[jahwerx]

My first time at Watkins Glen. I did the HPDE with the RTR PCA (http://rtr-pca.org)

Probably only 20% non-Porsche's there, but the community was incredibly friendly and welcoming. The instructors really know their stuff, and I had the opportunity to go out in the instructor's session in my instructor's GT-3 (with slicks). I'm still feeling queezy - LOL

The 335 was a dream out there. I'm running R888 and upgraded the front brakes ... all coupled to the OEM sport suspension.

After the first 20 minute session learning the course. I was able to get pretty consistent and was turning in 2:25's today (when they let me run solo). With instructor, about 2 seconds slower.

There were a couple of other 335's (plus e36 M3, and some other bimmers) participating, so please chime in if you were there!

Cheers,
-j

p.s. looks like I need to get a porsche now

[jahwerx]

Couple of pix I took with my phone...

I guess the titles would be
"Oh no I didn't get the memo re: Buy a red porsche"

and

"The gods were smiling after the rains"

[ToddPhilly]

Hey I was the guy in the red 335i coupe. I had a great time as well. From talking to others, it sounds like you were one of the fastest if not the fastest car in the blue group. Your car looks great, and it certainly looked like you were driving it well. Love the Alcon brakes! Glad you had fun. RTR PCA is a fantastic club to run with.

Coincidentally, I was one of the fastest cars in the green group as well. I actually went the entire weekend without getting passed...which had me extremely pleased given some of the cars that were out there. My car was running very well and I had driven the glen before, so I probably had a small experience edge over some of the group. I was turning 2:31's - 2:33's which I was happy with given running street rubber and brakes.

All in all, the 335i's certainly showed their capacity as a decent track car. I think the balance and predictability of the car are what make it easy to drive on the track (the 300 ft/lbs of torque also doesn't hurt!).

p.s: I wouldn't mind a porsche either!!!

[satakal]

they do timing at a HPDE?
________
Park Royal 2 Condos Prathumnak

[ToddPhilly]

Originally Posted by satakal

they do timing at a HPDE?

No but friends with stopwatches are easy to come by.

[jahwerx]

Originally Posted by ToddPhilly

Hey I was the guy in the red 335i coupe. I had a great time as well. From talking to others, it sounds like you were one of the fastest if not the fastest car in the blue group. Your car looks great, and it certainly looked like you were driving it well. Love the Alcon brakes! Glad you had fun. RTR PCA is a fantastic club to run with.

Coincidentally, I was one of the fastest cars in the green group as well. I actually went the entire weekend without getting passed...which had me extremely pleased given some of the cars that were out there. My car was running very well and I had driven the glen before, so I probably had a small experience edge over some of the group. I was turning 2:31's - 2:33's which I was happy with given running street rubber and brakes.

All in all, the 335i's certainly showed their capacity as a decent track car. I think the balance and predictability of the car are what make it easy to drive on the track (the 300 ft/lbs of torque also doesn't hurt!).

p.s: I wouldn't mind a porsche either!!!

After chatting with you a bit at the staging (scrubbed session!), I'm sorry we never had a chance to catch up!

It's great to hear you ran so well!

I felt pretty good when Kenny let me solo on day 3. He was really good - right to the point - "You totally f**ked that turn up" or "perfect" (note to self - I liked hearing "perfect" or getting the thumbs up better!). When he let me go solo he told me "don't do what another one of my students did". I said "What was that"? "Went off at turn 6 and killed himself". THAT made me take a deep breath and remember how little room for error there is at speed. Especially on this track.

Regarding timing . . . I used a performance box.

next post - some pictures..

[jahwerx]

Ok, the really funny one is my instructor making faces at the camera (we were having fun in the rain)

Coming up the toe of the boot (turn 7) it looks like my tires are gonna come right off the rims.

Yellow gt3 is my instructor's . . . two-tone 996 is the guy who dragged me out to the event! I got to ride in both of those beasts.

The charts are pretty self explainitory.

Perhaps I'll even buck up and buy a couple of these photos!

[longodj]

Are the colors for PCA the same as PDA/NASA? And you never answered me whether you're going to Pocono South I'd love to be in your group on track

[nicknaz]

OP, you should consider removing or obscuring your license plates when on track..

You never know how manufacturers will try to cut costs in the future, and photos like that are great ammunition for potential denial of a powertrain warranty claim

[ToddPhilly]

Originally Posted by Nick Nazareno

OP, you should consider removing or obscuring your license plates when on track..

You never know how manufacturers will try to cut costs in the future, and photos like that are great ammunition for potential denial of a powertrain warranty claim

I've heard the same thing that BMW trolls YouTube and whatnot looking for license plates on new cars. Don't know if there's any truth to it, but I took mine off for the weekend just in case.

Here are some pics of me this past weekend. I particularly like the one of me chasing down the 997 Turbo!

[jahwerx]

Originally Posted by Nick Nazareno

OP, you should consider removing or obscuring your license plates when on track..

You never know how manufacturers will try to cut costs in the future, and photos like that are great ammunition for potential denial of a powertrain warranty claim

Some folks do that - not my thing. I'm straight up with my dealer
see post #9 here: http://www.n54tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1387
(that's me over there)

BTW, I wasn't denied warranty when my fuel pump went either.

My philosophy is, if I break it - I'm responsible for it. A lot of the folks on these forums will do whatever they can to play games with BMW, but if they want to push 17+PSI of boost and frag their snails and block, I say that BMW SHOULD deny warranty.

FWIW, I'm running the lowest boost tune with my setup on the track - everything dialed all the way down. high power is a lot more fun and usable on the street (when I'm not overdriving the suspension)

cheers,
-j

[jahwerx]

Originally Posted by longodj

Are the colors for PCA the same as PDA/NASA? And you never answered me whether you're going to Pocono South I'd love to be in your group on track

PCA is:
green
blue
white
black
red (instructors)

Green and Blue require instructors, the rest are solo. It was great respect when they let me solo in Blue on Sunday.

Some folks in white apparently were pretty sloppy but I guess they got upgraded due to "time in color". The guy who wrecked his Cayman was in white, plus 2 white drivers blew through 5 (THAT IS FIVE) red flags. The track manager called out the club, and all the drivers had a "talking to" on day 2.

I can't do another event this month (missed my daughter's b'day over this weekend), plus I'm doing a 3-day skip barber class first week in september.

I might do thunderbolt in October though

[jahwerx]

Originally Posted by ToddPhilly

I've heard the same thing that BMW trolls YouTube and whatnot looking for license plates on new cars. Don't know if there's any truth to it, but I took mine off for the weekend just in case.

Here are some pics of me this past weekend. I particularly like the one of me chasing down the 997 Turbo!

Ok, you bought the pics - LOL - they are nice.

What's cool is that you folks in PA don't have to even HAVE front plates!!!

ummm ... yeah ... even though this is not "racing", its nice getting point-bys by fast cars.

What tires were you running?? - those are K1's, correct?

[longodj]

Originally Posted by jahwerx

PCA is:
green
blue
white
black
red (instructors)

Green and Blue require instructors, the rest are solo. It was great respect when they let me solo in Blue on Sunday.

Some folks in white apparently were pretty sloppy but I guess they got upgraded due to "time in color". The guy who wrecked his Cayman was in white, plus 2 white drivers blew through 5 (THAT IS FIVE) red flags. The track manager called out the club, and all the drivers had a "talking to" on day 2.

I can't do another event this month (missed my daughter's b'day over this weekend), plus I'm doing a 3-day skip barber class first week in september.

I might do thunderbolt in October though

Well after your Skip Barber class you've got to move up to NASA Blue! I'm planning Skip Barber next spring...definitely can't afford it now... But damn, Thunderbolt in October is a Wednesday I can't drive 6 hours on a weekday...class and the like. I'm planning on attending Thunderbolt in November though. We've gotta meet up at some event, I want to see that crazy JB setup on track again! You should come to O'Fest? It's back at the Glen...

[jahwerx]

Originally Posted by longodj

Well after your Skip Barber class you've got to move up to NASA Blue! I'm planning Skip Barber next spring...definitely can't afford it now... But damn, Thunderbolt in October is a Wednesday I can't drive 6 hours on a weekday...class and the like. I'm planning on attending Thunderbolt in November though. We've gotta meet up at some event, I want to see that crazy JB setup on track again! You should come to O'Fest? It's back at the Glen...

I thought Nasa was just level 1-4 I didn't realize they had colors as well!

I'd be running Thunderbolt the weekend of Oct 17-18-19 with PCA again. midweek would be tough for me as well!

[longodj]

Originally Posted by jahwerx

I thought Nasa was just level 1-4 I didn't realize they had colors as well!

I'd be running Thunderbolt the weekend of Oct 17-18-19 with PCA again. midweek would be tough for me as well!

1 - Green
2 - White
3 - Blue
4 - Red
Instructor - Black

Oh, well that might work then. I thought PCA didn't allow non-Porsche's...were you able to just sign up at MotorsportsReg or how'd that work?

[ToddPhilly]

Originally Posted by jahwerx

Ok, you bought the pics - LOL - they are nice.

What's cool is that you folks in PA don't have to even HAVE front plates!!!

ummm ... yeah ... even though this is not "racing", its nice getting point-bys by fast cars.

What tires were you running?? - those are K1's, correct?

I was running Dunlop direzza z1's. They performed about as good as you can get without going to r-comps. Very pleased! You had toto's right?

[ToddPhilly]

Originally Posted by jahwerx

PCA is:
green
blue
white
black
red (instructors)

Green and Blue require instructors, the rest are solo. It was great respect when they let me solo in Blue on Sunday.

Some folks in white apparently were pretty sloppy but I guess they got upgraded due to "time in color". The guy who wrecked his Cayman was in white, plus 2 white drivers blew through 5 (THAT IS FIVE) red flags. The track manager called out the club, and all the drivers had a "talking to" on day 2.

I can't do another event this month (missed my daughter's b'day over this weekend), plus I'm doing a 3-day skip barber class first week in september.

I might do thunderbolt in October though

White is typically considered the most 'dangerous' group. I honestly don't think there are a whole lot if any promotios due to 'time in group'. RTR is very strict about promoting out of blue to white. I think it's just the fact that white is the non-instructed group with the least experience.

Also, we found out that the story of cars blowing through 5 red flags was bogus. The one driver that was singled out as doing it HAD AN INSTRUCTOR IN HIS CAR! The instructor said they absolutly didn't miss those flags. Apparently the final blame came back on the flagging crew.

Oh well. Who knows what really happened?

[ToddPhilly]

Originally Posted by longodj

1 - Green
2 - White
3 - Blue
4 - Red
Instructor - Black

Oh, well that might work then. I thought PCA didn't allow non-Porsche's...were you able to just sign up at MotorsportsReg or how'd that work?

PCA requires a porsche for membership. I am an affiliate member on my father-in-law's PCA membership. PCA does open up registration to non-PCA members after the first week or so of registration, but most events are full by then.

[jahwerx]

Originally Posted by ToddPhilly

PCA requires a porsche for membership. I am an affiliate member on my father-in-law's PCA membership. PCA does open up registration to non-PCA members after the first week or so of registration, but most events are full by then.

+1 first you need to be a member of the PCA (national). You'll need your Porsche's VIN number to register

Then specify your affilation to a region

Then if you are a member, you can register early.... if not, just as Todd said, register when they open it to everyone.

Just like any sanctioning club . . . some events fill up fast, others remain open up until the event. My guess is the NJ event will fill up quickly due to proximity.

[jahwerx]

Originally Posted by ToddPhilly

White is typically considered the most 'dangerous' group. I honestly don't think there are a whole lot if any promotios due to 'time in group'. RTR is very strict about promoting out of blue to white. I think it's just the fact that white is the non-instructed group with the least experience.

Also, we found out that the story of cars blowing through 5 red flags was bogus. The one driver that was singled out as doing it HAD AN INSTRUCTOR IN HIS CAR! The instructor said they absolutly didn't miss those flags. Apparently the final blame came back on the flagging crew.

Oh well. Who knows what really happened?

I suppose no one really knows for sure... I spoke to the dude who had the instructor in the car as well (over cocktails Saturday night), and he told me the same story.

All I know is if I got called out in front of everyone and I wasn't to blame, I would have said something at the time, rather than just taking it at the time. That was pretty damn humiliating.

I personally thought the flaggers were good in my runs (i saw yellows, yellow-reds, lots of blues in front of me LOL, AND the lights too), but everyone is human and makes mistakes.

No one got hurt - that is what really matters.