^that's not good Ian. You need to resolve that conflict.

I am making another sacrifice myself to keep my track date that weekend.

 

Ya tell me about it
This conflict has been on the back burner for a while now.
Just when I though I had the ducks in a row.... one of them dteps out of line

 

That's a shame. Good luck if there's any chance of resolving the conflict.


I figured I would go and finish off my tires.

 

Booooo to Ian...if you need us to call in a bomb threat anywhere, you know you can count on us.

 

Has this been resolved yet? You have to put that alcantara to good use.

 

Yes it has been resolved, but not in the way I want
I'm DNF before I even start.

 

Booo.

 

Deane, how was your weekend on track? Had an interesting weekend car-wise but only lost 1 session from mechanical issues. Last BMW Club event of the year and it was good times...the G35 count, as usual this year was zero.

 

"Booo" is right, sorry I had to bail on this one

- now I supose you're going to rub it in with great pics & a write up

 

Hey Shane, you're on the ball for sure.

It was great!

I was in with the green (novice) group once again. We had the same schedule as the last session in June. Slalom runs, emergency avoidance manuevers, threshold braking with downshifting and about 7 classroom sessions. We also had 3 lapping sessions each day for a total of about 2.5 hours of lapping. I made a bit more progress but really found out how much more there is to improve. I might be a 1-2 in scale of 10 for talent on the track!

Our G count was 2! There was another guy there with an '05 X. Apparently he has posted once on this board but couldn't remember his name. We had everything out there from mini cooper s to Z06, highly modded cobra that was built for Dale Earnhardt just before he died, every make and model BMW, lots of 911's, a 944 turbo s etc.

I received my hard copy evaluation from the June session which I was pleased with. My instructor had recommended I be moved into blue (intermediate) but the club has a general rule that if you don't have two schools or one plus other racing/xcross experience you have to stay in green. This time after the first day of being held up by pretty well everyone but the Miata he said he wanted to get me into the blue group next year. And with a good instructor that does much more than just the two BMW schools. Fortunately on day 2 passing was allowed so I was able to press the envelope as much as I could getting my first experience with some throttle steer etc.

I am considering securing one of ten openings to our local BMW club going to Mont Tremlanc next year for a 3 day regional school event. Apparently that club is just focused on the track and speed, all lapping and no classroom. It's very different than our small narrow track which is low speed, tight, twisty with lots of elevation changes and off camber corners. Hard on tires but not on brakes. I was told ours is the only one that really operates like a true driving school??

The Miata guy was encouraging me to get to the solo slalom stuff which he is a top driver in. My instructor said it would be good to develop more skills to go along with my "great track aptitude" I might consider this for next year just to develop my driving skills as this car is waaay too heavy to do that kind of stuff.

Let's hear about your weekend.

Deane

 

Well...as for my weekend...first of all it was a crazy car prep week leading to the weekend. I was hitting 230F water temps at my last time at Mosport so I decided to put in a new rad during week. Found that the coolant return neck was interfering with my front swaybar so I had to get new swaybar mounts fab'd up. After that, I worked on my front wheel bearings and while replacing the bearings and rotors, I noticed a couple of my front pads were nearly at the backing plate! This was Thursday at 7.30pm! I usually check my pads after every event when switching tires but I ran my last event on street tires so it slipped my mind. I ended up overnighting pads from California (had to find a place on the west coast since they were the only places open) and 77 USD in shipping fees later, I got my pads on Friday afternoon.

The drama didn't end there...on the 3rd session on Saturday, a front hub dustcap came off on track. I noticed it during a quick inspection I give the car after every session - without the dust cap, the grease and bearings are exposed so there's no way I can go back on track in that condition. I searched all over Bowmanville and couldn't find a replacement. Ended up driving to Oakville to get a friend's spares. The next day, just as the first session was about to start, the car wouldn't start...did a rally style service stop to arrive at the conclusion that the engine was flooded (it happens to rotarys). Quickly pulled the plugs, used some 2-stroke oil and fired it back up and got it on track only missing 10 mins of track time...what a crazy car weekend.

Alright, now for the driving itself...Saturday started off with heavy rain and a very slick track. Lots of cars lawnmowing but I managed to keep it on the asphalt. The afternoon dried up and I was getting into a nice groove but of course had to cut the day short due to a 2 dollar part.

Sunday was great except for a few issues in traffic - an SVT cobra that absolutely wouldn't let me by even though he was holding me up in turns. He'd just put down the power and be gone on every straight but I was all over his rear bumper after the next turn even without pushing it. I think someone had a talk to him later and he wasn't a problem for the rest of the day. On the last session, I was running in a pack with a few people all lapping around the same pace that was an immense amount of fun. It's cool to run with a group of people you trust to be able to go through turns a few feet off each other's bumpers.

The instructor recommended that I be put into A/Red group (the 3rd time it's been recommended) but the registrar doesn't seem to listen. Oh well. He also noted that I should give some thought to being an instructor in the future since I was pretty accurate in my observations when I was riding with him.

I'm hoping to do the Tremblant event next year too! Hopefully we'll meet up! The Trillium chapter also has classroom and exercise sessions - AFAIK, most of the BMW Club HPDEs do.

So, how long before you pick up a track toy? Now that you've gotten into using the throttle to steer, you'll notice something I found very very annoying with the car - when you breathe off the throttle, there seems to be a lag before the engine actually responds.

Another highlight of my weekend is taking a friend's new Cayman S out for a spin. Wow, what a great car...I'm smitten.

Ian, no excuses next time around or I'll let one rip on your new alcantara next time I see you.

 

Great review Shane. That was a crazy amount of issues but it sounds like you coped well with everything.

Yes that's great to be able to drive quickly with others at similiar levels and ones you can trust. I'm not able to do that with the level I've been at. At our track handling wins big time, even the G is way more power than I could possibly use until I am much better. I only used full throttle a couple of times and just for a brief second. Most of the time it's no more than 2/3 throttle.

I've only tried a few times with throttle steer and am miles away from being competent at it. I did not notice any lag with the throttle but then again at my level that's not surprising.

I think you're right about the track toy. It's definitely the way to go if I wanted to make the commitment to get involved in other events. We are very limited with our one remote small track however. I need to learn a lot more about driving and that whole scene before even considering another car.

Yes the cayman is a great car. Lots of $$$. I know the sales manager at our local Porsche dealer and we keep planning to go out for a ride in one and in a 911. Hopefully that will happen.

 

Great write up guys... sounds like balzz of fun
Kudos Shane for sticking to it despite all the minor issues.

 

Whee...someone got pics of the session where I was chasing the new M Coupe...hot hot car.

 

^ nice pics Shane... that must have been Sunday.
Dry & sunny