I was going through my email and forgot to post a dyno run I had done on my M3 for the 2009 TT season.
I'd say pretty good considering a stock M3 motor, and exhaust. It only shows HP since we didn't hook up the RPM wire to the spark plugs, so no torque numbers.
Thanks to HK Motorsports for their quick work on this, and great deal, only $95 bucks for a quick run, everyone else I called wanted lots more.
This is my first post for 2009. I'm gonna try changing things around a little bit this year, namely I'm going to post my videos directly into blogger and see how that works out, instead of hosting them on Yahoo. There are a few reasons for this, one, I can't get Yahoo to work at my Office, weird. Two, it's one less step that I have to do.
We started 2009 at Willow Springs Raceway this season. Thomas and I drove up early Saturday morning around 5:30, arriving at Rosamond Blvd by 6:20 or so. We met up with Dimitri, Susan and Brian.
Thomas was 7 yrs old in November, and he seems more grown up than ever. He's never been to Willow before, so it was new and exciting for him.
Dmitri is my mechanic and he and I have become good friends. We are also 'sharing' his race car this season, to try and win the TTB / PTB class for NASA SoCal. We've purchased some items together for the racing season, but make no mistake, he is totally responsible for that excellent race car, a BMW M3 of course! He built it himself, and does excellent work. I've mention the shop before, BMS (BMW and Mercedes Service). If you need a place to take your BMW or Mercedes, I highly recommend them.
Anyway, the weekend was great. It was cold in the AM, but warmed up quickly around 9-10am. The track was perfect, and not a cloud in the sky this time (we thought it might rain :( ).
After my back problem last year, a gentleman by the name of Fulton really stepped up and took over for me in my absence. He was a great help last year, and was awarded the NASA Instructor of the Year award for it. This year, he and I are working together again, and at Willow, he took care of making sure all the instructors were present for each HPDE 1/2 session, and I took care of the classroom stuff. On Saturday, Fulton also took over in the classroom while I pit-crewed for Dmitri in his first race of his racing career. Fulton is a great asset to NASA and the students, as he cares as I do about making sure the students get a great track experience.
On Saturday, my wife came up to see Thomas which was great, not only for Thomas but for me too. Normally I'm running around so much that I never take a break. But this time, I slowed down (thanks to Fulton too) and was able to spend time with my wife and more so with Thomas. He and I had a great time this weekend.
Competition wise, this years rules changed a bit for Time-Trial, and I almost got bumped to TTC, thankfully the ol' M3 didn't and we are still in TTD. The good news is that my old Nemesis Shawn is no longer in TTD, but was bumped up to TTC - Yea. However, there is always a good and a bad to everything. Now, with Shawn gone, I've got a new threat, the Mothers Wax team has stepped up with a pack of RX-8 race cars, one in each of TTD-TTB classes. These are fully prepared $$$ sponsored cars, look out.
On Saturday, there were three of us competing in TTD, the Mothers team, Derek and myself. Saturday was the first time I've ever come in Third-Place, yikes. The Mothers car came in 1st, Derek 2nd (in his Boxter) and me 3rd. My best time on Saturday (seen below) was a 1:38.210.
On Sunday, Derek wasn't there and the Mothers car crashed in the second session (no injuries but they were DQ'd for the day), so I ended up the 1st place winner by default, with a pretty weak time of 1:40 best for Sunday, that time was with Susan as a passenger, the car seat not buckled in and my tires totally gone, so not bad all in all.
As I mentioned, I've posted the video from Saturday here. Let me know what you think of it.
In three weeks, we are off to California Speedway in Fontana, CA. One of my favorite tracks and very fast, I can't wait. See you there?
Well, here it is December 30th, 2008 and I haven't made a post since Miller, whats up with that?
Well, back on June 20th of this year, I threw my back out - BAD! I tried lifting something I shouldn't have and bulged my L5-S1 disc about 7mm. Those of you with bad backs know exactly what those numbers and amounts mean - PAIN, LOTS OF PAIN.
For the layman, in a nutshell, your back is a very durable mechanism, but with lots of abuse, can become weak and eventually fail like mine did.
Luckily, the damage doesn't seem to be permanent, and with some rest and doctors help, I'm getting better. I'm not 100%, but slowly getting there.
Anyway, to close out the year, I didn't run anymore since June 20th, but did come back in Oct and Nov to teach and run my friend Dimitri's car, his E36 M3 which he built as a race car.
All in all, I'll finish 2nd this year in Time Trials, second to Shawn Dolan.
The time trial rules have changed quite a bit for 2009, and I may be alone in TTD if Shawns power bumps him into TTC class, leaving me in TTD. For now, I'm guaranteed to be in TTD.
Changes to the car should include, putting back the old stock brakes, installing a Roll-Bar, seats and belts, and possibly removing the mechanical radiator fan. If I can sell the brakes soon, this will all come in sooner than later.
Hope you all had a great 2008, and an even better (prosperous) 2009!
So I got a chance to run and teach at Miller Motorsports in Utah, and what a trip that was.
I asked my buddy Barry to tag along, and he could share the driving (both on and off the track), and he graciously agreed. We left Thursday the 12th at 6am from his house in West Hills, Ca, and 12 hrs later we arrived at our good friend Brian's house in Drapper, UT.
Drapper Utah, what a beautiful location, Brian lives way (the hell) up in the mountains, like 6700 feet high, yikes. He has a beautiful home with his wife. Hell, his basement is larger in sq ft than both mine and Barry's house, boy were we jealous.
The Miller event was run by Dave from the Rocky mountain region. The track is 52 miles from Brians front door, so the three of us left Friday around 6am, so we could make the instructor / driver meeting.
I was curious to see how another region handled HDPE, Instructors, and general logistics. They did a great job, but it sure reminds me of the growing pains we went through in SoCal. Driver meetings were split up like ours, and most of the time was spent telling the drivers the general rules, etc. All in all, a fine job by Dave and his crew of 5 group leaders in keeping things in order. They pre-assigned us students and fed us lunch which was very nice.
The first group 4 session was right after the drivers meeting, so Barry and I hustled to the grid so as to make the most of our time on the track. I haven't learned a new track in years, and of all the ones to learn, I was glad it was this one. We ran the "back track" which meant "only" a 3.5mi section (there is a 4.2mi config they would run on Sunday). The track is huge, both wide and long in most of the areas, seeing your corner exit was no problem. I was a little intimidated the first few laps, but after that I was raring to go. Something else to note about Miller, the track sits at 4500' above sea level, so the normal m3 power band just isn't there, too bad.
My student was a guy named John (that makes it easy). He drove a Integra GS-R with a vtec motor that he and his son put together. John had done a lot of auto-cross and read tons of books on how to go fast, and it showed. He was probably the easiest student I've ever had. When I said "look at the exit of the turn", John's head would turn and look at the exit, and viola our turn was "perfect". I could spend time on getting John to go faster, rather than reminding him of the basics each and every turn. He wasn't afraid of the speed, but he also wasn't reckless.
The second session, Barry and Brian went out in my car, Brian mentioned not wanting to "be scared" by me when I drive, guess he never got over his first Willow Springs ride (sorry Brian). Besides, I wanted Barry to have the same opportunity to drive the track as I did, hell that was one of the selling points of coming along. Barry did great and apparently didn't scare Brian :). Brian left around noon, as they didn't have any students to give him.
Boy were Barry and I tired that first day. It was such a long, hot and non-oxygen day. We hadn't felt this tired in a long time, even the hot-hot days of Willow Springs. We both said that driving Sunday was definately out, and we'd probably head home Sat night.
Saturday came, Barry and I drove to the track. My student from Friday (John) didn't run today, and they didn't have any students for me, so it looked as though I might just be driving all day (fine by me). Barry caught a group 3 guy.
It turns out that the first session of Saturday was the best one of the weekend, not only cause my time lost 2seconds, but the traffic and 'racing' we were doing were fun. The video says it all! I catch tons of cars and all the corvettes pass me, it was a blast. If you watch the video, you have to pay attention to the guy in the BRIGHT YELLOW Audi S4 racecar, yes that's a 400+ awd race car, that must weigh less than my car. I don't normally boast, but I totally pwned this guy, it was a lot of fun.
Check it out! (oh yea, no comments on the crooked camera)
I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to run WSIR this time, because I was still waiting for my new front struts, oh did I forget to mention that... Oh that's right, I didn't post anything about my last event (ButtonWillow) mainly due to time and I didn't have any good video. No posting unless there is video - Right?
Anyway, I wasn't sure I was gonna run WSIR because at BW my right front strut went bad, and the car just wasn't handling like it normally does. I still won over Shawn (of course) but the run's just weren't the same as other times there. So I ordered the struts and waited, it wasn't until 5:30 pm on Friday that the car was ready to go. I leave Sat AM for the track, so I had just enough time.
I had a full class for the weekend, and I wanted to try a new curriculum for the students. Basically, I wanted to try and cover more technique and implementation of the technique, instead of just dumping them with the same old list of stuff. Also, I needed to make sure I used the stuff I saw from Jackie Stewart on Top Gear. It's an amazing video to watch. Jackie claims he'll make any of the TG drivers 20 seconds faster on any track, and he does. It's a must see.
The Jackie Stewart video basically tells the driver the basics on how to go fast:
Drivers think too much about how they are doing rather than what's coming up.
The exit of the corner if far more important than the entry.
Never press the gas peddle until you know you don't have to take it off.
Drivers are 'un-tidy' with the accelerator.
Don't jerk the car around (paraphrase by me)
I can't tell you all how happy I was to have seen this video, it's the essence of what I've been trying to teach students for years, and leave it to a 3-time F1 champion to be able to clearly put it to words - Thank you Jackie Stewart. What an honor that would be to be taught by such a driving legend, I envy that James from Top Gear.
So the weekend was good, I got to drive a variety of cars (which I don't recall cause I'm posting this two months later, sorry to say).
Welcome back, I've run another event, California Speedway in Fontana, CA.
California Speedway(CSW) is probably my favorite Southern California racetrack. It's got lots of speed, and some great infield to really make a driver work for it. It gives the M3 a chance to really stretch it's legs. This year was perfect weather for a run at CSW, no clouds, no fog, no moisture on the track, nothing to keep you from going FAST.
The other thing about CSW, is that it keeps me very busy. The schedule is such that I always have a very large group 1-2 classroom and then work to make sure all the instructors get students. Then, the 1-2 group run is typically right before or after group 4, so I don't get a chance to run in my group until after lunch. This time was no exception, I was only able to get out in Group 3 before lunch and then group 4 after lunch.
During my Friday AM run in Group 3, my glove box opened up, that's why I came into the pits 1/2 way during the session. You can see everyone is still getting used to the track, including me. My times later in the day seemed much better.
Here's my run in Group 3 in the morning:
Later in the day I ran in Group 4 so I could get a time against Shawn. Unfortunately, his car this time did much better and he ran a 2:00:3 and I only did a 2:00:6. Last year I did a 1:59:6, doesn't sound like much, but every second counts (as they say). We miss each other only by tenths of a second, but both he and I want more competition in our TTD group, so we have started recruiting as much as we can - Know any good TTD drivers ?
A few things to note about this group 4 session, first is that I started at the back of the pack, since I didn't get a time in the AM, I am required to keep out of the 'grid' and let everyone who got times, get on track. You'll notice Barry in front of me in his silver '96 Corvette (an easy pass about 2 laps in... Sorry Barry), then notice that guy in the CMC (White / Blue) Mustang, who I almost hit. Then there are the bugs that show up in the end of the last back straight-away, you see them as what looks like static on the playback, but actually it's a swarm of bugs in EACH LAP. All of us thought we were going nuts, and ended up with like 1lb of bugs on our front windshields. All in all a pretty good run.
Here is my Group 4 run on Friday PM:
Something weird happened at the end of Friday's day. With the help of my friend Ryan from work, we swapped my tires around (for even tire wear during the event), but after lowering my car back down, and starting it, it made a terrible rumble all the time, like the firewall to the engine bay was missing - UGGH! I drove it home as slow as I could, thinking something must be terribly broken. For Saturday, I didn't run the car except at the end of the day, and that was only to get a sure second place (2:08). I was told by a trusted mechanic at the track, he thought my clutch had come loose or cracked, and I shouldn't push it too hard. Great a clutch, that is only $800.00 to fix.
Well, good news. I brought my car into my regular mechanic (Demitri at BMW Service) and he found that yours truly had bent a bar on the bottom of the car (during the tire change) that transferred the vibration from the transmission into the rest of the car. $20 bucks later and the car was good as new (Thanks Dimitri). He did find a cracked engine mount, so I had him replace that and the other side as well, for a mere 300 bucks - YIKES.
All in all this car has been rock solid for all the abuse I've given it. I wish I would have kept better blogs on all my experiences, but as I'm finding, this blog is a lot of work.
My new brakes. They are the Willwood 6-piston caliper in the front and 4-piston caliper in the rear. My good friend Kevin from the track events helped me score an awesome deal on these bad boys. That squeaking you hear in the braking zones are the race pads bringing my beast to a halt and quick. The turn 3 braking zone (the one coming off the oval into a hard left hander) is a real sphincter type braking zone, and these brakes really make it easy, in fact you can see a few times on the first run I actually brake hard and then lift and brake some more. They have worked out great so far. Thanks Kevin and Willwood for setting me up.
I hope those of you who read this enjoy it. I am dedicating this entry to Pavan Kumar, a good colleague of mine from India that died a few weeks ago on the way home from work on his Motorcycle. People don't have many details, but he wasn't wearing his helmet, what a shame. He would always ask about my track stuff, and other things. We were very good associates, and he will be sorely missed. God Bless Pavan, and keep an eye on all of us.
We started off the season of 2008 at Willow Springs raceway, in Rosamond, CA. The weather was the coldest I can remember, with the mornings starting below 30F and reaching a nice 70F during the sunny day.
I had a full classroom of group 1 and 2 students. Some familiar faces, but mostly new people who came to enjoy some fun at the track.
My Student for the day was Gary. His first time on the track, and he did pretty good. Took instruction well, and applied what he learned.
A new milestone took place in the what I'm now calling the NASA darwin awards. Those drivers that amaze the rest of us that they are still alive. We were sitting around for lunch, when one of the group 3 drivers asked "Do you have a policy on drinking and driving?", my reply was "I didn't know we needed a policy on drinking and driving, why do you ask?", "because one of your students over there just ordered a beer". I am not kidding! I look over, and sure enough, here's a guy sipping on a freshly opened Corona beer at Lunch. He's due to go on track in the 3rd session, because after the previous session, he was bumped down from group 3 into our group 2. I approach, ask him "What are we having to drink today", his response "What, it's only one beer and we have two hours until we get on track!". Wow!
Suffice it to say, we do have a policy on drinking and driving at the racetrack - Don't! At least not until the last checkered flag has flown (that technically is the policy from what I heard).
It takes all kinds I suppose.
The cold weather made for some excellent times on Saturday. I turned in my best WSIR time ever, with a 1:36.855, following a draft behind Gary Felton in his SRT4 Neon. It still was only good enough to come in 2nd to my nemesis, Shawn in TTD. Oh well, I came in 2nd all of last year, and still managed to win the season, thanks to the awesome handling of the BMW E36 M3.
Here's a video of my first run on Saturday
I also got to finally drive a new Corvette Z06. Man what a car. Chevy sure did this one right! I've driven the C6, and it was as nice as the C5 Z06, but this new Z06, wow! Dick Gouldstrand was right in saying this was the best Corvette Chevy has ever made. The power delivery is smooth and theres tons of it. The motor revs nice all the way up to red-line. In a completly stock configuration, the car was good for 140 down the front straights, nice. The owner Mel seemed to enjoy the ride amongst the group 4 drivers. Nice work Chevy, I hope to drive another soon.
All in all a great start to a new season. See ya soon around the track.
