06-06-2011, 03:38 PM | #45 |
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06-06-2011, 08:10 PM | #46 |
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I got back a little while ago but I'm seriously frustrated. The SD card from my GoPro is missing. I've searched all my bags as well as the car. Before I pull my hair out I'm going to have a beer and take a break. I hate losing things and this is killing me. It's a 32 Gig card and wasn't cheap!
Other than the missing card the day went very well. The car handled the track well considering it's a street car. I reset the trip computer after I left and went from 6 mpg to 28 on the ride home. It really is perfectly versatile for me. I don't want to compare my race car with the 1M because I realized today that it's just futile. The 1M could be made into an incredible track only car but in it's current form it can't compare. The heat of the day proved more difficult for the tires than the engine. With suspension work and a set of R compounds (and a track seat/harnesses) the 1M would be an absolute beast on track. It was great but there is room for improvement. In the last session I saw an E46 M3 about 20 car lengths ahead of me. I put my head down and reeled him in 6-7 car lengths per lap. I was fighting understeer and oversteer so a few mistakes each lap meant catching him wasn't easy. He appeared to have some serious track mods but I never found out what was done to it. I passed him and slowly pulled away over the next 4-5 laps. I got by several 911's and pulled a Panoz Esperante race car on the back straight with ease. Not a race, just some comparisons. Testing the new TraqMate was awesome!!! The new display unit is a huge upgrade over the old one. It knew I was at Road Atlanta and having the big display vs. the little one made it much safer to check lap times on track. It even works through gloves, which is a must for racers. As far as how the car behaved in each turn I'll try to elaborate. I did 80% of the laps with electronics off and M off. I know people like to push the M button and feel sporty but on track I prefer to modulate the throttle with 100% being all the way to the floor. With the slippery nature of the tires and track I thought this would be safer and possibly faster. Turn 1 - 4th gear down the front straight with a good stab just before the 100 ft marker, turn in, initial understeer to scrub speed, ease back into the throttle, touch the apex curb, and sort out the sliding with the throttle and steering. Surprisingly I found a lot of oversteer going up the hill. It wasn't huge but very controllable and scary fun. Turn 3 - Brake hard and downshift to 3rd (or leave it in 4th). Jump the curb since the right side of the car is unweighted. I tried 3rd and 4th several times and 3rd seemed a little faster. You get back into 4th gear before the esses so if I wasn't pushing really hard or wanted to go a little easy on the tires 4th gear was still fine. LOW END TORQUE! Turn 4 - Understeer but if you are feeling nutty a little more throttle turns to oversteer which didn't feel so good as I've seen many cars wreck in this area of the track and that's a club I don't want to join. The Esses - Slight understeer but being gentle with the throttle meant you could keep your line. I use the curbs heavily in the race car so I used them in the 1M which soaked them up nicely. Turn 5 - Brake a little early, downshift to 3rd, turn in, and be very very gentle with the throttle. With MDM on turn 5 was torturous! It would kill the power going up the hill and caught me off guard a few time as I went to pass someone between 5 and 6. Finally the electronics would let you shoot off the top of the hill like a sling shot but by then the car in front was looking in his mirrors wondering why you couldn't keep up suddenly. With the gearing the 1M has you can actually leave it in 3rd between 5 and 6 and the car hits the rev limiter about 25 feet before you must brake for turn 6. I found short shifting at 6K into 4th, going wide open throttle for about 2-3 seconds, brake hard, heel toe back to 3rd for turn 6 was best. Turn 6 - Going through it in 3rd was interesting as the distance between turns 6 and 7 seemed shorter than in my race car. The car would pitch back under throttle and the back end would usually step out. I took it in 4th a few times but the downshift for turn 7 was difficult to time and going through 6 in 3rd gear was a crap ton of fun. Turn 7 - Brake hard, enter the corner a little slow, turn in late, and square off the corner for a good exit (the most important corner on the track). I experienced a ton of oversteer on the exit of 7 and put the rear tires on the curbing while the fronts were facing the inside wall too many times to count. It wasn't the quickest way around the track but I sure was fun! The times I did get a good exit took a lot of patience with the right foot. In the last session I could minimize the oversteer with some quick hands and smooth throttle. By then the tires were seriously pissed at me so the lap times weren't as good as earlier in the day. The track temps were over 130 degrees at 2:30 so I wasn't expecting to improve my times but I had learned a lot about the car on track so I could have more fun and know what to expect. Turn 9 - There is a turn 9 in this car. In slower cars turn 9 isn't really noticeable but I had the 1M step out the rear end in 9 (140+ mph) early in the day so I became very conscious of the respect I had to give it. I made several passes in 9 and in the braking zone of 10a in the last session so it became very comfortable. 4th gear, no need for 5th! Turn 10a & b - Lifting at the 200 marker, hard on the brakes , heel toe to 3rd, turn in, aim for the curbing but give up a little speed to optimize 10b and ease back into the throttle. Oversteer out of 10b was huge! I put the rear tires on the gatorbacks many times but again, not the fastest way around the track. Turn 11/12 - I actually had the rear tires lose traction under the bridge! Color Tech was taking pictures (which I ordered and will post on this thread) and it looks as if the car was lifting a tire or 2 at the top of the hill, under the bridge. The front suspension had about 12" of gap in several of the pics! Turn 12 - 4th gear, modulate throttle after a little initial understeer which would quickly turn to mild oversteer, aim for the apex, touch the curb (I wouldn't do that in the race car) and the car would track out with a little bit of 4 wheel slide and touch the curbing (and the grass once or twice) to pass over the start/finish at wide open throttle in 4th. Repeat. I never took a cool down lap until the checkered was waved and although the oil temps reached 270-280 the car would be back to 250 after about 1/2 lap of casual cool down lap driving. I'd let the car idle for 3-5 minutes when I came in while checking tire pressures. I'm getting frustrated again so I'm off the search for the SD card. I think I'm going to find it. It isn't lost...just misplaced!
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06-06-2011, 08:35 PM | #48 | |
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I left a brown streak in my undies a few years ago at RA going under that bridge...i was just a little off to the left in my M coupe and tried to correct back...was not pretty but i did not hit anything. Hope you find your SD card. |
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06-06-2011, 09:08 PM | #49 | |
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06-06-2011, 10:10 PM | #50 |
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Dan -
A terrific description of the car's and your own driving skills at Road Atlanta. Production of my car was completed last week and I'm really looking forward to getting it on the track. May also bring it to Barber later in the year for the CCA Oktoberfest. It will be a dual-purpose car for me as I'll be parting with both my track-oriented '99 M Coupe and somewhat worn '98 318ti daily driver. BTW, relieved to hear how quickly the oil temps came down. What were your coolant and iat temps? Again, thanks. Neil |
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06-07-2011, 12:35 AM | #51 |
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Awesome track write up! The car sounds like a blast around the track. I'm still learning on the track, but I can't wait to get out there with mine. I'm looking forward to your videos too. I'm sure you'll find the video.
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06-07-2011, 05:34 AM | #52 | |||
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A lot of people left after the 2nd session. I saw at least 5 cars leave and not come back. Everyone I spoke with said their cars were running very hot and that was in the morning. The 1M stayed for 4 sessions and handled it quite well in my opinion.
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06-07-2011, 05:48 AM | #53 |
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A few pics from yesterday...
There were plenty of GT3's but they were looking quite common so I took a couple pics of that Lambo. Sick machine!
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06-07-2011, 07:40 AM | #54 |
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Dan -
Based on your drive, what suspension modifications -- other than better sneakers -- are you considering? Do I surmise that you thought it had too much roll and might benefit from stiffer springs and/or sway bars? Edit: Additional questions: Did you feel any falling off of power toward the end of the sessions (i.e., any signs of heat soak)? In this regard, which AFE intake were you running? Thanks. Neil Last edited by MDORPHN; 06-07-2011 at 08:58 AM.. |
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06-07-2011, 07:49 AM | #55 |
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Dan, good info - would love to see video.
Did Chi drive or just instruct?
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06-07-2011, 07:53 AM | #56 |
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I never saw you again after that first session, but it sounds like your day went well.
Thanks for not tagging my trunk after I got into the antifreeze at 10! Seems like it is always a Porsche spreading coolant. I guess they don't have this liquid coolant thing figured out yet.... |
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06-07-2011, 08:31 AM | #57 |
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"Turn 4 - Understeer but if you are feeling nutty a little more throttle turns to oversteer which didn't feel so good as I've seen many cars wreck in this area of the track and that's a club I don't want to join."
I would think the weight shift to the rear from adding a little more power would have cause more understeer. Any ideas on what other factors are causing this to turn into oversteer for you? |
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06-07-2011, 09:32 AM | #58 | |
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That's the way the 1M handles.. it has a mild understeer that you can EASILY overcome with a mild amount of throttle. Give it too MUCH and you can get the back end to come out seriously... Hence the comments about the tail wagging a bit all the way up the hill at turn 1 and being crazy fun. Thanks for the Hot Weather Testing! Sounds like a great acid test... and removes the last slight doubt I had about the car. Thanks for the hot lap also... I definitely hop the curb in three... know exactly what you mean about 4... usually one car a weekend is lost there in what looks like a safe area.... just no runoff and walls... Five to 6 is exactly what I do in my E30 M3... short shift to 4th... in 6 and then one can either carry the bottom of 4th and downshift to three at 7 which is busy, or shift while braking for 6 and carry third around... Except my E30M3 always felt like I needed to go to Second coming out of 7 (no torque!!!)... lol... I figured turn 7 would be a challenge putting the power down.... Some R tires would probably REALLY help there and also in turn 1 and 10-B. I'm not that surprised about 9.. I think a lot of people don't realize that the straight isn't a straight... (same as Mid Ohio and also Road America)... one definitely should be placing the car there... but I can see where low HP drivers would say.. " why" ? Wait Wait WAIT! Are you taking the full back straight in 4th? WTF? Really? No 5-3 double shift at 10A ? Clipping the apex and the track out and touching the grass in turn 12.... NICE Sir.. Looks like you didn't hold back at all... That IS brave with a brand new car.... of course, the 1M is pretty damn confidence inspiring... The grip levels are amazing, and as long as you are a good driver, you can enter a turn at crazy speeds... Wait for the slightest bit of push and use a slight tap of the brakes or add throttle to get the back end to come around and get it back in line and then come out of corner with as much throttle as you can without lighting up the rear tires.. Did you get into the ABS at all ? I know that's not typical ...just curious... Last edited by M3 Adjuster; 06-07-2011 at 09:53 AM.. |
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06-07-2011, 10:39 AM | #59 |
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Dan,
Thanks for sharing. I always run with Chin here in Florida usually at Sebring. I might go to Ofest this year and run Barber with the 1M and my M3 in IP. I am taking Euro delivery in July so I'm looking forward to see how the car performs on the Ring. -Howard |
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06-07-2011, 12:04 PM | #61 | |||||
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No falling off of power at all. I'm running the dual cone AFE intake with the grill scoops. http://store.bimmerworld.com/afe-135...das-p1055.aspx Quote:
Chi? I'm not sure who you mean but I probably couldn't answer that anyway. I know Mark Hicks and Maria from Chin but I don't do many DE's so 99% of the people attending were new to me. Quote:
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ABS - In the 3rd and 4th session I decided to give the brakes a workout compared to what I had been doing and they were excellent. I got into ABS several times at 7 and 10a. The rear wiggled on me many times but never felt uncomfortable. ABS seemed to intervene a little late but perhaps M has tuned it that way. Oh, how does 1.3 - 1.4 G's in braking sound? According to TraqMate I saw 1.1 lateral G's with spikes of 1.3 as well. Quite impressive considering the weight and tires on the car. I can brake at the 100 ft marker at 10a in the race car but with 500 lbs less weight, Hoosier R6's, downforce, and 4 big Alcons that's to be expected. Quote:
Man, that's just mean. I guess I got lucky with mine.
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06-07-2011, 01:40 PM | #62 |
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Here are a few screen shots from TraqMate's software.
The friction circle is filled with a lot of clutter and doesn't look at all like the race car's friction circle due to the Michelins sliding and my learning curve but as you can see 1.3 G's in braking was normal and the lateral G's were impressive with consistent 1.2 - 1.3. I forgot which magazine claimed .97 lateral G's but the car does better than that. Perhaps they got this number with MDM on?
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06-07-2011, 06:02 PM | #63 | |
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conversely, will you ever need 2nd on a hairpin? if you can dig out in 3rd, why bother? |
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06-07-2011, 06:59 PM | #64 |
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^^^I am not surprised...when I was at RA I never went past 4th either. 3rd-4th are pretty much the only gears you need (except for startup of course ). And that was in a tuned 135i. So I would think the 1M should be similar. 4th gear is pretty tall even in the 135i.
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06-07-2011, 07:18 PM | #65 | |
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I was at an autocross driving a friend's 135 though recently and I know that I hit an indicated 102 mph at the top of 3rd.. so i guess that makes sense that 4th goes to 140.. wow. I can definitely see feeling a bit " lost" not having to do a 5-3 shift in 10-A.. I normally double blip and run through the gates 5-4 and then 4-3 rather than go straight over to 3rd and risk a mis-shift.. I also brake at about the 100 marker in my E30 M3... but I am only slowing from 125-130 mph.. I am sure an E36 M3 is going to be about 6-10 mph faster.. It's always surprised me how late one can brake so late there from those kinds of speeds but there is a little bit of a hill. .. Last edited by M3 Adjuster; 06-07-2011 at 07:25 PM.. |
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06-10-2011, 05:02 AM | #66 |
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@Dan: Any news on the missing SD card? I'd really like to see some onboard footage!
I had my car on the Nordschleife for the first laps in tourist traffic yesterday. On the track I had a constant oil temp of 125°c (257°f). Outside temp was at 14°c (57°f). Thanks! Peter
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