Internal Combustion

The top step

2011-08-15T12:57:00.001-06:00

We moved to the top step of the podium with class win in E0. Details to follow.

On the podium

2011-06-27T15:04:00.003-06:00

On Saturday night we finished 2nd in class and 5th overall out best performance to date and easily the best race we have run in a number of areas. We are starting to get our race strategy in order, we qualified well and our stops were quick and mistake free. Tony qualified the car 7th out of about 30. The race started a little early at 6:15 so it was still plenty warm making the fuelers in their three layer Nomex pretty miserable. We gave up a couple of places at the start but got them back within the first few laps.

After the second stop we had moved up to third behind a car that had only made one stop so we were looking good. ...and here is where we learned a lesson about car classing. There are dozens of different sprint series and classes that all feed into just 6 endurance classes ESR, ES, E0, E1, E2 and E3. In our class, E0 most of the cars are from either BMW Club Racing's I Prepared class or NASA's GTS-3 class. The Club's I Prepared class has been around for over a decade so there are many fast, well developed cars available to endurance racers. NASA GTS-3 is newer and attracts smaller fields, but offers a better power to weight ratio than IP so some dedicated endurance racers have converted their cars to that spec. This year NASA's Super Touring 2 class was added to E0 and offers and even better specification.

Super Touring is pretty much wide open regarding rules, anything goes including tube-frame chasis and slicks. Super Touring 2 is limited to a power to weight ratio of 8.75:1. To reach that level we could remove 400 lbs of weight or add 47 wheel horsepower. It's going to be increasing difficult to remain competitive if we continue to race is IP specification. Some drivers are suggesting that the WERC leadership may reclassify the ST2 cars from E0 to ES -- maybe even before the 25 Hour in December. We shall see.

Anyway, back to the race. The lesson we learned here was the lesson of the fuel cell.

The M3 can run about 75 minutes when the stock fuel tank is full. The ST2 car that won was able to go over 90 minutes. That is a critical number in a 3 hour race. Half-way. They were able to complete the race with just a single stop while we had to make two. The fact that we finished only 45 seconds behind them shows that with a fuel-cell we may have done even better.

Enduro Update

2011-06-21T11:15:00.003-06:00

We missed the second event in the WERC series while the engine was being rebuilt. Actually we showed up with the E30 M3, but it had some unanticipated engine trouble which kept up from racing. This weekend is the third race of the series, a 3 hour affair at Buttonwillow.

The new engine is back in the LTW and has been broken in and seem a little more powerful after the rebuild. Our goal is to finish on the podium in our class.

Here is a shot of the E30 M3 we tried to get together for the event. Great car, great engine, what a blast to drive. I'm reminded why these are my favorite M3 on the track. This one isn't pretty on the outside but it's beautiful inside.

First time racing a car without a dash-pad. The upper sheet-metal is painted flat-black to reduce reflections in the windshield but it doesn't prevent them completely. I love the digital dash with sequential shift-lights. The dash is also a complete Data Acquisition system that is wired into everything, brake pressure, throttle position, four independent wheel speeds, and all the temps and pressures for the car. Pay no attention to the J-Stock stickers, it's probably a little out of spec for that class.

This is a great cage build by Tony Collicchio of TC Design. It's a touring car style cage that ties in the front strut towers as well as the entire rear sub-frame and diff mounts. The BMW E30 chassis is pretty narrow and this car has a very large seat -- so big that at nearly 200 lbs, I have to use a foam insert to get a good fit. Tony built this door bars right out to the door skin to provide room for the seat.

First Enduro Practice

2011-04-18T13:23:00.003-06:00

This year I'll be co-driving a BMW M3 in the Western Endurance Racing Championship. This is series of eight multi-hour endurance sports car races at tracks in Northern and Southern California. Our team is called Boulder Creek Ring.

I attended the team's first test session of the season last weekend at the Buttonwillow racetrack in the central valley. The goal was to get some seat time in the car, gain familiarity with it's systems, and -personally- to show these guys that I can actually drive. It was a great session and I learned a lot.

These tests are chock full of new and exciting things that require the driver to adjust. For me the first adjustment was the fully digital dash in the car. No traditional tach or speedo, just a single LCD screen and a bunch of shift and warning lights. Lots of data to deal with at high speed. Using shift lights was also pretty interesting. It was hard to tell when the actual redline arrives and based on data I was shifting 500-600 RPM too early to avoid over-revving someone elses race car engine. During the second session I noticed that there is a tach-like graphical display that I found much easier to use. Later in the day I gained confidence in my ability to use the lights and shifted back to using only the lights.

The LTW we are racing this year is much like my (non-LTW) 1995 M3 so I was quite confortable as I strapped in. But, as I got out on track, there were more adjustments. I have to admit that I've never had to shift a BMW into 5th gear on a race track. All my cars have had stockish rear-end ratios that use 2nd-3rd-4th on the track, but the LTW has a lower 3.73:1 diff that uses instead 3-4-5 on the track. It doesn't sound that hard, but shifting is done without thinking so I had to retrain my hand to move up-and-right instead of straight down on the straights. It took most of a session to get used to it (and also not shifting down to 2nd for the hairpin). This car has a radio system so I got to test all the gear recently installed in my new helmet which seemed to work just fine. All my driving gear was new this year as my old helmet expired last year and my fire suit was a 1997 model.

Boy have fire suits improved in the last 13 years. My old 3-layer suit weights 6.2 lbs and feels like a heavy blanket. My new suit less that 4 lbs and feels like a windbreaker. The car also has a cool shirt system that pumps icewater into the drivers suit to keep them cool. I swore that when I took the air conditioning system out of my M3 that I would get one but never did. Now having used one, I never want to go back.

We also conducted some fuel consumption tests to accurately forecast fuel use during the events. Based on the data the car consumes about 1 gal of fuel every 5 min. This is a critical measurement as fuel use is the most critical factor during the race.

By the end of the test day I was most proud of the fact that I was able to deal with all the new gear and all the little adjustments and still get up to speed quickly in a new car. By the end of the second session I was putting up times that were competitive with the drivers from last year (not "faster than"... just "competitive with") which is OK for the new guy. I also didn't wreck the car or do anything else stupid.

On Saturday afternoon, the car's owner campaigned it in the BMW Club Racing series sprint race finishing 7th overall. Saturday night was the first Enduro of the season, a 3-hour event starting at 6:10pm. Because this is a short event I didn't drive. Tony qualified the car well, 7th overall, and we had a cleanstart. The first stint was unremarkable and after about 70 minutes we brought the car in for fuel and the only driver change. We added 15 gallons and sent Tony out for a double stint. Tony is our fastest driver and did a great job moving the car up to 2nd place in class and 5th overall with a good margin before his fuel stop.

Here is where we made a little mistake -- it actually ended up costing nothing, but it's a lesson none the less.

I radioed Tony an hour into his stint for a fuel level check he estimated that there was still 1/4 of a tank remaining so he stayed out for another 6 laps. When he pitted we only had about 30 min remaining in the race but our previously agreed-upon fuel strategy called for 2 full cans of fuel. We stayed with the plan and held the car in the pits while we added the second can and sent him out again.

When I got the first Timing & Scoring update after Tony returned to the track, I realized that the extra time had allowed the 3rd place car to close to within about 20 seconds of our car. I immediately radioed Tony to tell him and he immediately responded by trimming 2 seconds a lap off his times. I'm not sure we could have stayed ahead to the end, even with faster tiems they were gaining every lap and we still had about 15 min to go. Either way, we were in for a podium, one of our goals this year. Sadly Tony radioed in a couple minutes later and sad there was a coolant temperature alarm and he was coming to the pit box to avoid destroying the motor. Thats how is ended for us, 15 minutes to go, parked in the box.

So for the next race I'm developing a simple fuel model that tracks consumption by lap and provides data about what is in the car and about how much more fuel can fit at any time. Data is Power.

More BJ Ambulance Fakery found

2011-01-27T17:54:00.001-07:00

The saga of the fake JFK ambulance continues...

http://jalopnik.com/5744193/key-fake-jfk-ambulance-evidence-also-fake

What is a reputation worth?

2011-01-23T08:28:00.003-07:00

Yesterday at the Barret Jackson auto auction in Scottsdale, an ambulance crossed the block for $132,000 in what is a sad display of greed. The seller claimed the ambulance was the one that carried President Kennedy's body from Andrews Air Force base to the Bethesda Naval Hospital for autopsy on the afternoon of November 22nd, 1963 and provided a number of documents to validate his claim making this a very significant vehicle. However, a dedicated group of experts and members of the Professional Car Society (a group of enthusiasts that restore and research professional cars; Ambulances, Hearses and the like) have provided unequivocal evidence that this ambulance is NOT the one to carry the President's body, and that the documents in support were likely forged, but they produced pictures of the actual ambulance being destroyed by the Kennedy Family trust in 1986.

The PCS provided this information to BJ prior to the auction and yet they did nothing to address the inconsistencies. I just watched video of the woman who won the auction claiming that she is convinced it is authentic and wondering if the Smithsonian would be interested. I'm not sure which fits better here, "There is a sucker born every minute" of "A fool and her money as soon parted". In the collector car world where reputation is everything, Barrett Jackson seem to have decided that money is more important that their reputation on this day.

Read all about it on the Professional Car Society forums HERE

Awesome DTM nostalgia

2010-12-19T20:17:00.004-07:00

E30 M3 FTW!

Rental Car Insanity

2010-12-10T17:36:00.001-07:00

Only to a rental car company could a Chevy Impala be considered a full size car.

1 Series M

2010-12-09T19:29:00.002-07:00

I've not been a fan of BMW styling for many years, but i have to say the new 1 series M look quite nice. Not real pretty, just kinda mean. I like it.

Ugliest. Car. Ever.

2010-12-07T10:22:00.003-07:00

http://www.nissanusa.com/juke/

Yes, even worse than this..

Finnish Roll Cage Testing

2010-11-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

They don't call them Flying Finns for for nothing.

Chevy Volt is NOT an electric car

2010-11-20T09:02:00.003-07:00

I was discussing the upcoming Chevy Volt with a colleague yesterday who proudly how the US is getting into the electric vehicle business because "even Chevy makes an electric car".

I pointed out the the Volt - despite it's electric name - is in fact a hybrid, no different that a Toyota Prius. "No, No, No, it's an electric car" he stammered, "the gasoline engine only charges the batteries"

I beg to differ...

The new Chevy Volt is no more an EV that a Toyota Prius. It uses the gasoline engine to assist the electric motor to drive the wheels when necessary. You see my colleague made the mistake of actually listening to GM.

GM has recently uh.. 'adjusted' many of the original claims about the car. The first one to go as the 230 MPG claim. How didn't see this one coming. In August 2008 then-CEO Fritz Henderson claimed "230 MPG in city driving". Popular Mechanics recently tested a pre-production model and saw about 37 MPG, more than a little short the original GM claims.

I could write that off and new product optimism. What pisses me off is that contrary to 2+ years of PR claims, it's not even an electric car. It's a plug-in hybrid very similar to the current Toyota Prius.

GM now claims the original description was misleading because they wanted to ensure all their patents were approved before disclosing the real nature of the drive system. So, dishonestly is fine in the name of IP protection.

I'm not saying the Volt isn't fuel efficient, or that it's a bad car. I'm saying when you call something an electric vehicle for 2+ years and then launch a hybrid partially driven by it's gasoline engine, some people are going to cry "foul".

Izzy gets sick -- again

2010-11-02T17:26:00.003-06:00

It's hard to believe that there are some places that so remote that you can't get wireless data service. On Saturday I learned that Pt. Reyes Station, CA is one of those places. 30 miles from central San Francisco yet a thousand miles away. The wife and I went up there to visit my newly rediscovered bubba Mike at Black Mountain Cycles and to procure some of that fine cheese at the Cowgirl Creamery.

Sure, that sound remote. But the fully grasp remote (in the 2010 context) take the long and bumpy drive through the Pt Reyes National Seashore to the Pt. Reyes Lighthouse. Out there you are on the dark side of the moon -- no cell service at all.

I know this because this is exactly where Izzy (the wife's E46 328ci) decided that power steering should be a optional luxury. So less than 100 yards from the parking lot and ~25 miles from cell service, Izzy started making Bad Sounds (tm) from the front end so strong they shook the steering wheel.

At first I though 'flat tire' but the sound was clearly tied engine speed which aint a flat tire. The fact that Izzy was now steering like a supertanker is what we call a clue. Nothing was amiss under the hood, even the power-steering fluid was still full so we reviewed our options. Hmmm.. ten cars in the parking lot but no people. ~25 miles back to town. No cell service. Ok, so we drive it.

What a workout. All in I drove that thing almost 50 twisty, turny mountainous miles in the quest to get home. The worst miles were the 10 miles stuck behind a tourist bus at 25 MPH. Three days on, I'm still a little sore.

Safely home, a little time on the internets showed that E46s share the habit of failing PS pumps. Typically the shaft between the pulley and the pump fails. Not ours, ours failed inside the pump, creating a loud buzzing sound that felt like something very heavy fell off and was dragging along the ground under the car.

My new cali-style mechanic (frosted hair and all) is now replacing the pump, reservoir (with built-in filter) and a couple of hoses. He's also going to replace both idler pulleys as a preventative measure as well. Tally: $1k

Ouch. Oh, I never did get to see that damn lighthouse but the bike shop was spectacular (How many Charley Cunningham road bikes have YOU seen?) and the cheese sublime.

Dick Trickle -- Heh, heh, heh...

2010-10-08T18:00:00.003-06:00

Listenin'

2010-09-26T12:59:00.002-06:00

While the internet give anyone the ability to publish their thoughts, some thought are more worthy than others. I recently discovered Adam Carolla records a really entertaining daily podcast. I listened to him for years on Loveline and really appreciate his sense of humor. He's also a real car guy and records a weekly show that is focused exclusively on cars. After discovering the AC show, I found that stand-up comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan also does a daily show.

Both are available on-line and on a mobile phone via Stitcher. The Stitcher app makes it easy to listen to the shows in the car without having to download them or sync in advance.

Deep Thoughts

2010-09-26T12:56:00.000-06:00

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
Albert Einstein

JB007 for Sale

2010-09-08T14:56:00.006-06:00

THE quintessential James Bond car is crossing the auction block at the RM in London. The Aston Martin DB5 used in the movies Goldfinger and Thunderball is expected to sell for as much as $5 Mil and in doing so set a new price record for film car.

There were two DB-5s used during principal photography on Goldfinger. The second car was stolen from the Miami Airport in 1997 and has yet to be recovered. The DB-5 body is easily my favorite among Aston Martin cars, More fluid that the earlier cars and not yet burdened by the heaviness of later models, it strikes a fine balance.

Note: JB007 sold for $4.5MM.

Senna TAG

2010-09-08T14:07:00.003-06:00

I learned today that TAG Heuer made no less than 5 different Ayrton Senna commemorative watch models. I discovered three different versions while shopping for mine, but didn't know there were so many. I now own a 2002 model (top right) and have seen two different versons, one with the Senna signature on the face and one (mine) without. It turns out there are actually two Link models without the signature (2001 and my 2002) and a completely different watch from 1994.

I love mine, it's a bit coarse and weights a metric ton but has been a faithful everyday companion for almost 4 years. It replaced my previous TAG Heuer S/EL Chrono, a quartz watch I wore daily for over 10 years. There is just something about the look of a black-faced chronograph that just looks right to me.

USGP Track layout announced

2010-09-01T12:38:00.003-06:00

Looks really cool. I wonder of it will ever be open for amateur events?

The Stig - Self outing

2010-09-01T08:37:00.003-06:00

The identity of The Stig was revealed today after the BBC lost a court case to keep Ex-F3 driver Ben Collins from publishing an autobiography about his time in the role.

Not exactly the best kept secret ever, but at least now occasional viewers can stop claiming the Michael Schumacher was the Stig

Best Driving Instructor video ever...

2010-08-24T17:10:00.004-06:00

Every instructor has had this guy at least once. I've had him twice.

The event formerly known as "The Historics"

2010-08-16T12:58:00.004-06:00

Endurance

2010-08-02T13:19:00.003-06:00

I'll be crewing again for one of the teams driving in the WERC enduro at Thunderhill August 21st.

Landing in California

2010-07-02T14:22:00.003-06:00

So, we're here -- you know, in California again. We have moved most of out stuff into our (old) new house and are now focused on un-boxing everything. The M3 is living in the driveway while we try to find a better place for all the stuff piled high in the garage. The long weekend should allow us to make some real headway.

I applied to instruct with the local NASA chapter but will have to wait until the next instructor certification session to start. Apparently 10+ years of teaching and three instructor certifications (NASA-RM, PCA and POC) aren't enough here.

Izzy gets sick

2010-06-15T14:30:00.000-06:00

My wife's 3 series -- called Izzy after the BMW Isetta -- got sick a few days before moving to California. The coolant reservoir cracked while she was in traffic on a particularly warm day. She heard/felt it let go and quickly pulled off.

This is a common failure among older BMWs. The plastic reservoir (and many other cooling system parts) becomes brittle with age and heat and cracks. In this case however, it looks like the controller for the auxiliary fan failed causing the car to overheat which caused the reservoir to fail. Izzy has traveled over 150k miles now so was overdue for a complete cooling system overhaul so that what we did. Radiator, hoses, belts, water pump, thermostat, everything.

We were quite lucky, most cars don't survive a cooling system failure on a hot day. Only Kathy's quick response prevented this from becoming a full-on nuclear meltdown. Well done, you have saved Izzy's life.

M3 : Shipped

2010-06-08T07:16:00.002-06:00

Yesterday afternnon I dropped the M3 off at DAS Auto Shippers for it's trip to our new home in California. It should take about 7 days so I can pick it up next Monday in Livermore. Driving it to the drop-off point reminded my how much I like that car -- even on the street.

A brief pause

2010-05-14T12:04:00.001-06:00

I've taken a new job and am going to scale back my track activities for the rest of the season. I'll also be moving back to the Bay Area. I'll pick up blogging again after I get settled out there...

NASA TT @ Buttonwillow

2010-04-19T13:52:00.003-06:00

I survived my weekend in California and got a glimpse of what to expect at Nationals this fall. The level of prep is significantly higher than here in Colorado. Many of the TT cars are full-on race cars that are trailered to the track.

I worked my way up a finished second or third in TTD but to put my performance in perspective: I'm 10 seconds off the TTD record and 6 seconds off the TTE record. That a lot. In fact the TTC time is faster than the BMWCCA IP M3 LTW I crewed for over the weekend. Fast!

Helmets

2010-04-17T13:50:00.000-06:00

Helmets are quite difficult to pack for air travel. I finally caved and used a bag that was too big to carry on. I hate checking luggage.

Packing for NASA TT @ Buttonwillow

2010-04-15T17:06:00.003-06:00

Somehow flying to an event seems more stressful than driving.

Don't forget these important things:

Helmet, gloves, suit, socks, balaclava
Earplugs
NASA License
Traqmate + cables
Instructor intercom

Or these slightly less important things:

2 Long Sleeve Shirts
2 pr pants
2xSox/2xUnd
Hat
Sunscreen
Camera

Pics from PPIR

2010-04-14T12:28:00.002-06:00

NASA TT @ PPIR

2010-04-12T07:21:00.006-06:00

It was a little like bringing a gun to a knife fight. Arriving at the track with an untested race car is rarely good for confidence and this weekend was no different. I was pretty anxious especially considering PPIR is an Oval with an infield road section. Driving NASCAR corners is always exciting given the high speeds and concrete walls. During the fist session I was really happy with the car. It was really tight but that is exactly where I expected it to be. Each session I loosened it up a bit with shock adjustments. It just got better and better through the weekend.

By Saturday afternoon I had turned a 1:06.5, fast enough to win TTC be 4 seconds. Sunday I never quite matched that time as I gave passenger rides most of the day. Late in the afternoon, I tried to better it but missed tire pressures a bit and only did a 1:06.7.

Results
Saturday times merged
Sunday times merged

Not bad for an untested car on new track configuration. Next Event: Buttonwillow next weekend (in a different car) and then Pueblo in three weeks.

Tools at the track

2010-04-04T07:24:00.004-06:00

I've been carrying the same tool box to the track since I started racing my first M3 in 1997. The large metal box, a Kennedy 1022 I think, was a gift from my father many years earlier and sat unused under the workbench for a while after upgrading to a full-sized roll-away in the garage. While it has served faithfully for many years, it's size and weight -- 22 Lbs empty -- have become more of an issue while loading and unloading the car. The large size of the box makes it too easy to throw in parts and tools, and the lay-out of the box was not particularly well suited to storing auto repair tools.

Since I'm planning on driving to many events this year, I decided to lighten the load a bit. First I cut the number of tools I bring to the tracl to the bare minimum. I inventoried everything in the box keeping only the essentials. Gone are my 16 oz. ball-peen and dead-blow hammers, nearly the entire 1/2" drive socket set, hex-keys, screwdrivers, wire-cutters, and a bunch of other junk that has taken up shop in the bottom of the box over the last couple of years.

I knew I wanted a tool bag instead of a tool box -- the soft construction makes packing the car easier -- but I initially wanted a bag large enough for my Snap-on Torque Wrench which is over 24" inches long. An on-line search showed few soft bags in that size, so I decided on a smaller bag and to keep the over-sized torque wrench in my 16 Gal. Tote instead.

I found a Husky 16" Large Mouth Tool Bag that seems to work very well. It has ~20 internal pockets and a dozen external pockets. I moved at the necessary tools into the bag yesterday and they fit really well. The size and weight of my tools have reduced by at least 25% and the soft bag is much easier to pack the the steel of the box.

It's probably not as waterproof at the Kennedy so I've added a couple of trash bag to one of the external pockets in case it rains. The bag will debut at the NASA event at Pikes Peak next weekend, we'll see how it does.

G/C Setup tips

2010-03-31T15:49:00.002-06:00

One of the keys to properly setting up any suspension is the ability to accurately reproduce settings. The Bump adjustment of the Advanced Design shock is based on a reference location -- turning the knob until one of the printed numbers point at a specific point. The problem is that there is no indication of that location on the shock.

Making some kind of mark on the chassis to represent this point makes setting up Bump much easier. I made 4 small triangles and put a pair on the front strut-towers and the other pair on the rear shock mounts.

Suspension setup

2010-03-19T11:12:00.005-06:00

Car-related forums are littered with the same n00b question: What coilover should I get for my Blah-Blah-Blah car. Most of the time the poster is only concerned about lowering the car for looks and will never use any of the adjustments available with a coil-over suspension. If, however, you want to really use these adjustments, you've got to learn the fundamentals. You need to know how camber and caster interact as the car turns in. You need to know how ride height changes at one end of the chassis effects mid-corner balance. There are a number of books on chassis engineering and a number of great web-sites that cover everything you would need. Now you may know what each adjustment does, but you won't make proper use of your new knowledge until you learn to think like a test driver and a race engineer. You have to measure and record everything. You have to take copious notes and be organized, methodical and work to a plan. Every session has to be on the clock and all performance measured. Now are you can start to use suspension adjustments to "tune" the suspension and gain real performance results.

What I'm going to describe here is setting up a Ground Control suspension system with Advanced Design Double Adjustable (D/A) shocks. With this system I can adjust nearly everything front and rear: Caster, Camber, Ride-height and Toe. The shocks are called double adjustable because it provides for two separate resistance adjustments, one changes the shocks resistance to being compressed (Bump) and the other changes the shocks resistance to being extended (Rebound). Single Adjustable shock have a single adjustment the usually only changes Bump resistance. The ability to adjust Bump and Rebound separately is tool that is use to change chassis balance on corner-entry and on corner-exit. Springs and Bars are use to change steady state chassis balance and shocks are used to adjust dynamic chassis balance.

I'm using Bump and Rebound because the first letter corresponds the the color of the knob used to make that adjustment. Red is for Rebound and blue is for Bump. These knobs stick out of the top of the shock so all adjustments are made under the hood or in the trunk and not from the bottom of the car.

The Advanced Design shocks described here have very different methods for setting Bump and Rebound. The blue knob (Bump adjustment) has three positions and a small detent to indicate the correct position. The red Rebound knob has three full turns of adjustment limited by small stops at full stiff and full soft. Clockwise is always stiffer on these shocks.

Baselining:

This is where you develop a repeatable basic setup for the car. All subsequent adjustments are made from from the baseline. My initial baseline came from Ground-Control and is basically an alignment/ride height guide. I have that on the car now. Once the ride heights are determined all the other adjustments won't alter the corner weights so I want to get it set before I corner-weight the car.

I want to understand the performance envelope of the shocks so I plan to do a number of short sessions while testing full-soft through full stiff for both Bump and Rebound.

F-ing weather

2010-03-19T08:01:00.002-06:00

For the second year in a row all pre-season testing has been lost to a series of spirng storms. Tomowwow is the last test day and Denver is now expecting 8-12 inches of snow today and tonight.

This means that the first few races will be a thrash trying to get tire temps, alignment, corner weight and balance sorted out instead of trying to drive for the win.

This is why we are going to move back to California, life is too short to have a few days of weather dictate the success of the entire racing season. Fuck this place.

Continental Divide Raceways, Castle Rock, CO

2010-03-11T11:00:00.010-07:00

For years I've heard the rumor that there was once a "real racetrack" in Castle Rock but that it had closed many years ago.

Recently I learned the racetrack was called Continental Divide Raceways and was located just 4 miles south of downtown Castle Rock. It was a 2.8 paved mile road course, 0.5 mile oval and 1/4 mile drag strip that opened in 1959. Racing continued until 1979 and reopened in briefly in 1981. The land was sold for development and although little has been developed even now, the asphalt surface was plowed up to ensure cars would not return.

Using Google Earth I was able to find the location of the track. Although the pavement is long gone, the location had a distinctive grandstand cut into the hillside which is still visible. Finding the grandstand showed where the drag-strip was and it too is still visible.

Events held at the track include USAC Road Racing Championships, USAC Stock Car and Indy Car events, and SCCA Trans Am.

As early as 1960, USAC held a Road Racing Championship event at the track. Carrol Shelby in a Scarab Mk II held off 35-40 other drivers for 36 laps to take home $900 in the Continental Divide 100. Attendance was recorded as 8,500. Here is an interview with Carrol Shelby discussing the 1960 race at CDR

Though lightly attended compared with the Riverside and Laguna Seca events, the 1961 even still attracted Ken Miles and Bob Holbert and their Porsche 718 RSs and collection of other including Ferrari 500TR, Maserati Tipo 61 and something called a Devin Volkswagen.

By the mid '60s attendance had climbed to over 10k for major road racing events.

The Rocky Mountain 150 held July 7th 1968 attracted Al Unser, AJ Foyt, Lloyd Ruby and Mario Andrett. Ronny Bucknam lead from pole until a half-shaft failure on lap 23 gave the lead to A.J Foyt who held it to the end.

An entry list for the first of two SCCA Tran-Am races held August 26th, 1967, is a Who's Who of American Motorsports:

Mark Donohue, Peter Revson, Dan Gurney George Follmer, Jerry Titus and Milton Minter were all there. Titus took the win in 1967 and Donohue won in 1968

Evel Knievel performed at CDR July 30th 17972.

The last recorded race I find is a Winston West event August 15th, 1982 won by Rick McCray

According to the Chicago Herald-Tribune Driver Jim Mulhall of Littleton was killed on June 8th 1969 at the 1969 Formula A Grand Prix, in a accident that later took the life of mechanic Michael DesJardins.

According to witness Paul Bredenberg;

"I was also at that race. We went to the '69 and '70 Indy car races and the '69 First (and only) Annual Denver Post Grand Prix for SCCA Formula A cars. The Post GP was the eventual demise of the track. The dragstrip was used as the front straight ("The Andretti Straight") and the return road was the pit road. They were separated by a row of 55 gallon rain barrels that were to be filled with water and cabled together. Jim Mulhall was a small-time local Corvette racer who had a chance to drive one of the Indy cars that day. It was a Halibrand Shrike chassis and was offset for oval track racing. It was a yellow #77.

During the race, an absolute DELUGE hit the track in the form of a typical spring storm. Cars tried to stay out on their dry tires but it was senseless to do so. Mulhall's crew signaled him next for rain tires on the next lap. He took one hand off the wheel to signal that he got the message off the board, hit a puddle and aquaplaned 270 degrees, so that the back of the car headed towards the barrels at about a 30 degree angle. Mulhall's car hit the barrels at about 155 mph.

Guess what? Somebody forgot to fill all of the barrels with water! Barrels went flying into the pit area and the cable snapped and hit Mulhall's helmet, breaking it into several pieces. The car went across the return road, hit the Armco barrier and slid to a stop almost at turn 1 ("Foyt's Corner") with a smashed barrel underneath it. Mulhall died on the way to Swedish Hospital without regaining consciousness and three people in the pits were hurt.

After the lawsuits flew and damages were paid, Sid Langsam lost his heart for the track, and then later was diagnosed with cancer; I think it was prostate cancer, but I'm not sure on that."

Today, the Colorado Region of the SCCA give an award for outstanding contribution to racing in Colorado called the Sid Langsam Award.

Here is a video by the Castle Rock Historical Society showing some great period racing at CDR

Here is video of a sprint car race on the CDR oval in 1960

Curbs?!?! on Sunday?

2010-03-10T14:02:00.001-07:00

It looks like HPR is going to be closed on Sunday to install curbing. Really on a Sunday? Seems a weird day for construction on a racetrack.

HPR Shakedown

2010-03-10T07:00:00.005-07:00

On Sunday I'll be taking the car to High Plains Raceway for a shakedown/test session. I hope the weather holds. Beyond making sure the thing works on the track, I'm focused on getting the alignment and overall balance sorted. The main tools will be my new (to me) Longacre tire temp gauge, stopwatch and driver feel.

Tire temperatures will be used to make sure the front and rear camber settings are optimized. Since I've been running Nitto NT-01 for almost a full season I have a handle on the optimum pressure, but I'll be open to making small changes. The primary tuning tool is the driver. I'm going to focus on setting up the car to be comfortable -- aiming for a little oversteer in entry and a little understeer on exit.

This is why double-adjustable shocks are so important, the ability to change how the car behaves before and after the apex. Triple and quad adjustable can also change the behavior at high and low speed both before and after the apex.

Winter Update

2010-02-25T12:52:00.004-07:00

After nearly three monts in the shop I got the car back yesterday. It sits a little lower (and a lot stiffer) on the new Ground Control D/A suspension, has a new (used) transmission and a electric cooling fan.

The GC camber plates only allow -2.6 degrees of camber compared with the 3.5 degrees I used with the stock suspension. I suspect the loss of camber won't be a big deal because of the reduction in body roll. The reason a McPherson strut based cars run so much static negative camber is to compensate for the loss of camber that occurs when the suspension compresses - especially the outside that compresses in a corner. With a 550/800 In/Lb springs the car has almost no body roll. I estimate that roll stiffness is in the 1-2 degree per G range now with no rear bar and the largest GC tubular front bar 1" from the end.

It needs a corner weight now and then a testing session to adjust the balance.

Trans install

2009-12-23T11:55:00.002-07:00

The car is finally at the shop, just in time too, as we are headed into a christmas snowstorm. The window motor is acting up so Brent will look at that in addition to installing the new transmission, new tie-rod ends, an electric cooling fan and a new coolant level sensor.

Maybe if its warm enough

2009-12-15T10:30:00.002-07:00

I'll take the car down to the mechanic today. Forecast calls for +50F, almost a heat-wave in these parts.

GT5 Delayed again

2009-12-15T10:28:00.002-07:00

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/12/14/gran-turismo-5-reportedly-shooting-for-summer-2010-release/

So the PS3 is off my X-mas list.

Finally the transmission

2009-12-01T23:46:00.003-07:00

I finally found a low mile used transmission on Ebay. It comes from a large BMW specialist in Ohio and is claimed to only have 22k miles. I'm shipping it directly to Castle Rock Imports and will get it installed in the next couple of weeks.

High Plains Raceway - 9/27

2009-09-22T14:52:00.002-06:00

This Sunday is a single day event with NASA at High Plains Raceway. Instead of the usual four 20 min sessions the schedule has three 30 or 35 min sessions. I think this is an improvement and I'm looking forward to the longer sessions.

The car is OK -- the trans is still leaking from the main shaft seal -- because the main shaft bearing is worn and there is a lot of play at the input shaft -- but its not too bad. Everything else should be OK.

We are having some really cold weather in Denver now but the forecast says it will warm up -- I would hate to have to add antifreeze for a track-day.

A small scare

2009-08-31T08:21:00.004-06:00

I attempted to drive the car to work last Thursday. It was a nice day with little chance rain and it had been parked since the event at Pueblo so it needed a little exercise.

About halfway there I noticed the temp gauge was climbing and within a few seconds the high-temp warning light came on. I pulled over and let it cool and drove it (mostly downhill) to my mechanic. I feared another blown head-gasket but was relieved to find out it was just a stuck thermostat. This is the second one to stick closed, so it's gone. Brett cut the center of it out ensuring that it will never fail again.

I got the car back Friday and drove it for an hour with no problems.

Over the weekend I also installed a set of Schroth Rallye 3 harnesses. These are four-point harnesses designed to be used with stock seats and have the Schroth ASM feature. The car is pulling 1.1-1.2 sustained Gs now which require more than a little effort to stay in the seat. I tend to push against the steering wheel (illustrated by the lack of suede left on the face of the wheel) to hold myself in the seat. These should make driving a lot more comfortable.

IRL @ the track formerly known as Sears Point

2009-08-18T12:33:00.002-06:00

This weekend Kathy and I are heading out to Cali to watch the roundy-roundy kids attempt to turn the wheel both ways for a change at the PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County. Whew, that's a mouthful.

In preparation I just dug out the Scanner and headsets that I purchased for the Daytona24 a few years ago. I took a couple of minutes to remember how to connect everything and to find a couple of missing parts, but now I think I have everything.

If you have never "heard" a motorsport event with a scanner, you are missing one of the most interesting aspects of the race. Hearing the teams discuss strategy, tactics, and problems gives a view of the event that even TV can't match.

Pueblo Photos

2009-07-16T17:29:00.004-06:00

Thanks to Blue Fox Imaging for the proofs

NASA @ Pueblo

2009-07-16T08:54:00.003-06:00

Last weekend's NASA event went really well. The new motor performed well, the driver scored a new personal best lap and the Dunlop tires provided a mix of great performance and even better wear in the 100+ degree heat.

I took the full rig to the event and found an enclosed trailer is a nice convenience but generally too warm without an air-conditioner. I also damaged the splitter trying to get the car into the trailer for the first time. In the future, removing the front bumper is an easy solution. Also new this weekend are a set of magnetic number panels. They turned out pretty well.

Umbau die cast

2009-07-06T17:53:00.006-06:00

This is an example of a "umbau" M3s that show up on Ebay from time to time. This was a standard "Cecotto" version before the wheels were changed to the over-sized BBS style shown.

The German word "umbau" means conversion/renovation. Here is a link to EC-Cars on Ebay, the seller of these cars from Germany. Search the store for "Umbau" or "Veredelte Modelle" to see a huge collection of modified cars.

Rare die cast M3s

2009-07-06T07:24:00.008-06:00

Many Ebay sellers offering 1/18 E30 M3 DTM die cast are quick to advertise that a particular model is "rare". Since most of these have been out of production for a few years, there is some truth to the claim -- but not much.

In any 60-90 day period nearly every model becomes available at a reasonable price on Ebay. There are a few that are a little less common (the BMW dealer-only cars are among these) but nearly all of them of them are readily available if you are patient.

There is a micro-industry modifying the stock kits to make the car into something else. Most commonly the stickers are removed, the car disassembled and repainted, and larger wheels are added to mimic the "Tuner" look. Although "rare" these have never appealed to me.

I recently found a "rare" modified car that does appeal to me. It is a replica of the Demon Tweeks sponsored BTCC M3 as driven by Roland Ratzenburger and later shown at the Goodwood festival.

It appears to be a really high quality job. The owner claims that it is one of three commissioned by Demon Tweeks to celebrate running the real car at Goodwood. That would meet my definition of "rare".

So I broke my $100 rule and bought it for 102 British Pounds. This is the most I have spent on a car so far but given the unique nature of the car I think it was worth it. Here is a picture of the real car at Goodwood and a picture of the car from the e-bay auction. I'll be interested to learn which model was sacrificed to build this replica. The only visible difference between the real car and the replica appears to be the side on which the driver sits. As far as I know there has never been a RHD die cast E30 M3.

Back on Track

2009-07-05T08:02:00.001-06:00

I got the M3 (and rebuilt motor) back from the shop a few days ago and have put ~250 miles on it. It feels pretty good. The Vorshlag mounts are mighty stiff and cause a big increase the noise and vibration -- these are not for street cars. The upside of all that noise is that the feel of the shifter is fantastic. The LTW flywheel is a nice improvement and makes the car feel faster if only a little bit.

I'll be heading down to Pueblo for the NASA event this weekend -- which almost didn't happen due to low attendance -- only a last minute plea for drivers saved it.

This will be my first weekend with the enclosed trailer. I got a proportional trailer brake controller installed and a 7" drop hitch last Tuesday. I scored a nice set of "T hook" tie down straps on Ebay. I'm taking Friday off to set up the trailer for the first time.

Assembly

2009-06-23T11:40:00.006-06:00

So, the re-assembly of the engine begins. I am really glad I chose to replace the rod bearings. Here is a photo of the #1 rod bearing. Note the damage -- probably caused by oil starvation. The damage is easy to feel with the tip of my finger. Luckily the crankshaft was not damaged. the majority of the damage is to the lower bearing. The upper bearing, which takes the load of each combustion event, shows some pitting. In my case the lower bearing shows considerably more damage (which is not technically wear).
This explains the knocking noise coming from the front of the engine at idle. So the rod bearings are in and torqued.

Over the weekend I had a local welder tack the VAC oil pan baffle in place so that this can be prevented on the future. Here is a photo of the installed baffle. Note that it is welded in at all three attachment points -- the stock baffle uses two pins and a single weld.

Here is a photo of my new (used) front sub-frame after the Turner Motorsport reinforcements were welded in. There are two, one that reinforces the metal where the motor-mount fasteners fit and the other reinforces the area around the first reinforcement. There were noticeable cracks in my original sub-frame which these reinforcements are designed to prevent. Also since this is from a later M3 it has threaded inserts that will allow the factory "X-brace" to be installed. Many drivers report a noticeable improvement in front-end grip after the addition of the X-brace.

My next event is July 11th at Pueblo Motorsports Park. I hope to have the engine back together and in the car by the end of this weekend. I need to put some miles on the motor and clutch before the event. I'm travelling to Philadelphia for the 4th of July holiday and return two days before the event.

Exhaust Valves

2009-06-03T12:56:00.002-06:00

Here is a closeup of my fingers and an exhaust valve. It is really clean given the 130k miles on this car. The light grey material is carbon that has built up over time. If you look closely you can see that some of the carbon has broken off. A wire wheel will be used to remove all this before they are reinstalled in the head.

Disassembled Head

2009-06-03T12:51:00.003-06:00

Here is the cylinder head almost fully disassembled. The valves, seals, springs, caps and keepers have been removed. It's almost ready to go the the machine shop to be milled so that the bottom is perfectly flat. The machinist will also machine the valve seats and valves so they flow and seal better.

Clutch, Flywheel and other bits

2009-06-02T21:43:00.004-06:00

Splitting engine from transmission revealed that my Exxon Valdez-style oil leak was in fact a transmission input-shaft leak. It was so severe that the clutch was soaked an gear oil and must be replaced. This is an opportunity to upgrade to a lighter package and slightly improve acceleration.

After a bunch of research I chose a ~10 lb JB Racing Flywheel and Clutchmasters FX-100 Clutch kit. This combo weighs about 14 lbs, 12 Lbs lighter than the original combo. I originally planned to buy a kit from UUC as their Stage-1 and Stage-2 kits are a little less expensive but their sales department seems unable to return customers repeated calls, so I spent my money with VAC Motorsports instead.

In addition to the clutch/flywheel combo I also ordered a VAC oil pan baffle, ARP Head and Rod bolts and 24 valves worth of hardened valve keepers. This represents the final order -- I hope -- for the rebuild.

Die Cast cars

2009-06-02T21:10:00.006-06:00

Ok, I'll admit it, I have a secret collection of model cars. I only collect one kind of car and in only one scale. I am totally obsessed by 1/18 scale BMW E30 M3 DTM race cars. I currently have 17 of them. Not all of them, but pretty close. I'm missing one of the two "Tic-Tac" cars and I don't have either of the BMW issued E30 M3 "Art Cars" -- mostly because they really aren't race cars.

There are only two companies that make these models (AutoArt and Minichamps) and April marked the Minichamps release of the the 1988 "Eifelrennen Nuerburgring" winner driven by Kurt Thiim. It the first new car in a couple of years.

I have a rule that I won't pay over $100 shipped for any car. The best deal I have found on-line is for about $120 shipped so I will keep shopping. E-Bay is a great source for these.

UPDATE June 23, 09: I bought a #31 (as above) for $95.45 shipped on eBay.

Disassembly

2009-05-30T22:20:00.009-06:00

Head rebuild and new rod bearings.

2009-05-21T08:32:00.003-06:00

With confirmation of the blown head-gasket and the likelihood that the head is warped means that it has to be removed. Given the audible rod-knock and the oil leak at the rear main seal it appears the easiest solution is to remove the entire engine to fix everything at once.

This leaves two options, rebuild or replace with used. After checking a number of sources, I wasn't comfortable that any of the used engines currently available were going to be any better than a partial rebuild.

After discussing my options with a number of reputable engine builders, I think I'm going to completely rebuild the head to OE spec, replace the rod bearings with the pistons and crank still in the block. A full rebuild is tempting, but the additional cost of machining the block and rings/bearings is prohibitive ($2k). Most builders think the mains are bulletproof and BMW rings should be good but will need a good look while things are apart.

Some early decisions include using ARP head bolts and rod bolts, installing a VAC Oil Pan Baffle, and upgrading the valve keepers.

Bummer -- Blown Head Gasket

2009-05-18T07:27:00.004-06:00

It looks like I lost the head gasket at the PPIR event a month ago. It slightly overheated and I thought I pulled off the track in time but it appears that I did not. The car shows no symptoms on the street but on the track after extended sessions (20+ min.) it starts to slowly overheat and after pulling off the track the cooling system is fully presurized and spit about a half gallon of coolant. I drove a couple of days at HPR with it blown but it was cold enough (30s-40s) that it was also asymptomatic. However in the 85 degree heat of Pueblo it failed pretty quickly.

My options are:

1. Replace just the head gasket.
2. Replace head gasket and rebuild top-end
3. Rebuild entire motor
4. Swap to used motor

Option One is a bad choice for a track car as the head is likely warped and will need to be surfaced to provide reliable sealing for more than a couple of months. Not gonna do it.

Two is pretty attractive. It's relatively inexpensive, will provide a long-term solution and can be done in a home garage. There is really only problem with this. It's not enough. In addition to the headgasket, I also have a Exxon Valdez style oil leak from the rear main seal. So to get to that I need to pull the engine or drop the trans.

Rebuilding is also attractive -- it seems better than a used motor of unknown history but it is really expensive. This on only really an option if I do the work myself. Labor on a full top and bottom rebuild is well over $5000 and can approach $10k. It appear that this can be done at home for about $3500k in parts and tools

The final option, a motor swap, is pretty attractive, 3.2L S52USs seem to sell for $2500-$3000. This is a little more displacement than my current 3.0L S50US and by using all my OBD-1 accessories it is a simple swap.

The real decision here is: who does the work? I have the technical ability and the tools to do it myself. I just don't think I have the time. I spoke to a local shop and they reccomended the swap as it is the most labor effiecent option. In fact they think the full motor swap is cheaper than a top-end.

So any way you look at it, this is a $2500 -- $5500 unbudgeted expense. Shit.

HPR Analysis

2009-05-05T18:22:00.007-06:00

Here is a track map and speed/distance chart of a 30 Min session at HPR in the M3. I'm actually quite proud of this session as I was focused on carrying more speed into corners and clear improvments are shown in the data.

This was my first session on Nittos and the average lateral G for the session was .2 G higher than a similer session on Kuhmo MXs a month earlier. It was cold and blustery -- 45-50 degrees F and overcast.

Segment 1

Turn 1 is a fast, flat 60 mph left and the end of the second longest straight. The apex is slightly obstructed by the pit wall on entry. On the first laps I was slowing to 57.4 mph, over the next 7 laps that increased to 61.5 Mph. Minimum speed is directly related to exit speed, so this is worth 3/10th in this segment but will also help in the next segment.

Segment 2

Turn two is a 180 degree sweeper and there is a 3-2 downshift under braking and a 2-3 up shift 100 ft after track-out. I've tried the whole thing in third and the data shows that the shift is worth 1/10 in the ~10 second segment.

Segment 3

Turn three is a little kink leading onto the straight and the most important corner on the track.

This is a corner that is easy to overdrive, it is tempting to carry a bunch of speed in, but the really fast way is to be really smooth in and get in the throttle before the apex. There was a 5/10 improvement from lap 2 through lap 7 and an increase in minimum speed from 60.4 mph to 65.8 mph. Unfortunately there is not a total correlation between the highest minimum speed (at the apex of 3) and the highest maximum speed (at the exit of the segment). There is correlation between the highest minimum speed and and the shortest time for the segment.

Segment 4

Segment 4 is the end of the back straight, a slightly uphill right hand 90 with a slightly blind apex. As you can see from the speed/distance chart I am braking later and slowing less with each lap. It's really all about not slowing down too much.

Segment 7

This is a high speed, steeply uphill sweeper that falls away near the top. To is easily one of the most entertaining corners on the track.

What is shown in the middle of the segment is less and less braking at entry. Notice how the speed conserved early is carried all the way to the end of the segment.

Faster in is faster out here -- the more speed you can carry in, the more speed you retain climbing the hill. There is a 5/10th sec and almost 3 mph difference between the best and worst.

Segment 9

Another entertaining corner, downhill, off-camber, with risky run-off. Again the speed/distance chart shows slowing less and less each lap.

In summary, the data shows a consistent improvement, taking little bites, and the reward is better laps.

From Lap 2 (2:13.57) to Lap 8 (2:12.45) there is a 1.1 sec reduction in lap time. The Traqmate claims the Theoretical Best lap (combining all the best segments into a single lap is 2:10.05, So I have plenty of room to improve consistency.

Here is a friction circle for the same session. Notice how accelleration is grouped -- the strongest (in second gear) is shown by a dark line near the bottom of the chart, third gear acceleration is shown by the darker line above.

This indicates that this is a HP limited car, since it can accelerate near the max and turn near the max at the same time. It also shows that this is a clockwise track because the left side is darker than the right.

Innovative cage design ideas

2009-04-29T10:23:00.004-06:00

There are so many good cage design ideas here it's hard to know where to start.

I'm certainly going to copy that upper windshield bar so close that it touches the drivers head. It's important that the head firmly contact the cross bar before the belts have a chance to tighten up. Also during heavy braking, the driver can rest his neck, important for those long enduro races.

Note how close the knees are to the ironically names "knee bar". Again, important to have solid contact before the belts begin to tighten.

Now note the creative bends in the main hoop, sure, some sanctioning bodies may not approve of such creative design, but they are simply behind the times and don't understand how important looks are inside a race car.

Maybe this guy is looking for a co-driver for some upcoming event. Where do I sign up?

Fender Rollin'

2009-04-16T17:09:00.003-06:00

The snow is just starting to fall, tomorrow's lapping day at HPR is a long-shot now. So I'll add a couple of pics of the fender rolling last weekend. I rolled the first side with only the tiniest crack in the paint. I took the same care on the second side and instantly caused a 6" crack.

Most of the focus is on the back half of the arch. This is where the tire is closest to the fender. I scraped all of the body-filler out and rolled the lip almost completely flat.

As you can see, even a large 255 R-Comp fits a full compression on both sides. It took about 2.5 hours. I helped to have two floor jacks when confirming that the tire fits as full compression.

This isn't good

2009-04-15T08:47:00.004-06:00

A Winter Storm Watch predicting 10-20 inches of snow on Friday. Looks like the lapping day may be at risk.

Statement as of 6:39 AM MDT on April 15, 2009

A Winter Storm Watch remains in effect from Thursday evening through Saturday morning.

A chance of mixed snow and rain is expected for much of Thursday night before changing over to snow by early Friday morning. Heavy snow is possible over the urban corridor Palmer Ridge and western Weld County on Friday continuing into Saturday morning. Possible accumulations could range from 10 to 20 inches of heavy wet snow. Strong north northeast winds of 15 to 35 mph are also expected late Thursday night into Saturday morning.

2009-04-14T06:20:00.006-06:00

High Plains Raceway

2009-04-14T06:20:00.005-06:00

I drove High Plains Raceway a couple of weeks ago. I did their Friday Lapping Day the day before the first SCCA Regional.

What a great track. It is really technical, lots of elevation change and beautiful new asphalt. I drove over 5 hours including one 2+ hour session that was a tank of gas from full to empty. All this track time really killed the consumables. I burned through half a set of tires and half a set of front pads. I took the opportunity to change both -- I'm going to Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec tires to gain better wet weather performance and instead of the Performance Friction 01 Compound (Which I love) I'm going to try the new 06 compound to get a little better wear and shift the brake balance to the rear by continuing to run PF01 in the rear.

I'm headed back for a full three days this weekend. I've got a new set of 255 Nitto NT01s if it's dry and a set of 245 Dunlops in case of rain.

NASA @ Pikes Peak

2009-03-31T12:55:00.004-06:00

I did a one day NASA Instructor Certification event at Pikes Peak Raceway last Saturday. It was a really interesting event, highly educational, and really fun. The weather was really cold, 23F when I arrived a 7am and never climbing above 40 all day.

The car was a mixed bag. It ran well, and the off-season weight loss (180 lbs) is aparent. The new super-ergonomic combo of steering wheel and tall "Jaffster" knob is really comfortable.

Unfortunately the event ended early when the upper radiator hose came off and the engine pumped all it's coolant on to the track. I never saw or felt if happen, I just smelled the sticky-sweet scent of coolant, and pulled in ASAP. I was lucky not to loose the motor.

It appears to be my fault as the clamp may not have been tightened completely as I was a little nervous about crushing the aluminum radiator nipple. It took a while to replace the coolant and by the time is was refilled my last session was over. Ces't la guerre.

Gone are original LTW wheels that came with the car. It was really hard to let them go -- they are my favorite BMW wheels and really suit the car. However their staggered sizing made them useless for the track so I replaced them with another set of Kosei K1s shod with Nitto NT01s in 255/40-17. I looked at a lot of track wheels, but in the end the low cost of the Koseis in 17x8.5 trumped more expensive wheels in 17x9.

I've been running the smaller 245/40s and will probably need to roll the rear fenders a bit to fit 255s on 8.5 w/40mm offset wheel.

Snow

2009-03-27T09:28:00.002-06:00

It's Friday morning, I have to be at the track for a meeting at 7pm tonight and there is almost two feet of snow on the roads. It's 9 degrees now heading for a high of 25 and tomorrow may get all the way to 40.

The idea of driving a 2900 pound race car 70 miles through the snow on 255 R-Comp tires is terrifying. Since I sold my street tires last week, my only choice is to borrow the wheels from the wife's 3 series. I'm not sure the 8.5" 50mm offset rears will actually fit since all my 8.5 are 42mm. Mostly I'm waiting to hear something official from NASA before trying to fit them.

I'm really not looking forward to driving in sub-freezing temps. I'll also have to add more antifreeze to the radiator to keep from loosing another.

Sometimes I really hate living in Colorado.

2009 Open Track Schedule

2009-03-11T07:13:00.004-06:00

March 28 Pikes Peak NASA Instructor Clinic (Done)
April 3 HPR Lapping Day (Done)
April 17 HPR Lapping Day
April 18-19 HPR NASA Instructor/HPDE
April 24 HPR Lapping Day
May 15-17 Pueblo NASA Instructor/HPDE
July 11-12 Pueblo NASA Instructor/HPDE
August 8-9 Hastings NASA Instructor/HPDE
Sept 10-13 Miller NASA Nationals
Sept 27 HPR NASA Instructor/HPDE
Oct 31-1 HPR NASA Instructor/HPDE

Radiator Solution

2009-03-10T08:07:00.003-06:00

After coveting the Zionsville Competition Cooling kit, I've decided on a more budget friendly solution. Bimmerworld offers a self-branded all aluminum radiator for much less then a Fluidyne or C&R. It claims to be identical to the OEM radiator so can be used with the stock fan shroud and overflow tank -- not my preferred solution but it is much easier (and much less expensive) than installing the Euro overflow tank or engineering another solution.

My new, low cost plan is to keep the stock fan shroud, trim it back so that it really only holds the new OEM overflow tank. The trimming is to make room for a 16" SPAL electric fan that will attach directly to the radiator core. Not as elegant as the Zionsville solution, but it costs less then half as much.

I also ordered a Stewart high-performance water pump, colder 75c thermostat, thermostat housing, and OE hose kit.

I'll admint some buyer's remorse right after ordering, I tried to cancel and order the Zionsville. For good or for bad Bimmerworld had already boxed and shipped the order. Looking back, I'm glad to have saved the money.

Preseason Preparation

2009-03-09T06:41:00.003-06:00

Three weeks to the first event so, Saturday morning I dusted off the car and started it up for the first time this year. I used a Battery Tender all winter with my new Odyssey battery and it worked perfectly and started first turn.

A brief warm-up and quick trip to the big traffic circle and a couple of slippy/slidey laps and back to the garage to check it out. The puddle slowly forming under the nose of the car was not a good sign.

A closer look showed it the be the typical BMW radiator failure where one of the plastic end caps starts leaking where it attaches to the aluminum core. Shit.

So Sunday morning I started to pull the radiator and associated components. The first major problem was the the fan clutch was totally frozen to the water pump shaft. Any one familiar with removing a fan clutch know that the trick is to hold the water pump pulley while turning the nut on the back of the clutch. So after 3-4 attempts with increasing violence and ever larger hammers, we know have Scott swinging a 4 Lb sledge at a pair of Park Tool 32mm headset wrenches and I'm folding the pulley with a 10mm wrench on one of the pulley bolts and a 24" cheater bar on the 10mm wrench. I don't know how many safety violations that is, but it's a lot. about a second later the cheater bar of course slips, and my middle finger takes the full force of the following swing. Ouch. I don't think it's broken, but it sure does hurt.

I ended up removing the water pump, pulley, and fan clutch in one piece and cutting the water pump shaft with a sawzall.

In doing so I discovered that the same jackass mechanic that installed that fan clutch with super-human strength (and no anti-sieze), also installed a new waterpump with a plastic impeller fully confirming their total mechanical incompetance.

I now need to decode how much radiator to buy to replace the stock one. On one hand I could simply buy another stock water pump, radiator, overflow tank, fan and fan clutch. this is about $500. For about $1000 I can get an all-aluminum racing radiator with an electric fan and save a little horsepower . Finally I could go all out and for $2000 get the racing radiator with a complete Euro M3 oil cooler built in.

I've never had any cooling problems with my car, so I'm not sure an oversize radiator is required and the Euro oil-cooler is really just a nice to have.

I've got a bit more research before making a decision.

Bangle - Gone!

2009-02-03T12:23:00.002-07:00

Yippee, the moron responsible for the pathetic BMW design of recent years is leaving BMW and the auto industry.

The press release reads like a love fest, but Bangle's stay at BMW has been rife with conflict. Contrary to the release Bangle had little to do the the design of the Mini (much of which was designed external from BMW). His first catastrophe was the 7 series. What a train wreck! He also mangled the 5 and 3 series. The only car he designed that isn't a total disaster is the 6 series. It's only a disaster from a couple of angles.

BMW fans will note that the shift away from his ham-fisted (sorry edge-flame-polished) design began a couple of years ago when he moved/was moved from day-to-day design. Note that the new M3 (which actually looks OK) was completed after he was sent upstairs.

So, we BMW fans can only hope that the scars he leaves behind fade quickly.

Real barn find

2009-01-02T20:10:00.003-07:00

1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante found in a garage after 40 years. Could reset the record for most expensive car ever auctioned -- but the economy may cause it to fall short. Still among the best looking of all Bugatti.

UPDATE: The car sold today (7 Feb 09) for 3.4m Euro ($4.4m USD) well short of the pre-bid hype. Still a spectacular find.

Race of Champions

2008-12-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

On Now (Live)

Honda calls it quit

2008-12-05T02:16:00.003-07:00

In a stunning announcement, Honda is closing the shutters on it's Formula One program. One can only wonder it the Max and Bernie single engine lunacy had an effect, or if this is just another sign of the times.

I hope Button finds a seat next year. Barrichello was probably toast anyway.

Happy Anniversary

2008-12-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 4-year anniversary of the first post on this blog.

Man up, Yo.

2008-11-21T09:36:00.003-07:00

After reading about it on my favorite bike-blog, Bike Snob NYC, I decided to test the manliness of my blog with Genderanalyzer .

According to the smart computers over at Genderanalyzer, there is a 89% chance that all this is being written by a man.

My other blog, which I share with my wife gets a "likely female" but produces a 50% score. This thing seems pretty accurate...

Dewalt Impact wrench

2008-11-05T07:29:00.002-07:00

This thing rocks. On Saturday I installed snow tires on Kathy's car, rotated the tires on my 3/4 truck and swapped wheels on the M3 so I can sell the LTWs. That's 72 lug nuts including 32 that were torqued to 125 Ft/lbs last fall.

The Dewalt just ate it up and asked for more. It can easily remove lugs bolts when the wheels are off the ground. It's got plenty of power and makes quick work of everything I've thrown at it. When reinstalling wheels, the "rocker" trigger is nicely variable so it's easy to snug-up bolts without over torqing them.

That said I also got to use the 18v Snap-on and talk at length with a guy who owns one. As nice as the Dewalt is, the Snap-on is the best tools available. It produces well over 600 ft/lbs when removing fasteners. In fact the Snap-on is the only wrence designed specifically to remove fasteners. The Dewalt and the Milwaukee are both designed to drive-in fastners with the same power that they are removed. The Snap-on produces twice the torque when removing fasteners than when installing which is perfect for automotive applications.

So If you can part with 5-large for a cordless impact wrench, then grab the Snap-on. If your're thinking more like $300, then the Dewalt is a good choice.

of cordless impact wrenches

2008-10-29T11:19:00.004-06:00

This is a must-have tool for any open-tracker. I borrowed one at Miller and was shocked at how quickly I swapped all four wheels -- I'm pretty sure it was less than half the time required using a breaker bar.

I've been looking at them ever since and recently decided to get one -- here is what I learned:

1. The biggest, baddest, cordless impact tools out there (Milwaukee 0779, Snap-on CT4850HO) cost ~$500+ and can generate well over 350+ Ft/Lbs when removing fasteners, more than enough for wheel bolts.

2. For about $300 there are a few wrenches that generate 250-300 Ft/Lbs.

3. Below that are wrenches that generate ~100-200 Ft/Lbs and are probably not suitable for wheel bolts.

4. Some vendors sell wrenches that look alike but have very difference performance -- compare model numbers.

I chose a 18v Dewalt, Model DW059k-2, which generates 300 Ft/Lbs and uses the same battery as my cordless drill-driver. I paid $277 (with a case, charger, and two batteries) from Amazon and received free-shipping. I needed to replace the batteries in my drill driver anyway so it was like spending $100 on the wrench. I'll have it in a couple of days and describe what I learn.

Fall Update

2008-10-29T10:53:00.002-06:00

I got one more day in after Hastings, a single NASA day at Pueblo. Work and travel conspired to keep me off-track for at last 3 local track days.

Now, with no events until next year it's time to start thinking rebuild. I'd like to fully rebuild both front and rear suspension with new coil-over springs, bars, shocks, chassis reinforcements, and all new bushings. However in light of the current economic condition, maybe I'll scale back a little bit. Other than that, this winter I'd like to weigh the car, remove the air-bag system, and install a removable steering-wheel.

One thing I had to do was replace the battery. The date indicated that it was 4+ years old so I wasn't surprised it died after the car sat a couple of weeks. I replaced it with an Odyssey PC680 -- which is pretty much a big motorcycle battery -- in a really cool battery-box designed by Russ Wiles and available from BimmerHaus in Boulder.

Learn more about the box and battery here

This removes ~25 Lbs from the trunk and I think it changed the rear ride height a little. 2900 Lbs. here I come.

Hastings After Action

2008-08-20T13:33:00.004-06:00

Hastings was great. I wrote something about it on my personal blog here

Not discussed there is one of the highlights of the event, the Saturday night "Bacardi Bus" ride. The bus is a modified School bus used to take Corner Workers to the flag stations during events at Hastings. Most of the original seat have ben removed in favor of used furniture -- couches, love-seats, old car seats. Adding to the fun, they are not attached to the bus.

On Saturday nights, after a couple cold, malted beverages, the bus is loaded with unsuspecting drivers and workers, and sent out on track. The driver goes much faster than you would think a school bus would go on a race track.

As you can see from the in-bus photo, we are tracking to the apex in a full-on deluge.

Motorsport Park Hastings

2008-08-06T21:06:00.002-06:00

This weekend is a NASA RM event at Motorsport Park Hastings (MPH)? Get it?

It's supposed to be a really good track. It's a bit of a haul -- 5.5 hours says Google Maps.

I've added fixed camber plates increasing negative camber to 2.5 degrees. This should help reduce some of the tire wear i'm seeing with stock camber settings.

1995 M3 Issues

2008-07-20T12:06:00.003-06:00

There are a few important maintenance items that are really must-do on a 1995 M3. They are all actually pretty difficult to do but if you don't, and they fail, you will wish you did.

1. Weak Valve Retainers

Early 1995s (prior to 10/95) have improperly heat-treated valve retainers that can fail causing a catastrophic engine failure.

More details here

2. Loose Oil Pump Nut

The nut attaching the drive pulley to the oil pump can come loose causing a total loss of oil pressure and a few seconds later, catastrophic engine failure.

More details here

3. Loose Rear Diff Bolts

The bolts attaching the LSD cover to the carrier may not have had locktite applied properly at the factory allowing bolts to fall out and be ingested by the ring/pinion gears causing catastrophic differential failure.

More details here

So, go check your nuts, bolts and retainers...

Miller Photos

2008-07-19T17:42:00.004-06:00

Better late than never.

I finally connected with the photographer from the Miller NASA event. Here are a couple of really nice shots.

Hard to imagine anything cooler than this

2008-07-18T22:04:00.000-06:00

More about roll cages

2008-07-16T20:09:00.009-06:00

Ranked by importance, my criteria for optimum cage design is

1. A safer cage is better
2. A stiffer cage is better
3. More driver space is better
4. Easier driver egress is better
5. A lighter cage is better

The following series of charts is from a thread on bimmerforum.com about cage design. One of the members did a series of mathematical simulations of a roll cage designs using ProE to build the model and Mechanica to run the simulations. These simulations estimate what happens to a roll cage when a load is applied to one corner. The goal is to understand the stiffness of each cage design and the trade-offs involved in different designs.

This approach has a few weaknesses, primarily the lack of a similar model of the unibody chassis in order to evaluate how the two structures work in concert.

That said, this is really interesting work and bears thorough review.

This first picture shows a basic 6-point rollcage with “X” style door bars, harness bar, and a rear diagonal.

In this simulation, a 500 Lb. upward force is applied to the driver’s A-pillar leg and the strain on the rest of the cage tubes is represented graphically.

Notice how large the windshield and door openings are in this design – probably not good for stiffness.

Here is a second chart showing what happens if you add an A-pillar down-bar, change the driver’s door-bar to allow easier access, add a bar from driver’s shoulder to rear bulkhead, and small upper windshield gussets. The stiffness of the cage increases by over 60% with the addition of only a couple of strategically placed bars.

Here we have added a bar from the A-pillar straight to the floor and dash bar gussets. This is 76% stiffer and weighs only 23 Lbs more then the original design.

All the models so far have used 1.5” .120 wall DOM tubes. What happens when you go to 1.75 .090 wall DOM? Cage weight goes down 2.5% and stiffness goes up 7%.

This chart shows the difference in stiffness between two different A-pillar configurations. The design on the left is about 10% stiffer than the design on the right. Clearly there are trade offs to be made here, as the new A-pillar bar on the left is pretty close to the driver.

Bryan Watts has this design (with an additional gusset) in his E36 M3 and says it doesn’t interfere with driver’s vision at all.

The door bar configuration shown here – typically called “Porsche style because it is derived from the a Porsche GT-3 Cup car – is about as stiff as the stiffest designs and makes entry/exit easier and because they bow outward they provide more room in the drivers “office”.

This chart shows the stiffest design to date without crazy braces in the windshield area. It has a fairly radical A-pillar bar, small roof and dash bar gussets and a roof diagonal all in1.75x.090 DOM.

At this point I’m planning a cage like the stiffest shown above but with either Porsche-style door-bars or with a standard X. Both of options are pretty close to the ultimate in stiffness. The standard X would allow me to keep the windows in the car. Unless you have an enclosed trailer (not in my plans for a few years) then windows are really practical. The Porsche door bars can be made to just fit while keeping the window glass, but removing the door panels (which are pretty thick on the E36).

I will also extend the cage forward from low on the A-pillar bar to connect to the firewall. This provides some additional protection for the drivers feet.

The final key feature I'll add is a jacking tube integrated into the door bars. This creates a reinforced point from which to lift the car. A short "spike" attaches to a floor jack effectvely preventing the car from slipping off the jack.

Pueblo #2

2008-07-14T14:17:00.002-06:00

Saturday it was back to Pueblo for the NASA Summer Beach Party Event. The weather was a little cooler than the 95s we had been seeing last week. It was a nice change. The car ran great, no major problems.

I pitted with a large group of BMW drivers who regularly attend NASA events. I met some of them at the BMWCCA School at Pueblo a couple of months ago. It was nice to feel like part of group for the first time. I think many open-track drivers are reluctant to admit new attendees into the clique until they have show some kind of driving proficiency.

The new HeroCam needs a little debugging. The camera eats batteries at a disturbing rate. The Users Guide recommends buying a couple of sets of rechargeable batteries and now I understand why. The camera seems to get about 90 minutes of recording out of a pair of AAAs. The problem is that the SD card holds 56 minutes of video. As a result, I need to install new batteries for every session. Home Depot sells 16 packs of AAAs for about $10. Rechargables are about $16 for 4 and the charger is about $25. So, for a typical track day with 4 sessions, I'd need 8-10 batteries. Call it 10 for $40 + $25 for the charger = $65.

Non-rechargables cost about $6.20 for the same 10 batteries so it takes 10 track days (or 5 weekends) to recoup the cost of the rechargables. I'll do that many next year for sure so I think I'll get the rechargables.

I also need to upgrade the Traqmate software from TraqView to TraqStudio ($199) so I can integrate video with the Traqmate data on a single screen.

Here are a couple of shots of the camera mounted in the car. For forward looking stuff I used the suction cup mount on the inside of the windscreen with the camer mounted updide down.

I also added a mount to the rear of the car using the supplied plastic mount that attaches to the car with a super adhesive. The camera and case weigh only a few ounces so this is actually a pretty rugged mount.

When I actually mounted the camera, I added a little safety wire between the camera and the license plate frame just in case.

This shows the complete camera mounted on the windscreen. The camera is mounted upside-down here and has a setting to record upside-down so I don't have to flip it in post

The picture quality is acceptable and very usable to YouTube and other web publishing. It even looks OK on a big-screen if you are sitting far enough back.

Because of the battery problems I only captured two sessions. I'll add some video here soon.

Carbon Fiber Roll Cages

2008-07-08T09:12:00.001-06:00

Read all about it.

Video

2008-07-07T18:41:00.003-06:00

I spent most of a day Sunday trying to mount a video system in the car. Being in the video industry I planned the ultimate in-car video system. I have a Sony HVR Z1 U 4:4:4 1080P HD camera looking forward and a Canon XH-A1 1080i HD camera pointing aft. Using our Red ONE 4k camera seemed like overkill.

The problem is that pro- and pro-sumer cameras are large and heavy, each of the HD cams weighs something over 5 pounds and is large enough to make them all but impossible to mount safely in a car without a cage. They won't fit in the rear window becasue they are too tall. I fabed an arm the attaches between the stock head-rest mounts but found it too flexible for even a single camera. Hard braking dropped the point of aim by 6 inches. After a bunch of trial fitting and fabrication, I have decided on another, very different, path.

I gave up on the HD setup and ordered a GoPro HeroCam. $179 + free shipping. It is solid state, light-weight, comes with lots of mounting options and is designed for just this application. Plus it's in a hard plastic case to allow it to be mounted outside the car. Something quite out of the question with someone elses $5k HD cam.

I'll revisit the full 2-screen HD setup when the cage is in.

...and the Big Brown Truck just dropped off a new Nady PMC-2x Intercom so driver and passenger can chat in comfort.

Counting the days till NASA on Saturday -- lots of new things to try.

Chunking Tire

2008-07-05T21:42:00.003-06:00

I finally unwrapped my tires from the Miller event. Here's a photo of my passenger front tire showing significant chunking both on the center band and the edges of inner tread block.

This is suprising because the stock suspension lacks enough negative camber for track work. This is confirmed by some significant wear on the outside shoulder of front tires. The opposite side showed very minor chunking -- 2-3 small chunks total.

I'm not sure when this occured -- I suspect it was saturday afternoon. It was really hot, 98 F, and blazing sun, the track was probably close to 120 F. I was pushing pretty hard as well. There was a little push in a couple of corners but nothing out of hand.

I think the centeral nature of the chunking indicates too much air pressure. Except -- you can clearly see the mold line separating the left and right halves of the tread. If the air pressure is really too high wouldn't you see enough wear on the center rib to obliterate the mold line?

Saturday afternoon I dropped pressures and ended up at 35 Lbs hot in front. I guess I'll drop to 33 but I'm concerned about anything that might increase wear on the outside shoulder.

Oil Cooler Project

2008-06-30T16:12:00.003-06:00

This morning I found a deal on about half of an E36 M3 Euro oil cooler. A member of the Spec-E36 list offered the oil cooler and lines for $100 -- a smoking deal. I still need the Euro Housing and some mounting hardware to finish the job. I'm not in a particular hurry so I'll keep looking for a cheap used housing if such a thing exists.

Incredibly cool waste of money

2008-06-30T11:12:00.001-06:00

Like fighter pilots of WWII open trackers can now display their "kills"

http://www.trackgraphic.com/store/products.aspx

Traqmate Traqdata Adapter

2008-06-30T07:46:00.006-06:00

Traqmate offers an expansion port for logging additional digital and analog signals with the Traqmate system. The product, called Traqdata, provides 4 analog, 2 digital, and RPM inputs.

I primarily want to log RPM and oil pressure. I'll also add oil temp and volts since I already have aftermarket gauges and therefore clean sources for these.

The only problem is the damn thing costs $129+shipping.

As you can see from the picture, it appears to be a terminal board connected to a low-density DB-15 connector. The LD DB-15 is not a very common connector type. It has the same number of pins as high-density DB-15 VGA connector but in two rows instead of three. I think the LD DB-15 was used for PC gaming adapters back in the day.

I'm wondering if buying a 10 ft. LD DB-15 cable and a small terminal board would work instead. It would cost about $10, look a lot cleaner and allow me to run the cable from the transmission tunnel near the rear seat where my Traqmate is mounted to the dash area where everything to be monitored is located.

I think I start playing with the input pins this week to see if I can understand what the pin-out is for this is.

E36 Rollcage Design Considerations

2008-06-27T19:28:00.007-06:00

I found this picture on bimmerforum.com. It inspired me to begin to document some roll-cage design considerations.

Lets start with the basics. Note how the main hoop is built on boxed foundation blocks called Plinths – the front legs are on similar blocks. This allows the cage to be tack-welded in place, then lowered from the blocks and fully welded, then raised back to the final location. The footers cannot exceed 100SqIn per SCCA regulations.

The rear upper bars attach at the rear bulkhead. This is an area of contention regarding the E36 chassis. One camp advocates connecting the main hoop to the bulkhead claiming that picking up the chassis as high as possible yields the greatest increase in torsional stiffness. The other camp argues that connecting the main hoop with the shock-mounts and therefore the suspension is best. I fall in the former camp. The cage pictured manages to do both. The main hoop is connected to the rear bulkhead and the rear shock mounts are tied into the rear subframe. Nice.

All 8 rear suspension mounting points (4 sub-frame mounts, 2 trailing arm mounts, and 2 rear shock mounts) are all connected. This increases the stiffness of the rear of the chassis. The smaller size of the tubing connecting the rear suspension shows this is not a full tube-frame car. If it were the tubing would be the same size as the main cage.

This cage also uses the construction method known as “super-nodes”. This is when tube intersections (called Nodes) are designed so the all the tubes intersect precisely and the location of intersections is carefully planned so that the maximum number of tubes joins at each intersection.
In the upper foreground a pair of diagonal windshield can be seen. The windshield opening is one of the larges openings on a roll-cage. These diagonal provide a significant increase in stiffness.

This cage has one a really cool feature. It’s a “jack-tube” welded to the door bars at fore/aft balance point and descending through the chassis. It provides a perfect location to lift the car from below. A short spike-like attachment on a floor-jack goes into the tube providing a totally secure method of lifting the car.

Note also how the entire chassis has been seam-welded. This is a technique to stiffen the chassis by adding additional welds to the body and chassis panels. The factory only welds a chassis at a few locations.

Gen-u-wine Redneck style Traqmate mount

2008-06-27T12:41:00.016-06:00

June 27, 2008

PR Newswire

Castle Rock, CO – Today Redneck Engineering is proud to announce the first in a long line of low-cost, marginal quality, handmade, paradigm-shifting parts and accessories for hardcore motorsports enthusiasts and people suffering the debilitating effects of Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS).

This amazing new product is years in the making, requiring dozens of man-minutes of labor and the use of state of the art MacBook Air computing power (and of course Microsoft PowerPoint -- what product would exist without PowerPoint?). No expense was spared in it's construction. Only the finest first-cut endangered rain-forest lumber, Bald Eagle feathers, and freshly harvested baby seal pelts are used in the construction of these modern marvels.

Years of double blind testing have shown the 92% of males 21-40 prefer their Traqmate mounted high on the dash where it’s easy to see and access the controls while on track. Additional research shows that 88% of E36 M3s still have the OEM cassette deck. From these data a revolutionary new idea – sure to be compared with such revolutionary ideas as the Wheel, Internal Combustion and the Hula-hoop, was born. As was our catchy slogan "Stick it in your slot".

The mount is a stylish TDK-SAX cassette shell designed to fit in the OEM M3 tape-deck. To this shell is glued a piece of high-tensile strength steel bent to an attractive 90 degree angle. It may appear to be from a Harbor Freight compressed air filter/regulator/oiler set, but this is only a coincedence. The bond between shell and steel, made with state-of-the-art two-part epoxy is impervious to water, sand, and sweat (I think). This durable piece of imported steel is then screwed to the Traqmate's mounting points with screws made of genuine metal. When inserted into the stock tape-deck, it places the Traqmate DU in a great position. It is also easily to remove between sessions so the driver can download data. It is firmly mounted and doesn't move very much.

No animals were harmed in the testing of this product – well wait a minute, there were a bunch of bugs on the grill after driving back from Utah. OK, a few thousand insects were killed, but I doubt anyone will miss them. So, stick it in your slot!

Redneck Engineering is a fictitious company and this is a fictitious product. This is Humor and was not intended to offend Rednecks or Engineers. For more information about humor, go to your local stand-up comedy club.

Press Pool Photos Only -- Fair Use Rights Apply
Traqmate and Cassette Shell (all tape removed). Note the fine metal work on the mount. After a grueling 10 year apprentice program are the finest artisans selected to assemble your Traqmate mount.

Reverse View -- marvel in the quality of the lima-bean colored finish. Notice the aggressive weight reduction.

Without Traqmate

With Traqmate installed -- DIN Cable is router through center console and up through a small slot slot in the punch-out.

Basic Data Analysis

2008-06-26T13:08:00.004-06:00

A little detailed analysis courtesy of Traqmate. This graph is a standard Traqmate graph showing Speed vs. Distance. The area of focus in a series of five interconnected corners at Miller Motorsport Park called Demon, Devil, Diablo and Indecision, Precision.

The first three are typically done as a single, double apex corner – a single arc hitting Demon and Diablo and skipping Devil) then a very short straight, then Indecision, a fast right, then Precision, a very late apex tighter right leading onto a long straight. Since Precision is the most important corner in the section, Indecision is sacrificial. However, It’s too long to just throw it away.

The red and blue colors on the graph represent my first and second sessions on the full track. Since these are my first laps on the full track, there is a lot of learning going on as shown.

At the beginning of the chart (7k ft to 7.3k) you can see my speeds from Demon to Diablo were all over the map – ranging from 51mph on the slowest lap to 64 on the fastest. This is natural given that these were my first laps on this configuration and the apex of Demon is blind.
The section from 8k to 8.5k is the turn-in for Indecision to the apex of Precision. In the early laps my speeds were in the 60s, but by the last session I was approaching 80mph. Comfort builds speed.

Note that at the 9k ft. mark, everything lines up again. I’m not sure if it’s due to masterful driving or fear of the concrete wall along the exit of Precision, but those apex speeds sure are consistent.

R-Comp Tars

2008-06-18T09:55:00.008-06:00

One thing I learned at Miller is that Khumo MX’s are not R-Compound tires. A few years ago they were among the ultimate track tires even though they carry a treadwear rating of 220. But today there are a slew of sticky new track tires available.

I now have 4 track days and about 800 street miles on the Kuhmos and they are almost half gone (4-5mm remaining of the 7.8mm original depth). This seems to be pretty reasonable wear for the performance they provide.

Because my stock suspension doesn’t have enough negative camber, it causes some extra wear on the outer shoulder of the front tires. Rotating fronts and rears only prolongs the inevitable. While at Miller I also experienced a little chunking on the middle of the outside front tire. This is typically caused by overheating. It was warm there and there are a number of corners that really loads the outside front tire.

Scott is running Nitto NT01s on his 3600 Lb, 400+ HP BMW 335i and recently got 9 track days from his first set. That is really good wear -- on par with what I will get from my Kuhmos. Oh, he’s like 17 seconds a lap (at Miller) faster than me too.

Replacing the Kuhmos with Nittos seems a no-brainer, however there is one more twist. Nitto doesn’t make the NT01 in the 245/40-17 size I use, they do however offer it in a 255/40-17. This is a little wider and a little taller than the Kuhmos. Luckily this is a very small amount and it should fit without any mods. Worst case a 5mm spacer up front.

Size....Tire...Size.....Width...Diameter
Nitto...NT01...255/40...10.35....24.92
Kuhmo...MX.....245/40....9.90....24.80

E36 Track Cars

2008-06-18T09:02:00.001-06:00

At the Miller event I was lucky enough to pit with a group of local E36 M3 drivers. Two of them, Gabriele “Gabe” Giese and Jeff Blonder both have well setup street/track M3s. Gabe’s Hellrot 1999 has a TC Kline double-adjustable suspension kit with 700F/900R springs. The 200 in/lb difference between front and rear is more than typical for an E36 where the difference is typically 100 in/lbs. She also runs 255/40-17 tires, which required more an a little rear fender rolling. She describes it as having no understeer – ever.

I spent a lot of the weekend chasing Gabe’s car. She is 2-3 seconds a lap faster than I am and was nice enough to give me lot’s of data about the track.

Her car also has a very unique roll bar set up. It ties in the shock towers and all four sub-frame mounts but doesn’t come any farther forward than the “B” pillars. This is a concession to street use. A full cage can be dangerous on the street as the steel cage bars are really close to the driver’s head. On track the driver’s helmet provides the needed protection, but on the street it’s steel vs. skull.

Gabe uses a RaceTech seat with head restraint, which looks really nice but is just a little narrow for me. I think they offer a wider model as well.

Jeff Blonder's M3 is a supercharged Avus blue 1997. He has added a Eurosport twin-screw supercharger and intercooler kit that he claims produces almost 500HP.

Jeff is more my size and uses a Sparco Evo L seat which fit me really well. It’s now on my short list along with the Recaro SP-G. Jeff’s car also has a custom rollbar, although his doesn’t pick up the subframe mounts like Gabe’s car. He does have the stubs welded to the mounts but they aren’t tied to the bar yet.

The final car was Todd Green’s wicked Cosmos Black 1995 M3. This is a pure track car. It is totally gutted (including the dash, wiring harness, doors, Etc.) It has a sunroof delete (using the infamous E-Bay carbon panel (which looks just fine, thanks)) and a carbon hood. Todd says the car is about 2500 Lbs.

Todd runs 295/30-18 Hoosiers on CCW wheels and a full JRZ suspension. These tires are HUGE and stick out from the car even with front and rear flares.

Although pretty close to stock HP (Cams, CAI, Etc) Todd’s car was mixing it up with the fastest Corvettes in the Time Trial group.

NASA Results

2008-06-18T07:39:00.001-06:00

Since I had a transponder in my car, results of the NASA event are available on MyLaps

Introduction to Data Acquisition

2008-06-18T05:18:00.002-06:00

My new Traqmate GPS data acquisition system arrived the afternoon before I left for Miller. The system is pretty easy to install. I put the main unit on the transmission tunnel just behind the console. It’s mounted using some strong elastic shock cord and a quick-disconnect hook for easy removal. The Display Unit is mounted to a empty cassette tape shell. The tape fits in the OEM radio and makes a convenient location high in the center of the dash.

One nice feature I used on the drive out to Utah is the “Drive” function. It displays speed and time during road trips. It shows that with my miniature 215/45-17 tires the speedo is only 2 Mph off. I had expected 3-4.

The only problem is that in “Drive” mode it is recording way points. I didn’t realize this and was surprised to discover that on the second lap of the first session the memory filled up and it stopped recording laps. I cleaned it out and used it successfully in the second session.
From a driver development perspective here is what I learned.

The track mapping is really good. It clearly shows when the driver moves off-line to pass, or to avoid other cars. This accuracy allowed me to ID which corners are still troublesome because the lines through them are pretty thick (showing a bunch of different lines. In corners that I had nailed, the lines are thin and sharp. This served to confirm that a lot of corners still needed work, but I already know that.

My second focus is on small segments of the track – specifically segments that lead onto the longest straights. At Miller these corners are “Work Out”, “Precision”, “the Attitudes”, “Tooele Turn”, and “Release” with the last the single most important.

Focusing on segment times allows the driver to understand the relationship between entry speed and exit speed and how they impact segment times. At the same time I looked at 2D loads (Accel/Deccel and Left/Right). When combined, this data shows, how braking and turning impact segment times.

This analysis showed many things

1. I was braking too early for turn 1 (Sunset Bend). This was shown by the fact I was threshold braking then coasting for 10-15 feet before the turn in. Remember Sunset bend at the end of the front straight where top speed is 130+ slowing to 76 at turn in. There is significant trail braking as well as. After the analysis I started braking later and carried the braking much deeper into the corner (almost to the apex on the fastest laps).

2. The Black Rock Hairpin is a tricky corner. It’s a increasing radius deal with a little helpful camber around the outer edge. It can be done a number of ways (single-apex, double-apex, no-apex, etc.) Analysis showed that although the camper on the edge was helpful (+1 Mph), the longer distance negated the advantage so early single apex line was the fastest.

3. “Release”, the corner leading onto the longest straight is a 160 degree banked turn. The best line appears to be a late turn-in (using all the the pit-exit lane) and get on the power just after turn-in. The banking makes exit speed easy to find quickly. The trick to “release” is entry speed. On my fastest lap my segment entry speed was 67 Mph resulting in max speed of 131 on the straight. A segment entry speed just 2mph slower results in a max speed of 126 (a loss of 5 Mph). On my fastest laps I was just tickling the rev limiter at the brake zone.

4. Embarrassingly, my fastest time through turns 1,2,3 (a set of Right-Left-Right sweepers) came on a warm-up lap. I went into 1 a little slow and was flat out through 2 and almost flat through 3. This is much different that my original technique of a little right-foot braking for 2 and a little more left-footed for 3. Each time I over-slowed the car with the right foot in 2, which costs time all the way to 3.

GPS Data Acquisition is a really powerful tool and it will require significant work to use effectively. I really want to see throttle position, brake pressure, and RPMs. This additional data will provide more information about both vehicle and driver performance. I’d also like to log Oil Pressure just in case.