learn his line, which helped a lot, and he also chatted me up in the paddock to give me a few pointers. While I was doing this, and starting to pick up speed, I realized that the car was very down on power.

It has "no codes" because the CEL bulb is now burnt out :thumbup: so I finally got out my code reader and looked at what the ECU was reporting. It felt like a bad misfire that went away past 1500 rpm. The ECU claimed the cam angle sensor was faulty which I figured to be BS. It also claimed "misfire on Cyl. 5" so I pulled the coils for 5 & 6. Cylinder 5's spark plug hole had some water in it, so we blew that out. It tends to get water back there sometimes if I wash the car and get aggressive with the hose. I need to get the coil cover back on the car...

Went back out and the car was better but still slow... like, runs out of steam above 85 mph slow. Came in and sat there revving it with the code reader attached and finally got it to throw another code, this time for "misfire on Cyl. 3" - pulled that coil and it/the spark plug had oil on 'em. Yay, failing valve cover gasket. I swapped the coil and plug out for spares and pressed on -- and YAY, full power was restored.



With all 206 whp at my disposal, I started trying to pick up some time. My first-ever session had me at like a 2:08 (super slow but somehow not DFL...) and by Sunday afternoon I cut that down to a 1:49. I was still nervous about jumping curbs so I approached them with a bit of timidness. Was definitely braking early and turning in a bit early - and not on the throttle as much as I could be. If I go back next year, I know I can be faster still. The lead guy in TTD was running a 1:39 (!!) but the rest of us were at 1:48 and slower. My 1:49 on Sunday put me in 2nd place for the day among our group of 6 or 7 TTD cars.

Chasing down a Miata:



Go go go:



The most fabulous 944 of all:



I heard this guy much sooner than I saw him in our TT sessions:



Not working the event means you get to go watch the races (they had three groups... Lightning, Thunder and Tornado) from different turns. Super fun.



A little oppo through T10B:



The Spec E30 in the grass was my paddock buddy:



Spec E46 had some great representation all weekend - maybe 8 cars total?



In all, a great, great weekend. I learned a LOT and driving the track is akin to driving your own roller coaster. Going under that bridge (T11, the "Tequila Patron" bridge with the squares on it) is legitimately scary. Going up the hill at T5 and straddling that curbing is another ballsy moment of "don't hit the bump, don't hit the gravel, stay on the gas." We saw a Spec E30 get pushed off into the gravel pit during the Sunday fun race... he stayed full throttle, kept the wheel straight and caught a foot or so of air with all four wheels as he flew back on to the asphalt. Heading in to T1 reveals you can brake later, turn later and accelerate more. The whole theme of the track seems to be "yes, there's track where you can't see it, just drive" which makes for some sketchy laps when you're new.

All of the Southeast people were nothing but friendly and I'd definitely attend another event with the group. Would be great to get back to RA but not sure if that will happen in 2016, given we have Championships at Watkins Glen and I'd like to be up there earlier in the year for practice.





And of course, video - now featuring a not-tight-enough camera mount, so apologies for some shakiness at points.

[youtube]F_qW2bgtznA[/youtube]