Short Track Day at MSR Cresson… too short.

Posted on 2014/02/09 by Chad

This Saturday I went up to Motorsports Ranch in Cresson, TX for a track day with The Drivers Edge. I brought along the MR2 Spyder for only its second ever track day, last time was the 3.1 mile course at MSR. This time we’d be driving the 1.7 mile configuration, clockwise, which is opposite of the standard layout. I’ve driven this before in the M Coupe with the BMW CCA, and I really enjoyed it. The shorter configuration means more repetition on the corners, which is great for learning. If you recall, last time I had a very oversteer prone setup, making for a few too many off-track excursions. Prior to this event I ordered up some Swift springs in a 6kg/mm and 7kg/mm rates for front and rear respectively, therefore shifting more of the spring bias towards the front from the original 4/6 setup. This should reduce the oversteer and bring the car closer to neutral. You can read more about the work in this post. Here’s a video from the first session. It was a pretty cold morning, and the track was very green. The Lotuses (Loti?) were have some serious grip issues, as you can see they were just poking around. I had a decent time playing with the Boss 302 Mustang, who eventually caught up with me as my tires were overheating (I pumped them up pretty high due to the cold.)

The good news, the spring swap worked, the car was far closer to neutral. The bad news was that my alignment and corner balance is still way out of whack. The car really needed to be taken to a track alignment specialist rather than the local Firestone. That will have to wait, because on my second session I got hit with worse news. While headed down the back straight I lost all power and the dash lit up with a CEL. I tried to turn it off and re-crank, but nothing. It would turn over just fine, I had fuel, and the temp gauges were all normal, but no starting. Fortunately I had enough speed to coast up through Ricochet and into the grid area. I would have had enough momentum to carry me back to parking, but some guy with no situational awareness decided it was a good idea to just walk slowly in front of my coasting car. I had to hop out and push it the rest of the way, fortunately a helpful soul joined in and pushed it back to my parking spot. This video tells the story:

The sounds heard in the video weren’t audible to me at the time, as I had ear plugs in and a helmet on. When I pulled in to parking I assumed it might be a simple wiring issue, as the car was having no issues turning over. I removed the rear cubby floor to access the Apex PFC stand-alone ECU and J&S Safeguard, checking all the connections. I even put the J&S into monitor mode to see if it was getting false knocking signals, still wouldn’t run. I had my PFC Commander hand-held tuner, which I used to check all the sensors. Everything was reading normal, as was my fuel pressure gauge. So it wasn’t a fueling issue, wiring, or sensor. It didn’t throw a belt, so I assume it was getting enough air. So maybe spark somehow. I tried cranking again, keeping the throttle full open. It would fire, but was running extremely rough, like a cylinder was down, and would only run with WOT. That’s when I decided to pull the plugs. Not exactly an easy job on the Spyder, as the rear X-brace has to come out to pull the coils (coil on plug.) I eventually got the coils out with the help of a fellow driver’s tool box, then I had to get a plug socket. Fortunately the guys from Texas Track Works were a few spots over and gladly loaned me the tools. I asked to borrow a compression tester as well, just in case it was a head gasket or blown set of rings.

I didn’t get to the compression check, because the first plug I pulled (Cylinder #1) looked like this:

Yes, that’s a smashed electrode, and smashed porcelain with it. There are only a few ways that can happen and none are good. There’s no fixing this at a track, so with the help of a few other drivers I pushed the car back on the trailer and called it a day. Rather than drive back pissed off and tired, I retired to the hotel room and decided to leave in the morning. The next day I woke to a fogged in Cresson, they definitely wouldn’t be out on the track in this. I found out later that they postponed all the sessions until after lunch due to the fog. That made me feel a little better about missing out but only a little. On the drive back I decided to give Dave at DD Performance Research a call and see what he thought. Dave is an all around 2ZZ-GE genius, and the man who tuned this car to begin with. I asked to drop the car off at his shop down in Sealy, TX, as I really have no room in my garage to take on another engine rebuild.

Once I reached Dave’s shop, he brought out a Snap-on borescope and dropped it down into the #1 cylinder. We could clearly see a valve standing on end, separated from its stem. So all that turning over wasn’t helping matters, but the damage was clearly already done. The worry is just how much damage may have been done to the underside of the head (#1 combustion chamber) and to the cylinder wall. See the 2ZZ doesn’t use steel or iron liners, it has aluminum walls treated with Metal Matrix Reinforced (MMC) coating. This coating is great for keeping the engine light and against normal wear from the the rings, but very easy to damage from things like valves and spark plug parts banging around. The top of the piston is also done for. So I’m out at least a valve-train and piston at a minimum, possibly a complete short block and head. That’s a kick to the underbody considering I have maybe 3k miles on this shortblock and reconditioned head that I built not too long ago. I should have scrapped the OEM valve-train from the beginning, especially since I was running longer duration Piper stage II cams. The engine wasn’t over-reved, no money shifts, but it’s already an interference design in stock configuration. So it’s possible a slight valve float could have created a meeting of the piston and valve and that’s all she wrote.

On a more cheerful note, here’s a little video of the Spyder shooting some flames at the Boss Mustang that was playing around with me during the first session, so enjoy.

BMW CCA Lone Star Chapter Fall ’13 DE at MSR Cresson

Posted on 2013/10/23 by Chad

This past weekend I attended the BMW CCA Lone Star Chapter’s Fall DE at Motorsport Ranch (MSR) in Cresson, TX. My very first track experience was with this chapter back in April of this year, on the same track in fact. This time we ran the 1.7mile configuration clockwise. I haven’t run this direction before, so it gave me an opportunity to learn something new.

For the first time I trailered my M Coupe up to the track, figuring I’d save a little wear and tear on the car and also carry some extra tools and equipment. I spent Friday going over the car at the house, to include bleeding the master brake cylinder and flushing the system with some new Brembo 600 LCF fluid at the recommendation of BJ from Clown Shoe Motorsports. I threw some extra fluid, my pressure bleeder, and waste fluid bucket in the trailer and hit the road that night. I pulled into MSR about 2100 and unloaded the trailer at the track so it’d be ready in the morning, then headed to the hotel in Granbury.

The next morning I put the Coupe up on jack stands to do another bleed. I attempted to get my new DIS/TIS laptop setup to connect to the car in order to cycle the ABS/DSC, but it was having connection problems, I had only installed the software the night prior in the hotel. So I did the best I could with the Motive pressure bleeder.

Upon registration I was handed the usual packet with a track map, vinyl numbers (lucky #13…) and run group decal. I pulled out the run group decal to discover they had placed me in green (novice.) I’m not sure what happened, as my registration had me going in blue (intermediate.) So I went and talked to the chief instructor, who instantly remembered my name. Turns out my instructor from the previous weekend at TWS was also a CCA instructor and had questioned why I was in novice. So they moved me up to the yellow (advanced) group.

Since they hadn’t planned on me in the yellow group, I wasn’t assigned a specific instructor. When I pulled into the grid, I sat for a while waiting, fortunately there was a spare instructor whose student hadn’t shown. Turns out it was the same gentleman who gave me a ride along back in April in his E36 M3. We spent most of Sunday just trying to learn the new line of the 1.7 CW. I also had to play around with tire pressures since it was pretty cold that morning. The track was pretty green from all the rain that week, and some morning dew didn’t help. So the first session was pretty squirmy. Fortunately the grip came in quickly by the second session. I did one more brake bleed on Saturday, after taking the car on the grass to activate the ABS the old fashioned way.

Sunday was even better track conditions, with a good bit more rubber from the day prior. It was still cold for the first session, so I had aired up the tires to my normal starting pressures. The first session was solo, and I really dialed down my lap times, breaking into the 1:20s. After the first session I neglected to check my hot tire pressures, which came back to bite me. By the time the second session came around, the temps had come up to the high 60s and low 70s. The car was skating around pretty badly, understeering on entry and oversteering on exit. It really compounded when I attempted to set up a pass coming out of Little Bend, where there’s a small dip on the inside. The result was the rear skipped a bit on me and then came around. I checked the pressures after this session (including a cool down) and it was at 46psi, way too high. Check the video below for the results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaBhLUpI7N4

I spent the third session playing lead & follow with a friend’s E46 M3. Passing was much better in the yellow group, and we were able to stay together through traffic. We were even able to beat our best track times. Did pretty well for a couple of 11 year old cars on street tires. Here’s the complete third session, check out the end for an impressive drift by a blue ’95 M3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6mSDJXnCEA

I also played around with an OBD-II Bluetooth scanner with the RaceChrono app on my phone. I was able to trick it into working, but it only recorded a bit of data, which I captured in the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRyzj6WcBRA

As with the last CCA event I attended, this one was no disappointment. The Lone Star Chapter puts on a great event, well organized with excellent instructors. Since I was moved up to the advanced run group they even put out some information on an upcoming Club Racing school at TWS in January, as well as the process for becoming an instructor. Since I’m interested in both, I talked to a couple of the instructors afterwards to get some more information. Right now I’m planning on attending the race school, as they just don’t come around too often. I’m really looking forward to it. Another benefit of attending the DE event is that it moves you up the list for registering for COTA next year, a track I’m really trying to get some time on. Hopefully everything works out and I’m able to run it next year.

Check below for all the photos from the event.

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First Track-Day Experience: Lessons Learned

Posted on 2013/05/05 by Chad

I’ve been wanting to get into tracking my cars (hence my M3 beater purchase), so I’ve been checking the various organizations to see who was local and running. I came across the Lone Star Chapter of the BMW CCA’s website, who had an upcoming Spring track-day event at Motorsport Ranch Cresson. They still had availability in their novice group, so I signed up. I originally had planned on bringing the M3, but it was in no condition to be driven on a track (or a public road for that matter.) So I got the M Coupe ready, reserved a hotel room and made the drive to Cresson.

I honestly did not know what to expect, having never done any track days, DEs, HPDEs, or even Auto-X. So I came a little unprepared. I had just shown up with the bare essentials; a Snell 2010 helmet, cotton pants and shirt…. and that was it. There was a wide variety of cars in the paddock, everything from pure race cars to a 335i daily parked next to me. But everyone had at least a torque wrench, tire pressure gauge, and a sense of how the track was laid out.

MSR offers several different track configurations. For this weekend we ran the 1.7mile course counterclockwise. It didn’t really matter, as it was all new to me. Above you can see the whole track from space, showing just how large the facility is. The small oval lake to the north is a cable-pull wake-board course. Below you can see the course I ran. The green areas were the straights where passing was allowed for my group (novice/green.)

After arriving at the track at the break of dawn, I made my way to the two story clubhouse for registration. Every driver must bring in their helmet for inspections, then you are given a large envelope with a daily schedule, track map, and vinyl decals. Each car is numbered and a small colored star goes on the front windshield, green for the novices. Shortly after that there was the mandatory drivers meeting where they review safety items like flags and passing etiquette. Following the drivers meeting the novice classes began. The instructors from the BMW CCA were great, spelling out the basics of track driving, covering every imaginable subject. Of course this was novice, so it was still very basic, but you learn the terminology.

Besides the scheduled classes, everyone is free to roam around the grounds, go to a restaurant, wrench on their cars, or whatever they feel like. You have four 20-min sessions per day to run around the track with your instructor. The first outing was with no helmets under yellow with the instructor at the wheel. The idea is that you take in the proper line and see where the braking zones, turn-in point, apex, and track out are. Having never been on a track, I was a bit overwhelmed for the first few sessions. Fortunately, my instructor, Kyle, was extremely good and took time to talk me through the driving between sessions.

I felt I was gradually improving, pushing the car harder, until the point the brakes were going soft. Since I hadn’t intended to track the M Coupe, it was sporting completely OEM brake parts, to include the fluid. The heat was building up and overwhelming them, even on relatively short 20-min stints. My tires, Continental DWs, weren’t meant for this type of abuse either. That said, they performed fairly well for a 300 tread rating. Most of the field was running more performance oriented tires, and it showed.

Perhaps the most difficulty I had was being consistent. I could perfect one corner then completely screw up the next one. The problem is exacerbated with another car filling your mirror, or when closely following another car and taking their line, often times not the best one to follow. Even though this is not racing, competitive nature can only be repressed so much. No one wants to be passed, you want to do the passing. It’s also a good indicator of how you are progressing, a car in the distance providing a visual yard stick.

The video above is from an E46 M3 in my run group. He was probably the fastest out there, moving to the intermediate group on Sunday. You can see how he chased me down, eventually passing me. If you look carefully just prior to the pass, you can see how I got shaken from my line. I saw his car filling my mirror, losing my focus on driving my car. Just another lesson to be taken. Don’t worry about the car in your mirror, just acknowledge their presence and let them pass if necessary, but don’t forget that your primary focus should be on driving the car you are in.

I could go on and on about this two day event, where I learned more than months of reading forums. It was a great experience, and I’m definitely hooked and looking for my next opportunity to get out there. For next time I’ll be a little better prepared; better brake pads and fluid, a torque wrench, tire gauge, and window cleaner. I’ll also be sure to study the track layout and watch Youtube videos of the course, as recommended by my instructor.

27-28APR13 MSR Cresson 1.7 CCW Gallery

Posted on 2013/05/03 by Chad

Photo gallery of my first track day event at Motorsports Ranch Cresson, driving the 1.7 mile counter-clockwise course with the Lone Star Chapter of the BMWCCA in my ’02 M Coupe.