Watkins Glen anybody?

[and 1]

Originally Posted by larryn

Mike, did you ever sign up for WGI? Last time we talked, it was a done deal.

Originally Posted by and 1

REGISTERED!

i'm official baby! effing STOKED!

[larryn]

Originally Posted by and 1

i'm official baby! effing STOKED!

Fantastic!!! You're gonna have a blast. First time I drove the Glen, I got choked up at all of the history that's happened there. Start watching lots of laps on Youtube. It does help you orientate yourself, and learn where the flagging stations are. Also, the NASCAR games for the 360 have WGI as a track you can run. I have the 07 version, that I got preowned for like $10 at Gamestop a couple years ago. Helped me out.

Christo is leaving Sun evening for a red-eye drive home. I am staying an extra day, as is most folk. What are you planning on?

[and 1]

yeah i'll def have to put in a little youtube time....don't actually have an xbox, but this could be a prime time to pick one up

as for the weekend, i'm planning to come back sunday night. when do we usually finish driving?

[larryn]

Originally Posted by and 1

yeah i'll def have to put in a little youtube time....don't actually have an xbox, but this could be a prime time to pick one up

as for the weekend, i'm planning to come back sunday night. when do we usually finish driving?

Depends on what run group you wind up in. Novice/Intermediate/Advanced groups have different session times. Plus, there is a slight possibility of getting bumped up or down to a different run group. Plan on between 4-5pm finishing, best guess. Then you pack. From there. it's about a 6-7hr drive for me (plus dinner/gas stops in the middle there.. making it 7-8 hours). Your drive is maybe 30 minutes closer, to Waltham.

After having the adrenaline pumping for the weekend, I don't think it's too safe (for me) to take on that drive. You'll be pretty worn too.

[and 1]

hmmmmm, i might need to rethink my plan. idk if i can feasibly take friday and monday off since i'm still kinda new in the job. maybe i'll split that one day of PTO in half and take friday pm and monday am off for travel. tho i would love to hit monticello too.....

what to do...what to do

[and 1]

gah is it 5 yet?? leaving straight from work for the GLEN

[Rachel]

Hope you guys are having a great time!!

[ML]

Larry, Mike... Trip report or BAN!

[larryn]

Originally Posted by ML

Larry, Mike... Trip report or BAN!

Yesterday, when you posted, we were on the roadtrip back.. through Syracuse to eat Dinosaur BBQ for lunch. Awesomeness on a bone.

Long post, filled with BBQ, Beers, Good Time, and Not-so-good Times.

The trip was fantastic. Monti on Friday, hot (90 deg), ate tires and brakes readily. I changed my pads to Hawk HP+, at the end of Friday.

Monticello is a 4.1 mile twisty track, in a gorgeous, high-end country club-like setting, nice landscaping, pretty and scenic course. 22 turns make it a challenge to remember for a bit, but the long straight to the extremely steep blind uphill, that has an autocross-like tight left-right was a very fun part.

Christo and I drove from Monti -> The Glen later that evening.

Had a few beers at Seneca Lodge, off to bed, and up at 6 to claim a spot to pit at. Unlike @ Monti, I was not instructing at the Glen, so I got more time on the track (6 sessions a day). The A/B run group was ridiculously fast. I found my brakes with the new pads were squishy, and would not allow me to brake anywhere near where I wanted to. On the back straight I normally brake at the 300 foot marker @150mph... going into the bus stop. I had such crappy stopping power, I was lucky to make it safely into the bus stop if braking from the 600+ foot mark (@ 145mph).

Because I had to use the brakes for longer periods of time, than a extremely strong and quick application, I build up amazing heat at the wheels, with plumes of smoke after 15-20 minutes. My fluid was fresh ATE Type 200 (same as the racing blue, minus the warranty reducing power of the blue color). No air issues either.

At the end of the day, I helped Mike (and_1) to change to his Hawk HP+ pads.. which looked quite different than the ones I installed. His didn't have backing plates, mine did.. Hmm. Interesting.

Regardless, both Sat and Sun were cool, party cloudy day @ about 60 deg. Great track day weather. 2nd day (Sunday), almost everybody was signed off solo, and again got lots of seat time. Seat time for me was more brake nuclear meltdown. It prevented me from heel-toeing, as I was literally standing on the brake pedal.

Anyway, I gave up my last session of the day, and "only" drove on 5 sessions. Counted my blessings for a safe trip, and packed up.

A couple hours later, went to caravan out of there for beer, and had horrible metal on metal grinding noises. I got out, noticed the pads were thin but not non-existent. Jacked it up, took a wheel off, and noticed that inside pad was only a scraped up metal plate. All pad material gone.

Damn good thing I did not do that last session.

Anyway, Mike had his stock pads, that I swapped into. Upon changing the front pads, I noticed that the famous ceramic pistons were missing.. as in they poweredized.. completely gone. TRhe metal inster was there, and they held fluid, so for the drive home I figured I'd just use those. Push a protruding piston in, to be able to fit the brakes back over the rotor, and another piston pops out, on the group, and fluid all over.. Hmm. So I know there are no seals left either.

Get it all put together, and have limited success stopping.. After another bleeding session (done Monday AM in the rain), 80% brake feels back.

So, driving was awesome, good weather, great camareaderie, beers, schnitzel, insane mechanical issues that I'm lucky did not wind me up against the armco, and fun caravan back with incredibly good BBQ.... Sums it up.

I'll post pics of my bent pads, with the pistons literally welded into the steel pad backing... Similar (but worse than the pics shown in the braking forum, by the dedicated racers...

[135gofast]

Sorry to hear about your pad issues, but glad you are safe.

And happy to hear everyone was approved for solo! Nice!

[ML]

Originally Posted by larryn

Yesterday, when you posted, we were on the roadtrip back...

I knew you guys were on the road and unable to respond. Seemed like a good reason to get pushy about a TR.

That sucks about your brake issues. What's the e.t.a. on the rebuild kit? Did Mike have any of the stopping power issues after changing his pads and how much of his new pads did he eat after the switch? Something doesn't sound right about your lack of stopping power with the HP+'s, unless they just didn't bed correctly and subsequently ate themselves for it.

[135gofast]

mike, did you post any thoughts about HPDE last weekend? how was it??

[larryn]

Originally Posted by ML

I knew you guys were on the road and unable to respond. Seemed like a good reason to get pushy about a TR.

That sucks about your brake issues. What's the e.t.a. on the rebuild kit? Did Mike have any of the stopping power issues after changing his pads and how much of his new pads did he eat after the switch? Something doesn't sound right about your lack of stopping power with the HP+'s, unless they just didn't bed correctly and subsequently ate themselves for it.

I bet the bedding was the issue too. Being told there is no rebuild kit, which means $2500, if true. Not too happy.

Gonna go check the brake forum, to see what others have done .. right now. :fingerscrossed:

[ML]

Originally Posted by larryn

I bet the bedding was the issue too. Being told there is no rebuild kit, which means $2500, if true. Not too happy.

Gonna go check the brake forum, to see what others have done .. right now. :fingerscrossed:

Any news? I think I would go straight to Brembo seals if BMW is saying no.

[larryn]

Originally Posted by ML

Any news? I think I would go straight to Brembo seals if BMW is saying no.

Brembo defers to BMW. BMW says no rebuild kit. To be honest, dunno if I want those crumble prone ceramic inserts anyway. Taking alternate route that I hope provides me with replacement pistons of a different design than BMW's ceramic design.

[arrutled]

Brake upgrade time! get some stop techs!

[and 1]

Started this write up last week but never finished it. Better late than never soooooooo here we go
----------------
WAT
KINS
GLEN

Wow what an amazing time! Everyone I’ve talked to said I’d love it and DAMN were they right! I’m hooked BAD

I left right from work on Friday with my buddy jarred in his m coupe. Thanks to some fugly traffic, we didn't get to the hotel in the glen until like 1230. Getting up at 6am the next morning was rough to say the least, but the adrenaline definitely kept me going

Beautiful time to be in upsate NY with all the rolling hills, lakes, and foliage starting to turn. The scenery as you turn in to turn 1 was something else

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE DRIVING?? Holy crap what a rush! Squeeze on the power going up the esses, really feel that weight shift back and forth. Track driving really is a test of how ballsy you’re willing to be, and you have to really tiptoe up to the limit because the consequences are obviously way higher if you overdo it. And the 1 felt WAY better on the track compared to autocross, definitely more composed and in her element. But I’m sure as I start to push it harder, that opinion will change. Hopefully by then she’ll be a little better set up

I didn’t run into the brake issues that Larry had, but I only ran the HP+ on my second day. I probably wasn’t charging as hard as he was, so I doubt I built up as much heat. With that said, I did get a little fade at the end of some of the long braking zones, especially when I was given a couple of wicked late point bys…

Speaking of which, I’m proud to say that on my student evaluation, I received an N/A on the question on giving point bys, with a note “fastest in group”! I got signed off on my second day and recommended for B next year! The only thing I had a little trouble with was adjusting my braking and turn in for late entries….see note about late point bys.

The power of the 1 with the JB3 was amazing too….helped me pass a lot of people down the straights

Watching the club race was pretty awesome as well…..even better was the lapping with Herr Schoerrmeister. All I can say is DAMN! It really REALLY makes me want to get a dedicated track car, strip it down and just go balls out with it

Ok that oughta be enough for now

[larryn]

Originally Posted by arrutled

Brake upgrade time! get some stop techs!

OK, did some research. There is a means to replace the pistons.. just not from BMW or Brembo. Stoptech has replacement parts that fir the 135i calipers. I emailed Stoptech, and got a replay back from the semi-famous Dave Zeckhausen, himself...

If ya wanna know what he had to say:

Originally Posted by Dave Zeckhausen

Some BMW racers have replaced the destroyed metal/ceramic pistons in their 135i Brembo 6-piston calipers with StopTech aluminum pistons that are typically used in the ST-60 6-piston StopTech calipers.

To rebuild your calipers, you will need two each of the following boot and seal kits:

28mm: http://store.zeckhausen.com/catalog/...oducts_id=6533
32mm: http://store.zeckhausen.com/catalog/...oducts_id=6535
36mm: http://store.zeckhausen.com/catalog/...oducts_id=6537

And four each of the following "short" (29.5mm long) caliper pistons:

28mm: http://store.zeckhausen.com/catalog/...oducts_id=2916
32mm: http://store.zeckhausen.com/catalog/...oducts_id=2919
36mm: http://store.zeckhausen.com/catalog/...oducts_id=2921

Add to that list.. F&R pads, Front Rotors, and new brake sensors. Sum it up, and I was well over $1400, to just rebuild the fronts for what I have now. **cough**

Well now, what have we here?

Wait.. What? I can rebuild my entire F&R braking system.. New slotted/drilled rotors, pads, replacement F&R calipers, and brake sensors.. for $500+ less than just rebuilding my fronts? Well, that''s what I did. Awaiting delivery.

[ML]

SCORE!

[ML]

btw... you are replacing the brake calipers and rotors for about the same (maybe even a little less) money than I can do pads and rotors on the M.

[larryn]

Originally Posted by ML

btw... you are replacing the brake calipers and rotors for about the same (maybe even a little less) money than I can do pads and rotors on the M.

Same with the 1 series. That is a sweet deal. Not a fan of Phoenix Yellow, but whatever.

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...41&hg=34&fg=05

F Calipers are $720/ea, plus a core. ($593/ea at discounted dealer rate)