Spent Tuesday at Willow Springs with Driving Concepts, which is basically a driver education day with about 2 1/2 hours of seat time in your car on the long track. First rate instruction from a bunch of mostly BMW CCA instructors. Great bunch of cars there - several 911 turbos, a couple of Lotus Exiges, lots of BMWs (mostly M3s, no new M5s), a viper, a 360 spyder, a couple of GT3s and one other E55. I have an '05 E55, bone stock.

The good news: The car handles remarkably well, very neutral and belies it's huge size relative to these other cars. I didn't get left in the dust in the turns vs. the much lighter M3s, and easily pulled them on the straights. I passed several 911 turbos, likely with slower drivers, and noticed that they pulled me only slightly on the straights - we were on the long course. The Lotuses and the Viper passed me with ease, as did the GT2/GT3 Porsches. The Ferrari, as always, was driven by a very cautious guy and was a non-factor. My driving skills improved dramatically (I raced very actively with the PCA and various 911s, but that was 15 years ago) and I got a great feel for the course again. Overall an amazing experience in a big sedan.

The bad news: I had serious problems with power loss, almost from the start. It was really frustrating to work to pass a car, like a turbo, only to lose the supercharger in the next turn and be passed again. The car feels like an E320 when the blower goes - oh well, work on smoothness... Interesting note is that the power was either on or off on any given pull, it never went away mid-acceleration. I assume the ECU is programmed such that when a certain temp is reached it shuts down after acceleration. You never knew if you would have it, and in the end the boost was gone about 2/3 of the time. Not fun.

The takeaway: Get my intercooler to work! I took the car into Simonson MB in Santa Monica and got the typical "well if we can't replicate the problem..." bit, but hopefully they will pull through. If any of you who have had the problem fixed at a dealer can tell me if there is a TSB to reference or what your repair order states when you got your car back, that would be helpful. And if there is a sympathetic/effective dealer in the SoCal area. From reading other posts looks like a crap-shoot. But this is obviously a real flaw, not a niggling one so I would like MB to take care of it.

I want to get back to the track with some power!

 

I just got back from willow as well. Spent the day out there again and set a new personal best lap time of 1:35.7. The R-comp tires are worlds better than the horrible and absolutely useless Falkin Azenis 615's that are said to be so great. The best we could muster with the Falkins was 1:42.2 so clearly those tires are total trash. I have done faster laps with all season tires!

Glad you had fun! The other E55 was ShelleE55 from this forum. She was going to try and make it to the track on Wednesday with Open Track Racing but I think she had her racing fix and headed home a day early!

Lets get to the track again!

 

Just got off the phone with the dealer, and the car left a code after my track day so there will be no problem replacing the pump. My SA says there is an updated pump, he has it in stock and they will replace. So I will report back on the performance of this new pump....

 

Yes I believe that was her... Not surprised that the tires helped so much, sticky tires are always the best money spent for track speed, then brakes then suspension.... I will try to make it out for the May event, see you there!

 

If you're going to track the car, I'd recommend having someone mock up a larger heat exchanger for you, as some people here have done it to great success, as well as having the blower coolant run on its own circuit (do a search for this). Also, a thermostat mod wouldn't hurt.

 

.. that I forgot, the brakes worked great, absolutely no fade throughout the day. Stock brakes/pads/fluid. I was definitely aprehensive about this given the size of the car and he speeds attained at Willow...

 

Yup that was me at Willow. It was a great day. I was a little slow in the beggining, fauvre you were on my a.. You were running in the pack with fast cars all day long...great showing..I improved a little as the day went on. I think I would have improved a little bit more if I had switched instructors sooner. My instructor was not use to a car our size and really wasnt allowing me to adjust my entry and exit points. The last two sessions I had Patrcik with the long hair and he was showing me line that I felt was more natural for my car. Had a blast... There was an SLK55 and I SL65 if I remember correctly at the track as well. The owner of the blue WRX purchase that car to have fun and go to the track and he said he had an E55 at home and after seeing our two cars out there it made him wonder

Eric- I was going to stay another day but work was calling....I spent lunch time on Tuesday working I know..anyway I sent a thank you message to your contact and told him I will be in on the next event so keep me informed.....

 

I understand. I was working on a total of about 6 hrs of sleep since Saturday by the time I hit the track yesterday. I got home, did some house keeping and just passed out with the lights on and the TV going. Traveling for work, delayed airplanes, and then a day at the track (all in a row) just takes a toll on you!

We will always tell you when we are going to the track. We want to go to the streets at willow, the big track again and then to buttonwillow as soon as possible.

Eric

 

You mean like this?


Those are 2 of my friends showing the difference between Kleemann heat exchanger and my custom one

 

If the car is left stock the OEM kit should work fine and keep the car right where it wants to be. Once you upgrade and do pulley and ecu work you will need serious work on the intercooling system to keep the car from shutting down.

I have been there done that with a C32 and after adding a MASSIVE cooler to the front and a slew of other items it always runs well below what the car did before. Even on 110 degree days the car is steady with peak temps never going above 165 (on a track where you are at WOT nearly half of the time).

You could see gains by doing the upgrades to the car but I would work on brakes and alignment before I were to go and work on the intercooler system. The car has more than enough power for the track and I think a modded motor would be pain rather than a benefit as its has more power than control stock.

 

I agree with Cyn. The updated pump will be better as long as you remain stock. I drive mine pretty hard and have not had the shut down.

fauvre: You mention the brakes and no fade. i alos had that, but I was getting the overheat symbol after about 5 laps. Any issues for you?
Also, how did the lotuses spank you? I could see it at button, but Willow is a power course in many respects. Just curious.

 

There were a couple of Lotus cars there and I am sure he has to be talking about the Exige Cup car. Even though they are lower in HP I think they are rated at 0-6 in the high 3's because of the weight.

 

The track bug has bit you HARD !! Good to see it, glad you're having fun, hope to see you guys at the track sooner rather than later.

Cyn - Which car(s) did you have at the track, did you get the last problem resolved with the Bimmer?

Cyrus

 

The BMW seems to need a motor. Not sure Steve is going to bother fixing it since its cost 12k to keep it running in the last few months with blown heads and cooling issues. The car has a horrible knock in the bottom end. I think it has a bad bearing causing massive heat and that made the oil temp go sky high.

The C32 ran a 1:35.xx finally and thats 2 seconds better than before. For a daily driver car that is extremely fast. We also had a Lotus elise out that day and I must say its a fun car. It is kind of twitchy and it takes time getting used to the lift off oversteer issue but once you learn it that car really is well set.

We saw the owners of Spring Mountain at big willow and sat there thinking we need 2 radicals asap! Saw one on sale used kind of cheap recently... wheels turning lol.

 

I almost think the intercooler is fine 100% oem on a stock car. It really does a fine job as long as the blower is not making extra heat.

The lotus does a 1:39-1:40 in the hands of a good driver (exige S is a few seconds quicker and the exige non s a few slower). There is a video of a non sport lotus elise doing a 1:32 around big willow at the hands of a pro Porsche driver we all know and love.

Maybe I will do a lap or two in the E55 just for the sake of it one day. Then I can know

 

It has and you are partly to blame I had Donna send me the info on the new and some of the used Radicals out there. If I aim to get one by the end of the year it will be a used one.

 

I saw one for sale in SoCal as well. It looks like the guy is going to be deployed for awhile and does not want the car sitting. You and me Radicals

 

Yes, that's Matt Merrill's car, he flys for the Marines and is getting deployed. He's a great guy, and that's a great car. It doesn't have the high downforce body, which is good/bad. But makes it a less expensive car for buying.

Cyrus

 

Shelle55 - your line did get a ton better over the day! You got the instructor I had in the morning and he was great. For me that was the best part of the day, especially since I didn't have power. I got my car back with the updated pump and I will try it again in May to see if it holds - I agree with you all that it should be best option with a stock setup, we shall see .... Shelle55 did you experience power loss? Do you have the updated pump?

The Lotuses were indeed Exige with supercharger and a cup version. Their speed exiting the turns was so much higher the lower power matters little, great track cars.

Thanks everyone for the input!

 

No power loss or break issues. Stock setup has been fine, not sure which pump I have. I felt the power loss issue once in January they looked at but could not find anything. I had the car in for services #9, #3, #12 & #14 3 days before and it was running very smooth. My PS2's are holding up but I definately want to feel the difference with R compound tires soon. I will do driving concepts again and request either Patrick or Chris... See at the next track day. How did you buddy in the Viper do?