Just dropped a deposit on some M Power - Trackday Project Car
- Thread starter Gibbo
- Start date
how long till you get that spoiler gibbo ?
Won't be doing any aero on the car, watch that video and he duels with another E46 M3 for sometimes and in the corners the speeds seem no different, so the aero can't be doing much at all.
My track car is also a fun road/weekend car too, its not a full on track or time attack car it is something you can go to the shops in and run as a daily too.
Hi there
Here is a video from the last track day:-
Unfortunately though as great as the brakes were I was no faster, as my corner speeds were quite a bit lower than previous. As unfortunately I was running to high a pressure in the tyres and the rebound slightly to stiff which pretty much resulted in melting the tyres. The phrase they have gone over the cliff is pretty much how it felt, you can see from the video the rear-end is stepping out through Coppice at 100mph, something that is normally not an issue and when I was warming up earlier on in the day before I started to really use the brakes I was seeing 115mph through the whole of craners, in this video I was struggling to get beyond 105mph as the grip was not there. If tyres had of being working as they did previously when I was truly using the brakes, the car is now hovering around 1:21-1:22 with me driving, obviously with a pro driving then we are easily at sub 1:20
Basically I was having to much fun, instead of looking after tyres I was staying out too long, running too high a pressure and quite literally melted them to the point they were costing me nearly 10mph through craners. Still even with this mistake I had great fun, I just need to learn how to manage tyres better.
If you listen to the video you will hear clunks and bangs, that is rubber coming off the rear tyres.
Not sure if the tyres have had it, am hoping a week of road driving might have cleaned them up, gonna inspect and if OK rotate them this week.
In short once these tyres have had it, these wheels shall be getting a set of Yoko V105 which shall be my wet track and road tyres. For dry track usage I shall be moving to slicks because at £100 a set they cost far less, are less prone to melt and give more grip.
Here is a video from the last track day:-
Unfortunately though as great as the brakes were I was no faster, as my corner speeds were quite a bit lower than previous. As unfortunately I was running to high a pressure in the tyres and the rebound slightly to stiff which pretty much resulted in melting the tyres. The phrase they have gone over the cliff is pretty much how it felt, you can see from the video the rear-end is stepping out through Coppice at 100mph, something that is normally not an issue and when I was warming up earlier on in the day before I started to really use the brakes I was seeing 115mph through the whole of craners, in this video I was struggling to get beyond 105mph as the grip was not there. If tyres had of being working as they did previously when I was truly using the brakes, the car is now hovering around 1:21-1:22 with me driving, obviously with a pro driving then we are easily at sub 1:20
Basically I was having to much fun, instead of looking after tyres I was staying out too long, running too high a pressure and quite literally melted them to the point they were costing me nearly 10mph through craners. Still even with this mistake I had great fun, I just need to learn how to manage tyres better.
If you listen to the video you will hear clunks and bangs, that is rubber coming off the rear tyres.
Not sure if the tyres have had it, am hoping a week of road driving might have cleaned them up, gonna inspect and if OK rotate them this week.
In short once these tyres have had it, these wheels shall be getting a set of Yoko V105 which shall be my wet track and road tyres. For dry track usage I shall be moving to slicks because at £100 a set they cost far less, are less prone to melt and give more grip.
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Don't discount the AD08R's for a wet/road tyre. They are a bit softer iirc and I find you can get heat into them when it's very wet. The V103/V105 is more of a road tyre and acts like it, so I'm told anyway.
Yokohama gave me some help when choosing racing tyres for this season (List 1B). In short, now using A048R mediums for dry/wet and AD08R for full wet (i.e. standing water).
If you only drive to and from the track, consider the A048R's. Best semi slick I've used and I've now tried 888's, D03G's and V70's. They grip incredibly well in the wet if you can get heat into them and with the weight of your car that should work.
Assuming it's used slicks at £100 a set, just watch for the number of heat cycles they have been through. A few of the guys who we race with run used slicks find them run down to the canvas after one race (12 mins or so) but at £20/£30 a pop they're happy with that. Get the right compound for the weight/use (i.e. no of laps) of the car or they won't work.
Just my 2p's worth but hope it helps. I've spent so much money/time trying to find the right balance on tyres and what works for one doesn't always work for another. When you get the right tyre for the application though it's nuts how much of a difference it makes.
Yokohama gave me some help when choosing racing tyres for this season (List 1B). In short, now using A048R mediums for dry/wet and AD08R for full wet (i.e. standing water).
If you only drive to and from the track, consider the A048R's. Best semi slick I've used and I've now tried 888's, D03G's and V70's. They grip incredibly well in the wet if you can get heat into them and with the weight of your car that should work.
Assuming it's used slicks at £100 a set, just watch for the number of heat cycles they have been through. A few of the guys who we race with run used slicks find them run down to the canvas after one race (12 mins or so) but at £20/£30 a pop they're happy with that. Get the right compound for the weight/use (i.e. no of laps) of the car or they won't work.
Just my 2p's worth but hope it helps. I've spent so much money/time trying to find the right balance on tyres and what works for one doesn't always work for another. When you get the right tyre for the application though it's nuts how much of a difference it makes.
Thanks m8.
Am thinking V105's as they will be mainly a road tyre, I shall be trying to avoid wet track days in the M3 as M3's no matter how well setup are simply not fast in wet conditions. If I pre-book a day and its wet I will just take the 911 as it excels in such conditions.
The AD08-R's do look great and from having the older AD08's I found getting heat into them is pretty easy unlike other semi-R tyres.
Yeah I was shocked at how the cups went off, they certainly don't like heat, combination of heavy car with very good brakes just seem to melt them. In the morning I was very happy to be seeing 110-115mph at the start of craners on the speedo and think bloody hell gonna be some great lap times when I've got to grips with the braking power. Alas once I had got to grips with the brakes and their ability I was struggling to see beyond 105mph at the start of craners, the tyres had literally fallen of a cliff.
Its not all fault of the tyres though, I had a mind block and was running the tyres 2-3psi above what Michelin recommend and what I ran on the last day and I'd set my rebound slightly stiffer than last time. In short that was a mistake, keep the Michelin at 30psi hot and leave the rebound at what KW suggest.
Still I had a great day and in hindsight was staying out to long, but it was a lot of fun.
On the slicks well luckily my mate get them for his car, same as mine an M3 and he get 3-4 trackdays usage and has no issues with them going off with heat and his car is same as mine but heavier. He is also a good driver and was doing 1:17's around Donnington, he is now super-charging his M3, so will be interesting on how quick it is once done. The slicks he gets of of the Porsche CUP cars fronts, which are Michelin in 240 and 250 sizes, 240 front and 250 rear on the stock M3 18" wheels. Works great for him so hopefully be good for me.
Only thing left on car now is a cage but greatly enjoying the car, gonna be doing a few days at Outlon as well once the cage is in.
Yeah Telescopi (blue mini) was not to happy about that blue van.
In fairness it cornered well, I am guessing its a project as it had brakes, wheels and AD08's so was clearly someone's project, with some more power it could be rather handy and could upset a lot of people when they are over-taken by a van on a track day.
You need to come racing mate
Supply me a car you don't mind me wrecking and I will.
Because the M3 is mine and my own hard earned put into making it, racing it with the high risk of someone collecting me or me throwing it off does not appeal.
If I was to do racing, I'd just want a cheap MX5, set of wheels with sticky rubber and uprated brakes, complete expense of say sub 2-3k, then if it gets destroyed its not end of world.
Hi there
Did alignment check today and reset bump and rebound to some new settings for road. Went from just under -3 front camber to around -2.5 as was seeing inner tyre on fronts wearing a little quicker.
Good news is my tyres were not melting, but because I do a lot of cooling laps off the racing line other rubber was moulding to them. A few big slides have cleared the rears and the fronts we cleaned the rubber off with a chisel.
So need to ensure I do less cooling off and stay on the racing line and only moving over when to let others pass. Wheels swapped front to rear so hopefully good for another 2-3 events.
Also on the road with new damper settings and now it's warmer the car feels very very good, so planted and hugely quick, but comfy as well. Car is sorted on both road and track.
Did alignment check today and reset bump and rebound to some new settings for road. Went from just under -3 front camber to around -2.5 as was seeing inner tyre on fronts wearing a little quicker.
Good news is my tyres were not melting, but because I do a lot of cooling laps off the racing line other rubber was moulding to them. A few big slides have cleared the rears and the fronts we cleaned the rubber off with a chisel.
So need to ensure I do less cooling off and stay on the racing line and only moving over when to let others pass. Wheels swapped front to rear so hopefully good for another 2-3 events.
Also on the road with new damper settings and now it's warmer the car feels very very good, so planted and hugely quick, but comfy as well. Car is sorted on both road and track.
Interior is coming along.
Just door cards to finish now and then decide on either a cage or harness bar.
Much nicer inside and when just gently driving is very quiet inside, but when on it has a lovely CSL sound track without being over powering, car is silly quick as well.
Just door cards to finish now and then decide on either a cage or harness bar.
Much nicer inside and when just gently driving is very quiet inside, but when on it has a lovely CSL sound track without being over powering, car is silly quick as well.
Drive it like an auto and well its pretty useless.
Drive it like a manual and its pretty fantastic, its the closest you will get to a sequential in a road car without actually fitting a sequential.
I drive mine in manual mode 90% of the time.
Of course SMG adds some weight and they do have their issues, SMG pump failures being an expensive repair, about £1200. So a manual is more reliable.
Drive both, buy the one you prefer.
I should really evaluate some other options on the MR2. I've always used R888s because they were cheap when we started out. Nowadays a full set of tyres is a significant investment that will last me a full season at least so I can't afford to buy something just to try them. The R888 is a known quantity that most of us use so I'm not losing anything by sticking with what I know but there could be an advantage to be had if I can find something better.
Based on your experiences what are your thoughts on the best road legal semi slick from cold? Most of the feedback out there is from racers/trackdayers where they have a chance to get the tyre up to temperature and have to avoid overheating them on a long run, for us sprinting, we want something that will be switched on immediately and our run is all over within 80-90 seconds so overheating is a non-issue.
Soldato
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I can't get those seats out of my head, they were so nice.
I wonder if they'd fit in a Starlet... Probably not
I wonder if they'd fit in a Starlet... Probably not
For sprinting, I would have thought the Kumho V70's would be worth a try, you can get them in soft compounds so they heat quickly: http://www.kumhotyre.co.uk/circuit_racing.php#v70a
Yoko A048's have soft compound too but only in certain sizes. A lot of the hillclimb guys I know like the Kumho's.
I have a road / track car and have used many, here is some input from me as to how quick/easy they are to get heat into from my own personal experience of using them:-
Michelin cup: Best all out dry grip on track, OK for getting heat into and OK when warm in wet, useless in cold/wet conditions. Very expensive! Pretty low tyre noise which is why they are an o.e. fit on a lot of cars, GT3 etc.
AD08: The best for working from cold and the best in the wet too, but not quite the dry grip of R888 or cup. But as a positive cheaper and last longer. AD08-R is marketed as being better in both dry and wet, plus works even better from cold. I think the AD08-R could be your best tyre for sprinting.
R888: Excellent dry grip, pretty much on par with the cup and very good on lighter cars, whereas cup is more suited to heavier coupes/saloons. A lot of road noise though as a downside and can be hard to get heat into in the wet.
595-RSR: The worse for getting heat into and the performance of them when cold is shockingly poor, once heated up they are good in the dry and acceptable in the wet.
NS-2R: Not tried this one myself but the soft compound for sprint/track work is getting a lot of positive feedback, easy to get heat into and very good dry grip with OK wet ability. Medium compound last longer but harder to heat up.
Kumho V70R: Mate had these, rated them well but then he went to cups and did say the cups were better in the dry and easier to get heat into if that helps for comparison.
If I were you if you want guaranteed best for sprint, AD08-R seems a good bet, but if your willing to take a gamble try the NS-2R in soft compound.