Project BMW 135i STU Salina MiDiv video

[gotcone.com]

Here's a couple videos from my first Divisional event on the new setup and 2nd dry event overall. I placed 6th in STU and my co-driver took 5th and had a very impressive time on Sunday, just a second off of the fastest STU time. The car transitions very well and I think with some more seat time this car can definitely be competitive in STU.

The course was very fast, especially on Sunday and I had a hard time making myself stay on the throttle. Just not used to being able to keep on it for that long...

My best run on Sunday:
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My co-drivers best run from Sunday:
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[ianc]

Nice, looks like a lot of fun and not too hard on the car either!

What are the penalties for a hit cone, and how are these types of faults\flaws recorded in the run and tallied?

ianc

[gotcone.com]

Knocking over/out of the box a cone(s) results in a 2 second penalty each cone. That penalty is added on to your raw time.

[hhw711]

Wow! Course was VERY OPEN.

How is the balance in your car? I would think that a 255 front and 275 rear tire setup would induce too much understeer.

[pixelblue]

looks like a lot of fun. good job! how do you like the quaife? considering getting one. noticed a big difference?

[gotcone.com]

The car is very balanced with the Quaife and the suspension on the car. There is very little understeer, you really have to blow a corner badly to induce understeer of any kind. The car rotates and transitions amazingly well now. The stagger in the tires hasn't really caused any issues, but I also have 18x9 wheels in the front which stretches the 255 a little wider then a 8.5" wide wheel would do. I'm pretty sure I would be able to fit a 265 in the front, which is what I will probably do next round of tires.

The Quaife LSD really transformed the car, probably the best mod you can do. I noticed the difference immediately.

[BrokenVert]

You guys are in stu with a 135? That's sti/evo territory there. Iwish you guys the best of luck cutting a second off

[aisthetes]

Sweet setup! That is a heck of a fast auto-x layout for SCCA.

[larryn]

Originally Posted by hhw711

Wow! Course was VERY OPEN.

How is the balance in your car? I would think that a 255 front and 275 rear tire setup would induce too much understeer.

Hank, that's what Andy and I also run.

I ran a square setup in the 135i for 2 seasons, and you are limited a smaller rear tire by going square. The torque on these cars (when it kicks in) would cause tire spin, making it more difficult to put the power down. A 275 rear pretty much eliminated being able to put power down. I wish the throttle response was more like your M car (or my M powered car). There's the throttle by wire delay coupled with the turbo lag that make you consciously have to predetermine when to get on the right pedal.

Add to that the "fake" LSD program that uses the ABS functions to simulate a true LSD, prevents you from left foot braking to keep the boost up. If you try to left foot brake, the system goes pretty flukey and you get "not so nice sounding" chatter from the rear calipers doing counter-acting things (trail braking with your left foot braking fighting the ABS program).


OP (gotcone), great videos!, and I agree with hhw711 here.. that's one WIDE open up-n-back slalom. Do they ever differ much than a fast up-n-back slalom course at that site? If you only have that one strip (assuming it's a runway), it might be difficult.

[gotcone.com]

Yah it was a fast course, I'm guessing some cars were hitting around 75mph on course. That was my 2nd time to that site and there isn't much you can do for courses. I guess they commonly have a figure 8 type thing at the far end, so it isn't just slalom up, slalom back. But the site has amazing grip, probably the grippiest surface I have ever driven on.

As for dropping time to catch up with the faster STIs and EVOs in the class... I think it is possible. My co-driver definitely thought he could've found another second with one more run, as you can see in the video he made a couple small mistakes and this was his first time driving the car. The cars at this event were prepped to compete Nationally and most of the drivers have a lot of experience, some 20+ years, a lot more then me for sure, this is my 2nd full year of competing. One of the cars/drivers has a 2010 ProSolo STU win under his belt and coned away another ProSolo win, he actually set a time one and half seconds faster then the next fastest STU time later in the Super Challenge. So the competition was legit and my car still has a lot of prep that can be done to it. I haven't touched power mods yet, I don't even have a K&N filter in it yet, let alone downpipes, a tune, etc. Also could add lightness with smaller battery and new seats. I'm also still tweaking suspension, had actually removed my Hotchkis front bar and put on my stock bar to see how that worked for the event, as I thought the front end seemed maybe a little too stiff. Mostly I need seat time... so that is what I am focusing on now.

[pixelblue]

I have taken the same approach. first suspension then a tune. was thinking about the battery and light weight seats as well. I think I am sold on the arc-8 with the star specs. that's a lot of rubber. no rubbing?

[gotcone.com]

Nope, no rubbing. You do have watch your ride height though (can't go too low) and I am running max camber (-2.7) in the front with Vorshlag camber plates. I think Berk managed to fit 265s on the front on the 18x9 arc-8 wheels and 285s on the rear with on the 18x9.5 arc-8s. oh I also have a 5mm spacer in the front, probably would need to go with a 10mm spacer with a 265 tire.

[HaNg_MaN]

Originally Posted by gotcone.com

Yah it was a fast course, I'm guessing some cars were hitting around 75mph on course. That was my 2nd time to that site and there isn't much you can do for courses. I guess they commonly have a figure 8 type thing at the far end, so it isn't just slalom up, slalom back. But the site has amazing grip, probably the grippiest surface I have ever driven on.

As for dropping time to catch up with the faster STIs and EVOs in the class... I think it is possible. My co-driver definitely thought he could've found another second with one more run, as you can see in the video he made a couple small mistakes and this was his first time driving the car. The cars at this event were prepped to compete Nationally and most of the drivers have a lot of experience, some 20+ years, a lot more then me for sure, this is my 2nd full year of competing. One of the cars/drivers has a 2010 ProSolo STU win under his belt and coned away another ProSolo win, he actually set a time one and half seconds faster then the next fastest STU time later in the Super Challenge. So the competition was legit and my car still has a lot of prep that can be done to it. I haven't touched power mods yet, I don't even have a K&N filter in it yet, let alone downpipes, a tune, etc. Also could add lightness with smaller battery and new seats. I'm also still tweaking suspension, had actually removed my Hotchkis front bar and put on my stock bar to see how that worked for the event, as I thought the front end seemed maybe a little too stiff. Mostly I need seat time... so that is what I am focusing on now.

Hey ! Sorry to bring that old post back, I was wondering if you decided to keep the Hotchkis....I am debating on putting sway and right now I am between keeping my stock or going for E92M (26.5mm) , how do you think considering my current mods, I run -2.9 camber in all four corners , is a sway actually gonna help me ? and should I go for E93M (28mm)

[gotcone.com]

What spring rates are you running? I ditched the Hotchkis and went back to the stock bar as the front was too stiff.

[HaNg_MaN]

Originally Posted by gotcone.com

What spring rates are you running? I ditched the Hotchkis and went back to the stock bar as the front was too stiff.

I got the KW V3 spring out of the box, idk what is the rate sorry , my mechanic was saying that the shock is set at level 6 out of 8....

[r0nd3L]

Originally Posted by gotcone.com

What spring rates are you running? I ditched the Hotchkis and went back to the stock bar as the front was too stiff.

That's good to know, I was tempted to get the Hotchkis bar but might just stay with stock one.

hang man, are you autoxing your car? Hit me up when you're going to an event, I might join. It has been far too long since my last autox.

[gotcone.com]

Originally Posted by HaNg_MaN

I got the KW V3 spring out of the box, idk what is the rate sorry , my mechanic was saying that the shock is set at level 6 out of 8....

My best advice is to try driving the car and see how it feels. If it's not feeling right or you want more rotation try out the Hotchkis bar. You can always swap them back, sway bar is pretty easy to swap.

[HaNg_MaN]

I am running -2.9 camber in the rear due to fitment issues.. and yes, i feel like i need more rotation , do you recommend Hotchkis over the E93 M sway ?

[r0nd3L]

Originally Posted by HaNg_MaN

I am running -2.9 camber in the rear due to fitment issues.. and yes, i feel like i need more rotation , do you recommend Hotchkis over the E93 M sway ?

Holy crap, that's a lot of camber in the rear. How does it feel? Mine is setup -2.1* front and -1.6* rear.

[HaNg_MaN]

Originally Posted by r0nd3L

Holy crap, that's a lot of camber in the rear. How does it feel? Mine is setup -2.1* front and -1.6* rear.

it is noise on the highway