My trip to Road America (long)

[Wi_KeD_M5]

Hi all. I am reporting once again about my new to me experiences with Pixie. I know I am a bit tardy on the report, but work has been really intense the past couple of weeks. Please excuse me for the long post though. I had so much fun I can't stop thinking about it.

Opportunity through coworker and NW Shelby

I had a great opportunity to tour on the Road America race track. My coworker (Kurt -NorthWoods Shelby Club member) pretty much twisted my arm once he found that I had the M5. He has been addicted to the tracking with his Mustang Cobra for quite a while and nudged me to give it a try during their three day weekend (8/15-8/17). He didn’t have to twist my arm too much.

Although this is not my first time at a track, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this course, so I only signed up for the touring sessions on 8/16. I have heard so much about RA. I have been to the Gingerman race track a couple times, but it is half the length. Road America is about 4 miles and has three sections were you can get some really high speeds.
RA_TrackMap08.pdf

I tracked down Anita (m5board member Anita) on the Corvette forums and got some pretty good information from her about Road America and the NW Shelby club. Anita, I must concur with your avatar, you surely do live on the track.

One other thing I did was go to RA the weekend before to check out the American Lemans race series. This allowed me to see what the track was like and where it was located. I have a few pictures from that weekend here.

Prepping and packing for the trip

I got to work reading quite a few threads on preparing the car for the track. My car has been very good to me, but I did need to get it checked out. My car is mostly stock except for a few bits. I prepped my car for a previous track event at Gingerman in June with the slotted Centric rotors, Axxis Ultimate pads, and stainless steel brake lines (thanks Dave Zeckhausen). During the winter, I opened up the brake ducts for cooling and installed an Alutec strut bar. I scored a set of front 245 40/18 Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s from board member end9427 (thanks Ed). Gingerman went well except for the dreaded brake jutter that I read about on Zeckhausen’s site. I think I cooked the front Axxis pads. I was hoping that driving around normally would clear of the pad deposits, but it wasn’t working too well.

Irish M5 (thanks Richard) came to the rescue. Since retiring his M5, he had a set of Hawk HT10 pads available. Their abrasive nature would surely work to get the old pad deposits off the rotors. I’ll mention more on this later.

I read many older threads (thanks CSBM5 (Chuck), gsfent (Jerry), Lscman, mottati, Anita) for all of your great inputs for tracking.

Good comments from CSBM5 on preparation
A few in car videos from ChicagoX of Road America
Comment about the Hawk HT10 abrasive mode
Some good comments about fluids and brake pads
I felt this sums up my experience as well although I didn't drive hard enough to experience the brake fade
Interesting tips/comments from bimmerfest here

I compiled a travel packing list based on input from these threads.
Greg and Anita travel list ideas
Track day prep advice
Lscman checklist

Travel Packing List.xls
I included a copy of my travel packing Excel spreadsheet for reference.



Here are a few pictures of the items I brought.

I was about to buy a tire pump when it occurred to me that the M mobility kit had one. It actually worked quite well and saved me a few bucks.

Trip the morning of and driver’s meeting

I left a little before 5 in morning. Trip was relatively smooth, but a detour in Milwaukee left me wondering about time. Well, my suspicions were correct. I arrived at 7:26, parked my car at the tech inspection area and immediately went to the driver's meeting. Man, I kind of hate being in a rush.

Each session was 15 minutes in length and the first lap would be a full course yellow warm up lap. Towards the end of the driver’s meeting, they started running the first groups. I could here the engines firing up in the back ground. Sweet!

One thing they mentioned during the meeting was about getting gas in town or at the track. I couldn't figure out why they would bring this up and silly me didn't think to ask.







One of the coolest trailers I have seen was this one. I thought it was so clever. The owner is looking to add smoke and sound to it in the near future.


Now I heard of track junkies, but this person traveled a long way for some track time.

Driver's meeting ended and I finished the tech session and registration (arm band, t-shirt, etc.). I parked near Kurt and got a ride with him to see the track. While heading out, look who I ran into.

Anita!

The ride with Kurt was really helpful to see at least a perspective of a line on the track. As soon as we finished his session, my group was called. I still had yet to empty my car of all the stuff and prep it for… Dang it got to go.

First touring session

My turn. I went out with one simple goal learn a line. I kept in the back of my mind that I am not Hans Stuck. No need to ruin the day before it got started. I kept DSC on and left the Sport button off for this session. I’d have opportunity to use it later. Ok, now I was ready to go.

Warm up lap done. One lap under green flag done. Pit time.

After the first lap, I realized how I was not even close to ready. I thought I bedded brakes, but no. There was mild wheel judder on first few turns of warm up lap. Towards the end of the warm up lap, it got worse. Just into the full course green, there was a very violent wheel judder on my first brake zone from high speed (95 mph – a bit tentative being my first time. There is a five number brake zone. I think I started at imaginary number 8.) into turn 1. Now I know about the brake judder that folks are talking about. The steering wheel was just violently shaking in my hands. That was unnerving. I though my day was done. I was thinking warped rotors from Gingerman.

Calm down and breathe Kenny!

I came in and went through a mental check list (soon to be written down as an at the track preparation - note to self, don't go out without having done these at a minimum).
1.) Check/adjust air pressures: I was still on street/highway pressures
2.) Put numbers on car: I didn’t even have numbers on the car. I brought tape for it, but was completely rushed
3.) Check lug bolt torque. I found more than a few lugs needed a little tightening.
4.) Mount camera in car. I didn’t even have the camera in the car for video evidence.

I called my independent mechanic about my brakes. He assured me that it was brake pad material from the street pads. I also had a chat with Anita and other folks there about my brake judder problem. One response I received was “You probably aren’t using your brakes hard enough. They probably aren’t even warmed up yet.” I held on to that thought.

Second touring session

I set a few goals for my second session.
1.) Put numbers on the car (check). Now I am official.
2.) Take time understanding lines with my car.
3.) Use this session as a bed in period for the brakes.
4.) Get camera in car. I am kind of sorry I missed taping the first session. It would have been interesting seeing the steering wheel violently shaking during my first session.
5.) Reaffirm to myself that I am not Hans Stuck. There are slower/faster cars on the track so stay alert and stay within my abilities.
6.) Keep DSC on. I understand this robs power at times, but this would also give me an idea of when the car was on edge and trying to correct me. I would use that data for later in the day when I turn it off.
7.) Keep an eye on the guages. Oil temperature may go up a bit going all out.

Results
The judder was still there but reducing. Goal number three proved very useful. The judder was getting much better. By the end of this session, the brakes were really starting to feel very smooth with plenty of stopping power.


Time to cool down


Visit to tower and lunch break









On Friday, my coworker sent a text message mentioning an unfortunate crash of a Ford GT. During lunch break, we were able to go to the media room and see the crash from RA’s cameras. Wow it was pretty bad. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt, but the passenger got a sprained wrist and a broken bone in his hand. The weird part about the passenger is he was sitting in the media room watching the video. Good sport, but I probably wouldn’t want to relive something like that so soon.






We were also able to go out on the start/finish line bridge

Third touring session

This session was much smoother. I till had DSC on, but turned sport on this time. I was starting to really have some fun now. The brakes were bedded pretty well. I could tell the difference in the color of the rotors. The old blackish spotted sections on the rotors looked like they had been scrubbed off.

The rotors kind of had a bluish color to them. I am guessing this is what they look like when the thin layer of race pad material is on there.

I began to pick up a little more speed now understanding the lines a bit more. Coming down RA Straight, I was hit 130 before brake zone into turn 1. I was able to hit 135 down Moraine Sweep before brake zone into turn 5. What I still kept in the back of my mind is that there are folks slower than me and folks faster than me. Just continue to drive within my abilities (which aren't close to the car's capability).

I did get a really good sense of how special the car is when going WOT on Moraine Sweep, arguably one of the fastest portions of the track. On this pass, I shifted closer to the 7K redline. There was a car right behind me from the previous turns. Instead of waving them by, I opened up.

I pulled away.

Living vicariously through the countless videos on the web and countless stories in forums, in that one moment, I understood what it must have been like when this car first hit the market and took all kinds of sports cars by storm. Whoop, give me a moment, I have a brake zone coming up…

Fourth touring session

This time out, I added a few more goals.
1.) Turn sport on again
2.) Turn DSC off - dialed down the speed a bit knowing the car would not exert as much control
3.) Listen to the tires (my way of telling if I am pushing the car for now since I still run on street tires with the stock wheel setup).

I had a pretty good groove going. I was still a bit cautious as I was braking before the actual brake zones from the higher speed sections. I also continued to wave the faster folks by when possible, but I felt much more confident.

I do have an in car video of this session, but I am having a time editting it. I left the camera on after coming off the track and have 15 minutes of dead time. I want to cut that off before posting.


After my session, I almost caught Anita on a drive by.

At this time, I was in need of some fuel. I could see the fuel guage going towards empty quickly during each session. Now whenever I gas up, I typically go to a station, start the pump, go do other things to the car (wipe windows, check stuff, etc.) until the pump stops. First registered brain fart of the day!






I almost had a heart attack when the pumped stopped. $8.40 a gallon!!!!!
Note to self. Pay more attention in the driver’s meeting when they talk about getting gas in town instead of snoozing. It was 98 octane, but still. There is a Marathon station with 100 octane gas near where I live and their price is just over $6/gallon. Now I know I better go WOT to get my moneys worth.

Fifth touring session

+ Google Video

My fifth session of the day was quite fun. I reciprocated Kurt's gester and gave him a ride. By this time, I was feeling pretty good, but I still stayed within my comfort level and waved a folks by as necessary. Only had one mistake with the white mustang out of turn 8. I told myself not to follow them and to look to the inside of the turn away from the car. Of course, what do I do, but follow them way off onto the rumble strip.

Sixth touring session

I skipped the sixth session of the day. It was getting late and the track was going to close soon so I figured to call it a day. My second brain fart of the day was not staying and joining everyone for dinner. I didn't register for it and didn't think I could go. Bad move. I should have stayed in hotel and got some rest. I didn't even think about the drive home and how tired I would be.


Kurt’s car and my car.






A few pictures from photographer on site (photobyedmund.com).


I headed home from a fun filled day. Very tired when I arrived home, but it was well worth it. Next time, I’ll sign up for the timed autocross and do a couple days.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9175572@N06/sets/72157606788690447/detail/
Here is a link to the rest of the pictures on flickr

This is Kenny signing off and peering over my shoulder for the next track event.

[chowdah]

Great post. Thanks for the cross links. Vette trailer is fantastic.

[IRISH M5]

Wow, great post Kenny. Glad you liked the Hawk HT-10's. Did you use the rears too?

Richard...

[CSBM5]

Great write up and pictures Kenny. I'm glad you had a great time. Keep working on smoothness and vision -- looking ahead, well, scanning ahead. Always keep asking yourself, "what's next" in order to make sure your vision is staying well ahead of the car. Mark your turn-in point, scan ahead with brief scans back if needed, but mostly keeping vision downstream to the apex and then the track out and then down the straight. Also, don't forget to keep Sport mode off since it makes the throttle way too sensitive which inhibits smooth throttle control (which is really required with the M5).

Cheers,
Chuck

[Richard in NC]

Originally Posted by CSBM5

Great write up and pictures Kenny. I'm glad you had a great time.

Ditto! And the video too. It makes me want to head out to the track again.
I hear VIR a callin'.
Did you have an instructor? Most HPDE's I've been to require one unless you've been soloed for the track.

PS: CSBM5, I found I was smoother overall with sport mode on. I used it soo much on the street I guess I got used to it.

[CSBM5]

Originally Posted by Richard in NC

PS: CSBM5, I found I was smoother overall with sport mode on. I used it soo much on the street I guess I got used to it.

I used to use it all the time too. I started trying it off at autocrosses and especially the CCA Performance Center autox battles, and I quickly realized that I could much more precisely finely manage weight transfer in a very quick manner "just" at the right level which is critical when extracting the very last 0.1 sec out of the car on r-comps. HPDEs aren't (better not be) driven at this type of level though.

[Wi_KeD_M5]

Originally Posted by IRISH M5

Wow, great post Kenny. Glad you liked the Hawk HT-10's. Did you use the rears too?

Richard...

Hi Richard. No I did not switch the rear pads for that event. I am thinking I might be done for the year so I will have to wait until next year unless something I really can't miss comes up. I'll be headed to some college football games on the weekends now.

Don't you worry though. I'll take all the pads through their paces now that I understand the dynamics of what they do now.

Originally Posted by CSBM5

Great write up and pictures Kenny. I'm glad you had a great time. Keep working on smoothness and vision -- looking ahead, well, scanning ahead. Always keep asking yourself, "what's next" in order to make sure your vision is staying well ahead of the car. Mark your turn-in point, scan ahead with brief scans back if needed, but mostly keeping vision downstream to the apex and then the track out and then down the straight. Also, don't forget to keep Sport mode off since it makes the throttle way too sensitive which inhibits smooth throttle control (which is really required with the M5).

Cheers,
Chuck

Thanks Chuck. I'm taking note. I'll draw that up in my plans for the next go around. I actually did do the Sport off while at Gingerman and it worked ok.

Interestingly enough, one of my more challenging things is downshifting. I am still learning how to heel-toe, but that is still a bit of a distraction for me at this point. I have been reading E39 threads from the beginning of the forum in its current form and saw so many threads on burned clutches, so I am probably being too careful. I still want to be able to make it home.

Interestingly enough, before I bought the M5, I watched races like ALMS, the 24 hours of Lemans, and the British Touring Car Champions series and I absorbed a bit of what the drivers were doing around the various tracks. I kind of treat normal driving in a similar fashion of scanning and looking ahead (defensive driving perspective), but with the addition of looking at corners like they have apex cones on them.

BTW Chuck, notice I have pictures of my car this time.

Originally Posted by Richard in NC

Did you have an instructor? Most HPDE's I've been to require one unless you've been soloed for the track.

Richard,

Believe it or not, this was my first time on Road America. The first time I saw RA in person was when I went up the previous weekend to the ALMS race. What I did was search youtube for some Road America in car videos and watched them for a while to get an idea of what the track was like and what some other drivers did.

I had no instructor. I was a little surprised. I made an assumption that I would just get one. I suppose I could have requested one, but I didn't think about it. I did sign up for the novice group and just went out as one of the last cars in the group. Since the track was so long, no one caught up. The last two sessions, I jumped right in the middle of the pack hence my waving a few cars by. The only time physically someone was in the car was when I took Kurt (my coworker) for a ride during the fifth session. I will give credit to my instructor at Gingerman (Kris Kowalski). He was riding shotgun in spirit. What would Kris say?

[JoeCaMotto]

Looks like you had fun, thanks for the write-up. Glad you enjoyed the experiance.