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| 02-12-2011, 11:43 AM | #1 |
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First Lieutenant
 
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Project Autocross/Street Sleeper: A Comprehensive Journal-Volume 2
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=477589
In my first post, (see link above) I gave a retrospective of my 135i’s build-up during my first BMW CCA autocross season, as well as a recount of last month’s season opener event. My intent is to share my experiences with other BMW enthusiasts, provide a clear roadmap of my car’s progress and perhaps inspire some of you to get out there and enjoy your own cars competitively. I’ve received some good feedback from many of you to continue, and don’t mind blogging about this year’s season as long as it’s of value. To recap, my goal is to keep my 135i as close to factory stock as possible, while being able to actively enjoy autocrossing the car with minimal compromise on the street. I’ve found that just a few carefully chosen, simple modifications can dramatically transform the car’s character and performance. Winter in Southern California is the season when residents can feel good about the exorbitant cost of living we put up with. For those of you buried under snow right now, I’ve taken plenty of pics to document the day and give you some inspiration that Spring is around the corner. It was another perfect San Diego Saturday: blue sky and highs in the 60s – perfect racing weather. After a successful shakedown at the Streets of Willow autocross last month, I was exciting to get back down to San Diego to try my new Apex wheel and Yokohama AD08 tire setup. I’m one of the few diehards from L.A. that regularly makes the 300 mile round trip in a single day, just to race with the San Diego county locals. Leaving at 5 am and getting home at 8 pm (if I don’t stop to eat) after a day of racing and course working can be very draining, but the thrill of pushing my car to the limit in a competition setting is worth it every time. Thankfully, my wife agreed to make the trek with me to provide support and relief driving on the way home. I spent most of my first season focusing on the San Diego chapter’s events for two reasons: better competition and a longer, faster course layout (1.1 miles) at Qualcomm Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers. When you consider Southern California’s massive population of some 22 million residents, and that Los Angeles and San Diego are the nation’s 2nd and 8th largest cities respectively, you’re going to find a heck of a lot of gear heads, and with that, a good base for competitive racing. We’re also fortunate to have an incredibly talented group of CCA instructors to learn from and compete with, including several national level SCCA drivers; one of whom is “my” regular instructor and fellow 1addict, Chris Teague (cpt97m3). I can’t say enough about how much Chris, and many of the other CCA instructors, have allowed me to hone my driving skills very quickly. When you play with the best, you naturally elevate your own game. Over the last year, I’ve also gotten to know the fast guys in each class and have instructors that I use as benchmarks, so I’d be able to get a clear gauge of how much the new Apex/Yokohama combo would impact my lap times. Arriving at the track, it’s a rush to take in the sea of varied sports and competition cars in the paddock area. Part of the fun is in not knowing what cars will show up, and there’s always an interesting non-BMW or two. You’ll get a flavor of the varied cars on hand from the photos. The course layout was, without the question, the fastest I’ve ever seen the San Diego chapter design. Unlike short SCCA courses, we have a 1.1 mile layout where fast times typically run in the 90 sec range. This layout was some 20 seconds faster. Where typically I’m lucky if I grab 3rd gear once per lap, this time I was using 3rd three times per run! After a 360 degree turn at the course start, the layout was composed of sinewy, flat-out sections, fast sweepers, a few hairpins, and more flat-out sections with fast sweepers. It was like a mini-track day, with high-speed straights, hard braking areas, opportunities to heel-and-toe downshift, and some fast turns to load up the tires. I heard a lot of complaining in the paddock about how fast the layout was, but being more of a track day guy than an autrocrosser at heart, I loved it! My goal is to get a dedicated track car down the road, but for now, my dual-purpose 135i and the low risk autocross setting work best for my needs. To recap my car’s modifications, I focused on adding more front-end grip and negative camber with E92 M3 front control arms, E93 M3 front sway bar, Vorshlag camber plates and most recently, 18x8.5” F & 18x9.5” R Apex ARC-8s with 255/35/18 F & 265/35/18 R Yokohama AD08s. The newfound front-end grip from the Apex/Yokohama combo has completely transformed the 1’s character. Where previously I had to drive around the lack of front-end grip, riding the narrow balance between understeer and oversteer in getting the car to corner quickly, the car now is willing to work with me and do what I ask it to. I have never had so much fun racing a car before. The massive contact patch and short wheelbase make for a very responsive platform that changes direction very quickly, which is perfect for an autocross setting. The negative camber I’ve added is really coming into play in having enough front-end rubber that doesn’t roll over on itself, as was the case with the previous 225 front Star Specs. In my last blog, I noted that I was surprised by the rear-end grip out on the road course. Back in an autocross setting with more 2nd gear turns, it’s still very easy to get the rear tires to break loose. I was initially concerned that the increased footprint might take some of the fun out of driving the car considering I’m making stock power, but it’s still a drifting machine if you want it to be in the tighter turns. I run in the new Turbo Modified class (TM), which includes any modified 6, 8 or 12 cylinder BMW over 295hp stock and M cars before 1994. In layman’s terms, that means modified 135is and 335is, along with E30 M3s, are the players. Up in L.A., there’s not much in-class competition, but San Diego has some heavily modified 135is that show up intermittently, along with two track-prepped E30 M3s on r-comps with quick drivers. Both M3s showed up, with the faster of the two being an Alpine White gutted example with a competition AST coilover suspension, r-comps, roll bar, motor work, etc. It’s an impressive track-built car that the owner also plays with at the CCA events. As always, I had Chris with me in the first morning practice session, and I also rode with him to get the layout down. When you ride with a driver of his caliber, you can absorb more than in any classroom setting. I felt I was getting quite a bit out of the car right off, but I could see where Chris was more effective under threshold braking, getting the car to transition quicker from braking to cornering entry speed smoothly without tire locking/chirping. The 360 turn was giving me trouble during the practice sessions as well, so since I worked during the first timed session, I chose to work that turn to watch different lines and inspect it from different angles. You can get a very different impression from on foot and at varied vantage points than through the windshield, and I picked up a few tricks for my timed runs later on. After the morning sessions of practice runs and lunch, the timed runs begin. This is when it gets serious. You get three timed laps to get it done to have a shot at taking home a trophy, and your fastest time stands. Two seconds are added to your time for each cone hit, so it’s critical to focus and stay clean. I was feeling good about my car’s performance all morning, but you never know where you really stand relative to the competition until the timing lights are on, and they were conveniently out of synch during my second practice session, but not for my competitors. I knew where they stood relative to the field, and so did they, but I was in the dark as to how I stacked up. By the time my run group was called, the track had cooled down a bit. My first lap out, I focused on getting my braking done a bit earlier and smoother, rolling on the power to keep the rear-end in check and keeping the throttle down as much as possible everywhere else. It was slippery on cold tires for on my first run, with a few instances of tail-out drama, but my lap already locked in first place in class, as my competitors had already completed their runs. After that, I could relax and have fun with it, and with the AD08s warmed up, the car was hooked and felt absolutely incredible. For a non-r-comp that you can use everyday, these AD08s are really good. My next two laps were clean and within 1/10th of a second of each other, showing how well the car was working in allowing me to push hard with consistent results. We had 86 cars, with 10 in the Gold instructor class. I was pleased to win the TM class, but shocked to take fast time of the day (excluding instructors). If you take FTD, then they award first place in your class to the next driver in class to help keep things competitive. All up, my time was 4th fastest overall. I’ve never been this close to the top, but I think the very fast, less technical course layout helped level the playing field between me and the top instructors, and also allowed me to gap my competition with the N54’s fat torque band. I do feel good about being the only car in the top 10 that wasn’t on r-comps, highlighting how good the 135i package is. I can only imagine how quick the car would be by adding coilovers, r-comps and an LSD like the Subies and M cars around me. Still, I expect the gap to tighten along with the track, but it was certainly a great way to start off the SD season. I’ll take the easier wins where I can. I still have plenty to improve upon, and will enjoy getting more seat time with the car’s new performance level. The challenge will be to duplicate the effort! -Doug Link to event results: http://www.sdbmwcca.com/autocross/February-5-2011.html Photos: The tech inspection line-up and variety of interesting cars on hand.  View of the paddock area and electric San Diego rail car bridge that runs across it.  Long shot of the course with a full-race 320 in action.  Instructors waiting for their practice runs to learn the course before attendees. The second car (purple E36 M3) is a well-driven, track-tuned package and took fastest overall time of the day.  Instructor line-up.  Instructor line-up.  Instructor line-up.  My car. Take off the wheels, and it looks factory stock!  My car - beefy 255s up front just barely fit.  Chris' 135i. Note the stealthy 245 square tire set-up on four factory 8.5" rear wheels. Apex wheels are coming soon.  Alpine White 1s ready for battle.  Coming into the final turn, under braking.  You can see how much the car pitches under hard braking on the stock suspension.  Notice how the front tire tucks under the fender without rubbing under load.  Instructor-driven 135i on 235 r-comps and TC Kline coilovers with camber plates.  Ronald's Z4: 6, 8 & 12 cylinder stock class (non-turbocharged) winner and 16th overall.  Instructor-driven E92 M3 DCT on r-comps and big brake conversion. 3rd fastest time of the day.  Ultra-cool Miata. Non-BMW fastest time (excl instructors) and 12th fastest overall.  Dan's track-tuned E30 M3 and fellow competitor in my class. 23rd quickest time all up and adjusted 2nd in TM.  Wild widebody NC MX-5 driven by SCCA champ Brian Goodwin of Goodwin racing. He didn't stay for the timed runs, but in practice he was quick, running in the 73xx range.  Roundel editor Satch Carlsson's Z4 M Roadster.  Examples of the well-represented JDM crowd.  Apex wheels + E92 M3 = love. Fastest ladies time of the day and 11th overall.  Last edited by aisthetes; 02-12-2011 at 08:19 PM.. Reason: Added pics |
| 03-24-2011, 07:27 PM | #2 |
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Second Lieutenant
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Cool, thanks for the write up! I'm looking forward to some autocross sessions in April. What kind of camber are you running up front? Did you have to roll the front fenders to fit those 255s?
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| 03-24-2011, 08:13 PM | #4 |
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They like my Swag...
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Awesome write-up!!!! I am contemplating my first auto-x this weekend and this definitely is swaying me there! Keep it up and way to go representing the 1er! Subscribed!
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| 03-24-2011, 08:50 PM | #5 | |
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First Lieutenant
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To all: thanks for the kind words and support. |
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| 03-24-2011, 09:18 PM | #6 | |
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Second Lieutenant
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When is the next installment?  |
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| 03-26-2011, 01:32 PM | #8 | |
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| 03-26-2011, 06:46 PM | #9 | |
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| 03-27-2011, 09:10 AM | #10 | |
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| 03-27-2011, 10:43 AM | #11 | |
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I've been getting a consistant 6th place in PAX since I moved to R6s. I typically run my fastest run on my 3rd run then spend the rest of the day battling understeer while trying to pick up the extra second that I know is out there. After this run: as I was driving over the grass parking dividers to get the cone stuck under my car out, my friend running timing and scoring yells out "4 degrees of negative camber will fix that shit." I promised myself I'd keep this car "stock". I'm going to have to address the issue with adjustable shocks. |
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| 03-28-2011, 07:58 PM | #12 | |
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| 03-28-2011, 09:04 PM | #13 | |
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First Lieutenant
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Until you get camber, none of the other mods will really be worth it, in IMO. Camber plates will be cheaper than shocks, too. Maybe carve into the stock class leaders a bit more, then join the darkside once you've accomplished it. You'll be absolutely in love with your car and will have an M killer on your hands. The poor thing was neutered by the factory for that very reason. Life is too short to drive a plow! |
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