Track forum general chit chat

[PKizzle]

The Westersund kit looks well designed, but I am not ready to run hoses at this time as the F80 is my daily. This is the Bimmerworld deflector plates that I was looking at- https://www.bimmerworld.com/Brakes/P...F8X-M3-M4.html

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by PKizzle

The Westersund kit looks well designed, but I am not ready to run hoses at this time as the F80 is my daily. This is the Bimmerworld deflector plates that I was looking at- https://www.bimmerworld.com/Brakes/P...F8X-M3-M4.html

That's what we're running on gts1

[PKizzle]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

That's what we're running on gts1

Are you using the brake dust shields with a slot cut out or did you remove it altogether? I am thinking it may be better to keep the shield and just notch out a slot in it.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by PKizzle

Are you using the brake dust shields with a slot cut out or did you remove it altogether? I am thinking it may be better to keep the shield and just notch out a slot in it.

We removed the dust brake shields a long time ago, front and rear.

Cutting a slot out sounds like a good idea, we just didn't go there

[PKizzle]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

We removed the dust brake shields a long time ago, front and rear.

Cutting a slot out sounds like a good idea, we just didn't go there

Thanks

[adc]

Hya folks, it’s been awhile…

I sold my F80 in October, and it went to a very good home. The new owner used to race in NASA, is a very good driver, and put it on track 10 days after he took it home. Couldn’t ask for more…

I’ve toyed with the idea of a custom ordered G87 M2 as a replacement, and went to test drive one. Let’s just say I was very impressed with the car, and could easily envision becoming long term friends. But since I’d have missed the last track events of the season anyway, I gave myself a few months to find the other contender.

…And in a lucky break, I did, a few weeks ago. 2018 911 T, manual, rear axle steer, carbon buckets, front lift, carbon ceramics, LED headlights, 1 owner, 7k miles and fresh CPO. I already have iron replacement rotors and track pads, bought for a song on rennlist.

First off I’ll say that the T is, like few other cars but certainly many M cars, more than the sum of the parts. It’s light, nimble, precise, and feels amazing. If you’re in the DC area and want to try it out, PM me - service to the community.

If you guys will let me, I’ll post some track impressions as soon as I can in the next season, along with some lap times for quick comparison, if anyone is curious.

Meanwhile if you have any questions (again, curious about life on the dark side), I’ll be happy to answer.

[SYT_Shadow]

Well, glad you're happy and you got what you wanted adc!

[adc]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Well, glad you're happy and you got what you wanted adc!

I’m aiming for a more arrive and drive experience, knee/back situation make multiple wheel changes and loading a real challenge these days.

But I’ll see you on track, no doubt…

[D_SheerDrivingPleasure]

Originally Posted by adc

...I’ll post some track impressions as soon as I can in the next season, along with some lap times for quick comparison, if anyone is curious..

Just try it, and we'll report you to the forum mods faster than you can say Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe.


Congratulations. Good spec too.

[M3SQRD]

Congrats on the 911T MT! Definitely a better choice than a g87. If the 911T outpaces your old f80 then we’ll report you to the mods

I’m surprised we haven’t crossed paths at Summit Point over the years. I started tracking at Summit Point while in HS in the mid 80s. A HS friend’s uncle/family owned Summit Point until ~2017-2018. We’d get free track time whenever the track wasn’t being used. Started with a CRX Si with 106 pavement-ripping hp The front straight felt like it was at least 2 miles long compared to my ap1 s2000, e46 M3 track car, e92 M3s and f82 However, with the CRX Si, and its cousin the ‘92 Civic Si with 125 hp, being a momentum car, it prepared me well for the ever increasing high hp/weight cars.

[adc]

Originally Posted by D_SheerDrivingPleasure

Just try it, and we'll report you to the forum mods faster than you can say Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe.


Congratulations. Good spec too.

Haha, pleeease, no, not the forum mods… And I don’t have a stinkin doppelplugetriebe either.

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

Congrats on the 911T MT! Definitely a better choice than a g87. If the 911T outpaces your old f80 then we’ll report you to the mods

I’m surprised we haven’t crossed paths at Summit Point over the years. I started tracking at Summit Point while in HS in the mid 80s. A HS friend’s uncle/family owned Summit Point until ~2017-2018. We’d get free track time whenever the track wasn’t being used. Started with a CRX Si with 106 pavement-ripping hp The front straight felt like it was at least 2 miles long compared to my ap1 s2000, e46 M3 track car, e92 M3s and f82 However, with the CRX Si, and its cousin the ‘92 Civic Si with 125 hp, being a momentum car, it prepared me well for the ever increasing high hp/weight cars.

Based on friendly sparring with my friend at VIR, me in the F80 on slicks and him in a 911 T on street tires, the F80 was a bit quicker. We’ll see what happens, he is a better driver so I’m expecting of myself to be a bit slower, at least on street tires. On 200 TW though, who knows… And I need to learn the chassis, BMWs feel so familiar to me right now.

I too started tracking at Summit in 2001 with my E36 M3. All 3 tracks in fact, I was at the first event on Shenandoah when they had the loop close to the pit wall. We likely did cross paths, but I was probably in the lower run groups, starting out.

Once I found the big tracks with lots of elevation changes (Pitt, VIR, WGI), I fell in love with those and did fewer events at Summit. To this day, I don’t have the confidence I’m doing the right thing on Main. I’d love some pointers from people who understand it really well.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by adc

Based on friendly sparring with my friend at VIR, me in the F80 on slicks and him in a 911 T on street tires, the F80 was a bit quicker. We’ll see what happens, he is a better driver so I’m expecting of myself to be a bit slower, at least on street tires. On 200 TW though, who knows… And I need to learn the chassis, BMWs feel so familiar to me right now.

I too started tracking at Summit in 2001 with my E36 M3. All 3 tracks in fact, I was at the first event on Shenandoah when they had the loop close to the pit wall. We likely did cross paths, but I was probably in the lower run groups, starting out.

Once I found the big tracks with lots of elevation changes (Pitt, VIR, WGI), I fell in love with those and did fewer events at Summit. To this day, I don’t have the confidence I’m doing the right thing on Main. I’d love some pointers from people who understand it really well.

I know what you mean. VIR and WGI are awesome tracks compared to SP Main. However, I still like running SP Main because I can use it to determine whether I’ve hit a plateau or I’m still getting faster based on almost 4 decades of experience on SP Main. Seat time events are probably the best except for private track days. I’m into the 1:19:xx, with a best of 1:18:82, in my f82 (MCS 2WR, Essex/AP Racing CP9668/9449, PFC 11 or 13, GTS tune, AA single mid and AA 3-can muffler, BW TA5R, Hoosier R7 295 square).

You’re probably right. We’ve probably both been at the same track events and we just missed each other for whatever reason. Enjoy your 911T.

[adc]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

I know what you mean. VIR and WGI are awesome tracks compared to SP Main. However, I still like running SP Main because I can use it to determine whether I’ve hit a plateau or I’m still getting faster based on almost 4 decades of experience on SP Main. Seat time events are probably the best except for private track days. I’m into the 1:19:xx, with a best of 1:18:82, in my f82 (MCS 2WR, Essex/AP Racing CP9668/9449, PFC 11 or 13, GTS tune, AA single mid and AA 3-can muffler, BW TA5R, Hoosier R7 295 square).

You’re probably right. We’ve probably both been at the same track events and we just missed each other for whatever reason. Enjoy your 911T.

That is quick! My best was low 1:21's, trying to break into the 20's. My F80 had MCS 2WNR, Brembo BBK, BM3 Stage 1, on used Pirelli scrubs. Even though the tires were no longer at their best, I'm certain there were 1-2 seconds left in the car, so it's all driver at this point.

I'll start coming to seat time events next year...

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by adc

That is quick! My best was low 1:21's, trying to break into the 20's. My F80 had MCS 2WNR, Brembo BBK, BM3 Stage 1, on used Pirelli scrubs. Even though the tires were no longer at their best, I'm certain there were 1-2 seconds left in the car, so it's all driver at this point.

I'll start coming to seat time events next year...

At SP Main, I’ve turned low 1:23:xx in my ap1 and ap2 s2000s, 1:21:xx in my e46 M3 (James was about 0.5 sec quicker) and 1:20.xx in my e92 M3s. All cars had the standard track upgrades, except the s2000s which used stock brakes, and were dual-purpose cars except for the e46 M3 with a mods list too long to list (four key items are the Monon 2-Way remote reservoirs, the AP Racing brake kits with PFC 03 and 05, Larini single midpipe with 100 cell HFC, and SMG trans with lightweight flywheel, 4.10 FD LSD and CSL SMG software which made the SMG perform very close to the e92 M DCT). People couldn’t believe how well the SMG works perfectly on track without overheating issues. The f82 was closer to a track car with its spring rates but one e92 M was dual-purpose biased towards track (MCS 2WR with 600/900 lbf/in (or 700/1000) divorced rear, PFC z54/45 brake kits with PFC 11, 13 or 39 pads, 3.62 FD DCT LSD, stage 2 tune with raised 8600 rpm redline, AA x-pipe, with no cats, HFCs or stock cats, and AA four-can rear muffler, Karbonius CF plenum and Dinan CF elbow, and HRE R40 and R43 wheels with 275/285 staggered or 275 square).

Unfortunately due to medical issues we’ve had to sell all of our original owner f82, one of our e92 M3s and our r56 Copper S. We still have our ‘12 e92 M3 with < 25k miles and my ‘03.5 e46 M3 track car with < 40k miles. I’ve owned the e46 M3 since the day we picked it up in Aug 2003 and it was a dedicated track car by July 2004 (I blame James Clay ). This one definitely goes next. I have a buyer already lined up who’s been waiting at least a decade for me to sell it! It’s not looking good for me when it comes to track days in the future.

I’d still recommend seat time events. The biggest advantage is everyone is quick so you’re able to push hard on every lap and, if you encountered traffic, they’d quickly let you pass regardless of the type of car they were running.

[MaX PL]

I think I won my first battle with rattles in this car, but I need some advice.

I've never had any continuous rattles with the car for the most part in 10 years of ownership. The drivers side door lock would occasionally rattle, but somehow pushing on it from time to time fixed it. Most recently that turned to a constant rattle and I quickly learned that I'd been wasting my time with this, and that simply replacing the plastic flange was a simple solution I should have researched long ago.

Moving on, two months ago I swapped in rebuilt rear dampers which required pulling parts in the trunk out for reservoir routing. The car felt great after install, but now I had a rattle/vibration in the mid rpm range. It sounded like a plastic like vibration I've heard before when under hard acceleration, but after this many years of ownership, I wasn't sure if I was just imagining things.
While this was occurring, I also had a driveline clunk I originally assumed was caused by my dampers for whatever reason. After doing a visual inspection of the diff bushings I had installed 3 years ago, I learned that they still look like new, and decided to replace the trans bushings which others seemed to have done in this situation. Thankfully that almost entirely eliminated my driveline clunk, and all that is left is some slop when coming to a stop, which may or may not have existed before. I think the culprit of my damaged bushings is a bad habit I have of messing around on the street from time to time doing quick pulls, one after another with no braking, which rock the car back and forth. I wish all the slop was gone, but my main concern was having it occur on track which I don't think will be an issue.

So with all of that out of the way, I was left with this mid range vibration. I was concerned is was driveline related pertaining to the damper install or trans bushings, more so the latter. I was confident it was a plastic like vibration so I began by investigating the liner and plastic in the trunk. I pulled 4 or 5 items out and went for a test drive. The mid range rattle is now essentially gone, but I will continue to assess over the coming weeks.

Anyway, on to the question:
One of the attached photos shows the drivers side trunk area. Is the large plastic covering an ECU installed correctly? A nut on top and two clips snapped in agains the center of the body. It's the only way that makes to install this, no? It's the only item I did not pull out for the test drive yesterday, and I want to be certain it's in correctly before I reinstall the other trunk items I pulled out.

If anyone has any other ideas as to what could have caused the vibration based on the facts I described, I would appreciate it.

Thanks for any advice.

[GuyLedouche]

Originally Posted by MaX PL

I think I won my first battle with rattles in this car, but I need some advice.

I've never had any continuous rattles with the car for the most part in 10 years of ownership. The drivers side door lock would occasionally rattle, but somehow pushing on it from time to time fixed it. Most recently that turned to a constant rattle and I quickly learned that I'd been wasting my time with this, and that simply replacing the plastic flange was a simple solution I should have researched long ago.

Moving on, two months ago I swapped in rebuilt rear dampers which required pulling parts in the trunk out for reservoir routing. The car felt great after install, but now I had a rattle/vibration in the mid rpm range. It sounded like a plastic like vibration I've heard before when under hard acceleration, but after this many years of ownership, I wasn't sure if I was just imagining things.
While this was occurring, I also had a driveline clunk I originally assumed was caused by my dampers for whatever reason. After doing a visual inspection of the diff bushings I had installed 3 years ago, I learned that they still look like new, and decided to replace the trans bushings which others seemed to have done in this situation. Thankfully that almost entirely eliminated my driveline clunk, and all that is left is some slop when coming to a stop, which may or may not have existed before. I think the culprit of my damaged bushings is a bad habit I have of messing around on the street from time to time doing quick pulls, one after another with no braking, which rock the car back and forth. I wish all the slop was gone, but my main concern was having it occur on track which I don't think will be an issue.

So with all of that out of the way, I was left with this mid range vibration. I was concerned is was driveline related pertaining to the damper install or trans bushings, more so the latter. I was confident it was a plastic like vibration so I began by investigating the liner and plastic in the trunk. I pulled 4 or 5 items out and went for a test drive. The mid range rattle is now essentially gone, but I will continue to assess over the coming weeks.

Anyway, on to the question:
One of the attached photos shows the drivers side trunk area. Is the large plastic covering an ECU installed correctly? A nut on top and two clips snapped in agains the center of the body. It's the only way that makes to install this, no? It's the only item I did not pull out for the test drive yesterday, and I want to be certain it's in correctly before I reinstall the other trunk items I pulled out.

If anyone has any other ideas as to what could have caused the vibration based on the facts I described, I would appreciate it.

Thanks for any advice.

It is installed correctly.

[phefner]

Dreaming of next season...

[SYT_Shadow]

me too! time to prep the cars for next season!!

[jfritz27]

Originally Posted by phefner

Dreaming of next season...

It's always sunny in iRacing!

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by jfritz27

It's always sunny in iRacing!

That amount of snow prevents you from having a track day?

In 2004 we had a three day track event in early Feb at Summit Point. The inner and outer perimeters of the track were lined with snow and the temp was 10-13 degF. After a 25 min session, your tire temps were ~40-60 degF. I was running MPSCs so each session was about being exceptionally smooth with steering and throttle inputs to keep the car from sliding or spinning. It ended up being one of the best track events. Next trip to Summit Point Main in dry conditions with 60-65 degF temps and no changes to the e46 M3 setup, I beat my previous e46 M3 (full weight, full interior) PB by 1.5 sec. with a 1:21:79 (PB is now 1:21:33). Finally put down a time that was below my ap1 s2000 PB 1:23:15 lap time vs the old e46 M3 PB 1:23:29.

[ninekrpm]

for those running SPL arms with the new studs for the (front-end Lower Control Arm, Tie Rod, Thrust Arm), etc... (instead of the old style bolts)

SPL recommends tightening the bolts back to 180 ft/lb as part of track prep. anyone doing his routinely? anyone experience any issues?

I had installed some new arms back in May, all were tightened to 180 and marked. I noticed a very slightly play in the front R wheel and narrowed it down to outer bolt on the LCA arm that connects to the knuckle - the car has seen 10-12 track days since install. The top or the bottom end confirms that the nut did NOT move/rotate, but there is slight play.

I re-torqued the top then bottom back to 180; each nut rotated 1/2 turn to get back to 180. I am assuming this normal and that is why they recommend the periodic nut/bolt to confirm. I do have a email into SPL to confirm, but wanted to see if the anyone as experienced this or does the periodic checks.

[phefner]

That’s a great story M3SQRD . Sounds like a fantastic day!

Tracks here in the Upper Midwest fully close at the end of October. Its a 7 month season at best. But I’ve had my fun in the cold too. Nothing like waking up and having to scrape the ice and snow off your windshield then rolling from the hotel over to Road America for the day.

BadgerBimmers OctoberFast event in mid/late October can be dicey at times.