CynCarvin32

Just some pictures I took while a fellow board member and I were out at the track. It was so cold that day. Temps were below 20 until after 10:30 and a whopping 9 degrees when we frist got into the Palmdale area. It was a great day however. Very little traffic on the track so we had tons of open laps and good solid lap times.

Enjoy

CynCarvin32

couple more...

sales@eurocharged.com

nice

ScottW911

Very Sweet! What was that blue, open cockpit vehicle chasing you?

CynCarvin32

Thats a Radical. Its a track car powered by a hyabusa (spelling wrong im sure) motorcycle motor. Those cars are out of this world fast and one day I will buy one for my dedicated track car. They are a real blast to drive and fairly simple to tinker with.

As for it chasing me? Its more like I point him by whenever he gets near me. Radical drivers are good guys but the speed difference between any sort of semi road car and a radical is really great and its just easier to let them by as quickly as possible!

Fifth Ring

Cool mix of cars (and trucks)! The Pontiac Trans Am looks great.

Are you required to open all windows?

Eurocharged Rick

nice pics, we have look-a-like cars lol...how do you like the renntech wheels on the track?

what tires are you running?

Eurosport

nice pix

CynCarvin32

yes any window that can go down must be down when driving on a "hot track."

it was horrible this time. 130 mph with the windows down when the air is a whopping 25 degrees is just insane.

CynCarvin32

the wheels are great. Could not ask for anything better. they are very strong and have taken some real blows with no issue. Yes we ahve damaged two wheels but that was done on a bump that would have made any normal wheel turn into 10 different pieces.

we were running Falkin Azenis 615's that day but those tires are total JUNK. They were cheap and we used them to work out the allignment specs before ordering up a bunch of Nitto NT-01 road race tires (similar to the Toyo RA-1). Its better to mess with 115 buck tires when sorting the car out than with a 300 buck monster! At least less painful on the wallet.

Before we used the Dunlop Super Sport Race tires which were used on early production CLK DTM's. That tire was really great (and cheap as heck) but they are not made any longer and the last sets we had were falling apart since they had mold dates back in 2001. Dunlop/Goodyear said to chuck them and that they chucked out thousands of those tires that were unsold due to the old age.

yellowrama

I always wanted to take my car to Willow Spring, but I always fear that I will damage the paint job, because people often cut corners and kick up rocks and dirt from the side of the track. Since you experienced the track, do you think it's necessary to cover the front with painter's tape like the blue STi in the photo?

1V8C55

Wow. That looks fun. I would be worried about paint chips too. I've got 2 questions:

1. After a long day of track racing, how much tire wear and brake pad fade do you experience?
2. How much does it actually cost to track race your car?

Thanks

MB_Forever

Looks like a lot of fun!!!
Makes me want to get on a track right now

splinter

Cyn -

Were you able to get down into (or improve upon) the 1:36.xx range?
http://www.willowspringsraceway.com/...on/records.asp

Have you discovered a satisfactory resolution to our lack of negative camber? If so, would you kindly share it with us?

I've followed, and appreciate, smgC32's and your exploits with the 203 chassis. Keep after it!

AWDman

nice...wheels look good.

i have never gotten chips at a track day generally you don't want to be following the car in front too closely. i get a lot or black rubber marks from marbles but they come off easily with wax.....i cover the lower inside fenders where rocks may get gripped and thown up by hot rubber.

i'm curious as well as to what folks pay for track days. generally lime rock is $250-$300 for 1 to 1.5 hrs. my total running costs. $85 for 10 gal 100 octane, brake pad wear, tire wear all told like $450. pocono events are $175 so overall prob $350 ish.

cyncarver let me know how you like the nittos 01s.

radicals are awesome.....you can get then with a v8 basically 2 hyabusa engines sharing a steel flat plane crank.spins to 11,000 and makes 360hp....$106K tho but a bargain for what it is....the hayabusa engined models are like $60k up......I agree they are the best track day cars.....sad side note..i was at lime rock 10/05 when an acura integra lost in on the uphill spun out and was sideways blocking the track. a radical t boned him with the driver being killed on the spot.

here are some folks that organize track days
http://www.scda1com
http://www.comssc.com
http://www.chinmotorsports.com
http://www.cartct.com
http://www.emraracing.org

the c32 and i were EMRA ST2 time trial champs in 2006. one 1st place and consistent times/participation. can't wait for the season to start this yr now that the car is stage 2ed and will have hoosiers.

i have a friend who tracks his c55 as well he's pretty quick. he'll be back running his c55 until june then he gets a 997 gt3. i'd like to see some guys jump in for the cart events at pocono as there's a team relay at the end - it's blast. would be awesome to have an all amg team...need 2 more cars.

some pix from the cart site...

Zeppelin

Here in Southern California we pay $150 - $175 for track days which is a minimum of 2 hours track time.
23 gallons of 91 at $70
1/4 of the tread on street tires lost = $200
1/5 of brake pad lost = $35
Plus another $50 on misc (gas to/from track, lunch)
Total = $500 day

This is myself who is easy on tires and brakes. If you are using R Componds then you might get one track day on them so the price skyrockets from there. Not a cheap hobby with a C32.

1V8C55

^ Thanks for the details. That's exactly what I wanted to know.

FrankW

nice pix.

is the car still on PSS9s?

CynCarvin32

I hate adding up the costs Zepp and your little chart just brings tears to my eyes. That last day was not cheap being that we went through oh.... over 3 tanks of gas! With all that driving time we still were fine on tires. We finally have the allignment dialed in just about right. With this set-up we can run the car double sessions and still get maybe 3 days out of the tires. That equates to over 6 days of driving for a car only seeing single sessions. Those sessions were not simple runs either. We had the stop watch in had for just about every lap this time.

But it still is a bloody fortune to do this very often and thats the point to remember!

CynCarvin32

Looking at the C32 yesterday we were shocked with how horrible the paint looks. The front of the car is sand blasted, the windshield is being replaced finally, and the area behind the wheels is almost bare in places.

Racing is a rough sport when you do not go with the zymol crew known as the bmw club of america!

CynCarvin32

I have a bad vibe with painters tape. I have always felt that if you are so worried as to not want any rock chips you should not be at the track. The track can spell disaster really quickly and that STi was the story car.

He taped up his STi all nice and pretty but he also lost it in turn 9 (bad place to go off) and did 4 circles and then pancaked it into the pit wall. the whole side of the car is damaged. So he kept his front bumper nice but his car is now at the body shop. Another guy went off and split his lower control arm apart.

So yes cars do get pelted with rocks but thats the least of the worries. I guess I think that covering everything up just puts a curse on the day -- worring about the small things lets the big things bite you in the rear!

But track days are priceless.... worth every penny and ever rock chip!

Or like Zepplin get a clear bra!

yellowrama

^ Well said, and what a story. I guess track just isn't for everyone.

FrankW

that's why most people that does track have a track car and a daily driver. Not all of course. my friend with a 2003 G35 sedan 6spd goes to Laguna Seca when ever it's open 1:53 lap he said was his best so far.

CynCarvin32

In reality if you go to the track, cover your lights and have a clear bra its going to be just fine. A rogue rock could crack the windshield but that could happen on the freeway as well.

If you push that one step to far you can really be in trouble but that is rare. I never shut of ESP for the first what 6 track days. Once I felt comfortable with the car I turned off ESP and started to press a lot harder.

Zepplin and I have been been to many track days and neither of us has ever had an issue with the C32 being damaged. With ESP on its almost impossible to have an issue unless you are just trying to start a fight with the car gods. Even without it, a well set car will never really bite you in the butt. Just be careful and have fun!

jywang

If I recall correctly, turn 9 is a 'super late apex' turn that causes trouble for many drivers who turn in too early. It is a really nerve racking turn since you enter into turn 9 at fairly high speed. Don't they usually leave a cone at the spot where you are supposed to apex?