Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5
(06-03-2019, 01:02 PM)Goodspeed Wrote: That looks amazing!  I asked on your FB thread, but are you gonna get some clearshield & cover the front?  I feel like its such a simple front end that a few squares cut in an afternoon would go a long way to keeping it looking good.

Only trick is I think you need to let the paint out gas for like a month before you wrap.

Its such a bi*** getting tire marks off clear wrap vs paint.  Just not worth it.  For the money you spend on clear wrap (for a track car) vs just repainting the bumper that you most likely will rub on someone and go straight through clear wrap; it doesn't make sense.
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Let that paint cure a bit before slapping vinyl on it.
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(06-03-2019, 01:02 PM)Goodspeed Wrote: That looks amazing!  I asked on your FB thread, but are you gonna get some clearshield & cover the front?  I feel like its such a simple front end that a few squares cut in an afternoon would go a long way to keeping it looking good.

Only trick is I think you need to let the paint out gas for like a month before you wrap.

No point in doing anything to protect the paint on a racecar... it'll just end up with a door donut or noise-to-tail boink or something anyway. Glad you like how it turned out though! It is growing on me, I was iffy when I picked it up as it's kinda dark, but it does pop nicely in the right light.
Now:
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan

Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M
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(06-03-2019, 09:53 PM)JustinG Wrote: Let that paint cure a bit before slapping vinyl on it.

I'm not driving the car til end of July (Pitt Race) so it's got time to bake in the trailer. Will hasn't finished cutting the new vinyl yet as it is...
Now:
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan

Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M
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That looks so good! Especially for that price!
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You're supposed to do these things BEFORE car shows.  Looks great!
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$500 for paint? You could have a different color every race! That looks really good for the price, did you have to wet-sand or anything afterwards, or do they do that also?
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(06-04-2019, 02:03 PM)davej Wrote: $500 for paint? You could have a different color every race! That looks really good for the price, did you have to wet-sand or anything afterwards, or do they do that also?

They did it - it's all shiny and (mostly) nice. I swiped my credit card and drove it in the trailer.
Now:
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan

Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M
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Amazing. 
I think it was a little more than $400 for just the can of paint I bought at Blue Ridge Color for the e30.
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(06-04-2019, 03:21 PM)davej Wrote: Amazing. 
I think it was a little more than $400 for just the can of paint I bought at Blue Ridge Color for the e30.

I bet yours looks a lot better than a $500 paint job though (I hope)
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So I picked the car up and got an automated survey text a few days later. Before leaving a review online, I figured I'd just call and give my feedback. I asked for a purple car and it was, ultimately, black with a hint of purple if the sun caught it just right and you applied the right Instagram filter.

This is a family owned franchise and they immediately offered to make it right, without my asking. "Any other color you want, for the cost of materials, this is on us because you're right, it's mostly black." I went with the color that was initially my second choice - Mopar's Plum Crazy. Always loved it and it came out AMAZING on this car. There is some metallic if you're up close. I'm getting all white vinyls cut for the new look, and will pull the blue headlight vinyl in favor of clear or something more fun/less clashy.

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Now:
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan

Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M
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Needs yellow headlights. Looks killer.
2019 Accord Sport 2.0 A/T
2012 Civic Si - Sold
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Put those yellow plastic splitter protectors on

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1996 Toyota Tacoma: | 1992 Mazda Miata | 2002 BMW 325i |
2003 Toyota Tacoma | 1995 Miata M Edition | 1997 Subaru Outback |
1992 Mazda Miata | 1990 BMW 325i  | 2007 Toyota 4Runner | 
1995 Ford Windstar 1987 BMW 325i | 1987 BMW 325 | 1990 BMW 325i Vert |
2018 VW GTI | 1990 Mazda Miata | 
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(06-17-2019, 10:51 AM)Senor_Taylor Wrote: Put those yellow plastic splitter protectors on

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Now we're talking!
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2012 Civic Si - Sold
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Looks great.

This was like, a family owned MAACO or something?

Did you prep yourself?
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(06-17-2019, 11:24 AM)CaptainHenreh Wrote: Looks great.

This was like, a family owned MAACO or something?

Did you prep yourself?

Yeah, it's a franchise. Kevin is the dad and Evan is his son. 

All I did was pull off the plastic door moldings. They masked everything else.
Now:
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan

Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M
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Wow, haven't been in this thread in a bit. Since my last post, the car and I have been to Pitt Race and VIR. It's been a hot summer and the car in its new purple glory has handled things well.

Pitt Race (August)
Full write-up is on my blog but here's some basics:
  • Repaired my Cool Shirt cooler with a new bilge pump and some zip ties, it works, yay
  • Pitt Race as a track is way fun once you trust that the asphalt is still there on the other side of all the blind, off-camber turns
  • Had a KILLER race on Sunday morning against Nate (silver E36 M3) and held him off the entire 30 minutes. Lost focus on the last turn of the last lap and he seized the opportunity to take 2nd place. Dammit. But this is the kind of racing I want every time I go out, so not all bad.
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VIR Unkefer Dash (August)
The first challenge was finding a tow vehicle for this event. Ford is buying my F150 back and I didn't want to put 500 miles on it while they figured out how much money to give me based on current mileage, etc. Thankfully, Jim Khoury came through and rented me his 2011 F350. A bit overkill at first glance but it towed really well. Torque for days and you can win the stoplight drag races with the trailer hooked up if you want.

Saturday saw a very quick practice and a "fine" qualifying. I think I qualified with a 2:12? Not bad but I knew I could go faster. Was hoping to get that chance in the race but did not get to do so. Thunderstorms rolled in out of nowhere as we were sitting on grid. NASA requires we shut down for 30 minutes following a lightning strike within 7 miles of the track, and we were shut down for about an hour as a result. Cande said we had time to swap to rain tires, so I went back to my trailer and threw them on... in the driving rain. Taylor was a great help and willing to get soaked to the bone - with his help we had the rains on in about six minutes.

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Rain tires helped but only just. My "rains" are Toyo RA1's that I paid $100 for about 3-4 years ago. They were old then, and are basically plastic now. Totally useless and I need to step up my rain tire game. Also, my windshield wipers don't work at all. Rain-X seems like the cheaper solution versus chasing wiring issues. I had a great spin as the track dried out - thankfully nobody was around and I didn't hit anything.

Sunday stayed dry (and hot, high of 96) and I had a very fun Beast of the East qualifying race as well as Thunder points race. My BOTE race saw me battling two SN95 Mustangs as part of my group, and the one was tough to get around. I was set to run several 2:09.xx laps but he slowed me in T17 both times. Time to focus on racecraft! Super happy to see myself start to break below the 2:10 mark. I ran a few 2:10's prior but it was difficult, this time the 2:09s came more naturally.

Very excited for October already!

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Now:
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan

Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M
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that purple... you can see it from a mile away. from the beach i enjoyed watching you hit the roller coaster. super easy to figure out which one was you!
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(08-21-2019, 10:50 AM)Kaan Wrote: that purple.

Big Purp is looking awesome.  seriously fits that car so nicely.

great to hear you're knocking on sub '10 Jake!  super impressive to see how you've developed over these last years.
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I'm bad at updating this thread lately.

Here's how Oktoberfast at VIR went (spoiler: went well, more 2:10s-and-change, can go faster): https://outmotorsports.com/2019/11/vir-o...datlantic/

Our season-closer at Summit went well too. I pulled the car out on Friday night just to rearrange the trailer, and then drove the car into the trailer door somehow (missed a ramp? idk) which ripped off half of my plywood splitter that DJ so excellently cut back when he once raced an E36 M3. I borrowed Cobetto's Sawzall and cut everything to be reasonably straight again, just shorter.

The car felt great all weekend and like we were working together for once, instead of me wrestling with it a little bit. I have never felt as comfortable at Summit as I do at VIR but this weekend was different in a good way. Still working on really sticking my nose in there on race starts - I need to read up and study some racecraft in the off-season. In any case, we had 9 start the weekend and I finished 5th/6th for both races. That got me enough points to take 3rd for the 2019 GTS2 season. I've had the M3 for six years (!!) and now six season podiums to show for it.

Set a new PB on Sunday in our "fun" points-less Beast Of The East race, got into the low 1:22's and could have had some 1:21's if I'd pushed a hair more. Seeing the "theoretical best lap" in the AIM software makes me really want to push more. It claimed a high 1:20 was possible based on my driving which, yay.

Gotta figure out what's on my list for FlimFlam this off-season. The car is running well so not much on the surface. Nationals approved a ratio change (from 14:1 to 13.5:1) which means I can lose ~100 lbs or gain some powerz. I think the weight loss will be the easier route.

Some of the GTS2 crew:

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2019 GTS2 podium finishers. First place got a kickass trophy this year.

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Scott got this pic on Sunday morning with my hair all a disaster. Hard to believe it's been six years with this BMW.

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Saturday's second race (had a few good passes early on):



Beast of the East (set new PB) -- things get good around 10:30 mark, though I was irritated by the new guy Clayton more or less driving me off of the track as I was trying to pass him.

Now:
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan

Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M
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