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      09-28-2008, 10:49 AM   #1
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BMW CCA CA Speedway 9-27-08 Report

I, along with many of you, attended the BMW CCA school at CA Speedway (excuse me...AAA Speedway) yesterday. I ran in the A group. Amazingly there were only 10 cars in my group so there was TONS of track space. The weather was beautiful but HOT, pushing close to 100 during the afternoon.

One of the fun parts was that at the end of the day we got to drive over to the wet skid pad to play! That was GREAT!!! But OMG the car gets dirty doing that...

To prepare for the day I had my coolant drained and refilled with pure water and Redline Water Wetter. I also removed the kidney grills for the day. The car had fresh oil, fresh brake pads (stock), new spark plugs and a recent brake bleed. My tires are Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec in OE sizes. I was also running almost a full tank of 100 octane.

During my 3rd session my car went into limp mode at the start of the session. It was NOT temperature related so far as I can tell. When I restarted the limp mode went away. I suspect it was a low boost condition. The car was running fine (although somewhat down on power) so I completed the session in limp mode. Frankly I was still so much faster than the folks I was near on track that I didn't want to take away from track time to shut off and re-start.

In my final session it was the hottest part of the afternoon. My oil never got over 275 degrees and my water never exceeded 100C. The car ran flawlessly throughout.

Admittedly I drove conservatively due to not wanting to overheat anything. I was also in a bunch of traffic since the 4th session the club combined the A and B groups. The speed and competence differential between A and B was striking. One of the most troubling aspects of being on the track with the B group was the utter lack of courtesy...in the A group we are all pretty good about point-bys. The B's seemed completely oblivious to the fact that faster cars were behind. Frankly by the time a driver gets to B they should be able to manage their mirrors better.

Here is a link to a video from the combined A/B group. The SG 335i in front belongs to a friend of mine in the B group. I stayed behind for most of the session to capture as many laps as possible so he could watch and see what he was doing right/wrong.

I will post other videos after everything uploads.

I also want to say how nice it was to meet many of you yesterday.

Thanks for reading!
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      09-28-2008, 12:17 PM   #2
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Thanks for sharing! The vid is pretty good, except for the sound. But I just decided to watch without sound. I really need to get on the track for some HPDE and such.

My first ever track experience is coming up though*. My company is having a meeting in Vegas, and our "team building event" is doing some laps at the Mario Andretti Driving school in indy style cars!

*Road track/oval that is. I've been on the drag strip a few times....


Completely off-topic here, but I notice in just about every video that the "Hazard button" blinks! It isn't on, but you can see it blinking randomly, even in your vid. Very strange.....
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      09-28-2008, 10:40 PM   #3
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It was awesome meeting so many faces from this subforum. Dirty is a relative idea.

regarding the hazzard button. Thats just how it is. When you take pics of the interior, sometimes it looks on, sometimes it looks off.

Edit: oh yeah, and regarding sound, thats what 125 with the windows down sounds like.
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      09-29-2008, 12:46 AM   #4
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I wanted to comment on a couple of products...

1. The Dunlop tires: These really were amazingly good. They were just as good on the first lap as on the last. Grip was plentiful. They look as if they were enjoyed but show almost no damage (after 2 track days and 1 auto-x). On the wet skid pad we had trouble breaking them loose, even in the wet. On track they hung with cars on more aggressive tires seemingly easily. They are great!

2. Cool Shirt: This is a MUST HAVE for anybody doing track days in hot climates. http://www.coolshirt.net/ I wore mine yesterday and it worked like a charm! I was comfortable when others were miserable. GREAT product!!!

3. Eurobahn: Jeff was at the event and had a nice display. He was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. When I had my limp mode he took the time to talk it through with me and explore possibilities. Jeff's customer service is really extraordinary!

4. CG Lock: I know this is controversial but I really like it. Using this device allows me to keep the seat belts really tight so I don't slide around as much. It was a good investment.
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      09-29-2008, 09:40 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2e9x's View Post
I, along with many of you, attended the BMW CCA school at CA Speedway (excuse me...AAA Speedway) yesterday. I ran in the A group. Amazingly there were only 10 cars in my group so there was TONS of track space. The weather was beautiful but HOT, pushing close to 100 during the afternoon.

One of the fun parts was that at the end of the day we got to drive over to the wet skid pad to play! That was GREAT!!! But OMG the car gets dirty doing that...

To prepare for the day I had my coolant drained and refilled with pure water and Redline Water Wetter. I also removed the kidney grills for the day. The car had fresh oil, fresh brake pads (stock), new spark plugs and a recent brake bleed. My tires are Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec in OE sizes. I was also running almost a full tank of 100 octane.

During my 3rd session my car went into limp mode at the start of the session. It was NOT temperature related so far as I can tell. When I restarted the limp mode went away. I suspect it was a low boost condition. The car was running fine (although somewhat down on power) so I completed the session in limp mode. Frankly I was still so much faster than the folks I was near on track that I didn't want to take away from track time to shut off and re-start.

In my final session it was the hottest part of the afternoon. My oil never got over 275 degrees and my water never exceeded 100C. The car ran flawlessly throughout.

Admittedly I drove conservatively due to not wanting to overheat anything. I was also in a bunch of traffic since the 4th session the club combined the A and B groups. The speed and competence differential between A and B was striking. One of the most troubling aspects of being on the track with the B group was the utter lack of courtesy...in the A group we are all pretty good about point-bys. The B's seemed completely oblivious to the fact that faster cars were behind. Frankly by the time a driver gets to B they should be able to manage their mirrors better.

Here is a link to a video from the combined A/B group. The SG 335i in front belongs to a friend of mine in the B group. I stayed behind for most of the session to capture as many laps as possible so he could watch and see what he was doing right/wrong.

I will post other videos after everything uploads.

I also want to say how nice it was to meet many of you yesterday.

Thanks for reading!
I had just the opposite experience, perhaps just limited to a couple of the A group drivers. I was behind one A group driver for 2 full laps before a proper point by.
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      09-29-2008, 10:45 PM   #6
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Hopefully 2e9x's won't mind me adding in some of my thoughts and pics.

Yes, that is a pink lanyard! And, yes, that is my bff. I learn something new every weekend. Last weekend I learned that girls don't like it when you tell them the snore. This weekend I learned that guys don't think it's that funny when you hand someone a camera with the question "take a picture of me and my boyfriend?" Check out how his elbow is guaranteing a safe distance between the light sabres.

I went for a ride along in both the green car and the yellow car (not the viper). Call me crazy and ban me from this forum, but i prefer the v8. From third gear at 2k rpm to 4th gear at 6k rpm, the vette felt like it was just out doing its thing. The GT3RS got to the same speeds but it felt like it was putting in work. I suspect they turn about the same lap times, but I'd rather have the vette.

There was some time set aside for us to play around on the skid pad while the Car Control guys got to parade around the big track. I learned something supervaluable there. I learned about steering with the gas pedal. Not drifting, but lifting and feeling the nose tuck in to tighten the turning radius. I then applied this trick to great effect (imo) through turns 5 and 6.

I met this guy at the track that said I could borrow a Chase Cam for a few bucks. He seemed cool enough so I gave it a shot. Video to follow when I figure out how to work the internets.

A few forum sponsors showed up. Harold is a very cool guy. Sucks that he's so far from my home town. I predict we'll meet again.

That sexy little E30 with the 510 on it... I don't know if he was pushing that hard, but I had the Atomic Drifter pilot my ride for a few laps at about 8.5/10ths and that E30 could not lose us. My civilized stock suspension and torqey 300 horse powers were very sufficient.

Final thought... when you get off the track, and you change your wheels, lug nuts will make you yell obsenities. Oh yeah, the level of instruction I received through out my 2 days was incredible. The guys who show up to help a noob like me accomplish my goals are the best. I can't believe that instructing isn't their day job. If any yellow shirt comes across this post... thank you for what you do.






























































First lap of the day:

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Last lap of my 3rd session:

[u2b]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eVq2vnXX4Co&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eVq2vnXX4Co&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/u2b]

Last edited by satakal; 10-01-2008 at 12:25 AM..
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      10-02-2008, 10:17 PM   #7
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I was there and had a blast. saw some of your cars there. and yeah - there is at least one A group driver that is horrible about point bys- old guyin a red e30 with a e36 m3 motor. they should put him back in c group till he learns to pass.
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      10-03-2008, 02:12 AM   #8
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      10-03-2008, 09:37 AM   #9
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Yellow shirts? What the heck are they?

Did you notice how faded the damn yellow shirts are..and that they arent big enough?
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      10-05-2008, 02:49 AM   #10
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wow!!!! some E92 M3 blasted by Ken and disappeared.... in the good quality vid at about 16:00 !!!!
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      10-05-2008, 08:54 AM   #11
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Was that you?
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      10-05-2008, 01:10 PM   #12
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This event actually ended up to be a pretty good weekend. I got to flog my old SE-R a little, while my racecar was tucked away in the garage at home. All the students I had over the weekend were very receptive and very willing to learn and none of them tried to kill me! :-) I got a chance to give a Satakal's 335 a good little flogging towards the end of the day Sunday. Felt pretty good for a stock suspended car on street tires. It'll need a little better oil cooling for better longevity and increased Floggablity in the heat of summer.

As far as them yellow shirts, there are several different versions and believe it or not some are a very light/faded yellow. But they've either Shrunk or the wearers have gotten larger over the years. I know mine could use being a tiny bit bigger. :-(
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      10-05-2008, 11:16 PM   #13
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Quote:
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Was that you?

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      10-06-2008, 07:27 AM   #14
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When I grow up I want to wear a yellow shirt too...
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      10-06-2008, 03:21 PM   #15
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When I grow up I want to wear a yellow shirt too...
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      10-06-2008, 07:39 PM   #16
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So does mean we need to place all the yellow shirts on a diet to lower our track times?
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      10-06-2008, 07:51 PM   #17
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Many of the Yellow Shirts could use Diets, but beleive me, having that extra weight of the instructor in the car itself will lower your lap times.
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      10-06-2008, 10:57 PM   #18
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Yeah I know, you guys save me from myself and also help lower times in the process...
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      10-09-2008, 02:55 PM   #19
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i lost 15 pounds - 8 more to go!
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