Buddy pushed me into tracking the M5 last week. It was a good time, the car performed better than I thought. I captured some video and a few cool photos.
Looks awesome!
I plan to track mine for the first time soon. Someone once told me that passing isn't allowed on track days. Was this true where you were at?
Depends on who you are running with (the organization) and which class you are running. Novice/Beginner group, may or may not have designated passing zones, where you have to wait for a point-by. Intermediate always have designated passing zones. Advanced groups may have open passing.
IMHO! you were turning in too early in the corners. Next time try to turn in a little later and a bit harder and see if you can carry more speed. Also, try to dive into the slower turns, it will help you exit faster.
Thanks for all the responses and advice. This run was at the end of the day, we had 20 cars there and most had left. The S2000 is my buddy that pressured me in going. He's a damn good driver and I hope he never finds this post. I rode with him for the first session I am 6ft 7 and it was tight but fun. There were 3 corner workers and passing was allowed on designated straights. When I passed the S2000 he was out of gas. He was turning 1:32's my last lap was the fastest of the day almost cracked 1:37's. I had a hard time trusting the car being the first time on the track. Next time I will do what Hasan said, MENTALLY it was hard to dive the car in later. Just need more seat time.
Glad yall liked the video, car is stock with QTP cutouts. Mickey Thompson rear tires and stock fronts.
Buddy. For a first time ever on the track, you did exceptionally well. A 100 times better than my first time; I was all over the place. You have a natural sense of the racing line, which is very rare. :cheers:
It is so refreshing to see people use these cars for what they were engineered for. There are not many things more exciting than watching a family saloon on the track flashing Ps and Fs to give way.
To add to Hassan's point, the later turn in, will help lengthen out the upcoming straightway.
Provided you are entering the turn slower, the late turn should allow you to roll on the throttle sooner.
Tracking my cars over the years has taught me, the best mod you can buy is a driver mod.
Bolt-on mods, heeaders, DCT/SMG/Kung Fu Grip, yada, yada, yada...may make the car faster, but may not make the driver any faster. With that said, I love my bolt-on mods!
And I love your buddy's s2000. I love driving them at the track. What a great car.
EDIT: How do your front tires look? A little lipping, from understeer?
Tracking my cars over the years has taught me, the best mod you can buy is a driver mod.
Bolt-on mods, heeaders, DCT/SMG/Kung Fu Grip, yada, yada, yada...may make the car faster, but may not make the driver any faster. With that said, I love my bolt-on mods!
And I love your buddy's s2000. I love driving them at the track. What a great car.
The guru has spelled the secret for speed :cheers:
I miss my S2K as well. I guess most of the track junkies have owned one at some point. Not a lot of torque and power, so they really help you improve your skills.
Fastest colour. Win. Watch the line your friend is taking. On most of the corners he is a good cars width farther out from the apex than you so he can turn in later. Looks a really enjoyable track though. Wish I was there.
I'm a bit of a crazy person so personally I would have held the gears a bit longer if I could and kept the car a bit higher in the rev range. But I've not done many laps of a track and none in the M5 so i guess its a different game altogether.
The vid was well made mind you. I'd happily watch any more you put up.
I might be tracking mine closer to July, especially as I have new brakes all round and new PSS tyres too. However, the track here is a bit dire (Kirkistown Circuit, Newtownards), not too far off an oval so I might pass it up in favour of a visit back to the Nurburgring at a much later date. However, the simple layout at kirkistown will be kinder to the tyres!
Hopefully a pay rise at the end of the year will help with that.
Thanks again for all the good feedback. It's great to hear how much these cars are loved. I have a video of every session I ran. I can host them if people want to watch them. I myself haven't watched them all yet.
For the tires the fronts are Continental ExtremeContact DW All-Season Tire - 255/40R19 100Y and the rear tires are Mickey Thompson Street Comp Performance Radial Tire - 285/35R19 99Y.
This is my daily driver and when I bought the tires I just wanted something a little sticky out back and wouldn't hydroplane in the rain. I love the way it drives on the street.
Interesting tire combination, probably didn't help the car's tendency to understeer, haha.
I tracked mine for the first time last October. Even though I had tackled a few autocrosses with it earlier in the year, I was definitely very hesitant to push the car hard early on, worried that it wouldn't take all the stress too well. By the end of the first day, and right out of the gate on the second morning, I started to feel much more comfortable and realized just how happy the car was lapping a twisty circuit. Come 3rd and 4th sessions of the second day I had found the limits of my Continental DWs and crappy textar pads, had to back to down a bit
Hey guys, bumping this thread as I'm preparing to take my M5 out to Laguna in a couple of weeks for it's first track day. This is my daily - I have a dedicated E46 M3 track/canyon car - and I'm not looking to turn it into a track car, but do want to get a sense for how it handles in a controlled, non-street setting. Are there any "must dos" before I take it out? I was considering a brake flush with SRF (though my current fluid is <1yr old) - is this necessary? Thanks in advance!
On fresh ATE SL6 I was able to boil the fluid. Stock pads were fine however.
Using SRF will avoid boiling but pads will overheat and transfer to rotors. Just got back from a 2-day track event and found this out after the first 2 sessions. You need a track pad if you're serious about late braking. My steering wheel now lets me know every time I touch the brakes of what I did
Looks like they do the uppers only, and they appear to be sold out. Will investigate and report back, as much as I want them, $1000 for the turner complete set may be a little hard to stomach right now. Thanks again!
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