Have not done too much the car over the last 12 months, but not long after Melbourne started to open up after lockdowns a bunch of guys were going to the track so I put a fresh set of AD08Rs on the car and took the 135i out to a track day at Winton in March:
This was a day organised by Evolve, which was definitely a really well run event. There was only 7 cars in my group which resulted in a lot of track running without traffic. This was the first time I had been to Winton since a large amount of chassis changes, such as the Apex wheels and KW competition coilovers. Was a fantastic day and great catching up with some of the guys.
Thoughts:
- No complaints about the handling, the car is setup for the road so the spring rates are a bit too soft for track driving, resulting in a bit of body roll in the corners. However this is to be expected and the car is at a point where its not struggling for grip and I can focus on the driving instead of fighting the understeer. The car feels fantastically balanced and drives really well on track. I was able to improve on my previous personal best and get a 1:39.58. This was actually a pretty poor lap vs some of the best sectors of the previous laps. All my best sectors of the day combined to 1:38.14 so with a bit more consistency I should hopefully be able to improve further next time.
- Ambient temperature was around 27 degrees for a lot of the day, the car would do only 3-4 laps until it hit coolant limp mode. I am overall quite disappointed with the CSF radiator and I am not certain if it was any upgrade at all, especially after speaking with some other local guys with the same radiator. As soon as it hit 120 degrees, the car would cut power and I would have to abort the lap, and do 1-2 cooldown laps until I could reattempt. This was hugely frustrating and really ruined a lot of good laps. This is a problem that probably not that easy to solve. I suspect my heater core is blocked and that definitely wouldn't help things. I have come across a PPK radiator for sale so will do that as a bandaid for now
- Charge pipe hose did come off towards the end of the day, the silicone hose I am using with the stock charge pipe is not quite the right bend angle and results in the hose under tension when it is tightened down. I am working on a custom lower charge pipe which will will solve this entirely.