Track day at El Toro, Z4 MC, M5, 540iT - PICS & VIDS - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

palantirion · 20th October 2009, 00:43

On 10-2 and 10-3 my wife and I attended OCRC's driving school. This is a very good school, set up with training modules for new students and a 1.5 mile track that is both educational and safe. I attended OCRC's first event, and to read more about how the school is set up, click THIS LINK. Otherwise, you'll get the gist of it by looking at the pics and videos (vid links are at the end) below.

This time around I took many of the pics, although my wife and Vinny (and one of OCRC's instructors) helped out too.

Some early morning paddock shots:

This M3 looked very interesting, but it wasn't run either day:

Nathan leading the morning briefing:

At the braking module; acceleration and braking shots:

My wife's 540iT under full ABS engagement:

And some pics from the apex module:

Braking for the module's turn-in point:

palantirion · 20th October 2009, 00:43

And now on to track pics...

The OCRC track, currently referred to as "The Bull", was changed slightly from the first event. This made for one additional tight section, but a fast elevation changing turn preceding it. Here is a map and general throttle/brake trace I made to illustrate the new track variation:

Various cars on-track:

And various BMWs:

palantirion · 20th October 2009, 00:44

It was great to run my M5, Tiamat, around again - it's been several years since she's been retired in favor of my MC. I ran her for just a few sessions the first day but got comfortable pretty quickly. My general lap times were in the high 1:36s, the best lap being a 1:35.4. She's a full Dinan S2, with StopTech front BBK and 275 NT-01s. To see my in-car vid of my 1:35 lap, CLICK HERE.

Pics:

My wife brought her 540iT and drove it much more skillfully than I would have expected. She's been to two track days before, but only 1 with her 540iT and that one was cut short due to a radiator neck failure. She said the communication skills and the attitudes of the instructors made it very easy to learn. And the large, paved runoff areas made it safe to push your limits without risk of hurting your car if you happened to lose control. For the record she did go 4-wheels off a couple of times, but didn't spin and only collected a few cones over two days.

I don't know what her lap times were, as we lost her in-car vid, but judging from her ability to stay on the back of various Ferraris and Corvettes I think she was running in the low 1:42-3 range. I think that's pretty good considering she's piloting a 4200lb car on 255 PS2s - with Dinan S2 mods and StopTech front BBK with Axxis street pads. CLICK HERE for a vid of her running through a few turns.

Pics:

A layup of her going through turn 13:

Going through turn 4:

palantirion · 20th October 2009, 00:45

CalRick and Deknight brought out their Z4 M Coupes as well. Both acquitted themselves well.

Pics of CalRick:

And Deknight:

In this first session he managed to hit nearly every cone in the turn 3 chicane (cold tires perhaps?

):

My wife was kind enough to transport instructors out in her wagon to reset the cones:

Brad, explaining why he is wearing the ominous pink hat:

Chasing me:

Explaining why he is once again wearing the pink hat:

Pics of Rick and Brad running together:

palantirion · 20th October 2009, 00:45

Some Ferrari pics:

One spun quite dramatically coming out of the esses, but no damage was done. It seemed that he corrected for the initial spin, but didn't release his steering input and thus shot around with the opposite rotation:

And some Vettes:

palantirion · 20th October 2009, 00:46

The OCRC primary tent area, for parking, lunch, briefings, etc., as seen from the far side of turn 3:

Nathan, at lunch time, wearing the pink hat. I won't ask why

Glenn Lee Motorsports, who graciously lent me an impact wrench so I could pull my wheels to swap pads on the second day:

Static shots I took of CalRick's M Coupe and a BBI-prepared 911:

Various Porsches on-track:

Demonstrating the off-road advantages of Porsche AWD:

palantirion · 20th October 2009, 00:47

I had a blast driving Scatha with OCRC again. This time out I had a video camera so I had a fair amount of sessions recorded. On day 1 I ran with Axxis street pads and despite noticeable pad fade I got down to 1:34.08. On day 2 I switched to my HT-14s and had several laps in the 1:32s. My best of the weekend was a 1:31.99. I placed second (for the second time) in the "consistency trials", which compare two randomly-selected laps as timed by the instructors in the afternoon of the second day. The winner (again) was Fritz in his black E90 M3 (see pics earlier in the thread).

Scatha, about to go out:

Driving through turn 1:

Tracking out of turn 1, correcting from a slide just in time to miss the cones:

Getting held up by a F355 and a 911TT:

In turn 15:

Vinny (or my wife?) caught my one 4-wheel off of the weekend in this series. I was ballasted with a 250lb passenger and as Deknight was catching us up I went slightly wide of the turn 14 apex. I realized I was tracking out a bit wide so I gave it some gas to bring the rear end around, but due to the additional rear loading (ballast) the rear tires gripped instead of sliding and induced understeer. Rather than fight it with aggressive pedal inputs (with a car closing behind) I thought it was safest to go straight off track and re-enter. Luckily someone else spun later in the session and I dodged the pink hat

On the second day Deknight took my MC out for a couple sessions. Here are some pics:

Chasing down a F430 Scuderia:

The most spectacular spin of the weekend (IMO) was performed by Deknight. Coming out of the esses he was caught unaware by the power surge of my ESS CFR500 and spun into the vast paved infield. To his credit he had the presence of mind to let the car spin in when it was safe to do so, rather than fight the spin and possibly go off into the dirt and damage the car. Now to find him a pink hat...

HERE is a vid of Brad driving Scatha through turn 1.

My wife took Scatha out for a few sessions on day two as well. She's never driven my MC in this configuration before, and she was very cautious.
I think she actually turned quicker lap times in her 540iT. But since we lost her in-car footage in that car, HERE is a vid of her driving my MC.

Pics of her driving through turn 1:

Scatha, out by turn 14 when I was shooting pics:

Alone in the pits:

palantirion · 20th October 2009, 00:47

Here are some paddock shots Vinny took:

And a final shot of all the students:

In case you missed them in the previous posts, here are all of my vids from the weekend:
My wife driving her 540iT.

My wife driving my Z4 M Coupe.

My M5's fast lap.

My M Coupe's fast lap.

Deknight's flyby in Scatha.

My "blooper reel".

Frye · 20th October 2009, 00:48

Awesome pics, thanks for the long and detailed write up! Looks like a lot of fun.

Seisup · 20th October 2009, 00:48

Looks like a fender bender on that right front of the White Z4...what happened?...nevermind, saw other pics and realized it was taped up....