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      11-28-2012, 02:14 PM   #13
fastloop
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Drives: E92 335i M Sport
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: UK

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boz335i View Post
Maybe not the best of comparisons as I only drove my car and the M3 driver was a better driver than me.
It would be nice to go around the track with Lars (335Rocks) in his modified 335i to see how it compares (better driver than me/BBK/suspension etc.)
Boz, it was nice meeting you. I did look for you at the end of the day, but I guess you were out in the M3 at that point. I'm back again at Silverstone GP this Saturday, so you're welcome to drop by. I'm sure it will be possible to get a passenger wrist band on the day for a small fee (pm me if you're interested). As you say, the new M3 is very nice and it can be pretty quick in the right hands, but it needs to be driven hard to extract the power and you need to upgrade the brakes if you plan to have more than a few laps of fun. You can get a 335i pretty close to this with the right mods and power wise you'll leave the M3 on the straights.

<slight rant on>
It's a shame the track was a bit damp for most of the day. It made it pretty much a constant series of red flags and looking through my video footage I had at least 6-7 times where I only managed 1.5 lap before another red flag situation came up. So I never got the chance to really get any heat into the tyres and brakes until my instructor laps and the last hour when people had started to go home. It some times have advantages to have an instructor in the car and be able to jump the queue. Nothing like having the track for yourself!

The attendance (130+) was maybe slightly on the high side, but it wouldn't have been a massive issue had it been marshalled properly and people would look in their mirrors. I find it unacceptable that there were no blue flags and no one had a chat to people not letting other quicker cars pass. So a mix of novices, plenty of oblivious left lane huggers and cars that are fast in a straight line parking it on the apex made for a slightly frustrating day. Add the supposed 2x20min "Novice only" times on the day that were blatantly abused by a quite a few I fail to see the point in this. Fully caged race cars going out in a Novice session and flying around the track. No wonder why one of the Novice sessions was red flagged. Having done a number of track days I don't see why everyone else should be punished for novices choosing Silverstone as their first track day. MSV are offering plenty of cheap half day Novice only track days as Brands Hatch and Bedford Autodrome that cater for this exact purpose. What they should do is to give Novices priority on the instructors in the morning, so they learn to drive the track properly and tell them to look in their mirrors. The makes it 10x better for everyone else on the day as they get up to speed immediately.

I had a few drag races down hangar straight with an TVR and an Alpina B5. The TVR was not too bad to get past and with a bit of a run at him I could squeeze past. The B5 on the other hand was pretty quick in a straight line, but he parked it going around corners and wouldn't let me past. So every corner I had to back off not to run into him and then only be able to follow him down the straight. Guess he didn't pay attention in the drivers briefing, "if people are catching you then that means they are faster, but may not necessarily have the BHP to out drag you, so ease off and let them past". My car is not slow, but out-dragging a 500BHP car is not that easy. Maybe it's time for some RB's .

Maybe I was just unlucky always hitting traffic and hopefully Saturday will be a lot better.
<slight rant done>


Quote:
Originally Posted by doughboy View Post
Boz -

Equally Tony (E92fan) took me round donnington in his 335i, and fook me, he was driving it like your mate in the M3 seems to (or faster)

Speeds I could never dream of into corners, clipping apex's and curbs, controlling/fighting the drift on the way out of corners, using all the track and his car just went.

Flat into Craner curves made me want to puke, I was lifted out of my seat he dropped down them so fast.

He had an AP BBK too, so I had seatbelt marks on my chest from the ferocity of the brakes - any they never faded.

You need to get someone to take you out in your own car by the sounds of it - you'll be suprised
The AP's are nice and you can really feel them when braking from high speeds and the road is dry. Tony's wasn't exactly a slow driver either and I had the pleasure of a few quick laps around the Ring with him. So I know what you mean!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boz335i View Post
Cheers for that. I do suspect that I need to experience my car with a good driver. I've seen a couple of video clips of the 335i being driven like that around a track and it looks amazing.
I need to try a track like Bedford, so that if I make a mistake then there will be huge run-offs.

Do you know which setting Tony was using on the traction control.
off so the DTC light comes on, or fully off? And has he got an LSD?

BTW - your mods list looks amazing!
If I remember correctly Tony ran mostly with then just DTC on. With a diff this really allows you quite a bit of unleashed fun and still have ESP to keep the car pointing in the right direction. The other part is learning to feed in the power. With a few mods and a map this car has so much torque that you can spin up the wheels in 3rd if it's not fully dry. So gone are the days when you can just stomp on the pedal and expect it not to bite you back. Turn everything off and it will bite! I only ever run with everything off if it's totally dry and there is little to nothing to hit. I.e. Bedford Autodrome, but last I was there DTC was fine and I didn't feel it cutting power or interfering.
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