Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5

[Jake]

Threw the shocks from DJ on the car Thursday night. My rears were very blown (left rear in particular) but the left rear still had some mad stance y0 going on. I called Deren in a mild panic, and he thankfully had time today to look at the car.

Got the car to him and he immediately spotted the issue - I bent the upper control arm on that side, which is giving a ton of negative camber. Thankfully, RRT has some at their shop and he can replace the arm and realign the car tomorrow.

This isn't helping-DJ-finish-a-head-gasket-the-night-before-leaving levels of cutting it close, but it doesn't feel super far off. The Range Rover is packed as is my overnight bag, so I'll get the M3 back tomorrow evening, go to sleep, and roll out early Tuesday morning.

Normal:



Not normal:



Four "245" R1's fit across the back of the RR:

[Senor_Taylor]

The Rover's rear cargo area looks really square and tall. I like it! I'm fairly certain MM keeps Mach V in business at this point.

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[Jake]

NASA East Coast Championships at Sebring

I usually try to write up race weekends a few days after getting home, but NASA’s East Coast Championships left me exhausted both physically and mentally, and I’m only now finding some time to review the week of debauchery.

The event ran from Thursday to Sunday, but I left Tuesday morning as Sebring, Florida is nearly 900 miles from home. My first top was in Charleston, South Carolina to see some friends on Tuesday evening. Bill and Tyler offered up their spare bedroom for the night, and took me out to a delicious BBQ restaurant, followed by a bar that served only desserts and adult milkshakes.



I pointed the Range Rover south on Wednesday morning and made it to Sebring around 4 PM, after many hours on the road. We were let into the paddock at 5:00 sharp and I got unloaded. Dinner was with Jack and Gil, two Corvette friends who compete in Time Trial with NASA Mid-Atlantic.

Thursday was a practice day, which I spent on my now very used up set of “backup” tires. The goal was to learn the track, work on my line, and improve a bit. Mission accomplished. The track’s layout seemed fun, though 100% flat. All the bumps I was warned about were not nearly as bad in person, with only a couple big enough to unsettle the car. The 30-heat-cycle R1’s didn’t have enough grip to worry about gaining much speed, but I figured I’d pick it up a bit the rest of the week.



Friday and Saturday were “qualifying days.” Each day, we had a warm-up, a qualifying session, and a qualifying race. The qualifying session was run as normal, i.e. best lap time determines your starting order for that day’s race. The “qualifying race” results were used to determine the starting order for the championship race on Sunday.

Our field lost a car due to engine failure on Friday, so we were down to five racers in GTS2 instead of the initial six.



My qualifying days went well, and I secured a pretty solid 4th place finish each day while also shaving my lap times down from the high 2:30s to consistent 2:33-2:34’s.

Due to a fellow racer being disqualified for blowing the dyno on Saturday, I started Sunday’s race in 3rd place. We took the green flag and about halfway through our first lap, the “typical Florida rain” reached Sebring International Raceway. A few sprinkles at first, then a torrent by the next turn. Trying to drive my car at any real speed felt like watching a baby deer learn to walk – each wheel wanted to go somehwere on its own. The entire field slowed down, and pretty quickly, the race was black-flagged for safety reasons.

My passenger-side windshield wiper gave out somewhere during this mess. I was glad to still have the driver’s side working, although either way, I couldn’t see too far past the hood of the car.



I pulled in to grid in third place, and we sat for five minutes or so as the rain cleared. The race was restarted, single-file, and on the pace lap, I could tell the water would not drain quickly. I’ve had bad experiences in the past with rain driving, and elected to focus on simply finishing the race with the car intact. I did just that and came in fifth.

After 360 miles of laps on Sebring’s historic concrete, my friend Mark and I loaded up and headed back toward Virginia Sunday night, in a caravan with fellow competitor Scott and his wife Elizabeth.



The biggest goal I set for myself with this year’s Championships was “be clean, and have fun.” I met that goal handily. The car came home looking the same as when it left, and the only contact I had was a small “racing incident” type of bump from a Mustang, that didn’t even scuff the paint on either car.

Time to make a list of goals and "to-do's" for 2018!

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice man! That's really respectable for bad conditions. I would be really, really nervous to drive balls out on a wet track with race tires. Heck, I was nervous driving my XFR on the street in wet weather with street tires..

[Jake]

Off-Season Prep!
There's always a list of stuff to get done in the off-season. This is the first year where the car is "built" and I can focus on improving things, versus adding safety gear or other "required" items.

Suspension
First up is a new suspension. The Ground Control setup is tired after four years of curb-jumping, and I'd rather replace than have it rebuilt. Moving to a slightly better shock with a stiffer spring rate should help the car handle transitions with ease. The new "whole package" will also help get power down. I've done a lot of two-wheeling this year, which makes for great photos but does not keep the car moving forward with much speed.

I reached out to James Clay at Bimmerworld and they are supporting me yet again for 2018. Thanks, guys! James offered some setup tips and after discussion, I'll be going with:

• MCS 1-way, non-remote shocks
  
• Hypercoil springs - spring rates of 850 front, 1050 rear (yes, really)
  
• Ground Control camber plates (re-using what I have here)
  
• Ground Control race camber plate spring perches
  
• Ground Control rear articulating spring perches
  
• 12mm spherical rear shock mounts
  
• Racing Dynamics 27mm front sway bar
  
• MCS swaybar end links (for front)
  
• Stock rear sway bar - if at all, will likely run with no rear bar
  

RIP Visa card. Haven't ordered it yet but will be doing so shortly.

Wheels and Tires
Chris sold me a second set of Apex ARC-8's, 17x9". I'll now have two sets of the same wheel. Chris's set is coming with some Hoosier R7 tires that have ~4 heat cycles, so they'll be useful for a weekend or two. I plan on continuing to run the BF Goodrich R1 though, as they're cheaper and last a bit longer - both in heat cycles and general "fade" throughout the longer races. Same tire size as last year at 245/40/17.

I may try to sell the 17x8.5" Kosei K1s that I have, and pick up some cheapo stock wheels on crap tires for storage/rolling around.

Brakes
Hawk continues to be a NASA sponsor ("Got a need for speed? Then you got a need for Hawk performance disc brake pads! Race teams, professional installers..." -- Love, your friendly announcer). I've flip-flopped between the Hawk DTC-60 and Performance Friction 08 for a few years. Ultimately, I have been placing well enough that I should take advantage of the Hawk contingency program and earn some free brakes! I've got $180 in Hawk Bucks to spend so I will be picking up some pads before the year ends. Thinking I'll go with the DTC-70 for a bit more initial bite, which is where I've always felt the 60's fell short.

Cosmetics
The car still looks like shit and that won't change, mostly. I have a piece of door trim to re-attach, and Jake L. sold me a nice front bumper cover. Need to spraybomb the bumper cover and transfer the splitter to it. It'll be nice to have one that's not zip-tied all together.

I'd like to figure out some sort of vinyl to use for the hood and roof, to cover up a bit of the ugly. Might call up Lorna at PDA Racing in Winchester for that.

Miscellany
Typical fluid changes apply in the spring - oil/filter, transmission (Redline D4 ATF), diff, and cooling system (swap antifreeze for water/Water Wetter).

I thiiiiink that's it. 

[Jake]

It was 60* yesterday, so I took a bit of time to paint the new bumper cover. I was told that the DupliColor "Universal Black" was a decent match for Cosmos Black, so that's what I used. Regardless, it can't look any worse than the rest of the car. Will be nice to have a bumper that's not literally stitched together with zip ties anymore.

Need to get some new vinyl made and move the splitter over.

[D_Eclipse9916]

FYI I vinyled my own roof on the E46 M3 with a buddy. It wasn't as easy as I was hoping but wasn't as hard as I feared.  Based on spray-bombing a bumper, I think you would actually get better results if you vinyled your own hood and roof!

[Jake]

FYI I vinyled my own roof on the E46 M3 with a buddy. It wasn't as easy as I was hoping but wasn't as hard as I feared.  Based on spray-bombing a bumper, I think you would actually get better results vinyled your own hood and roof!

Yeah, Tom did his whole WRX on his own and said he'd come over to help if I ever did it. Might go that route!

[JPolen01]

Just be patient and use heat when needed. The vinyl tech is pretty insane these days. The high quality stuff is worth the money - it stretches for days!

[Jake]

Chris Schutze sent me the sequence of my tire smoke photos from VIR in October. I plan on getting one of the "money shots" printed and framed, but it was cool to toss them all into Giphy and see what actually happened. Look at the rebound on the front end after it "settled down" and promptly picked up the right front again!



Seeing this makes me even more excited for a new suspension.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Oh Congratulations btw, you have THE car to have for ST5.

[Jake]

Oh Congratulations btw, you have THE car to have for ST5.

[Senor_Taylor]

The stills didn't show how rough of a ride that was, but seeing the front rebound back off the ground tells the whole story. That's crazy.

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[JPolen01]

Holy tuck!

[rherold9]

Oh Congratulations btw, you have THE car to have for ST5.

NC Miata's aren't looking too bad either after going through the points 

[ScottyB]

Look at the rebound on the front end after it "settled down" and promptly picked up the right front again!

its become obvious your true calling is in stadium trucks

[Jake]

It was 60* yesterday, so I took a bit of time to paint the new bumper cover. I was told that the DupliColor "Universal Black" was a decent match for Cosmos Black, so that's what I used. Regardless, it can't look any worse than the rest of the car. Will be nice to have a bumper that's not literally stitched together with zip ties anymore.

Got the splitter moved over, used some braided steel wire to replace the ugly supports I had hastily made while drinking beer at Dominion once evening, and threw some blue tint on my headlights because 1) why not and 2) maybe this will keep them from hazing over every two months.

Dig it.



Figured out all my Bimmerworld goodies to order so I'll do that soon (should recover from Christmas shopping first, I think).

[Jake]

Got all the old stuff off in less than an hour. I remember it taking far longer with Joey and perhaps one other helper when we installed all of this in 2013.

Bimmerworld order is currently out for delivery!

[Senor_Taylor]

Obviously Joey was slowing you down!

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[Jake]

Obviously Joey was slowing you down!

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He's actually the one who discovered all the rust in the rear shock tower. I remember the "uhhhh come look at this" very well :/