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Thread: dodint's Automotive Evolution

  1. #641
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    Nice. Can't weight to see her in person.

  2. #642
    I'm gooder. Phil_SS's Avatar
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    Jeez, you get under 200 lbs and now you are makin fat jokes....what a jerk

  3. #643
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    Heh. I didn't even realize I did that.

  4. #644
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dodint View Post
    E46:

    Doing my first TNiA with this car on the 10th. Still has the factory diff and I don't have slicks for it, so it'll be a nice baseline of what a stock Dinan 3 is capable of, I guess.
    I came away from that TNiA very underwhelmed, but I'm going to post a video about it later so I'll not bother getting into it.

    I have been doing some hard thinking about what I want to achieve over the next 2-3 years and figured I would map that into a plan. I won't be able to get my competition license and start doing actual racing until we're out of school, so 2020ish. So rather than invest in a racing school I'm going to start digging into the car over the winter. Unless something changes I'm looking at getting this done, hopefully before April:

    Tires
    -Toyo RR 255/40ZR17; rumor is that I won't need to use spacers unlike with the E36. These will go on the 17x8.5" OZ's. Looking very forward to this.

    Cooling System
    -All aluminum radiator
    -New expansion tank
    -Performance Water Pump
    -Thermostat (eliminating the electric and converting to mechanical)
    -Hose upgrade.
    When I had the E36 I already upgraded all the same parts so I'm kind of covering old ground again.

    Suspension
    -Spec suspension kit, just a whole bunch of fun stuff to replace.
    -Rear subframe reinforcement. I need to weld in a reinforcement plate because BMW designed the trunk with a weird empty space in the sub-frame.
    --Install the 3.46 differential that I cleaned up and painted, it's still hanging in my garage.



    Weight Reduction
    -Removing pretty much everything I can behind the front seats. Rear seats, carpet, sound deadening, extra wiring, trunk stuff.


    So hopefully next year I can do some HPDEs with a car that is lighter, a bit punchier, and well planted. Not looking to do any motor improvements as I'm building to the NASA SpecE46 specifications.
    I would really like to get to an HPDE in either VIR or Watkins Glen next year. And maybe NCM's track or something out west, was talking with Tyler about maybe doing something instead of going to the NCM 24LM Viewing Party.

  5. #645
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    Long time no check in. I'll start with the fun stuff:



    If you don't want to watch the whole video (who has that kind of time, right?) I recommend clicking through to 13:20 and watching what I consider the only time I've ever put a car somewhere I wasn't sure where it would end up. It doesn't *look* very dramatic in the video but I puckered pretty good in the moment. In this car the way that kink works is you can hold the throttle flat out and slightly turn the wheel right, letting the car track from right to left as you unwind. There is a split second of a heartbeat where you lift and get the wheel turned straight before applying some medium to heavy braking. Ideally I try to end up on the left side of the track for my turn-in as I begin to unload the brakes. In the video above I talked myself into staying flat out through kink, and somewhere after getting the wheel straight I got really loose under braking and ended up 1.5-3 car lengths to the right, basically on top of the apex before even turning in. Sloppy, scary, and fun!
    I think my car is right on the edge of being able to take that kink flat out, it will be fun to practice it and find out for sure. Any suggestion from other drivers is absolutely welcome as I'm not fully sure why the car began to move under braking there.

    I did that TNiA back in September and felt MUCH BETTER this time around. Just much looser and more dialed in. I only did two events this summer and as I alluded to in the earlier post the first was a bit of a shakedown cruise and I never felt like I was really getting anywhere close to the limit. The sessions in the video above were much tighter.

    Ultimately I ended up turning a 2:17.08 with a top speed of 117mph.
    Best lap ever in the SVT Cobra was 2:15.09 with a top speed of 112mph.
    Best lap ever in the BMW 650i was 2:05.71 with a top speed of 117mph.

    Initially I was really upset when I did the track day earlier in the summer. Despite giving up 80hp to the Mustang I thought the chassis would be nimble enough to get down to 2:10 once I got to the limit. Not true, I still haven't even gotten down to the Mustang.

    I'm not worried though. I would've matched the Mustang in the last lap of the video above if it hadn't been the end of the session; I was clearly on pace for a ~2:15 when I entered the final straight and I had to lift/coast because the Porsche ahead had slowed (my timing line is the short course flag stand, not the main straight flagstand that threw the checkers). That's the same lap that I had the braking incident above as well, which wasn't terribly clean.
    Further, the Mustang was on 300TW BFGs and the 330Ci is on 570TW Continental DWS's. I'm confident with a clean track and >300TW tires I would beat the Mustang time; but not by a ton. 2:13 or so, I reckon.

    Moving forward I'm starting to prep the car for club racing with the intent to cage it around January 2020. So through the motorsports season of 2019 I plan to compete in 1 to 3 of the new SCCA Time Trials Nationals Tour events: https://www.scca.com/articles/200895...ationals-event
    Most likely at PittRace, Heartland Motorsports Park, and maybe NCM. I'm currently annoyed with and debating the philosophical merits of the rulebook with the event organizers but I doubt I'll actually decide to not run at least the PittRace event. Hoping Tyler joins me out there in the C4 or as a co-driver in the E46.

    Moving forward.

    I'm now actively searching for a tow vehicle and desire most a Ford E350 regular length passenger spec van with the V10 and tow package, trying to pay under $10k. May end up setting for a F series if the right one turns up. This has the dual purpose benefit of doubling as a moving fan which is why I have accelerated the purchase window to now. I'm in the beginning stages of planning a home renovation that includes expanding the garage to 4+ and a lift. Yay! We'll see how it turns out.

    I've also been in talks with Nick about buying the GTXF Saleen. He wants to sell, I want to buy, I think it's going to come down to price. We're supposed to pick up discussion on that in May. It would replace the E46 as the fun car occasional DD/TT/TNiA car.

    E46 mods to be done before April:
    -Rear subframe reinforcement kit
    -Replace/upgrade cooling system
    -SpecE46 suspension kit (MAYBE).

  6. #646
    Just watched The Moment a few times. Without having driven there, or the car, [grain of salt CYA here], I'd say it was more the position of the car on entry to the slower corner than anything else. By the time you got to the tight turn the car was all the way to the right. That means you have to turn a much tighter radius to make the corner. I'm quite sure that wasn't your intended line. But I'd say 2 things - #1, when you take the fast kink the way you did, you can start to open up the wheel a little bit past the apex which will take some lateral load out of the car and make it more stable/predictable when you lift and/or brake. It's a subtle change but it will make a difference. #2, I'm painting with a broad brush from the amount of video I watched but you might want to practice having more fleet (fleeter?) hands for corrections. Slow hands are great, until one starts moving the car around underneath them. I'd recommend working on this for when you start road racing. Things are gonna happen even faster. We don't want to see a video of you ending up backwards because of a bump (on track or from another car!) or something. I've seen time and time again a driver who is comfortable with their car seeming so stable that they will never have to correct... until they actually need a reasonably fast correction.

    Here's an example of how it can go wrong when hands aren't keeping up with what's needed. Nobody was hurt, the car luckily didn't dig into the dirt and roll. https://www.facebook.com/groups/86cu...60126020870611

    Saleens are rad as heck and all, but going road racing in a car you enjoy is a pretty effing cool experience in life. Especially if you've got buds to share in the competition/tomfoolery/camaraderie. I just met a group of club racers yesterday who run with each other at a lot of races, and they have a rule: the bird must be displayed anytime one of them passes the other. It confuses the corner workers for sure.

  7. #647
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    Thanks for looking, I really appreciate the feedback from you, Russ, Cam, T, etc. I would've responded sooner but I'm up in St. Paul doing my residency requirement for law school and things are hectic.

    Quote Originally Posted by CudaMan View Post
    Just watched The Moment a few times. Without having driven there, or the car, [grain of salt CYA here]
    You (and anyone, really) have an open invitation to come try it out. PittRace is the most well attended TNiA track in the program, would be happy to share the car.

    Quote Originally Posted by CudaMan View Post
    I'd say it was more the position of the car on entry to the slower corner than anything else. By the time you got to the tight turn the car was all the way to the right. That means you have to turn a much tighter radius to make the corner. I'm quite sure that wasn't your intended line.
    Yeah, that's the most far to the right I've ever been, it was the John Birch Society of apexes.

    Quote Originally Posted by CudaMan View Post
    But I'd say 2 things - #1, when you take the fast kink the way you did, you can start to open up the wheel a little bit past the apex which will take some lateral load out of the car and make it more stable/predictable when you lift and/or brake. It's a subtle change but it will make a difference.
    Yeah, that makes perfect sense actually. Also, the idea of turning the wheel left there, even slightly, seems terrifying. But from a physics standpoint the car is already drifting so maybe my steering input won't have any meaning anyway until the car aligns with the straight again. Will be fun to work on it, thanks.


    Quote Originally Posted by CudaMan View Post
    #2, I'm painting with a broad brush from the amount of video I watched but you might want to practice having more fleet (fleeter?) hands for corrections. Slow hands are great, until one starts moving the car around underneath them. I'd recommend working on this for when you start road racing. Things are gonna happen even faster. We don't want to see a video of you ending up backwards because of a bump (on track or from another car!) or something. I've seen time and time again a driver who is comfortable with their car seeming so stable that they will never have to correct... until they actually need a reasonably fast correction.

    Here's an example of how it can go wrong when hands aren't keeping up with what's needed. Nobody was hurt, the car luckily didn't dig into the dirt and roll. https://www.facebook.com/groups/86cu...60126020870611
    Yeah, that's really interesting. But how do you work on it? Smooth is fast, etc. Seems like purposely having more active hands would make you jittery. You're right, faster hands and reflexes are better, but how would I even work on that in the TNiA/TT context? If I work on it in a simulator do you think the fast twitch reflex will translate?

    Also, the visor flip was totally baller.

    Quote Originally Posted by CudaMan View Post
    Saleens are rad as heck and all, but going road racing in a car you enjoy is a pretty effing cool experience in life. Especially if you've got buds to share in the competition/tomfoolery/camaraderie. I just met a group of club racers yesterday who run with each other at a lot of races, and they have a rule: the bird must be displayed anytime one of them passes the other. It confuses the corner workers for sure.



    Yeah, the Saleen is just something worth picking up because it needs some TLC right now and it gives me a fun car to drive to the track and run in TNiA/TT when the E46 is fully caged and not road legal. Tyler and I are planning at least one, maybe more, track days next year and I'm really looking forward to it. Once we nail down some details we'll probably make a thread or something opening it up to everyone; likely centered around SCCA National TT Tour.

  8. #648
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    I've been looking ahead to a tow vehicle. Russ and Tyler have been fielding my endless and stupidly repetitive questions on the matter. Over time I narrowed it down to a cargo/passenger van. It'll allow me to use it as a moving for moving house next year, let me sleep inside at tracks without a tent, has tons of space, and can tow nearly as much as a full sized one ton truck. Ended up looking hardest at the Ford E-350.

    Requirements were:
    6.8L V10 petrol, looked at both diesel options and just didn't like the extra work they required.
    Pass configuration so it has built in carpet, lights, ac in the cargo area.
    Non-extended chassis, did not want the 15 pass/XL version.
    The less seats the beter since I plan to throw them all out except for three captains chairs.
    Windows all around.
    Tow package w/light and brake controller.

    After looking for a while and considering lots of stuff (Excursions are very similar and are the hotness in road racing circles) I found this one:

    http://houston-used-auto-sales-tx.ha...tQnmyZrFcYb3qY





    Looks super clean and meets all requirements, even has the snazzy wheel covers and that baller wind deflector. Lack of door cards is weird. Carfax looks good, mileage is low. Put a deposit down today and bought plane tickets, Ash and I are going to fly down and pick it up next Saturday. Unfortunately Adam is out of town and our trip doesn't run us by many GTXF'ers, so it'll be 20 hours of marital bliss on the way back.

  9. #649
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    Nice blank canvas.

    Bet you can do a sweet burnout in that rig.

  10. #650
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    All the fuel...
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