I found Titanium brake pad shims on Ebay...

These are listed for BMW 2 and 3 series models with the M Sport brakes, but should fit the F56 JCW front calipers. Ti brake pad shims will help to save the caliper pistons, dust boots, seals and mitigate general overheating of the caliper. Ti is a great insulator; it has very poor heat transfer properties, especially for a metal. Plus, there are always heat transfer losses when going across contact surfaces, which is also good for this. Per the Ebay notes, these are 0.032” thick which is better than some that I have seen “out there”.


BMW M Sport Brake Pad Ti shims

The M Sport brakes, used on a number of BMW models, including the M2, use the same pad backing plate as the F56 JCW. The pads themselves are slightly thicker and don’t fit the JCW, but none the less, if you are looking for JCW brake caliper parts and can’t find what you are looking for, try searching for M2 parts...

 

Albert and I had a grand 2 days at WGI. In a way this was a special event as IMSA had just finished their races the day before and they were having another round of races this following weekend, so a lot of the cars were still there. I did spend some time wandering around the trailers and seeing them prepping the cars for these upcoming races... Impressive machinery in every class of car. I did get to talk to people from Copland Motorsports who run in the TCR class. These are FWD cars, that are well modified for the task. The most noticeable thing was was the front brakes - massive!. 15” rotors, maybe... Huge!

The adventure started on Sunday with the drive there... Oh, I was not happy when I came across about a 10 mile stretch of road that had been recently oiled and stoned... Loose crush stone, stone-blasting the underside and sides of my car was not what I wanted to be doing... Then there was the miles of construction on I-88, the constant reminder that deer were abound, with the periodic carcass on the side of the road and the live ones seen near the road. But, once in the town of Watkins Glen, all of that became a distant memory...

I had a good 2 days. The first was working on figuring out the car. From my outing a year ago, I came with a different attitude. I treated the car as totally different from my other MINI, which it is - totally different. I also knew that it would have some brake issues because of the air that I introduced into the system and couldn’t get out. So I worked on how to drive around these things. That actually worked out well.

First I should say that the car tolerated the heat quite well. The cooling system is up to the task, as are the size of the brakes, and once I found the right pressure setting for the tires, they would go without getting greasy... I was able to do a 25 min stint without feeling like something on the car was giving up... So, the 95 deg heat we had for these 2 days made little difference to the car. The driver... Ugh... am I out of shape. Lots of fluids disappeared on those 2 days...

About the brakes, I found that I had to brake early for a lot of the braking zones. Especially for T1 and the bus stop. The air in the lines just meant a bit more pedal travel but, they were reasonably predictable and would get to threshold if I wanted. I found there was still an unevenness front to rear that was a touch bothersome... I have the same brand pad front to rear but different compounds. I think this was the cause of some of the tail wiggle I was getting. Another thing I was getting was a Rev mis-match with the rev-matching that is designed into the engine. It turned out that this was my doing... I was catching the throttle when I was braking. That took a bit to figure out as the exhaust is quiet and the tach is near to impossible to read... The other thing I found was that the Rev match worked best when I was in sport mode...

The iSweep brake pads are interesting. They seem to suit the car well, as they are not abrupt, which can upset the car. Their downside seems to be the same issue I had with the Wilwood Poly H on my other MINI on this track. That is, I think I am exceeding their temperature range and I am getting pad material pickup on the front rotors. This most only happened if I was aggressive on my braking (late and hard). If I was a little early and a bit lighter this was not an issue. On my other MINI I solved this issue by going to the Hawk DTC 60 pad. Maybe I will have to that for Albert. Something to think about.... A side note, the iSweep don’t squeal...

The handling of the car was surprisingly good. It has a bit more compliance on the track than it should have, but on the other hand it has less compliance on the road than is desirable. So a good compromise. The lack of camber up front was only particularly noticeable going into T1 and T8. This I could drive around. On the rest of the track the car did really well. MINI did well with this car for being a street car that is competent on the track.

I met up with a guy I know who is an instructor and drives a nicely modded Subaru and we did some lead - follow. I really needed that. His car is a bit faster than mine in the straights, but we are close to the same in most corners. So, when he was in the lead, he said he was running about 75% on the straights, but was basically full out in the corners. He is really good with the car and, since becoming an instructor, he has upped his game. Our post session review was very informative. His big note was that I could improve T1; I wasn’t getting down to the apex. So I worked on that. Also, in general I found that I was lolly-gaggalling. There was a lot left in the car that I wasn’t using. That I quickly corrected... One of the things we talked about was different lines we were taking in some areas. This had a lot to do with the handling of my MINI and it being FWD vs his Subaru and it being AWD. This was particularly notable with T1 where I needed to turn in early and round out the turn more, which I attributed to the lack of camber in the front and the car wanting to push.

This is an area where I strongly believe that a lot of advanced drivers fall down on. We all need to get an instructor in the car once in a while or do what I did. Like I said, I found where I was lacking when I did the this lead-follow. It was really helpful.

Tires - The Falkens, again, performed really well. I worked on pressures and found they liked to be at about 38 psi, like I have found with my other tires. Above 40# they would get greasy. Wear seemed reasonable for the 2 days. The guy with the Subaru was running the A052s. In comparison to the RE71Rs he has run, he thought they were better for the track. The A052s seemed to be more heat tolerant and would go deeper into a session. However, the price and the fact that they start out with less tread has him going back to the RE71Rs. As for tire size for Albert, the 215/45x17 seem to be adequate. Without more camber in the front, I would think a 225 would be wasted.

The wheels I got did not solve the rubbing issue I have. In fact I had more rubbing on the left rear this time than I did last year with the wheels with less offset... Hmmmm... I have to believe this is a result of bushing compliance and is just something that is going to happen on this track. Also, the plastic centering rings are for the birds. They are not usable with even a spacer that is only 3 mm thick and the heat in the front wheels was enough to cause issues with the plastic...

I have pictures that I will post... Later...

 

I promised a few pictures. Around here we get all sorts of the “usual” track cars at the events I attend. BMW M models are really popular at a BMW hosted event... Go figure... Then there are the Porsche GT3s of various forms, Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs. A few out right race cars, including a very loud Panzo.

It is very unusual to find any of these at a track event, well enough alone a pair:

Track day cars... No, not typical

A while back ago my wife, who hates driving, found that the IMSA race broadcasts were quite entertaining. We have even been to a few events at LRP. I too am a fan and was thrilled to see what was left behind after the end of racing the day before. And there was something for everyone on these race days...

Lamborghini Hospitality Tent


Ok, My wife’s favorite race organization because of the announcers


The new C8-R production (?) car.


Nothing says racing like Chevrolet and Corvette


GTD - one of the more visible cars


And the production car.

The number of tires this organization goes through at a race event is staggering. Someone said $600 a tire? You have to be kidding me. I spend that on a full set of tires for Albert...

Behind this setup, mount/balancing and staging area there were probably 20 full size Michelin tire semi-trucks.

Someone say they needed tires?

When I got to this event, I was unaware that IMSA was holding another race event the following weekend. The Canadian Motor Sport park was unavailable for this upcoming event because of Covid boarder restrictions. So that race is being held here and all of the team trailers were still here as a result. I did get to talk to people with Copland Motorsports running cars in the TCR class. They were “kind” enough to let me see them build up a new car to replace one was destroyed in a crash. WGI is very unforgiving and, in a way, that adds a level of challenge to the races here and more interesting to watch. Drivers can’t drive anywhere they want with little consequence like they can on many European tracks or at COTA. I don’t want to see anyone crash or be crashed... but I also don’t like watching races where the term “track limits” is a joke.

There were 2 aisles like this with team trailers on each side to prep and repair the cars.

One aisle of teams


Another aisle of teams

I must say that the racing team and Lexus know how to make a show of their cars.

Some teams really know how to put on a show

It was fun being there and seeing all of this. You don’t get to see the behind the senes when you watch a race on TV. It is amazing to see all of this and the production that really takes place to for these races to come off as well as they do.

 

Thanks for sharing the pics. It was a hot weekend to be at the track!

 

Awesome writeup and pix! Hot cars for sure

 

You are very welcome, both of you...

Very hot! Mid-90s at least. Monday afternoon we had a gully washer downpour that lasted about 10 min, that was “interesting”. We were lucky on Tuesday and the rain held off until I started my drive home. Then it was horrendous; 30 mph-ish and I could see anything for a while...

I was very impressed at the JCW’s cooling system ability to deal with the heat. I know that there is an extra radiator. Whatever they did, it works. So kudos to them. And this is far better than the R56.

 

WGI is a track that demands respect and there is nothing to be gained by overdriving it. While everyone can miss a braking point or miss a turn-in point, the thing a driver needs to know is how to react to those mistakes. IMSA has just posted the Tioga Downs Casino Resort 240 at Watkins Glen race and we started watching it last night. This race involves the GT (GT4 spec) and TCR class cars, which I find to generally be very interesting to watch, given how close the racing is.


I was very saddened to see, but not surprised to see the accident at 25:47. IMHO, this was an accident that might have been avoidable, if the driver had reacted to that mistake better. Years ago I had something similar to this happen to me at T1. I was luckier though...

If a driver overcooks a turn and there is a run off area, do not ever try to save the turn. Do not hold that steering input thinking that the car won’t push off the track. If you are thinking that, then just drive off and let the car settle and drive back on. This is much like riding a bicycle on a rural road and falling off the edge of the pavement onto the dirt shoulder. Let the bike settle, then steer to get back on the road. It is the same at WGI.

The track out curbing at WGI can be very unforgiving if not respected. It is designed to let you know you are at the track limits. It has slope to it that rises up and then falls off on the backside. If you go over that crest, then you must straighten the steering, drive straight long enough to let the car settle, maybe slow the car slightly, then drive back over it to get back on the track. If the car is straddling the curbing, then this becomes extremely import because, if the steering is turned when the car and, in this case, the left front bounces going over the crest, when the car comes down that steering input will jerk the car car to the right, right into the tire barrier. This is what happened to me in T1 years ago. This is also no different than cresting the uphill at Lime Rock park.

In the above accident, it appears to me that the car pushed wide and off the track. It was fine going off the track, but to get back on the track the driver added steering input to an already oversteer situation. When the car re-crested the curb, the bounce, with that steering input, aided the car’s trajectory towards the right side “wall”. I believe what the driver should have done is to not try to save the turn and his position. I would have slowed the car slightly, straightened the steering a bit, used a bit more of the run-off area and then driven back onto the track. Ask me how I know this.... I’ve done that... and had a car to drive home in.

The NASCAR drivers, drive over the curbs all of the time. The difference from the above accident is that they will drive straight for an instance, turn to get back on the track, and then straighten the steering, maybe just slightly, to go over back over the curb onto the track.

What a lot of drivers, especially track day drivers, don’t realize is there is a bunch of drive-off space at many of the turns at WGI. T1, the Bus-Stop, T8, T10. The problem is, when you are driving, that is not where your eyes are looking. You are looking down the tun, not off the track. If you never look off the track to the outside of the turn, you never see the area that is out there. The “trick” is to drive a “slow” lap and look for all of these places. A while ago with GVC we did a drive-off exercise with a pace car leading us. I think everyone in our run group was surprised to see how much off track real estate there is in those places. This is nice to know if you lose your brakes going into T1...

Don’t save the turn and save the car...

Be safe and motor on...

 

I just contacted TR about the centering ring information for my Sparco wheels:
73-66.56MM RING

 

If I were ever that wide going into that corner, I would just drive off into the runoff area and breathe a big sigh of relief! I don't have a sponsor for the repairs that would have been necessary if I attempted to save that once I was into it...

 

Good to know. My Falkens go on in a week or two and August at WGI may be their first time on track unless I can squeeze in a LRP date to try them out. What were your starting pressures?

 

Cold:
For LRP - LF 30, RF 33, LR 33, RR 35
For WGI - LF 30, RF 31, LR 33, RR 34

These will be high for a final pressure of 38-39 hot. Right at the end of the 1st session I would bring the pressure down to 1 psi below my target to give room for a little more heat in the next session. My apologies - At WGI I was going to check the pressures cold, after sitting for a night but forgot. This is one thing I should take better notes on.

 

For sure, and I have.

T10 is an easy place to over cook the turn. I have done that with heat cycled tires that had lost some of their grip. But once off you need to also hit the brakes. There tends to be a lot of “stuff” off track like tire debris and that can cause issues too.

That car was probably a write-off. There was a TCR crash a little later on in the video. I saw that one when I was at WGI and talked to some of the team doing the “repairs”. The “repairs” were to buy and build a new car... TCR cars are about $120k apiece... More than what I can afford...

 

I finally got around to putting the “street” tires back on Albert... The track tires look surprisingly good.

Falken RT660s after 2 track days.

I am quite pleased. The wear is more even than what I saw last year when I was running a lot higher hot pressures. I did rotate these front to rear after day 1, so that will account for some of the more even wear between the 4. Also, WGI is easier on the left front tire than LRP is, which helps. The fronts (especially the left) do show wear down onto the sidewalls a bit, but not too bad for a car with as little camber as this has. Maybe I just need to push harder...

Tires, wheels and hubs do get hot. I need to get an IR temp reader. I not only soften the centering ring, I melted the hub covers....


Melted plastic hub covers.

That is disappointing as I spent so much effort to get the JCW logo on them...
I was surprised that whatever adhesive they put onto the JCW stick-on logo I got, it withstood the heat. The plastic deformed around it.

As for fender wear - There was more wear inside the left rear wheel well than the last time. I am not sure that there was any more wear on the right side. This time I was using wheels with an ET 48 offset vs the wheels with an ET40mm that I used last year. The greater offset puts the wheels further inboard, which should have helped and I believe it did. But it points out how much compliance there must be in the rear suspension. The wear shows that the tire is pushed about an inch up, into the wheel well.


Wider view of tire rub

Closer view of tire rub

I didn’t see any rubbing on the metal, which is a good thing.

I did check the brake pads when I was changing tires. The fronts are almost gone after 5 days of use. There might be a day left in them. Honestly, I expected to get a bit more out of them, but I don’t remember how many days I got out of the DTC60s on this track with Smokey and his Wilwoods. So I can’t really compare to others I have used. The iSweep pads are quite expensive, and I may look at switching to something like the Carbotech or G-Loc to save a little... On the plus side, the iSweep do well on the street and have no squeal....

 

New soft chewy bits for Albert...


The ‘Stones 215/45x17 RE71Rs

These look strangely an awful lot like the Falkens I am currently running... Or is it the Falkens look a lot like the ‘Stones...

I got these on close out at TR for $115 ea, which is about $40 off. 15” are already gone. I suspect the rest will go quickly... These will go into a nice cool basement until I need them

I am sure by now, everyone has heard that Bridgestone is discontinuing this line of tires, with no replacement destined for the States even though there is already a replacement being sold in Japan...

How is that a good business decision?

 

Albert also got some aluminum hub centric rings for the Sparco wheels.


73.1mm x 66.6mm Hub Centric rings

Got these from Amazon. I found a US made set, but they were uber expensive. Sorry. Not sure the difference, but these seem to be well made.

The plastic ones were 73mm OD x 66.56mm ID (what? To 2 decimal points ). These are 73.1 OD x 66.6 ID. Of course the 66.56 might have been so they didn’t get dinged with “666”. But it is really 66.6, so it doesn’t count... .

They fit the wheels nicely. Need to check the hubs, but I expect them to be ok.

 

Sparco wheels you say? Which ones? Would love to see ‘em. Interested in the specs too when you get around to it.

Whoops…read back and see them now in previous posts.

 

I know, it is a ways back...

Since the car has not been blacked out, I like the “gray” wheel color with the rest of the car. And I think they are well made. Time will tell on that.

I am not sure if I mentioned this, but I used a 3 mm spacer in the front with these just to get a bit more clearance to the brake caliper. The wheels do clear the calipers by about 2 mm without the spacer, but I use these out on the track and I am not sure how much flex I would be getting with them. The little extra clearance with the spacers doesn’t hurt.

The other thing about these wheels is that their ID is tight to the front caliper and there is no room for wheel weights in that area. This may also cut down on the cooling of the calipers. For the street this would be fine. On the track, maybe it could be better like the NM wheels. Not sure, though, if that would make a difference...

Lastly, the plastic centering ring they come with is pretty useless. It has a huge chamfer where it rests on the wheel hub and it barely rests on the hub. It causes the wheel to easily slip off the hub when trying to bolt it up... It is darn near impossible with the spacer to have it stay centered. A bit of a PIA. The metal rings are worth it just for that. My guess would be all of the Sparco wheel will have these plastic rings...

 

I keep thinking of getting a set of RSE05s. I like the gloss black look of my stock wheels. NM Eng doesn't have a gloss black. I like how you took it upon yourself to get that done!

 

Thanks

Not hard with the body shop doing the gloss clear coat. Just make sure the wheels are really clean before taking them to the shop, if you plan to go this route. I know, they should prep them and they likely will. But it won’t hurt for you to give them a “hand”. Also, let them sit for a week or 2 to make sure the clear coat hardens.

 

Never hurts to prep it beforehand. I'd clearcoat them myself but I sold all my HPLV paint gear and compressor. Plus, I don't have space for a paint booth; no place to store wheels to cure either.

New wheels are probably next year for me.

 

Albert and I took a ride yesterday to Lime Rock Park to watch the IMSA races with a friend... Starting out the weather was iffy to say the least, with an inch or more of rain with lightning being predicted for the afternoon. As it turned out, it was the 3 - H’s. Hot, hazy and humid. For those who don’t know LRP, it is a fun, technical 1.5 mile track with mostly right turns, but some good elevation changes and a long, high speed front straight...

The GT race was quite exciting with a mix of GT and TCR cars and a lot of cars too. The faster TCR cars are faster than the slower GT cars, which makes for some interesting interaction between the two. Other than an inordinate number of yellow flags, some for boneheaded moves that put cars off and into the “swampland”. But once that all settled down and cleared out, the racing was tight furious.

The Northeast Grand Prix wasn’t what it used to be. GTLM is relegated to the 2 Corvettes and a lone, private entry Porsche. Unfortunately, the Porsche wasn’t at all competitive, even though it took second in qualifying, ahead of one of the Corvettes. The rest of the field was made up of GTD (GT3 level cars) and there a few of those. In a 2 hr 40 min race and only a few cars on the track, it turned into cars running laps and the Vettes lapping the GTD cars...

With any hope, this should all change next year when IMSA drops the GTLM cars an goes to an all GT3 formate. There should be a lot more cars, which should make for more exciting racing. I am looking forward to that change... I just wonder what we will see in the way of Corvettes to run in the GT3 class.

Speaking of Vettes... I will say I miss the big thundering V8s of the C7Rs that used to run. It was exciting to just hear them. That said, I am warming up to the new C8-Rs. I like their sound. It sounds exotic and it sounds better than the blat of the GTLM Porsches; those just hurt my ears...

I am a tinkerer... I love to see the underpinnings of great mechanical things... Cars can be wonderful in that respect. Here are just a few that were to be had for public viewing. Also, this is one of the great thing about LRP... Being able to walk through the “garage” area and see all of the cars up close...



The picture says it all.

While Vettes are always fan favorites, they did something for some little fans that was very enduring. The 2 little kids (youngest might have been 3) where hanging on the barrier line, eying the Vettes along with their parents. One of the Corvette people came over and asked the parents to wait for him to come back. They waited, but had no clue what to expect. When the guy returned, he handed the little kids a poster that had been signed by all 4 drivers... And, yes, the parents were very aware of and excited by what this person had done. It is little things like that, that makes a big fan out of everyone who was around to see this great gesture...



The lone Privateer GTLM entry



Someone else’s bonehead move put this car into the tires, just hours before the race... Ugh



Amazing how these cars are tended to



Got to love the “smile” on the NSX Acura



Nothing says Exotic like Lamborghini.



Minimalist garage?



Local favorite. And look closely at where the turbos are... On top of the engine...

 

The last half of the trip to LRP was coming home... The NE GP ended early with lightening in the air around LRP. There were storm cells all around. I expected and did have to drive back home through a few of those cells, with rains approaching biblical proportions at times. Albert, with his Continental DW tires, handled it all without a glitch. The only limitation was how well I could see out of the windshield, which was really poor at times, making for some very slow going. The confidence in the car and tires would not have been the case with the Hankook AS “crap” tires the car came with. Night and day difference between the two. The DWs have since been upgraded by Continental with a replacement model and, if my DWs are any indication, this upgraded version must be a really great tire. I know the Michelin 4S is in the same category as these and is also very highly rated, but may not be in a MINI size... The Conti tires are a worthy alternative...

 

Great writeup and pix, Eddie! You know that you could have made a pit stop at my house on the way back if things were super treacherous. How did Elivan do in his races?

 

Veggivet - Thanks for the offer... The rain was spotty enough that it wasn’t too bad. Drive for 10 min and I would be through it. Then there would be another one. Even at that, the heaviest part of the rain cells were short. And as you know, the right tires make all the difference.

None of the BMWs did well on this track. The car of the day seemed to be the Aston Martins. Even the Turner BMWs did just OK. And this is coming from back to back race wins at WGI for Turner. Elivan (or Co-driver) got past by the leader towards the end of the race, so wasn’t able to stay on the lead lap. I would say that the car was pretty well funded, but not sure how well it was setup or how well Elivan knew the car. I saw Elivan after the race but didn’t get a chance to talk to him. However, unlike some, he was able to drive the car back to the paddock at the end of the race. So that was a “win” in its own right.