Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5

[Jake]

November 2016 - Fall Finale at Summit Point

Fall Finale is always a great weekend as there's no W2W racing, just HPDE and Time Trial, so things are quite a bit more laid back.

I was able to "coerce" my friend Matt into leaving his E46 328Ci at my place and driving my E46 M3 down to Summit instead. Given I was Chief of Pace for the weekend and just bought the car, dangit I wanted to have it out there in some capacity. So, he drove it down and I towed the E36 per usual.

My weekend in TT was equal parts uneventful and successful. I left the SD card for my GoPro at home, so I didn't get any video... oops. At least I have data from my AIM.

The Hankook C51 tires I was running were badly heat-cycled (probably have 30 HC on them now) and I figured it out halfway through Saturday. The first session each morning was all about getting heat into the tires and brakes, so nobody had grip. The second session saw me still fighting (read: drifting) for grip in many places and I was barely getting into the 1:29's, which is a solid street tire time, but not very good for sticky R-compounds.

So, I threw the RS3 street tires on the car and went back out. It was an immediate improvement. They are two years old and not at peak grip anymore either, but I made it work. Got down into the low 1:28's (I think a 1:28.4 at one point) which was nearly good enough for 1st place both days. Unfortunately, my competitor Matthew had tires that were also dying but hung in there long enough for him to earn high 1:27's both days.

I did have a theoretical 1:27 lap according to the AIM, which made me feel good. And the 1:28's are a personal best at Summit, so I have nothing to complain about there, either. Based on points standings for the season, I should be the 2016 Mid-Atlantic TTD champion :thumbup:



The E46 did well as a pace car, too. Even with its donkalicious 19" wheels and 500+ treadwear all-season tires, it held its own and I had a lot of fun with it. The convertibles weigh nearly 400 lbs more than the coupes but they are still plenty fast.



One of our big sponsors (Mach V) brought their new shop car out... a shiny new Focus RS. Got to hoon that for a lap, too. Big thanks to Dan at Mach V for that opportunity. It drove about as I figured it would - very stiff, plenty fast, good steering and brakes, and lots of opportunity for oversteer if you're too ham-fisted.



Overall, great way to end the season! Now time to make a list and get the car ready for Competition School and GTS2 next year!