Hey everyone...
GVC BMWCCA is looking for advanced solo drivers for their upcoming event at Watkins Glen (8/20 & 21). Anyone interested?

 

You can always get them flipped on the rims to extend their life. My ZIIs wear more on the outside than the inside. I've never had asymmetric enough wear to make that worthwhile though.

 

Lime Rock Park has a pair of right hand turns that, together, form a 180 deg change in direction and they seem to take about 10 minutes (on a 1+ min course ) to get through. These turn beat the livin' crap out of the left front tire. Hence my suggestion to just swap sides with the tires.

 

Hey, Patroons is looking for Solo/Advanced drivers to fill out their Saturday - Oct 4th - at LRP. Anyone interested? I am booked and ready to go...

 

Eddie07S, how was The Glen? I am heading to Lime Rock Monday, running INT 2.

 

veggi - Have fun at LRP.

WGI was quite good. Basically we had good weather with some spotty rain that just made the track more interesting. My data says I am running higher g's in the corners than I have in the past. I also figured out that the Toyo R888s are not happy with the wheels I put them on this time. They were happier on the wheels with a 38 ET than the current wheels with a 45 ET. I have some 5mm spacers that I am going to try for my next event.

The event was basically incident free (unlike the last SCDA event we were at) except for a few "broken" cars - a clutch went out here, a radiator puked water there, a few cracked rotors - nothing major. I had a brake issue with the new rotor that I got to replace the one I cracked last May. The new rotor was warped out of the box and cracked during the event. Time to talk to the place I bought it from.

 

Anyone going to Thompson on 9/17?

 

I'm not, but I heard some pretty negative things about the track from some people who went to the first event there this season. Supposedly, track management was going to make some improvements, but I don't know if they followed through.

Stellar day at Lime Rock, today. Picture perfect weather, very courteous drivers, and two other MINIs in my run group. What more could you ask for? Plus, the car felt flawless. I tightened up my lines doing some lead/follows with an 03 EB MCS with a motor and transmission built by Jan (RMW) that dyno'ed @ 250 hp at the wheels. I also was playing with an older (87) Porsche. There was also a second generation JCW, but it was an automatic! Each run felt better than the last one, and by the end of the day, my entrance speeds to the important corners were within 1-2 mph of my previous speeds before I dialed out a bunch of camber since I am now driving this car more on the road. Classroom time was worthwhile as well, with some excellent discussions and tips thrown around by the group. If everyday at the track could be like this, I would quit my job yesterday!

 

zre - Sorry it has not been on my short list of places to go. So I will be passing on that date, at least for this year. If you do go, please post what you think about it, and video if you can get it.

If you are interested, I will be LRP on 10/4 with the Patroons chapter of BMWCCA. I am hoping for another great day like I had last year.

Say, at any rate, welcome to this little forum section. As you can see, we try to keep up the interest in tracking MINIs in the NE and hope to see you at one track or another sometime.

It's all about the fun

 

veggy - really glad you had a great day. I may know that JCW. I saw one there a few years back and he was really fast. The auto with the paddle shifters seems to work well on the track. But, it is not traditional. It sounds like you are getting the car figured out. That is good. And great you had a good classroom session; I always like going to those.

It is interesting that one of the truckers I know saw the video I posted from our last time there and asked why I was missing all of the apexes. I didn't know. The same question came up with some of the A-solo drivers at WGI last week. It seems that we lose touch with how we are supposed to be driving. When this was brought up in class, it was a good reminder. Class is always good and having a good instructor in the car every once and a while is also good.

Say, in my post above I noted that I had an issue with a new rotor. I talked to Todd at TCE Performance Products about the issue and he jumped right on it. It seems that there may have been a defect in the casting. But I now have a new rotor rotor being shipped to my house. Go Todd It is great when you get that kind of service.

 

Historic race, saw my first spors car race during my uncle's wedding at the speedway club (long time ago). Also first track I was an flagger at. Had to try it out since it reopened. Let you know what I think.

 

What do you guys run for rear brakes? Pads? Rotors?

 

I always ran stock rear pads/rotors. Back end not do too hard a job...

 

Guys, my porsche cayenne had a complete brake failure. Luckily i was only going 10 mph in a parking lot. Step on the brake and nothing. Pump the brakes and nothing. Then the PSM (stability management) idiot lights and buzzes came on. I steered the car away from people and other cars and managed to stop it by hitting a barrier. Not too much damage. Wife and i and ok.

Nothing wrong with the mechanical part of the brakes. Porsche said the yaw sensor is faulty but not sure why the brakes stopped working. Any ideas?

 

WOW! Glad you both are OK! Sounds really weird…brake fluid OK, calipers OK, everything OK mechanically with the brakes except for one minor detail: they didn't work…I thought it was almost impossible for all four brakes to fail on modern cars. Emergency brake functional?

 

I had a coworker with a Ford and the ABS computer failed and found out the hard way that the brakes on that car fail as-is. In her case, it failed when she didn't have her foot on the brake and she also had no brakes. Luckily, she was backing out of a parking space and the hand brake worked. Her understanding from the dealer was that if the computer failed when she had the brakes applied, then they would have stayed locked up. She got rid of the car that day. That is one bad system to have...fail as-is.

 

After the hit, the brakes came back and seemed ok after. Emergency brakes are one of those on the door side of the car that you have to step on. And i was too busy trying not to hit anything that was important. And the car was accelerating somewhat.

 

I have a feeling that was what happened. After the sensor failure, it is not allowing the brakes to work.

This is the car we were all in not long ago.

Wife says get rid of it.

Porsche dealer was a particular pain. Blamed me for everything. And does not believe the brakes did not work.

 

Glad to hear you're OK, slinger. Have you looked on the Porsche forums to see if this has happened to others?

 

Just started looking at it.

Cannot believe how bad porsche of honolulu service is. Just had a disagreement with them today. They refused to take the case to porsche so in essense it is my fault.

 

That's got to be the last straw! Time to move back to the mainland…the Northeast, specifically!

Does the computer keep a record of stuff like this. I would think if the ABS computer failed there would be some electronic trace of it stored somewhere...

 

Just put a deposit on a new car today. Wife wants the porsche GONE. Does not want to injure some poor pedestrian on the street or damage someones else's car or property. I do have a sheet of paper, repair receipt, from them saying it is all fixed. I told the service mgr i was keeping that in my safe just in case.

They know what is going on. Just don't want to deal with an older car that they did not sell. They say take it up with porsche. I just want them to take a look at why this is happening so they can prevent it on other cars. I am not after anything.

I did read on the internet that yaw sensor failures do occur. Honda had a big recall after a few incidents of failure which cause full brake lockup on the highway.

Want to head back to the NE in the summers for track. But with all this expense, i may have to put a lot of plans on hold. Just to sort out the budgets.

 

So you're going to finally get that Smart car now? Or a FIAT? If you get back to the NE, your first track day at Lime Rock or WGI is on me!

 

Remember it is a replacement for the suv. Wife is keeping her 911.

MB GLA250 is the wife's choice, put a deposit on that car.

I am kind of interested in either the audi q3 or a3.

I kind of looked at the macan but was a little too pissed off to pay attention to it. They just went thru a recall on the macan for BRAKES.

Thanks for you kind offer buddy. I will be there, just kind of hard to figure out when. Would be wgi. We can hang out at the vegan b&b. they may kick me out.

 

For the past few days, i have been looking at something to replace my tempermental car. This is what my opinions:

Audi A3: vague steering, grabby brakes. Otherwise nice.
Audi Q3: performs nice but looks ugly. Basically a dolled up VW Tiguan.
MB CLA250: bad driver, harsh suspension and coupe styling is nice except when you get in and out of the car and bang your head. Also very cheap interior.
MB GLA250: havent seen it but put a deposit on it just in case i like it
MB c250: generally nice but feels more like a caddie, handling could be more crisp. And it is made in the good old USA.
Bmw X1: cheap interior, ugly exterior, drives good but not great. Noisy, low end.
BMW 320i: nice handling, good feel steering, nice progressive brakes, lack of power but the price is right, interior ok
BMW 328i: good handling, nice brakes and steering feel. Nice power but 4650 clams more than 320i. You can feel the extra 60 hp/55 lbft torque.
Porsche macan: no way. Are you kidding me. After they made me bend over.

Still thinking but am now leaning toward the 328.