My track day journal. new update 11/20/2017

[Finnegan]

Looks like a lot of interest I'll find some options for Thunderhill and start a thread.

[AriuSen]

Originally Posted by Mike_Z4M

When's your next track day bro? I might join!.

Hey mike,
My next event is nov 19th or 20th in chuckwalla.
And then I'm going to buttonwillow on Black Friday.

[AriuSen]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

Looks like a lot of interest I'll find some options for Thunderhill and start a thread.

Sonoma or laguna also an option? Or drive a little more and come to buttonwillow too haha. I'm always there

[AriuSen]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

Looks like a lot of interest I'll find some options for Thunderhill and start a thread.

Sonoma or laguna also an option? Also people from NorCal can drive a little more and come to buttonwillow too! Haha. But I'll be down for thunderhill too. My friend said it's his newest favorite track.

[AriuSen]

I cant beleive its been almost 1 year since I dont update this thread.......time goes by so fast!!!! I dont even know where to re-start my journal.

So, I will try to share my experiences as quick and detailed as possible..

The last time I ran with maxxis rc-1 in buttonwillow I managed to do 1:55.8 which is faster than my PB with my m3 e92 .......that felt very very at the limit....I tried doing 1:54, but it was very tough.....I am not sure, but as far as I know the best laptime I have seen in an m3 e46 was 1:56 with nt01...With same type of tire, I am not sure if anybody has done 1:55 without aero.
I was running 255/40/17 on a 17x9.5 et 22 with camber -3.7F/-2.7R with spring rate 500/550 zero toe front and 1/8 toe in rear (total)...as you can see, I was still oversteering a little, but I just accepted that it was the nature of the car. Specially on high speed corners, the car just isnt stabled at all....in the video you can see I can keep up well with my friend in front of me running slicks for the first half of the track, and then on the 2nd half, which is the high speed corner section, he starts to open a gap on me.

OH SHIT MOMENT

__________________________________________________ __________

Next, was time for chuckwalla on 2/11.....It would be my first day with BF goodrich R1S......It would be my first time running slick tires...and wow...what a massive grip!!! specially the first, second and third day!!! the fourth day, the grip is TOTALLY GONE! It was a disaster the 4th day..the tires were worse than used Hankook RS-3....Just couldnt get grip at all. Its amazing how in the last session of the 3rd day, the tires were very grippy, but then in the first session of the 4th day, the grip magically disappeared.
So I was running 255/40/17 on 17x9.5 et22 with same camber as before and spring rates. Car was still oversteering, but anyway, was able to put a pretty good laptime or 1:59.8.

Just an important comment here....one of the most important things that made my car behave so much better was putting more rake in the front. I am not sure how much rake I have, but really improved the handling of the car.
let me know if you guys have a question about these 2 days, and ill be happy to answer =) criticism and different opinion is also very welcome

[AriuSen]

The next track day was BUTTONWILLOW again. However this time with the 4 heat cycled R1S.
Same camber same springs same everything...just different tires. Unfortunately, I couldnt do my expected laptime of 1:53 because there was too much traffic, and I ended up having only 2 or 3 clean laps to get used to the new braking points and speed with the R1S.....my PB ended being 1:54.4.....I saw that a 1:53 was really easily doable with this car, but the day was over.
Btw, I have OEM rear sway bar and hotchkis front sway bar in medium setting.
THE NEXT TRACK DAY AT SPRING MOUNTAIN YOU WILL FIND OUT THE MAJOR CHANGE THAT MADE MY CAR STOP OVERSTEERING.

______________________________________
NEXT TRACK: SPRING MOUNTAIN near Las Vegas Nevada.
tires: R1S
alignment changes: -3.7 to -4.0 front and -2.7 to -3.0 rear.....zero toe and 1/8 toe in total.
This is by far my favorite track of all times followed by laguna seca and then buttonwillow.
From the first session, my car felt the best ever.....amazing turn in, amazing grip on exit, amazing mid corner grip......everything was perfect! I noticed that this day, I was being able to keep up or even be faster than e46 on high speed corners which is unusual.....i was able to go on gas coming out of the corner earlier than anybody else....I managed to put a crazy time of 2:35.......I go home very happy and few days later, I jack up my car for some work and what do I see? My both rear endlinks snapped....my conclusion? Throw away your rear sway bar.....thats my opinion. The car feels so much more stabled in high speed corners, and its incredible how you can go on gas exiting the corner without worrying about oversteer......i had inTgr8r suggest me to remove my rear bar 1 year ago, and as I am stubborn, I never did, and also struggled with the oversteer....

BTW, regarding my front camber going from -3.7 to -4 has helped with my tire wear a lot ......i always had more tire ware in the outer part, and I was cording my tires always outer part....now with -4 the tire is wearing almost even. also understeer for me is almost nonexistent. the rears from -2.7 to -3 wasnt good.....I was having 5 degree hotter in the inner part of the tire than outer part.

[AriuSen]

Next track day on 6/24/17 was LAGUNA SECA
tires: R1S (used friends tire)
Time: 1:40.3
alignment: -4.0 camber F/-3.0 camber R
0 toe front / 1/8 total toe in rear.
more rake in the front
tire pressure: 31 HOT.
was using OEM muffler due to sound limit

So this was the 4th day in my R1S and like I said in previous comments, the tire is worse than used rs3.....I was hitting 1:43 / 1:44 all day long and I started to wonder if my suspension was messed up, or if I just lost my mojos, but then in the 4th session, I asked my friend if I could use his tires for 2 laps only to see if it was my car or my tires that was bad, and then voila.....both laps I hit 1:40.
Once again, without the rear sway bar car just felt A M A Z I N G!

Had a panic mode in laguna.....I didnt upload on YT, but if you have instagram, you can see the video here.

onboard...lost sound

What happened is all the other laps, I noticed that whenever I was braking before #3 sign, I was cruising for a bit until the corner, so I figured that I was braking too early.....so next lap I tried to brake right on #3 sign.....never do that! The car feels like its on ice pretty much....next to #3 sign, your car is pretty much lifted and when you hit the brakes, you have 0 grip there.....luckily my car didnt hit the tires

[StickMon]

Looks like you tried to do a Zanardi!

[AriuSen]

Originally Posted by StickMon

Looks like you tried to do a Zanardi!

wow lol........exactly right!

[StickMon]

I've never driven it in real life, but I've done it many times in the Z4 in Forza.
Corkscrew is a blind entry. All you can see is hood and sky until you round the left and hope there's a road in front of you.

[AriuSen]

Originally Posted by StickMon

I've never driven it in real life, but I've done it many times in the Z4 in Forza.
Corkscrew is a blind entry. All you can see is hood and sky until you round the left and hope there's a road in front of you.

You are correct. It?s pretty intimidating in the beginning.
I think everytime I go home from laguna, I am 1? taller for forcing my neck to see where the track is lol.

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by AriuSen

You are correct. It?s pretty intimidating in the beginning.
I think everytime I go home from laguna, I am 1? taller for forcing my neck to see where the track is lol.

those kind of turns sure can be intimidating......
All you can really do is pick marks on the pavement & hit your marks every time.

....but when you get them right = satisfaction

[Rick F.]

Alex,

I'm glad you finally diagnosed the oversteer problem. While your car is now pretty well dialed-in with the rear bar disconnected, I suspect that it could be even better. You might try softening the rear springs more and more, with the rear bar connected and in the medium position, until you reach the same cornering behavior that you now have. Then fine tune with the rear bar a little stiffer or (more likely) a little looser.

Did you find out what caused your fuel starvation?

Keep having fun!

Rick F.

[AriuSen]

Originally Posted by Rick F.

Alex,

I'm glad you finally diagnosed the oversteer problem. While your car is now pretty well dialed-in with the rear bar disconnected, I suspect that it could be even better. You might try softening the rear springs more and more, with the rear bar connected and in the medium position, until you reach the same cornering behavior that you now have. Then fine tune with the rear bar a little stiffer or (more likely) a little looser.

Did you find out what caused your fuel starvation?

Keep having fun!

Rick F.

Wow. That?s is really interesting what you said.
I was talking to jrz suspension who knows a lot about setting up the car and is funny that he said the same thing as you.
That once I was able to dial my car without the bar, that I should put it back and soften the springs to get the same feeling.
Are a pro driver or something?
Cuz it was always nice to read your comments

So I couldn?t figure out what happened in spring mountain about my fuel starvation. And I drove in other tracks here with less than 1/4 tank and it was totally fine. :

[dre99gsx]

Alex, great read. I'm contemplating removing my rear bar as well for an upcoming HPDE, but may try softer shock settings first as suggested by Rick. The interesting thing here is I don't have much of an over/understeer issue currently with 275/245 StarSpec 2s. Nothing near your level, of course, but even turbo and 2JZ'd, she holds real well. Actually, she "HELD" real well when I was on 392/560 F/R spring rate. Because of excessive body roll, I'm now up to 504/672 F/R rate, and expect I may run into snap oversteer next session.

As for your fuel issue, I had fuel starvation at my last event only when hitting boost. My fuel pressure would drop from 72psi to ~0, but come back up to 30psi (cruising pressure) right after. It occurred a few times before I ended my run and limped her home (without issue mind you). I also had half a tank of fuel in there.

I diagnosed what I could, ultimately ended replacing the fuel pump/filter/regulator because 90k miles old, I'm sure it was seeing its age. Something to consider...

[DR Z4]

First off, congrats on getting into an amazing hobby. These are great track cars; I'm so happy to see people using them as they were intended.

I see you have done a ton of mods and are running semi-slicks. I mean no disrespect when I say this, but I would recommend actually dialing back the aggressiveness of your setup and working on technique. You're in the zone where you are going very fast but you are making some major errors that could turn catastrophic. The car is hiding those/covering your butt.

That video of you nearly losing the car and going into the gravel shows you shifting aka cutting power when your car is completely unweighted, cresting a hill leading into a blind turn. You're lucky you didn't literally fly off the track.

Similar comment for the snap oversteer at the bus stop. You're early apexing that turn by a huge margin. Until you are being consistent lap after lap, you should be in something that shows rather than hides your mistakes. You will be that much faster once you get back into a car as setup as yours.

Just my $0.02 after 9 years of tracking, and moving from an Mz4, back to a e46 330 to hone my skills before stepping up to a corvette. It helped a lot.

And if you haven't done so, go to BMW CCA schools, and have an instructor ride shotgun with you. There's no such thing as knowing too much technique

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by DR Z4

First off, congrats on getting into an amazing hobby. These are great track cars; I'm so happy to see people using them as they were intended.

I see you have done a ton of mods and are running semi-slicks. I mean no disrespect when I say this, but I would recommend actually dialing back the aggressiveness of your setup and working on technique. You're in the zone where you are going very fast but you are making some major errors that could turn catastrophic. The car is hiding those/covering your butt.

That video of you nearly losing the car and going into the gravel shows you shifting aka cutting power when your car is completely unweighted, cresting a hill leading into a blind turn. You're lucky you didn't literally fly off the track.

Similar comment for the snap oversteer at the bus stop. You're early apexing that turn by a huge margin. Until you are being consistent lap after lap, you should be in something that shows rather than hides your mistakes. You will be that much faster once you get back into a car as setup as yours.

Just my $0.02 after 9 years of tracking, and moving from an Mz4, back to a e46 330 to hone my skills before stepping up to a corvette. It helped a lot.

And if you haven't done so, go to BMW CCA schools, and have an instructor ride shotgun with you. There's no such thing as knowing too much technique

Where & what groups do you track with?
I'm surprised I haven't met you at Trillium events.

[DR Z4]

Hey Ian!

It's Daniel, with the black M roadster and the black c5 corvette Zo6- you last saw me at 6th gear a few weeks back.

Again OP- I truly mean no disrespect; I think you have the potential to be even faster if you make a few small corrections, and they are easier to do in a less track-focused car sometimes...that's all

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by DR Z4

Hey Ian!

It's Daniel, with the black M roadster and the black c5 corvette Zo6- you last saw me at 6th gear a few weeks back.

Again OP- I truly mean no disrespect; I think you have the potential to be even faster if you make a few small corrections, and they are easier to do in a less track-focused car sometimes...that's all

Hey there Daniel good stuff, i didn't recognize your handle here

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by DR Z4

First off, congrats on getting into an amazing hobby. These are great track cars; I'm so happy to see people using them as they were intended.

I see you have done a ton of mods and are running semi-slicks. I mean no disrespect when I say this, but I would recommend actually dialing back the aggressiveness of your setup and working on technique. You're in the zone where you are going very fast but you are making some major errors that could turn catastrophic. The car is hiding those/covering your butt.

That video of you nearly losing the car and going into the gravel shows you shifting aka cutting power when your car is completely unweighted, cresting a hill leading into a blind turn. You're lucky you didn't literally fly off the track.

Similar comment for the snap oversteer at the bus stop. You're early apexing that turn by a huge margin. Until you are being consistent lap after lap, you should be in something that shows rather than hides your mistakes. You will be that much faster once you get back into a car as setup as yours.

Just my $0.02 after 9 years of tracking, and moving from an Mz4, back to a e46 330 to hone my skills before stepping up to a corvette. It helped a lot.

And if you haven't done so, go to BMW CCA schools, and have an instructor ride shotgun with you. There's no such thing as knowing too much technique

Bmw CCA schools are shit. Every student who comes out of there thinks they are superior than others when in fact they are completely egotistical. Sure there are club racers and great drivers there but the average is so so. You're better off getting instruction from professionals who offer that service.

I don't believe he is early apexing bus stop at all. You want your complete left side of the cars and the tires on the left of the berm. Otherwise you are slow.

Yes the more mods you get the more the car hides but this guy did a 1:55 with only suspension and bbk and street tires in an e92.

I don't see anyone else in a z4m putting down these Laptimes at all the various tracks in CA even pre aero.

It'd be nice if you stated your experience / Laptimes before chiming in since there a ton of armchair or people who think they are better than they actually are type of drivers. I mean he's doing pretty much 1:50s in this car. I know a couple 1:49 drivers in similar e46 m3 there but they are running similar setups. That's pretty much almost as fast as you can go in the car. Maybe a couple of seconds for a professional. For once a month to the track driver it is a great achievement.

If you're a pro. Forget what I said.

[AriuSen]

Originally Posted by DR Z4

First off, congrats on getting into an amazing hobby. These are great track cars; I'm so happy to see people using them as they were intended.

I see you have done a ton of mods and are running semi-slicks. I mean no disrespect when I say this, but I would recommend actually dialing back the aggressiveness of your setup and working on technique. You're in the zone where you are going very fast but you are making some major errors that could turn catastrophic. The car is hiding those/covering your butt.

That video of you nearly losing the car and going into the gravel shows you shifting aka cutting power when your car is completely unweighted, cresting a hill leading into a blind turn. You're lucky you didn't literally fly off the track.

Similar comment for the snap oversteer at the bus stop. You're early apexing that turn by a huge margin. Until you are being consistent lap after lap, you should be in something that shows rather than hides your mistakes. You will be that much faster once you get back into a car as setup as yours.

Just my $0.02 after 9 years of tracking, and moving from an Mz4, back to a e46 330 to hone my skills before stepping up to a corvette. It helped a lot.

And if you haven't done so, go to BMW CCA schools, and have an instructor ride shotgun with you. There's no such thing as knowing too much technique

Wow bmwcca?? Really? Sorry but I will have to share my thoughts since you talk like I need to go back to a go kart which is where I came from lol.
Thanks for tips, but I respectfully disagree with your comments
I am a person who loves to hear criticism that makes me a better driver, like many comments in this thread.
But your comments are not something that helps anyone at all.
because you are judging and telling me to step back from 2 turns, I will educate you a little.
That blind turn I know I made a mistake, but one mistake doesn’t mean I need to step back Lolol. Even pros makes mistake all the time. It was my second time there and I wanted to see how late I could brake into that turn.
The second comment about the left turn, I guess you need to go there before you make that assumption. You can YouTube any video of fast drivers and that’s how you take that turn otherwise you lose too much time there. You pretty much gotta go 2 wheels into the dirt.

9 years of track day doesn’t mean anything to me. I know a lot of people who track a lot more than me and doesn’t drive fast.
Based on your comments, you talk like you are a really good driver, which can be true, but i guess everybody gotta run stock forever if we gotta step back based on mistakes

The fact that you tell me to run bmwcca, makes me doubt about your comments even more, because I’m sorry, but I know a lot of pro drivers who ACTUALLY compete professionally, and you don’t want to know what they say about that organization.

I could show to you all the accomplishments I’ve done so far, and where I came from, but I have no intention in showing to others I’m cocky.
If you want to, please feel free to show yours, because based on the way you commented, shows me nothing but someone who is a good forum talker.

Good luck with your new vette!! That car is amazing!! But make sure you don’t make mistakes so you don’t have to move back to e46

[DR Z4]

Originally Posted by AriuSen

Wow bmwcca?? Really? Sorry but I will have to share my thoughts since you talk like I need to go back to a go kart which is where I came from lol.
Thanks for tips, but I respectfully disagree with your comments
I am a person who loves to hear criticism that makes me a better driver, like many comments in this thread.
But your comments are not something that helps anyone at all.
because you are judging and telling me to step back from 2 turns, I will educate you a little.
That blind turn I know I made a mistake, but one mistake doesn’t mean I need to step back Lolol. Even pros makes mistake all the time. It was my second time there and I wanted to see how late I could brake into that turn.
The second comment about the left turn, I guess you need to go there before you make that assumption. You can YouTube any video of fast drivers and that’s how you take that turn otherwise you lose too much time there. You pretty much gotta go 2 wheels into the dirt.

9 years of track day doesn’t mean anything to me. I know a lot of people who track a lot more than me and doesn’t drive fast.
Based on your comments, you talk like you are a really good driver, which can be true, but i guess everybody gotta run stock forever if we gotta step back based on mistakes

The fact that you tell me to run bmwcca, makes me doubt about your comments even more, because I’m sorry, but I know a lot of pro drivers who ACTUALLY compete professionally, and you don’t want to know what they say about that organization.

I could show to you all the accomplishments I’ve done so far, and where I came from, but I have no intention in showing to others I’m cocky.
If you want to, please feel free to show yours, because based on the way you commented, shows me nothing but someone who is a good forum talker.

Good luck with your new vette!! That car is amazing!! But make sure you don’t make mistakes so you don’t have to move back to e46

Ok- I am sure you're amazing, have nothing to learn whatsoever and I've just misinterpreted the videos you've posted. Enjoy the car and keep tweaking it until it's perfect.