[djwang2000]

I went out to the FATT event on 6/6 @ summit point on the Shenandoah circuit. I think it's been about the hottest day of the year, and certainly the highest temperatures that my car has seen (335i convertible).

This was my third track event and first time on the Shenandoah Circuit. First, a note on the track -- WOW, how very cool. It's quite technical, and has nice elevation changes. The karussel is very different and fun. There were a lot less vettes and vipers at this event than I had seen at my first 2 -- I suspect the lack of a true high speed straight drives off those cars (no pun intended).

My first couple of laps were quite timid (as expected). The first challenging section 'The Hook' is an uphill, long left turn that then drops at the end into a right turn. At the end of the day, I was still having trouble with it, but it was certainly becoming smoother and faster. It requires incredible patience. My instructor showed me how to do it by essentially holding the throttle and the wheel constant through the whole turn -- and it works perfectly, but having that discipline and patience is hard!! The bridge straight (a reasonably long straight with a gentle bend before the crest of the hill) that follows is a lot of fun, especially at the end of the day, when I had worked up enough guts to stay (nearly -- haha) full throttle all the way to the top. This leads into the karussel, which as I mentioned is just plain different. My instructor worked with me all day on incrementally staying on and increasing throttle through 'Little bend' leading to 'big bend' and onto the back straight. My instructor also worked with me on shuffle steering -- a concept that hadn't been introduced previously. Anything that helps decrease the amount of time I spend in the steering wheel death grip is a good thing! He also showed me a couple of other lines through the 'Loop Curve' that seem to work better than the theoretical line. He was clearly very experienced as a driver and with the course, and it was neat having that insight passed along.

Without question, I improved A LOT through the day, and so I'm very happy.

As I mentioned, it was a hot day. The ambient temperature by the last session was 95 with a fair amount of humidity. During the last session, I was experimenting with downshifting into 2nd (steptronic) for some of the sections and it was at that time the car went into what I guess is limp mode. Oil temperatures were pushing 300, but I don't think over. I did see a red light go off and on briefly, but at the point that the car was in 3rd with almost no power, there were not warning lights on. This was toward the middle of the session (10 minutes in). At first this confused me -- I wasn't sure what was going on, since I was under the impression that limp mode was also noted by some sort of warning light. So I would let of the throttle for a couple of seconds, and by the next straight I was ok. I downshifted again, into the next turn, and by the time I hit the next straight, again no power. At this point, I figured it out, and I was tempted to just take the car in and call it a day, but was at the peak of my learning curve and having WAY too much fun. So I cooled it just a bit, took 1 lap at almost a cool down pace, and kept it in 3rd/4th. Then drove the remainder of the session full out, but not downshifting into 2nd and that went just fine.

So, I guess I'll have to do more searching around to figure out what to do about this new problem I have...

next up: Summit Point Main, June 20th.

[djwang2000]

Originally Posted by westwest888

Summit Main June 20 is a FATT event? Or some other event? I presume a FATT event starts Friday morning at 8:00AM?

Main on June 20th is a FATT event. I think registration starts 8:00 AM.

[S4to335]

They let you take a vert on the track without a roll bar?

[sg335]

Coolant temps

Finally someone else that has utilized second gear at high rpms for extended periods of time at the track. The increased burdon on the engine at these extreme rpm produces too much heat for the stock cooling systems (all systems; oil, coolant and air intake temp), but especially coolant system. I observed the same thing. Stay out of second gear and the problem goes away. Next time repeat the same test in second and display your coolant temps in the center cluster and see where the go to. I bet they will reach or exceed 242 degrees.

[Dascamel]

Why second gear and not third?

[sayemthree]

word

[djwang2000]

Originally Posted by S4to335

They let you take a vert on the track without a roll bar?

Around here, factory roll bars are usually (not always) sufficient for the lower run groups. It's track/organization dependent. Sadly, I can't do any BMWCCA events.

[djwang2000]

Originally Posted by sg335

Coolant temps

Finally someone else that has utilized second gear at high rpms for extended periods of time at the track. The increased burdon on the engine at these extreme rpm produces too much heat for the stock cooling systems (all systems; oil, coolant and air intake temp), but especially coolant system. I observed the same thing. Stay out of second gear and the problem goes away. Next time repeat the same test in second and display your coolant temps in the center cluster and see where the go to. I bet they will reach or exceed 242 degrees.

Hmm... happened across this on the Dinan upgrade page (well, saw it before, but didn't pay it much attention):

"Remapped Water Pump Speeds. In an effort to more effectively control oil and water temperatures, which have been notably excessive even at stock boost pressures, the Dinan software actually increases water pump speeds as boost pressure increases. "

Maybe this is why some with the flash have been reporting less problems?