35+ Laps @ Sebring in the Gallardo's rookie track day - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Apples · 21st April 2004, 23:47

I just spent 2 days running the Gallardo very hard around Sebring, as well as my 95 track ready M3.
They both are two very quick cars with two very different personalties.
I spent 1 day putting clear contact paper all over the Gallardo's frontal area before l drove down for it's rookie run.
I'll get the proper stuff put on next month.
I must say it worked great, and it came off in 10 min. It was function over fashion this week.
I started out with all corners at 42 lbs, and within a few laps it wasn't handling at all well, when l went back into pit lane they had jumped to well over 50 lb....way too much pressure.

Second time out l dropped them back to a hot temp of around 42 for the fronts and 45 for the rears, this set up seemed to show a very real improvement in the handling of the car.
I did leave the traction on, and it did flash many times at many speeds (even over 100mph), but l was there to have fun in the car, and to drive it home on the final day. Leaving the traction ESP button on may have caused the brakes to heat up just a little more.
I was tempted to turn it off, but not for now....it's there for a reason.
There's no doubt there could be plenty more done with the tire pressures for better handling in this car.

The car was so strong in a straight line and ran down many cars through the corners and only a 520hp GT2 could keep her honest in the straights with that low down torque of the GT2 it's hard to beat that.
Stepping from the M3 thats got a full racing harness to a regular seat belt was one hell of a shock. The seats are average to OK in the Gallardo, but for the track it's a must to change out for a better restraint system if you plan on doing much track work with this car.
The car screams out for Michelin Sport Cups, and it even kept pace with cars running much sticker tires.
I was advised that if you do change wheels tires that they stay exactly the same size, as to not screw around the all wheel drive system, and l would loose my warranty if l did change the over all size of the tires height.
The suspension is adjustable with coil overs, but l didn't want to go there right now, but it needs to be firmer, and add some heaver sway bars, and l could drive this car all day long at the track.
The brakes absolutly blew me away, l never had, for one lap any issues about me pulling up to make a turn.
The repeatable stopping power they give is amazing.
I could out brake any of the cars there, and all of this on streets.
I had to use 100% in a straight line and then back off just a bit to use enough to get me through the corners with some squel going on at times.
I was hitting 130-140mph under the bridge at the back of the track at the Hotel and then pulling the car down to 40mph in around 500ft
When l came in l was seeing brake rotor temps of over 950deg F on both front and rears ends.
The sound they made when l pulled up was like a "clink tink" sort of sound, and very easy to hear with the motor at idle. l had to drive around the in field for 5 mins just to get them below 500deg F.
Another thing to add to this car after seeing those high temps is some ducting for the brakes, you just can't do over and over and expect them too handle that sort of abuse every time.
I had a friend there with an amazing camera set up on the car, so l've got plenty of action with 3 camera angles recording at once. Some real cool ones seeing the wing flip up and down in and out of corners.
I was going to host then up on the Imagestation address l've got, but they only take MPEG1 files not my Windows wmv files, so l'm not sure what l'll do there.
So will l get sticker tires for the Lambo??
I would love to get this car set up just a few more notches more if l take it out again.
PC

Jayson · 21st April 2004, 23:54

I'd love to see some video of that

Redshift · 22nd April 2004, 00:08

Sounds great. I would die to take a car like that out on track. Sounds like fun. As for the restraint system, if your seat belt would accept it, you should try a CG-Lock. I would be unable to drive my M5 on track without it. The seats and restraints are not conducive to that type of driving - but with the CG-Lock its easy and I didn't have to hack up the interior with a rollbar or mount or even bother with harnesses. Give it a look.

MartinW · 22nd April 2004, 00:15

Yes, definitely - pictures please!

How did you get the reading of the brake temperatures - with a hand held probe, or does the Gallardo tell you that sort of info onboard!!

Good fortune on the road ahead!
Martin

gra8fuldd ed · 22nd April 2004, 00:19

Stuart:

It's sounds like you had a BLAST!! BTW ... What was the average outside air temp during the "2 Days of Thunder?"

After I read that your Lambo's brakes heated up to over 900 degress ... I immediately asked myself ... "WHAT is that Lambo using for Brake Cooling?"

In the next sentence ... You answered it ... It's NOT!!

Do you have a sample you could show us of "The Condom" you used that was NOT all that comfortable ... I mean fashionable!!

How was your engine temp during the spirited runs?

Although you were totally taken by the performance of the Lambo ... How did your M3 fair in comparasion to let's say your Nowacked M5 ... If it is a comparasion?

Can hardly wait to see some video.

MIB · 22nd April 2004, 00:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apples

Some real cool ones seeing the wing flip up and down in and out of corners.

So will l get sticker tires for the Lambo??

I would love to get this car set up just a few more notches more if l take it out again.
PC

Oh No you don't. We do not want to see a video of a Gallardo in anger with the Wing flipping up and down.

I won't be able to sleep for weeks after seeing such a spectacle.

No, you are not allowed to get sticker tyres and especially NOT a Powerchip. Hows a poor Beast supposed to stand a chance now?

I am very disappointed, how you have on previous occassions you failed to mention, (Read Scream from the roof for all to hear) an ACTIVE WING.

I am trying really hard not to be insanely jealous and I'm not doing a very good job of it.

Seriously, what size are those gorgeous Gallardo Wheels? You may have some trouble getting type R's that big.

That thing really has an active wing, Huh?

Please don't tell me it has a button inside that you can push that will raise the rear wing, I really do not need to know such information.

Have you noticed any Oil burning with the Gallardo? At all, street or Track? What Oil do they recommend for it?

Do you have to Oil the ACTIVE REAR WING? I'm not going to get over this soon.

J/K

Thats great mate, to see you out enjoying your SuperCar.

They were meant to be driven, not stored to collect dust.

520 HP GT2 was keeping you honest, you say.

Regards Your Poor mate in Oz.

stever · 22nd April 2004, 02:40

900F is not at all surprising on track -- if you measured them with a pyrometer after you pulled in, you can bet peak temps on track were higher --the good thing is that front and rear temps are the same indicating that both ends are doing their job with properly matched brake sizes

on the M5 my rears run 800-900, but the fronts can go to 1200 on a hot day (measured with temp paint) on a demanding track

Apples · 22nd April 2004, 03:57

I need to make my clips in MPEG format for them to be loaded to my hosting site (Imagestation) they only take MPEG1 versions
I've used in the past, the windows editing program but the quality is average, even at a high play rate it dropped a bit.
I here MPEG quality is much better.
I've ordered Quick Time Pro for $30 so l should be able to get a better quality transfer from DV to finished product...well that's my game plan.

The temp's for the 2 days was late 70's to early 80's and not that humid. So perfect driving days.

The oil temp usually sits around 70-80 deg C, and during the hard running it was around 110-130deg c. It's measured in Celsius in the Lambo, no mention of Fahrenheit even for the US G cars dials.

Sport cups do come in 19's as the M3 CSL runs that size, but could l get the exact widths for the Gallardo...l don't know.
I've got a friend that's a factory driver for BMW that said he's confident he could get some if l wanted to.
I need to look into wheels as well for the track

I used the Raytek to get all the temps, and it max's out at 950deg F....maybe l need to get a higher rating?
There's not doubt that ducting can be done on the Lambo with not too much of an effort, so l need to jack up the car and have a look about how it could be done.
I think l would just tap into the gobs of air that the front of the car scoops up now for the radiators.
The M3 runs front temps of 350deg F and 450 rear.
The M3 has some pretty good ducting in the front that seems to keep the then pretty cool, and zero ducting for the rears, but 450 dec F isn't too high.

Their very different in that the M3 has great traction and it's set up rock hard with no roll (very much the race car) when you finish braking you're on full throttle in no time at all, but the Gallardo has the higher speeds ln the straights but needs just a bit more time to decide how you want to use the tires traction once you set it up for the corner....street tires will cause you to act that way.
They both run Sebring at around 2:34 - 2:36 from what l was told by some people at the track, and that sounds about right from what l've seen....no winning times there with me behind the seat.
The M3 can be ran in the mid to late 20's so 7-10 seconds quicker then me, so l'm working on getting better with the new set of slicks that l've now got on the car it's feeling great, even with l bit of push, but thats the safer on to have

I drove my M5 today to some testing with my new UUC clutch with the OEM diff but if was playing up big time, so l had to take it back to the shop for them to see whats up.
The error codes have a few things going on.... You'll see my other post that l've got up that describes some of the issues l'm having.

l guess the 3:45 will have to go straight in as the next Evo customer needs the my core diff converted?
Sorry it looks like the 3:15 V's 3:45 comparison won't happen as l'm gone for 4 weeks after this week, so no testing will get done.

The power the "G" car makes is addictive and very strong, (Bam Bam Bam type of change ups in the first 3 gears) the real torque rush comes in at around 3,500rpm with an awesome rushing howl till about 4,500rpm (it's peak), and then it's on song and ready to smash into 8,000rpm in no time.

MIB the active wing is very quick in it's activation, it's up and down in a split second. It seems to come up when l'm near the end of 2nd gear 70-90mph and it seems to not always go down, when below the same zone as when it pops up, maybe it's using information from other sensors to tell it what it thinks is going to happen?.
I've got a small Powerchip sticker under the edge of the wing and you only see it when she's at full flaps up...pretty cool hey.
I've not checked the oil as just before the drive at Sebring l had the 1st oil change, but l'll have a look tomorrow. 10 quarts for $130

I had the click in, click out harness set up in the M5 and it was great, and a system like that for the Gallardo would be great.
I'm still going to look into an aftermarket seat but l'm worried that it's not easy to get out of as it is now, so with it being so low it's going to get even more difficult.
l don't know how l'm going to get the "wmv" files up for you're viewing...any ideas.
I've got to get a decent quality mic for the recording as the cheap one that l use now gets a bit too stressed at high volume levels.
APPLES

pdiack · 22nd April 2004, 04:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apples

l don't know how l'm going to get the "wmv" files up for you're viewing...any ideas.

Maybe Gustav can host them here? Just a thought.

Congrats on using the Gallardo as it's meant to be driven - seems to be an extremely capable car that'll give the Ferrari's a run for their money. It's surprising the seats aren't that good - they look pretty supportive.

MIB · 22nd April 2004, 04:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apples

MIB the active wing is very quick in it's activation, it's up and down in a split second.

I've got a small Powerchip sticker under the edge of the wing and you only see it when she's at full flaps up...pretty cool hey.

APPLES

Wow, Thats not only very cool, its Classy. Just big enough to know something is there, yet small enough that they have to be quick to hang with you and read what it says.