Update: May 24 - Mid-Ohio
http://www.bmwccaclubracing.com/_Upl...013results.pdf
Results already!
We came in third overall, second in class at Mid-Ohio!
Neither myself or Steve Snow had ever been to Mid-Ohio and I literally watched two laps on YouTube, so no idea of the track layout.
We were able to take one of the Bimmerworks customer's car out for the instructor group to give us a first look at the track (thank you Steve and Steve - father and son with a sweet e36 M3). I rode shotgun and we spent about 10 minutes feeling our way around the track.
I took the practice for the Enduro and Steve Snow owner of Bimmerworks would qualify the car since he's had much more seat time than I have in the 335 (I've driven the car a total of close to 4 hours at this point). I just got the basic layout of the track and had a lot of work to do to get quicker. My quickest time was a 1:49, where the quickest guys were low 1:40's.
Steve qualified us mid-pack at a 1:45 (8th position out of 16 cars) and would start the race.
Green flag is dropped and we don't see the Bimmerworks 335! He's driving very slowly down the pit lane with a flat tire! We quickly change it and are 1-1/2 laps down and in last place. NOT a good way to start the race.
We were trying for a two stop strategy because of the mandatory 5 minute pit-stop when fueling. This equated to about 3 laps so it was in our best interest to try this. Problem is, we had no idea how far we could go on the stock fuel tank (SCCA endurance rules allow for a 24 gallon fuel capacity, BMWCCA Endurance allows stock fuel tank size only).
Steve ended up running in the 1:43 - 1:45 range most of the time and got us up to 8th position and ran 1 hour and 15 minutes. So this made a two stop strategy a possibility, it just depended on how long I would be able to stay out.
A side note: Radios weren't working so no communication between the pit and car.
I hoped in the car and I literally had two minutes to wait until the 5 minutes were up (we are quite quick in the pits). I also put some added pressure on myself to really get my lap times down so I could pull my own weight. Steve had a good 5-6 seconds on me so I needed to step it up.
I really conscentrated on squaring off the race track and late apexing most turns to be able to get on the throttle as soon as possbile with the mighty 335 (Dinan tuned of course). We could run with most of the fastest cars in a straight line, but with no aero and a 3,300lb curb weight without driver, it's not the quickest car in the turns. It's also an endurance race so we're not pushing the car as hard as we can in all gears. 5,000 rpm shift points and running 95% of the course in 4th, 5th and 6th, topping out on the back straight about 150mph.
This ended up paying dividends. My times started to come down quickly. 1:45, 1:44, 1:43, 1:42, 1:41 with my quickest time of 1:40.709. So I literally shaved 9 seconds off my laptime!
I could see the Bimmerworks crew in the pits watching the laptimes and positions as I moved up through the field (I had no idea what position I was in - I just thought that if a car was in front of me, it needed to be passed for position). I got passed by one car, the eventual race winner. Other than that, I was passing anything in front of me.
I caught a group of three cars being led by a B-mod e46 M3. Essentially a stock M3 with slicks, so it was really quick in the straight line, not so much in the turns. Behind him was an e36 M3 and an e46 M3. They would be very close to him in the turns, but once the track straightened out, he was gone. I ended up picking off the first two cars pretty quickly and then watched as the B-mod M3 was running really weird lines. All over the place leaving plenty of space to put your nose in and possibly get next to, but did NOT trust him because he was all over the track! Cutting everyone off and not paying attention to blue flags (yes, I complained to the stewards after the race as other drivers had the same complaint). I got a good run on him getting on to the back straight and got next to him prior to the braking zone. He hit the brakes before the 5 marker and I didn't hit the brakes till marker 4, so I flew passed him and was gone. At this time I looked down and saw I had 30 miles left in the tank! UGH! All that work and now I need to pit. I stayed out one more lap and really put some distance between myself and the other cars. I pitted after 1 hour and 20 minutes in the car.
I also got us up into 3rd place! We only had a little over 1 hour left in the race so we would make it no problem. All the while, the team didn't know how I was staying out so long and running these quick times. Was I burning all the fuel and burning off the tires? Not so.
This reengergized Steve who jumped back into the car and ran his best laps of the race. He was able to hold onto third position so we were on the podium.
The eventual race winner had gotten a flat on the second lap of the race too. They passed the first place car (a spec e36) that only pitted once on the second last lap.
A great result for us. Next time we're trying for the overall win!
https://www.facebook.com/BMWEnduranceSeries
That's me giving the thumbs up in the pic.
Note: Second pic is from the BMW Endurance Series Facebook page.