Here is some video of my track session on Saturday. I really wish I would have dished up the extra cash for Sunday too. I guess I'll have to make sure to do that next year. The NorthStar BMW club was very organized. Overall, it was a better experience than my day last year. I did have less seat time on the track, but having a dedicated instructor was great. As well my group only had 10 or 11 people in it, so the track was pretty open most of my laps. These two factors are going to keep my BMW club membership current in the future. It was nice to only get stuck behind someone once, and they were good about letting me pass. New to my setup this year was a little more HP and more aggressive tune. GrimmSpeed Master Cylinder Brace. Also the new rims and tires. The extra width was great (9.5 vs 7.5) and the Star Specs held the track. I was only able to push them to squeeking once or twice. I was worried about the stretch going into the day... mostly because of all of the haters on stretched wheels and their comments. I was very cautious about hitting the fast turns at 120mph+ but there were zero issues. This weekend just enforced my theory that the haters have no idea what they are talking about. To push my tires past their limit will take a lot more seat time. I was happy that they exceeded my expectations. Anyways, enjoy the video. Change settings to HD Audio is music, too much wind for a good engine sounds from the Hero2
Kudo's for staying committed to advancing your driving education with your vehicle. Nice music, view and driving. You guys had the perfect weather for this event. Hopefully my Bimmer friends didn't give you guys a difficult time for driving a Subaru at the event. What is the width of your tires sir? Are they drifter stretched or no tire wall roll stretched? Great job timing the down shift coming into turn 3, just before you're done braking and getting the job done quickly. That's how it's done! WOW I didn't see any hesitation nor panic from this video, was this really mr. D.Block driving
18" x 9.5 - 235 Star Specs. They are rated for a 9.5 wheel, it clearly shows that online. So although they are stretched, they are within the manufacture's recommended settings.
They seemed great. It is always hard to tell the difference between my car now and my car 8 months ago. I did feel planted the whole time. I kept checking my tire pressure and tired to keep the PSI under 40 when they were hot. They were 36 cold, and I dropped them to about 34 cold before my first session. From what I remember last year my OEM SP Sports made a lot more noise. I was able to push them closer to their limit around corners and I could hear it. This time around I felt I drover
Managing your tires PSI is great, but your key indicators will be the triangles on the sides of your tire walls and tire contact surface. With the weather we had over the weekend you'd probably be better off with a little higher PSI just as long as you're still getting a consistent adhesion level. If you're pushing 9/10th on a 25 min session on Star Spec I'd keep them lower as well. Remember if you're not hearing her sing then you're probably dancing by yourself.
They seemed great. It is always hard to tell the difference between my car now and my car 8 months ago. I did feel planted the whole time. I kept checking my tire pressure and tired to keep the PSI under 40 when they were hot. They were 36 cold, and I dropped them to about 34 cold before my first session. From what I remember last year my OEM SP Sports made a lot more noise. I was able to push them closer to their limit around corners and I could hear it. This time around I felt I drove a lot faster. I only was able to get noise from them once or twice. It was in the carousel turn. I felt that I could push the braking point further, but as I said in my PM... without the 1 - 5 makers on the tighter turns, it took me until my last session to really start pushing those braking points. This just came down to relearning the turns. I feel if I would have stayed for Sunday I would have been fine. I did have the GS MCB as well, so I am sure that helped with braking. Steering felt good, similar to last year. There was a lot of feedback and no slop. I really enjoyed the new wheels. I am glad I picked up the Star Specs. Shifting felt good. I did my best to wait until the last minute to shift. I felt my shifting was flawless for the event. Zero mis-shifts (down or up) and RPMs were great. I really think my current NF tune works great for the short track. My power was where I needed it on every corner.
Yes two days back to back would have helped out a lot. Sometimes having a nice shiny new piece of hardware will help boost one's confidence. I really don't think your car ever needed when I drove it and those a like but I'm glad it helped your braking. There's building blocks that will help refine your late braking technique but that's for another day. As long as you're not getting bump steer thru your steering wheel from your wheels you should fine with the 235 tires. Your shifting was excellent probably due to the fact that you were conscience of it and was focusing on doing it right. A lot of ppl take it for granted and just like to throw the thing around. Nuke's tune's have always been designed with a Road Course band in mind, can you hear the drums thump'n?
My brother ran similar pressures in his tires and he seemed to have more wear in the center than I would have expected. Possibly too high of pressure once they warmed up. Mine looked pretty even, besides a bit of extra wear on the outer edges from cornering. Derek - Do you do all your braking and then shift? Are you shifting while turning? Do you rev match or let the synchro's do the work? Just curious. I'm glad the tires worked out, but I think you need to push them a little more. If you're never slipping them, then you're not maxing out the grip (see "slip angle")!
Come on now, Mr. D hasn't had his baby yet, you just wait till afterwards, once the bucket seat is properly secure in the back all bets are off lol
That is what we were taught. Break, then shift, then turn in. No, see above I understand this concept. With the amount of time that we had, I did not have the seat time to push my tires to this level. I was working on my smoothness. After 2 days of BIR, 9 months apart, I have a lot further to go before I am at a level where my skill can out drive my tires. Driving smooth, good lines first. As that progresses you find more speed and the limits of your car.
So which one of you speed racers blew 3rd gear? I heard about it from my tech buddy working the event.
Glad you guys had a good time! My friend Dave stuck around for Sunday and left a few sessions early he was so exhausted.
He is a good driver. He was really pushing that car on Saturday. Great braking, and from what we could tell very smooth lines. He was in the class above me (Ben's Class) so I saw everything from the sidelines. Early in the morning I think he overshot turn 12, I saw him coming in hot but turned away as it happened. Nothing bad happened, he was back on the track ASAP. He was really pushing that turn all day. Granted we were right next to it, so it was easy to observe. He would come in very hot, brake and turn. Quick, smooth and fast. He was lapping people all day long, that car is very fast.
