Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5

[Senor_Taylor]

HAVE YOU SEEN LARRY?!?!

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[Jake]

New diff is installed! The two bushings on the ears of the diff cover are not too bad to remove/replace, but the one that is a part of the subframe was a bit of a pain - mostly because you're laying on your back/front/side trying to get this thing out. Chris Davis was a giant help in the whole process and I'm sure it'd go faster if I had to do it all again.

Went with AKG aluminum bushings for the diff. It's all bolted up, I just need to torque down the output shaft bolts and reinstall the catback/swaybar back there.

Was inspired by FlimFlam to get this photo of the old front diff bushing after we got it out:

[Jake]

DJ gave me a plywood splitter a (long) while back. I finally decided to install it, after selling my Motion Motorsport undertray to [redacted] who is putting it on his car. My buddy Jake came over and kept me company/played with his E30 convertible while I drilled holes in everything.

I copied Chris's installation method, with a bunch of small bolts holding it up at the front, and two pieces of aluminum stock supporting the rear. He's had no issues but DJ tells me I need to mount to the frame rails back there instead. Hmm.





You can see the gaps between the bumper lip and the splitter below. I am going to try and close those up more with some more bolts, placed closer to the front of the whole contraption.



I may also add some support on the front of the bumper to help with strength. I was able to stand on it (after much trepidation) but would like something a bit "more" up front. Not sure how to best approach that.



Jake and I took the car for a test drive on Eisenhower Avenue, in front of my apartment complex. No tags and on old/cold BFG R1's, but I couldn't let it sit there and not know how much better it would feel after doing the diff and VANOS work.

It's... significantly better. Power delivery is consistent, it idles better, and it accelerates much quicker.

Big thanks to the cop I blew past who elected to leave his blue lights off and stay parked.

On cold tires, it'll spin through all of 1st and part of 2nd. :thumbup:

[Jake]

April 2017 - "Spring Showdown" at Dominion Raceway
Second race weekend of the year and my second provisional weekend! I kicked it off on Friday afternoon with a little jaunt down I-95 (only two hours to go 50 miles, wow!), unpacked and headed to the Holiday Inn where Jeff was giving the Instructor Clinic. I passed and now have my red hat, and can hop in the right seat to yell at all you students who come out and do Hyperdrives/HPDE 1.

We learned the microphone didn't work past the edge of the main building, so I got to paddock inside the garage all weekend:



Saturday
This was the first event with my new diff. Zack was there and we chatted after I got through Practice and Qualifying. I felt like the car was super oversteer-y and didn't know if it was a combination of the diff, the splitter-sans-wing, tire pressures, or a combo of the three. He recommended changing my driving style through corners, as the diff locks up faster/harder and much of the oversteer was simply the diff doing as it was asked, when I didn't have the wheel straightened out yet.

So, I changed the model to "aggressively trail brake, open the wheel a bit and then get on the throttle harder than is comfortable" which got the diff doing its thing. I wasn't super comfortable doing that in the Saturday race, but still managed to keep ahead of Randall in his Boxster and finished 5th of 6.

I did have a black Mustang divebomb me into T1 about halfway through the race and earned my first door donut!



I couldn't catch 4th place in that race, so I chilled out and just kept ahead of the P-car with the goal of "finish." I saw the same orange Mustang coming up on my left in the esses, so I made sure to keep on-line but give him space to get by. As I was doing that, *brrraaappp* and the old FlimFlamSpeed Mustang goes blasting past me on the right - two wheels in the dirt, in a braking zone, as we pass a flag station that's waving yellow.

The orange Mustang got by safely but didn't realize the white Mustang was now on his right, so as he tracked out, they came together side-to-side and went off in the dirt, and tango'ed all the way down the hill under the bridge. Yet another Mustang had already gone off and hit the wall next to the bridge (he hit gravel that someone else kicked up at T11), hence the waving yellow. Got the whole thing on video but won't be posting that at Chris's request. If we're hanging out in person, maybe I'll show you on my phone.

My splitter was sagging (so much downforce, y0!) so Jake and I grabbed some aluminum stock from Roberto and made two front supports:



Sunday
Mom & Dad came by to check out Dominion and watch me for the day. They got more of a show than they expected that afternoon!

Qualifying was okay, I qualified last in class buy only by a few tenths. My hope was to get an aggressive start and just push to get past Randall and Jason (our other Rookie, passed Comp School on Saturday!).

The race start was good and within a few laps, I got past Randall in the Boxster. We had a Mustang (or Camaro?) take T12 a bit hot and go nose-in to the wall on the front straight, so we got a full-course black flag and sat in the pits for a few minutes as they cleaned him up.

I made sure to keep super alert for the restart and was on Jason's ass when we got the green. A few Mustangs got between/ahead of us and then it was party time. He and Mark were nose to tail and I figured I'd be able to get both of them given enough laps. So, I chased him and was gunning for a pass at T12 (onto the front straight) - but alas, I overcooked T11 and got myself into a tankslapper. As I focused on getting the car straight/slowed, the field passed me and I lost the small lead I had earned. At that point, I just stuck to the back of the field (a few Mustangs and a ST3 E46) and focused on finishing clean, which I did.

Even with the "ya blew it" moment on Sunday, it was by far the best race I've had to date. I kept up with the pack the whole time, got a pretty ballsy pass in on Randall (watch the video for that) and was about to have more success had I not made that mistake.

Super pumped for Hyperfest now! I'm going to hold off on the wing and just get some maintenance-y stuff done on the car. Just want to add radiator baffle/ducting to funnel air, and add convex mirrors to my door mirrors (or get the ones that bolt to the cage).

Onward!

Greetings from Captain and Crunch:



And video of Sunday's race, skip to 17 minutes to see the tankslapper:

[youtube]zBHGItUB2UQ[/youtube]

[rherold9]

Mustang drivers.... It's them every. single. time. The videos you showed was just insane. Chris needs to not go so soft on these guys because they are buds as it sets a bad precedent for the future. Makes me want to just pick up a lightning car as at least their heads mostly fit in their helmets.

The reason for the black flag is because almost no one was slowing down. Going full power on the straights from what I saw. I assume they weren't slowing down elsewhere on a full course double yellow along with a car passing on a double yellow was the final straw.

Great job on driving. I was watching your T1. You have gotten comfortable passing in brake zones and turns along with making people pass you from what I saw. Almost going 3 wide in T1 because you said f you to the mustang that tried going to the left as you passed someone in the braking zone on Sunday. Mustang backed off haha :thumbup:

[Goodspeed]

The orange Mustang got by safely but didn't realize the white Mustang was now on his right, so as he tracked out, they came together side-to-side and went off in the dirt, and tango'ed all the way down the hill under the bridge. Yet another Mustang had already gone off and hit the wall next to the bridge (he hit gravel that someone else kicked up at T11), hence the waving yellow.

Obligatory

[*insertusernamehere*]

Woohoo that's stressful to watch lol. Everytime I watch videos of racing I get overwhelmed watching y'all - check mirror- shift- check mirror - turn - brake - check mirror - etc. I don't think I'll ever make it all the way to racing.

[navin]

Makes me want to just pick up a lightning car as at least their heads mostly fit in their helmets.

:lol:

Unfortunately not (myself included, as seen from this weekend)..

[ScottyB]

nice drivin! that was a serious, no-kidding-at-all slap o' the tank and honestly i was puckered up expecting you to eat that bridge abutment. hell of a recovery. at the end of the day it sounds like you're making more progress with the car and driving and that's all you can ask. mid pack or better next time!

[rherold9]

:lol:

Unfortunately not (myself included, as seen from this weekend)..

You planning on buying a Mustang soon?

[Gordonovski]

The full course black flag is because they had to use the entire exit of T12 to get the dang guy pulled out of that ditch. Same thing when Jack lost his wheel. Course is too narrow right there to hot pull anyone unless you black or red flag.


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[Jake]

I wasn't 100% sold on buying a wing quite so soon, but then I was chatting with James at Bimmerworld and he mentioned they had some "scratch and dent" wings that had been repaired and could be offered up for a substantial discount. That made it impossible to pass up, so then I came home to a 70" tall box sitting next to my door.

DJ had some stanchions that he gave me, as the BW wing didn't come with them. He was busy being a new dad and didn't have time to take them off of the E46 330ci trunk lid they were bolted to, so I took the whole thing home to mess with. It fit, barely, in the vert.



Dad's NC2 Miata needed a full brake job, so I took the opportunity to combine shipping costs and do a brake job on the E36 as well. My leasing office loved receiving eight brake rotors.



Sooo this year for Mother's Day, my mom was like "I don't really need to do the whole brunch-and-something-nice thing, how about your dad and I come over and we just help knock out some stuff on the racecar?" I bought them lunch at my favorite Mexican spot in town, then we got to work.

Having multiple people made aligning the wing way, way easy. Would have been an absolute disaster doing it by myself. They also helped align the Bimmerworld windshield banner - gotta rep the ones who help you out. I will have to get a #RaceTheFitz sticker made given how many of DJ's old parts are on my car at this point.

A wing on a four-door M3 racecar makes me feel all sorts of ways. I like it.



Once we got that installed, we did a brake job on Dad's NC. He got StopTech/Centric rotors and Hawk HPS pads because Miata parts are really damn cheap. He had also bottomed out on a few things over his 37k miles of driving, and created a hole in the muffler, which wouldn't pass inspection. Ryan turned me on to the Good-Win Racing "SuperQ" muffler. It's 10% louder than stock, adds roughly 14 rwhp, and was a super easy install.

Mom is a badass (they both are, really) and helped get everything done. She also pulled a total "mom" and swept my entire garage while I fought with the Miata's exhaust hangers. It's delightfully clean in there now.



Ready for Hyperfest, rolling out on Thursday!

[Senor_Taylor]

What a transformation this car has made in the last year. Keep it up!

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[ScottyB]

that's so cool your mom gets right into the wrench work

[JPolen01]

god damn that car looks so money with those wheels, splitter, and wing. Hat tip to you sir.

[WRXtranceformed]

That's a serious slice of racecar right there!

[*insertusernamehere*]

DAT BIG OL WAANNGGG

[Jake]

Hyperfest 2017 at VIR



TLDR: It was a blast, I drove really well, and then I crashed into a SE30 and felt bad about it because it was my fault and a bad decision.



Friday
Ran a few Test & Tune sessions to feel out the wing. What an incredible difference! The car was much more stable everywhere, but notably in the uphill esses and under heavy braking. I was on street tires and not pushing at all, just learning. Ran over to the dyno and discovered my VANOS repair had restored the crappy power curve that has plagued the car since I bought it. I was down about 7 hp compared to the pre-fix dyno, but that could have been weather-related due to how hot and humid it was.



Three friends from DC came down (Jeff, Alvin and Mark) as well as my parents and some family friends. Super fun to have everyone there for such a big event!



Saturday
Time to push! Our Qualifying was incredibly crowded, and unfortunately saw DJ experience a series of unfortunate events that led to a black flag. After seeing his thumbs-up as I passed the incident at Oak Tree, I collected myself on grid and prepared for the restart. We had more open track and I set a new personal best of 2:12.8, which set me up well for the race.



I started 7th out of 10 for the race and the pressure was on. Push push push. Lawrence pulled off after a few laps and I had Mark in my sights. After a few laps of chasing him down, I caught him in T1 and held him off for the rest of the race, finishing 5th. It was a great, fast, clean race and I was very pleased with my driving. The aero and settled car gave me a lot of confidence.



Sunday
More pushing during Sunday's qualifying and I shaved another full second off of my personal best, running a 2:11.8! That initially had me starting 5th, then I was moved to 3rd as our two front-runners came in a bit hot on the dyno.

The race started very well, I got the jump on Chris and was holding in 2nd place for a few turns. We had a late braking challenge at the end of the back straight and I let him by there.





Positions kind of settled down and I had a nice lead on Mark, so the focus was on keeping that gap as wide as possible. I saw the cars lining up on grid and knew we'd get the white flag in a few laps, so "just keep doing this." Unfortunately, I had a serious lapse of judgement. I had passed a few Spec E30s in random places, and came up on a train of about six SE30s on the front straight. The excitement/red mist of "keep ahead" made me think that trying to get past them into the braking zone of T1 was just a fantastic idea, and it wasn't.

I got past a few of them, braked way, way too late, and an out-of-region SE30 turned in and collected my front left corner with his right rear wheel. Boom, he spun and I was out of the race.

Looking at the videos, it's pretty clear that the fault is all mine. I made the very conscious choice to push at T1 instead of hanging back until I had a more clear run elsewhere, and paid the price. Thankfully, both drivers are fine and both cars will be fine with relatively little work. I think my car took the brunt of it. Expensive lesson learned, and a giant reminder to take appropriate risks, which this one wasn't.





Given how great Saturday was (and Sunday could have been), I'm already eager to be at Summit Point in a few weeks to get back to clean racing. I reached out to the SE30 driver privately over email and apologized for what transpired, and his reply was as nice as I could expect given I drove into his racecar at many miles per hour.

It was so much fun seeing so many MMers new and old at the event - we tried to get a photo of as many as we could during the drift show:



And of course, fun at the Talastasasas trailer:



Videos
Saturday's race:
[youtube]zl3Eej-TMiw[/youtube]

Sunday's race:
[youtube]BPwgldIRSL8[/youtube]

[Senor_Taylor]

Is it just me, or is the audio on the second video borked?

[WRXtranceformed]

Dang! At least you guys were both ok and it looks like the impact happened under mostly braking. I guess "if you ain't rubbin you ain't racing" doesn't apply here in the real world :lol:

It's probably a good thing I never got into actual track racing, I doubt I would be as patient as you need to be when coming up on someone who is slower than me. I'm always still amazed how more accidents don't happen with as many cars as they put on a track at the same time.