Benz-O-Rama

There's no such thing as too cold!

I distinctly remember a rental with track temps at 34*. Weren't the water boxes freezing up? Soooooo glad they opened up the VIP boxes for us, to keep our little toesies warm.

dodger63

Toesies????? WTF!!!

Sunir

hahaha LMAO! BOR breakin out the toesies!!!

Benz-O-Rama

Yes, my widdle toesies were cold that day. Like yours weren't.

e55amgrocket

i'm putting my new pump on today but i wont have the headers on until next time out. I ordered some drag radials but had them shipped to my old address by accident so i'll be stuck on the stock tires again

Benz-O-Rama

Meh....

I've always run on summer tires. Hell, I even ran my SL600 on all-season's there before. You'll be fine.

WayneE

My 06 E55 was stock, but always ran well on the OEM Contis at our track rentals.

Benz-O-Rama

Yep. If MIR is prepped right, it's very sticky. Here's my personal best timeslip, on 20' Contis:

WayneE

That's a killer short on 20" wheels.

e55amgrocket

i cut a 1.69 last week but drag radials are always a sure bet if you ask me. I hate having a few perfect launches then the next one goes to crap.Guess thats just part of the fun with street tires

Benz-O-Rama

I run streets because I'd rather have the tires break loose, than snap an axle.

e55amgrocket

hopefully the axles are pretty strong in these cars. The last car i had (03 Cobra) i swapped out the IRS for a solid axle and with slicks i could cut 1.4X's and never had to worry about any breakage. the IRS seen a few 1.50's and was pretty solid so i would hope these are as strong

Stephen04E55

You said hopefully....your E is probably o.k. but I can vouch that the S class extra weight with a V-12 TT is not the best for axles. I have a broken 2 on my previous car and the pinion in both cars. It is very frustrating and will probably render me to road course action only in my S65 as breaking stuff sucks big time...as if I really had to say that.

Sunir

dude I don;'t think "road course action" will be too great with your S65...it's a great car, and you wont brake axles...BUT the sheer weight of that thing on a road course will be horrific. Brakes and suspension are other considerations. I would just use it as a highway cruiser where it's most happy

e55amgrocket

I was there waiting to run when you broke the last time,i'm starting to wonder if maybe i should invest in a used back-up axle for the future just in case??

Benz-O-Rama

D/A right now at MIR is +615 ft @ 60*F

At 9AM, it was at +87 feet @53*F. I think I'll get there early.

Today's weather looks very close to tomorrow's weather.

e55 baller

I sure hope i don't break anything tomorrow. i may have to go for MPH.

e55 baller

cool, what website did you check this up on? Hopefully the barometer will rise with the high pressure/sunny weather coming in

Stephen04E55

VIR has nice long straights and it was fun in my S600. Not great or super fast in the twisties but ok and a blast on the back straight. Entertainment is the name of the game...not competition. I run with a group that is a "safety" course that has an instructor sitting in the passenger seat.

Sunir

I know VIR very well, you're right it's a super fun road course...when were you there last, with what groups do you run?...I've been instructing there since '04 with BMW, PCA, MBCA, NASA, Car Guys and several other groups...I'm one of those instructors sitting in the passenger seat you mentioned lol! I've also raced at VIR many times with BMW CCA and NASA GTS series, in fact the sig pic with my M3LTW touring car is on the rollercoaster turn coming off the 3000 ft back straight at VIR...it is a fantastic track!

What kind of speeds do you see at the end of the back straight with your S600? the front and back straights both have very similar terminal speeds into the braking zones...

Sunir

Stephen04E55

I have run with the audi club for 2 separate 2 day sessions. My S600 would round oak tree at about 35ish and accelerate to about 154-155 before braking on that slight uphill section and hard right hander before entering hog pen. On the front I couldn't get as fast because the straight is slightly shorter...only 137 or so before that hard right into that flat section. Audi club uses the "full" course not any of the other variants of VIR. Fun times there for sure. Nice pic of your BMW for sure.

Sunir

that's a good clip at the end of the back straight, that's almost around the same speed as the R8 and 911 get up there, I'm surprised you can haul that heavy car down to make the turn at the top of the hill after threshold braking from the mid 150's....don't you see any brake fade? What kind of pads and brake fluid are you using? I've instructed for Audi club before as well...they run in April for a couple of days as wel as June with MDA and then again in the fall. The reason you are not getting upto 150 or so at the end of the front striaght is because you are not carrying as much speed on the exit of hogpen ...the front straight is shorter than the back, BUT the exit speed out of hogpen is MUCH higher than the exit speed out of Oak Tree onto the back straight...so your terminal speed is equal at the end of both straights. I top out the BMW each lap twice a lap at VIR, the race car has a 3.73 rear gear for tracks like VIR, and I use a 3.93 on short tracks.

good to see you having fun with the car in a safe and very exciting environment...hope to see you out at the track sometime

V12Godspeed

Best of luck to all you guys tomorrow. Should be some nice cool weather.

Stephen04E55

I used motul blue brake fluid to help with the impending boiling of brake fluid. Brake fade was minimal as the s600 has cross drilled front rotors not the rear. The s65 has cross drilled rotors all the way around. Last turn before the back stretch could be taken at about 60-62 max without the front trying to plow. I used ebc green pads which worked great with very little fade even after a few hard laps. Long straights were good for speed and brake cooling. I can't tell you how many cars I dusted off on the back straight but there was nothing that could keep up when it was time to accelerate on the back straight. I ran in yellow group which is one step above green beginner group. I need 2 more sessions to advance to blue intermediate. Most of my group was a4s and tts type cars which were great in the tight sections but were no match in the "power" long straights.

e55 baller

Thanks, headed down with a GTR, ZR-1, 996TT, Audi R8 V10... Hope my S65 can hang.