Excellent...

Thanks for a very good report. 'Can't wait to get mine on the track. All of the issues you described for a stock car have been greatly improved/solved in an S3 configuration. Weight will always be there; it is a big sedan, after all. 'Will just make sure my brake fluid is up to snuff and she'll be good to go.

Thanks again for taking time to post your impressions.

Dan :checkeredflag:

 

Great post teej! :cheers:
My upgrade path has been planned to focus on brakes, suspension, drivetrain then power, pretty much exactly as you described.
Then again, our one and only track has since shut down so no more organized tracking for now. :grrrrr:
But it still is going to be fun upgrading and getting ready for the new track (if any) does decide to open up here.

 

Thans for the description. I am looking forward to taking my new beast to the track and have heard simialr reports of weight, cluchs and brakes.

 

I replaced the stock brakes with StopTechs and they were fine on the track (Mosport) I run GCs 550/425---car is great on track and on the street.

 

I had the same experience this past fall. I drove the M5 instead of the Boxster and it took me a bit to get used to the weight of the M5. All your observations were spot on to what I experienced. (With the exception of the helmet hitting the roof!) Overall I thiink I'll stick with a P-Car for the track. I prefer the lightweight feeling of the car.

 

A set of ultimate pedals migh help with the heel toe.

 

^lol it just hit me your steering wheel is on the right side. I thought something was a little weird looking, lol.

 

Which group

teej,

which group did you race with? i've been to T-hill before (once) with UnlimitedLaps.com. They don't have another trackday until June but I'll be getting married around that time so no $$ for new tires, brakes, clutch, or anything else I'll need after the day.

Thanks for the details. I want to see how much different this car is around the track vs. my wrx. I could hit the front straight at your speeds but couldn't corner to save my life...Could have something to do with the P-Zero Nero MS... ouich

 

Toyo RA-1s next time?

 

teej,

which group did you race with? i've been to T-hill before (once) with UnlimitedLaps.com. They don't have another trackday until June but I'll be getting married around that time so no $$ for new tires, brakes, clutch, or anything else I'll need after the day.

Thanks for the details. I want to see how much different this car is around the track vs. my wrx. I could hit the front straight at your speeds but couldn't corner to save my life...Could have something to do with the P-Zero Nero MS... ouich

i try to make time whenever i find track opptys, esp during the week as they are less crowded. This event happened to be a volvo club event (next one in May). Normally I do the PCA events but they tend to be very popular and I am easily outpaced (my p car is a '66), the Coastal Driving School events (when they were around, hopefully ressurected this year - otherwise I am going to check out some hooked on driving events).

kin mak: I am definately getting a set of the ultimate pedals, probably the full width pedal as I like to roll my foot between the two pedals

drabe: Stoptechs also sound like a good option - (mosport is a great track, havent been there in years)- I need to look into that or the Dinan setup

trj: adding a pic of my p car, some stats: ~2000lbs, ~100hp, '83 SC class brakes, a few other goodies on suspension, a timewarp once you get in it, "but a real momentum car" as in, "dont break the momentum at (almost) any cost"

 

The biggest issues you'll face if you continue to track the car are outside edge front tire destruction/too much understeer and front brake roasting once you use R-comps and track pads (HT-10's).

The cure is, at a minimum, camber plates, Dinan rear sway bar and rear 9.5"/275's up front with 3mm spacers. Since you have to pull the front strut to do the camber plates, go with at least Dinan springs/Konis at the same time. With Dinan springs/Konis, rear sway bar, GC camber plates and front 9.5"/275/35 R-comps, the car is massively transformed. I run -2.4 degrees of front camber, and it really helps the front stick not to mention resulting in almost even tire wear.

The front brakes are not up to the task of serious track duty on fast tracks (like VIR with its 4000'+ back straight and 3500'+ front straight) with R-comps. I've opened up the brake ducts on my car, use fresh Motul 600 and Hawk HT-10 pads -- at my last event I melted the dust covers on the front calipers and one rear caliper (this while trying to baby them as much as possible, i.e., two full-on hot laps, one easy one, etc...). I rebuilt the rear caliper, but I'm buying some Stoptechs for the front. Even with the Stoptechs, you must use some Ti pad shields to prevent dust boot cracking once the front pads are worn by 1/2 or more (use PFC-01). Bimmerworld sells Ti shields for stock pads (you removed the piston clip), so you may get away with using HT-10s with the Ti shields if you aren't going to drive at 9.8/10ths.

Cheers,
Chuck

 

.....4/ the stock clutch is too weak for hard "track-use" - In the morning i was using 2nd through 4th for shifting but the heat buildup actually made the clutch slip a little so I opted to keep the car in 3rd or 4th afterthat and everything was fine for the rest of the day. now my stock clutch should be near the end of a respectable life anyways (37k miles on original clutch) but i was still surprised by the slipping..........

The clutch lining thickness is nowhere near end-of-life at 37K mi. M5's that see slip in the 35K mile range are very typical, but it's because the clutch is too small and not capable of severe duty. Under this scenario, the clutch lining will bake from slippage and become glazed. When you get it replaced, you may note that it's organic lining is still plenty thick. If you visited the track with 15K miles on your clutch, you would like have experienced the same clutch slip failure symptoms.

The M5 clutch is a 9-5/8" single disc organic clutch of the same design found in a 6 cyl or diesel BMW 5er. It is not capable of severe duty behind a BMW M5 V8, despite pressure plate spring tweaks. It's heat mgmt capabilities and torque capacity is way too low for such a powerplant. You need the proven, 50% oversized 11" streetable clutch (from UUC) or a severe duty high temp track clutch offered by various mfrs. Smaller clutches need higher temp racey materials to hold up & they tend to offer less streetability.