Curious how many of you actually track your C63? I have a 2019 C63s and have put ~9k miles on the car since I scooped from the dealer in Feb'19. My car has the performance exhaust and the h-pipe has already been replaced due a bad valve that rattled.

I tuned the car in May with Velos' handheld tuner. Next I ordered a set of Mike's Custom Downpipes. Once received, I sent off to Jet Hot for high-temp ceramic coating. A local shop installed the downpipes in July, just in time for a weekend with Chin Track Days on VIR's 3.3 mile full course. I should also mention that I replaced the front and rear brake pads with Raybestos ST-47 race pads paired with Motul 660 brake fluid. The brakes performed flawlessly.

The Chin format provided six 30-minute sessions on Saturday and six 30-minute sessions on Sunday. While I've been on tracks before, this was my first Chin event. Very pleased with how well organized the event was. I also graduated to run solo in the green group on Sunday or with an instructor in the intermediate (blue) group.

A few observations:
1. The car is fast. I was consistently hitting 150mph down the back straight and lapping 2:13's. Other than a supercharged S55, I was the fastest car in the green group. More importantly, I was faster than my buddy in his new M3 CS.
2. Michelin PSS's are only so good. I'll need new tires soon, and if I continue doing track days, Hoosiers and race rims are the way to go. That being said, I'll probably put Michelin Cup 2's on for the Chin event in October at VIR.
3. Stock suspension is okay.
4. Velos tune is great and so is their customer service.
5. The car is heavy.
6. Downpipes get extremely hot. Over the weekend my car was throwing O2 sensor related codes but otherwise running fine. I'd assumed at first the codes were tune-related, but only later did we find that part of the wiring harness that runs alongside the drivers side downpipe had melted and fused multiple wires, thus the codes. This happened in a couple of areas, and it was only when the tech removed the factor heat wrap that we discovered the extent of the damage (which wasn't much, just more than one area). We think we've uncovered most of it, but I just started getting a P0150 code again. The car runs fine and no misfires.

I may need to pull the downpipes off and install some heat wrap. I talked to the shop about adding some custom venting to floor of the car to allow more air to get to downpipes to cool the car. We'll see. July was HOT. Curious whether any of you have experience similar issues with downpipes. I suspect most people with downpipes don't track their car, rather installing DP's for noise instead, which candidly is why I did it!

Some pictures from two days at VIR below:

https://www.etechphoto.com/2019/Cars...-2/i-sHsskTp/A
https://www.etechphoto.com/2019/Cars...-2/i-VbfRrtW/A
https://www.etechphoto.com/2019/Cars...-2/i-nWSKDWQ/A
https://www.etechphoto.com/2019/Cars...-2/i-HK8zRF6/A
https://www.etechphoto.com/2019/Cars...-2/i-xpsP3W4/A
https://www.etechphoto.com/2019/Cars...-2/i-gzcFhc2/A
https://www.etechphoto.com/2019/Cars...-2/i-5C522ww/A
https://www.etechphoto.com/2019/Cars...-2/i-dwNd5MB/A
https://www.etechphoto.com/2019/Cars...-2/i-CdqbKxb/A
https://www.etechphoto.com/2019/Cars...-2/i-6qbZRKT/A

 

Oh, man I was SO happy to see this post!
I purchased my 2019 C63s coupe this summer, have 2k miles on it now. Its bone stock.
Have attended the AMG driving academy advanced course this spring at Road Atlanta and have two days at VIR in the old Ariel Atom factory course but that was just the Patriot Course.
Am taking my car for the track day next week (Aug 16) at VIR for (5) 30min sessions on the full course.
This event is being put on by Kaizen Autosports the resident HPDE provider there.
Fortunately they are providing instructors to get me up to speed.
Other words of wisdom about our car and the VIR Full Course for an excited newbie??
Tips? Advice? I'm a little worried about the brakes/pads. Do you live in VA? Who did the work on your car? What were your tires pressures and did you adjust them during the day??

 

I'm actually intrested to join next time as well if you live in the VA/DC area! I live in DC and want to go to some track days.

 

Do use the Raybestos ST-47 race pads on the road?

 

I need a newer browser to view pics

 

I live in Va Beach....3.5 hour drive to VIR for me.
My son is driving down next week from NOVA to join me on track I think its the same distance.
There is a Chin Track Day in October I'm planning on signing up and going.
gil

 

I've tracked the C63s once when I first got the car, and have not since. I have an E36 M3 that I've owned since 1999, and have tracked that car extensively every year for the last 20 years with the BMWCCA.

For me tracking the C63 doesn't make much sense, although it's quite fun on the track. It'll throttle oversteer all day if you want it to. But the cost of the consumables will start to really add up if tracked on a regular basis, with the price of tires, rotors, pads, brake fluid, etc. just being so much more expensive. For me the C63 is the perfect street car for my needs, fast, 4 doors, sleeper, and I can drag my 2 small kids around in the back seat comfortably.

 

LOL, no. The squeal under normal conditions is unbearable.

 

Definitely high temp brake fluid and race/track pads.
Be careful in T10. I spun a few times and went off (safely to the right) once.
Traction control cuts throttle coming out of a few turns, especially Oak Tree. I ran with ESP off on Sunday, instead controlling amount of TC with dial on steering wheel, keeping it at 3/10. Even with this setting, it's dicey, mostly in T10.
T1 gets a little greasy. Spun here too.
Buy track insurance. See what happened to a GT350 and a GT3 (fast forward to the end).
https://streamable.com/rfcyd?utm_sou...medium=ios_app

 

lol pretty darn stupid

 

Holy crap....that was insane.
You could tell that guy was racing that GT3 and lost ground coming out of Oak Tree due to a poor line and passing that guy on the inside and then tried to make it up but late braking in 13 and off he went.
I do NOT want to leave the track.
Period.
I'll have stock brakes this time. Hope they hold up.
Thanks for the advice. I had been wondering about TC. To deactivate the collision avoidance don't you have to turn it "off"? Kinda think I may turn it off but leave it in the first setting ie essentially on.
Thoughts?
Finally I thought VIR rules required a signal from the driver being passed that you are seen and its OK to pass?
Thanks
Gil

 

I didn’t want to leave the track either...Like I said, I caught it a couple of times coming out of T10, but my car was at least 260 lbs lighter without my instructor (he’s a big guy) and the additional speed caught me out and I took safe route off to grass on the right.

I would highly recommend high temp fluid and pads. Your stock pads will be toast by end of weekend. The compound is too soft and not near as heat tolerant.

I believe the collision avoidance warning can be turned off through the NAV interface.

Also, the GT3 did not have track insurance and both cars were totaled. Be aware of the idiots, let me pass or pull into the pits to create separation.

Lastly, yes, there is supposed to be point by’s to left along back straight, to eight along front straight and to the left leading up to the eases. This is for the green group, other groups allow point by’s at any point of the track, I believe. I was surprised by how many instructors were clueless and unaware of traffic, this point by’s became more suggestive as weekend progressed.

 

Where did you buy the pads? I'm guessing MB dealer didn't do the work for you.
My track day is just one day and its going in following Monday for service and if it needs pads so be it.

 

I bought them from Porterfield. They stock the front's but the rear's are custom and need a week's lead time. I did the pads myself. Super easy.

 

I used to run at daytona, sebring palm beach and lime rock... what a blast... watching that video was great.... the GT350 guy was doing pretty well... good control, no mistakes, smooth.... the GT3 guy was gonna crash or take someone out eventually... very poor car control, terrible early breaking.. and running on the edge... looks like the GT350 guy lost his concentration for a moment and that's all it takes and he didn't break until it was way too late... tried to just go straight and make a straight run to the tar on the other side of the curve... good plan but bad luck.... gt3 guy was there... unfortunate accident but that's racing....

 

LOL did you watch the same video? The dude in the GT350 was pinching apexes left and right.

 

not sure what you mean by pinching an apex ?

Said Dude was going at I'd say 9/10's.... GT3 guy was running at 10/10 or worse...

This is a track day not running for money...

 

He was cutting off the apex. Particularly towards later part of video in T3 and T4.

The irony is the guy who you say was running at a 10/10 wasn’t the one responsible for totaling two vehicles. Where’s the logic?

 

I've been using OEM Mercedes pads at Laguna Seca and Thunderhill without any issues for a couple of years. The pads only last four track days for me though.

 

Well first time on track at VIR for my C63s coupe.
It was VERY hot yesterday and after the first session had struggles with overheating tires.
Once the car actually went into limp mode when the right front tire temp reached 175.
The left was unaffected.
We played with tire pressures throughout the day but it happened every time after 10 min on track so I just shut it down and drove a backup vehicle.
Overall great experience though I was not nearly as fast as the 2:15 times you reported.
The only issue was this was a pretty unsupervised day and 35 cars on the track most of which were sub-2 cars, many full on race vehicles made for some hairy passing.
I really don't understand why just the right front tire would overheat.
Thoughts?

 

Thats interesting. I was monitoring tire temps pretty closely on both days. I’m pretty sure all four of mine exceeded 175 in each session. By the time i was 20 minutes into each session, all four were red on the dash. However, my car never went into limp mode.

Maybe front right sensor is bad? I know mine is. My front right is always higher when displayed on dash after startup and reaches 10-15 degrees higher than front left after just a few few minutes.

Yep, on track traffic will definitely impede your lap times!

 

I didn't get into the October Chin track day, did you???
As a novice driver you have to be right on it.
What would it take to not be "novice" in Chin's eyes? An SCCA license?
Couple other points..
1. Overheating right front tire. My dealer swapped the sensor and even swapped out tires as a test and it still runs hotter. They checked the alignment. They believe that its the placement of the oil cooler in the right front that dumps hot area into that area. I haven't been under the car to confirm this but it would make sense.
2. I may just get track wheels/tires and skip the sensor altogether for those days. I don't want the check engine light coming on.
gil

 

Yes, I got in. Solo registered.

My first Chin event was in July and I had to register as a novice, instructor required. I graduated to solo after my first day, which meant I could register as solo for future events. My buddy who went with me in July in his M3 CS did not get cleared to run solo and had to register as a novice again.

Helpful to know regarding the front right. Thanks for the insight.

 

How did the October track day go for you?
I'm going back to VIR for a Kaizen Autosport track day Nov 11.
Have new tires (P4s) and will have Porterfield pads and flushed brake fluid by then.
Looked at the Velos OBII tune but I'm a tad nervous about that; how easy was it? Any glitches? Whats the worst case scenario? I'm assumING HP and torque gains noticeable? I'm sure you noticed the VIR gas is 100 octane at $8.50 a gallon? Do they do a separate tune for 100 octane race gas?
Thanks....

 

The VIR event with Chin isn't for another two weeks. I am going to put Cup 2's on the car before the event. The Velos tune was super seamless, and yes, the HP and torque gains are very noticeable. LOL, I ran the 100 octane for one session a few months ago, but there's a "cheaper" 93 octane option. I'm not sure if Velos tunes specifically for 100 octane, maybe a custom tune file...