Ti's on the track

[mohaughn]

I just got back home and settled from spending a weekend running the 3.7m long course at sebring. Lot's of porsches, a few high end corvettes, and various different BMW m cars. Only 1 other Ti. His was also a 95, but a club sport. Big ac schnitzer rims, conforti chip, M3 brakes, aftermarket exhaust, along with some suspension mods. His car was definitely quicker around the track. He would get me on the straight aways, and I think he could carry a bit more speed through corners.

And to the BBK naysayers, I only have to say that I never had a single braking problem. By the 3rd run of the first day I was starting to get a hang for the braking zones and starting to push the brakes harder. My instructor was pushing me to brake later and harder by the end of the second day as he was really starting to have confidence in the setup. He even commented that at one point he thought I was braking way to late into the corner, and upon urging me to brake harder I ended up having to come out of the brakes way to early in the corner. Unfortunately for him, he was having issues with the oem brake kit on his porsche and only able to run about 75% of his runs.

I've got some other pictures of some older BMW, and some really fast porsches if people want to see them. If not, I don't want to waste the bandwidth.

After this weekend, the three things I need most, better suspension, better tires, and more experience. As the last picture kind of shows. The kumho escta MX's kind of took a beating. You can't tell in the picture but the inner gray are in the tire picture is atleast a few tenths of an inch less tread than the other area. I'm thinking I can probably run a little less tire pressure in the rear.

[nusstroy]

post the other pics, why not?

[mohaughn]

Ok..

I do have to apologize for some of the pictures. As the cars were going really faster, they may be somewhat out of focus. I'm just glad I got them in frame.

[mohaughn]

This was probably one of the fastest cars out on the track all weekend.

[nusstroy]

This was probably on of the fastest cars out on the track all weekend.


Porsche..... enough said. :tongue:

[roadrash]

Oooo... what is the red, open-top, with the sidepipes? [drool drool schwing] It sort of looks like a cobra, but my vintage car identification skills are rusty.

[mohaughn]

I thought it was a cobra replica, but I could be wrong as well. By the way they were running it on the track you would either have to be crazy, or very rich to push an original that hard.

[roadrash]

I thought it was a cobra replica
Good point... "replica vs. original" is an important distinction. It looks "similar"to a Cobra, but the curves just aren't quite the same. I wonder if it's a kit car of some sort?

[mohaughn]

Another good pic of some kind of kit car, the front of a few porches, and a really hopped up mini.

Along with a euro LTW 6 series. I think he had a turbo on it. It wasn't running with the high end cars, but it was still pretty quick for its age.

And another porsche.

[1996 328ti]

And to the BBK naysayers, I only have to say that I never had a single braking problem.Are you saying you have a BBK? If not, I'd suggest vented rotors if you don't already.

Braking late. . .
I tend to brake deep but you will have more control if you complete your braking before turn in. Then you can get on the gas quicker. Also you have the nose loaded down while braking, then back on the gas and the weight shifts to the rear. While in a turn that can be unsettleing.

Pretty addictive stuff.
Whose event was this? Was Patrick Spikes there?

[mohaughn]

The event was put on by PBOC, Porsche and BMW Owner Club. This one was a joint event between PBOC and BMWCCA. I'm not sure who Patrick Spikes is.

I'm sure my cornering after heavy braking could be a lot better with a better suspension. I was finding that way to much weight was being transferred up front when the nose would dive bomb. If I had my timing right and stomped the gas while hitting the apex on the hairpin the ass end was a bit light. All in all the car did amazingly well for what it is... The instructor was thinking it was lack of R compound tires.

There were atleast two times that I was able to hang through some of the corner sections with a lot more expensive porsche. Of course that car wasn't being driven that well. Once we hit the straight away I was toast though. They were probably running 120+ on the back straightaway where I could only hit 105 if I came out of the #16 turn perfectly.

[1996 328ti]

One of the first tracks I drove with my 4 cylinder was Sebring. That must have been in 99. I was actually bored except for a few turns. Way too flat and it sucked being in a low hp car. From what I remember, Sebring rewards hp.

[mohaughn]

Most of the cars out there definitely had a lot more power. My instructor races spec mazda miatas. he was saying that the track record for a miata was faster than what a lot of the guys out their in 400-500 horsepower cars were running. I rode along in a boxster that was stock except for R compound tires and he was blowing away a lot of the more powerful cars in the corners. But had the same issue where the drag race on the straightaways usually went to the 911 turbo's.

It definitely sucked on the back straightaway and the front straightaway when everybody would lose me, but turns 1-14 were all a lot of fun. Do you know if you ran the full course or the short road course? There was one turn where it was impossible to downshift into second because of the corner, but if I didn't carry enough speed the engine would get down under 3500 RPMs in 3rd and bog down. That was were the low torque and the lower power of the m42 was an obvious problem.

At this point the weekend has definitely reset my priorities. Getting the suspension setup better and possibly getting some different rims and racing tires is in the immediate future. I was kind of humbled in that I know don't think I need to have a huge increase of power without getting more experience first. I don't want to think that I'm driving well and in reality it is just poor driving being masked by having more power.

Does anybody with a DASC on here race their car in longer events than auto-x's? The owner of the red Ti said they have seen several DASC motors detonate the pistons from the excess heat at sebring. He was saying that they couldn't get one to run stable at 10PSI on the track without using a water/alchohol spray system. These were all m42's cars with piggy back ECU's. He hadn't used the NickG stage 3 software on one. He was really interested in what the SEAM SC with the SC cooling system would be capable of.

[kickass95318ti]

Oooo... what is the red, open-top, with the sidepipes? [drool drool schwing] It sort of looks like a cobra, but my vintage car identification skills are rusty.

i think its a panoz could be wrong nice car though!!

[1996 328ti]

Do you know if you ran the full course or the short road course?No idea. I just remember a wide left hand sweeper that I could go flat out and do a 4 wheel drift. I also remember it raining at one end and sunny the other.

[andy]

Does anybody with a DASC on here race their car in longer events than auto-x's? The owner of the red Ti said they have seen several DASC motors detonate the pistons from the excess heat at sebring. He was saying that they couldn't get one to run stable at 10PSI on the track without using a water/alchohol spray system. These were all m42's cars with piggy back ECU's. He hadn't used the NickG stage 3 software on one. He was really interested in what the SEAM SC with the SC cooling system would be capable of.

I think the stock DASC boost is supposed to be 6-8psi, so no wonder they'd had trouble. I have talked to people that have run them on the track repeatedly without problems, even in hot weather.

But your previous statement is right on - keep practicing until you can run every corner well before focusing on power.

[3DGE]

How fast did you go, did thay have a ranking system in place? I got up too 115MPH on the freeway today after going on a date.

[mohaughn]

Sebring has some wide open corners and some long straight aways. On the back stretch I could get it up to 105 if I could come out of turn 16 quickly. Unfortunately with my stock suspension this meant I had to briefly brake before entering the corner so I wouldn't run wide or oversteer and spin. If I could make 16 without having to brake, which a more experienced driver probably could, I probably could have hit 110 or 115. The car was starting to pull harder in 4th right as you have to brake to make turn 17.

You only use 2nd gear at 1 point on the track, running the corners fast you should not have to come down below 3800 RPMs in 3rd for the rest of the track. So average speed is probably somewhere between 45-60mph. I'm pretty sure I had the slowest car out there.

The do not rank or time any drivers that are at the instructed novice, intermediate, or advanced levels. You only get timed/ranked in the race group which requires a lot of experience, and a properly prepped car. I still think I was running in the high 3 minute low 4 minute range for each good lap. A few times I ended up in the wrong gear coming through some turns which really slowed me down and I was probably running mid 4 minute range on those laps. Respectable times for an experienced driver and good car would be under 3 minutes. Probably cranking out 7-8 laps per 30 minute session.

[1996 328ti]

Don't worry so much about lap times and top speed.

[mohaughn]

I just knew how many laps I did, and divided that into 30. I was taking it one corner at a time.

[mohaughn]

What kind of fluid change interval are you guys using when you are racing your cars? Based on the tech inspection sheet I have to get filled out I'm thinking something like the following:

Oil- Once every other race weekend or every 3 months.
Brake Fluid- every 3 months
Coolant- What here? 6 months or 1/year
Differential- From other threads 1/year
Transmission- do that with the differential yearly

[1996 328ti]

What kind of fluid change interval are you guys using when you are racing your cars? Based on the tech inspection sheet I have to get filled out I'm thinking something like the following:

Oil- Once every other race weekend or every 3 months.
Brake Fluid- every 3 months
Coolant- What here? 6 months or 1/year
Differential- From other threads 1/year
Transmission- do that with the differential yearly
For the record, I do maybe 5 weekends of driving schools a year.

Oil changes not as often as I should.
When the oil service light comes on and filter at half way.
Coolant, never did it except when my radiator was upgraded.
Diff, every spring before my first school.
Tranny, same.
Brake fluid, Before my first school and every 6 track days depending on the length of time between events.