[SoCali E36]

So I just recently purchased a new 135i. I currently have 800 miles on it. I have not floored or raced the car yet. There is a track event coming up next Sunday and I was hoping to participate. My questions to you guys would be, would it be ok for my to race my car on the track at such an early stage? Should I expect any harm from the track day? Any thing that I should do before racing?

[roundle]

Did you buy or lease?

[RX7guy]

Do it, you'll have an amazing time.

Free brake jobs and pads for 4yr/50k amirite?

[Legion5]

I think you're reffering to BMW's 1200 mile break in policy. I can tell you as someone who's built engines for road cars and been involved with the building, break in and tuning of Indycars and stock cars and many more professional level race cars that the break in policy is only for liability reasons, and there is no way BMW's motorsports teams would even consider doing anything remotely like it or for as long as 1200 miles for the best piston sealing and longest life.

Anyone who knows anything about engines know they are 98% broken in after 20 miles and ready to race, as long as you change the oil to get gunk out that resulted from the break in. The contaminants in the oil that a car has after it's first few miles make it a very poor lubricant for high performance and could lead to engine damage if you push it.

So feel free to push the car to it's breaking point, just make sure to change the oil first.

[SoCali E36]

Originally Posted by Legion5

I think you're reffering to BMW's 1200 mile break in policy. I can tell you as someone who's built engines for road cars and been involved with the building, break in and tuning of Indycars and stock cars and many more professional level race cars that the break in policy is only for liability reasons, and there is no way BMW's motorsports teams would even consider doing anything remotely like it or for as long as 1200 miles for the best piston sealing and longest life.

Anyone who knows anything about engines know they are 98% broken in after 20 miles and ready to race, as long as you change the oil to get gunk out that resulted from the break in. The contaminants in the oil that a car has after it's first few miles make it a very poor lubricant for high performance and could lead to engine damage if you push it.

So feel free to push the car to it's breaking point, just make sure to change the oil first.

Thanks for the advise! I will be changing the this coming week.


Anything else I need to know?

[SoCali E36]

Originally Posted by roundle

Did you buy or lease?

I'm leasing it for now but do have plans of purchasing it later after the lease.

[qtrlifecrisis]

i'd change the oil after the track. generally what most track day guys do. break in oil in new cars is meant to be run longer than normal oil. it has a bunch of zinc added. the car will be fine either way though.

btw which track day are you going to? cali speedway with speed ventures? or the auto-x at streets of willow? i might be at willow next weekend.

[SoCali E36]

Originally Posted by SloMaroZ

i'd change the oil after the track. generally what most track day guys do. break in oil in new cars is meant to be run longer than normal oil. it has a bunch of zinc added. the car will be fine either way though.

btw which track day are you going to? cali speedway with speed ventures? or the auto-x at streets of willow? i might be at willow next weekend.

Im doing streets of willow on Sunday

[qtrlifecrisis]

Originally Posted by SoCali E90

Im doing streets of willow on Sunday

with bmwcca? i thought it was saturday?

[SoCali E36]

Originally Posted by SloMaroZ

with bmwcca? i thought it was saturday?

no not bmwcca. Its by Max Grip

[qtrlifecrisis]

ahh, big event or small event?

[tony20009]

Were I leasing a car, I would not race it on a track. The risk of an unfortunate event happening it too high for my taste.

[trboboost91]

Originally Posted by SoCali E90

So I just recently purchased a new 135i. I currently have 800 miles on it. I have not floored or raced the car yet. There is a track event coming up next Sunday and I was hoping to participate. My questions to you guys would be, would it be ok for my to race my car on the track at such an early stage? Should I expect any harm from the track day? Any thing that I should do before racing?

Forget oil!
Can I ask where you got the 135 sedan?
That must be pretty rare, cause I've never seen or even heard of one.

[I335]

Originally Posted by trboboost91

Forget oil!
Can I ask where you got the 135 sedan?
That must be pretty rare, cause I've never seen or even heard of one.

Yeah - it says "135i Sedan" under his avatar and he says in his post that he just got a 135 but in his sig pic it look a lot more like an E90. Multiple typos maybe?

Anyhow - I'd say the engine has enough miles on it now but I'd change the oil before and after. The oil in there now probably has a lot of crap in it since it's the first oil the engine has seen - I'd want that out before racing. All that said, I wouldn't recommend racing the car before the 1200 mile break in period is over. If you do have a problem with the car and BMW finds out you were running it close to red line for extended periods of time (which you will be doing when you race and which they certainly can see in the data) before the break in period is over that would give them a pretty bullet-proof excuse to void your warranty right there.

On a personal note, I'm just amazed with how many guys race their new, expensive BMWs in the first place. Why don't you guys get a much less expensive older BMW to race to reduce the risk of complete wallet drain? Years ago my friends and I used to go to Star Speedway in NH all the time to watch the grudge matches. Without exception all the guys would have older, cheap dedicated track cars - except for this one night when someone brought his brand new Trans Am (I think it was 1979) to race. Everyone thought this guys lost his marbles risking a new car like that in this kind of racing and sure enough, not even 5 minutes into the race the guy hit the wall and completely demolished the entire passenger side of his brand new car and as he came off the wall he also hit a couple of other cars denting and scratching up the driver's side of the car as well. I don't think there was a body panel or bumper that didn't get damaged and he didn't even hit that hard - not even bad enough to stop the race. Talk about embarrassing - all I could hear in the crowd were things like "what an idiot" and a lot of laughing. Sure, the kid may have been rich (who knows?) and perhaps he didn't care about the money or the car, but he had to sneak out the back gate to avoid all the ridicule. I understand folks being curious about how well they can drive and how well their new car can perform on a track, but is it really worth that kind of a risk?

[ninesixtwo]

Originally Posted by I335

On a personal note, I'm just amazed with how many guys race their new, expensive BMWs in the first place. Why don't you guys get a much less expensive older BMW to race to reduce the risk of complete wallet drain? Years ago my friends and I used to go to Star Speedway in NH all the time to watch the grudge matches.

It's calculated risk... with instructors I would hope... in a controlled environment. It's also not racing.

[deadlyrhythm]

Originally Posted by I335

On a personal note, I'm just amazed with how many guys race their new, expensive BMWs in the first place. Why don't you guys get a much less expensive older BMW to race to reduce the risk of complete wallet drain?

Gotta start somewhere... and a few runs on a track isn't a sure-fire way to damage your car. It's a great test zone to see if it's something you're into. I'm personally taking a weekend class to see if it sparks my interest

[SeanCarter]

Go for it, you'll have fun...I did, just made sure to change my oil the day after.