nocab72

yup, Spec3 is still a very "new" series for NASA v/s SpecE30 which has been around for a long long time. Mid-Atlantic is by far the largest Spec3 region with about 25 cars built that I know of.

Wedding? Shiiiiiiiiiit... called that off a year ago. Bitches be crazy!

Indeed it is!

nope, SOLD!

Nice identification! yes, the yellow & orange E36's are Spec3 cars. One is mine, the other is a racing buddy's. Super fun series with some very close racing ... for an example of what I mean by "close racing" watch the first 8 minutes of this race from 2 weeks ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YCpYDFzPlY I don't run the E46 M3 in GTS much anymore, we've been doing enduro's in it. Kyle

she is in good company in my garage http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/nocab72-garage.jpg

Mike was just last month to swap out a busted rear diff and get her started after sitting for a few years w/no attention. first time I pushed in the clutch the slave froze, so have a replacement slave cylinder to go in this weekend and she will move under her own power with working drive train for the first time in many years :-/ Excited to take a spin though after all this time!

CARL!! My MAN you've still got the 7! So do I woot woot! Rotary peeps united!

Hello to all the new CR members and shout out to the old school CR crew, it has been a long time since I've visited you all. Could Anthony or another admin contact me via PM please, my new company is an entirely race oriented venture and I would like to get approval before I post anything about it on the site, thanks! Kyle - If you know me, you're old!

not a ricer if the wing has a purpose (ie track), but definitely a cop magnet. ;-/

Wings got a bad rap from the ricers, but look at pretty much any "race car series" and you'll find tons of aero downforce - almost always provided by wings & splitters. My buddies in the area with E46 M3's built up the same as mine, relatively equal drivers to me, only difference is I have aero and they don't. I'm consistently 2-3seconds/lap quicker. Watch the dark blue GT3 in this video pull away from me in every straight (that's what 60-80 extra hp will do for you), but then notice where I catch him. Brake zones & twisties ;-) BTW: I spoke to the driver of the GT3 after the session, his car is not stock, exhaust work, moton club sport suspension, Hoosier R6's, etc. He says "I couldn't believe how fast you were back on my bumper after each long straight, I was throwing my car all over the place in the twisties trying to stay out of your way and once I let you by, you were gone! No way was I going to keep up T2 - T7." This is during a Chin Motorsports event in Red (advanced) group. Chin Blue (intermediate) would be like NASA HPDE3 or BMWCCA A group, Chin Red is way beyond your typical cars&drivers in HPDE3/4 or BMW A. Their Red has really fast cars, and very experienced/good drivers. Heck, James Clay was there testing their new E92 GrandAm GS car running in Red and not complaining about having to deal with "slow" traffic ;-) Kyle

I was there, did we meet and I'm simply not connecting a new face to a forum name?

Another great weekend at the track and another new fast lap. This time @ New Jersey Motorsports Park - Thunderbolt Circuit I really like this track, it is fast and the massive amount of run off is confidence inspiring. This past weekend was a NASA-NE event and I participated in my 2nd Time Trials event. Since the car was built for NASA GTS3 class, no specific attention was paid to the "points" classification of time trials - consequently I fall into the TTS class which is an "unlimited" modifications class where the only restriction is your weight to horsepower ratio. The TTS class limit is 8.7:1 (8.7lbs for each 1rwhp), that is car weight with driver at the end of a session. My #72 car with me in it and 1/4 tank of fuel tips the scales at 3100lbs and dyno'd 297rwhp (call it 300) with current mods. That puts me at ~10.33:1. SIGNIFICANTLY below the Weight to HP limit. I could drop 500lbs or add 50hp and still run in TTS class! My purpose of TimeTrials this fall wasn't to be competitive in TTS but use it as a stepping stone to racing next year with the following two objectives: 1) Practice getting into the "Race Qualifying" mindset quickly. 1 or 2 warm up laps, then GO GO GO. This is significantly different than the DE routine of slowly bringing the pace up through the session and frankly through the day. In qualifying you head out cold and in 5 minutes you need to bring it up to a 9.5/10ths or 10/10ths level AND drive that perfect qualifying line, often times having only one chance at a flying lap - gotta make it count! 2) Experience in an environment that does not require point-by's. In the dedicated TimeTrials run groups no point-by is required, if you catch someone, simply make a sensible pass. This turned out to be a pretty big step, since all along in DE's I 100% knew that the car I am about to overtake is aware I am going to pass them because I sat and waited (Alan, hahahaha) for that point by from them. The first few passes were a major leap of faith in the other driver. -- Even with an "uncompetitive" car from a weight:hp standpoint in TTS I managed to take 1st place in the TTS class both days by nearly 3 seconds to the 2nd place finisher in a class of five cars, one of which was the NASA-NE Regional TTS Points Champion for 2010. For those 1st place finishes I earned my first "Racing Trophy", two free tires from Hoosier through their Contingency Program - (that's $600 worth of tires!) AND set the NASA TTS lap record at the track! This was weekend 4 of our "5 different tracks in 6 weekends Fall Run". It has been a great learning experience in car development. The changes I made to get the car to work at VIR didn't work so well at Mid-Ohio, nor did the VIR or Mid-Ohio setup work very well at Thunderbolt - I didn't make any changes at Watkins Glen because I was simply learning the track that weekend. YAY for an OCD-Datalogging personality and the .xls session log book I keep so I'll be able to quickly dial the car in for a specific track next year and waste less practice time figuring out what works. I've forwarded my .xls session log book to a couple of you, if any others are interested in a copy because it sounds like something you may want to start keeping for yourself, please let me know, I would be happy to share a copy in our mutual efforts to improve our cars and personal driving capabilities.

Couple Random laps from VIR last weekend (from camera mounted on front/top of windshield) - gives nice panoramic view. And my fast lap of the weekend from inside the car -- made quite a few mistakes, should have been a 2:07.x. BTW the previous GTS3 lap record was a 2:09.6. I went 2:08.2 and thought I was king of the hill until Josh Smith (another E46 M3 friend) tore off a 2:06!

I just noticed you are in DC too. CMH to DC transplant I assume? Me too. Where are you located in the DMV?

hahha, thx for the props. NASA TimeTrials this fall and NASA GTS3/4 Racing in 2011. Kyle

What is your time frame to purchase? Take a look at the variety of cars in GrandAm Continental Tire Series - everything from Miata to Mini to Kia to Porsche. AST will be putting shocks on all those cars next year starting in Jan 2011. If AST doesn't have a setup for your car yet - chances are they will soon. This is a huge step up in diversity for AST. Kyle

Andy - There isn't much of a learning curve really. Just another set of knobs to help dial in the handling and balance of the car. Since I have two E46 M3 track cars - identical year & model, when it came time for me to upgrade from the 5100's to 5200's I didn't actually go the upgrade route. The #67 car (silver) still had stock suspension, it was an easier and ultimately less expensive route to remove the 5100's from the #72 car (black), install them on the #67 and buy new 5200's for the #72. -- Why AST? I looked at Moton, Ohlin & AST when I was suspension shopping. All high end stuff, all comparable price points for what I wanted and all pretty equivalent from a quality standpoint. AST ultimately won - because of their extremely high level of customer service. Shocks are something that isn't install and forget - post sale support was important to me. BTW: AST was selected as the replacement "spec" shock for GrandAm Continental Tire Series in 2011 - replacing the Koni. So expect some new race tested & proven enhancements to their shocks in the coming year(s).

Good stuff! Congrats! Glad you are having fun!

An some action shots from Labor Day at VIR. http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/27-29-Aug-10_PCA_Pics/pcapotsept-00357-med.jpg http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/27-29-Aug-10_PCA_Pics/pcapotsept-00458-med.jpg http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/27-29-Aug-10_PCA_Pics/pcapotsept-01423-med.jpg http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/27-29-Aug-10_PCA_Pics/pcapotsept-03649-res.jpg http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/27-29-Aug-10_PCA_Pics/pcapotsept-08954-med.jpg

No track days in August, a) it’s been very hot here, b) my car spent most of the month at <b]RRT Racing</b>. The goal for August was to get the car built prepared in NASA GTS3 race trim (sans some minor race required/specific items like fire system, kill switch & window nets). This included an aFe Intake, SuperSprint Headers, a customer RRT Racing single exhaust, Shark Flash (to re-tune the car for the bolt-ons and 93 Octane guel, raise the rev limiter a bit, and disable the rear O2 sensors to work w/out catalytic converters). SuperSprint Headers http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/E46%20M3%20Build%20-%20Black/StepHeader-V2_3-web.jpg In addition the AST5100 single adjustable suspension was upgraded to AST5200 double adjustables, added front and rear Ground Control Adjustable Race Sway Bars, a custom racing differential built by Dan from DiffsOnline, AIM EVO4 CAN bus data logging and MyCron3 display. Ground Control Rear Sway Bar (sorry can't find picture of sexy front bar) http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/E46%20M3%20Build%20-%20Black/GC_Rear_Sway_Bar.jpg To top it all off the first phase of an aero package including an Aeromotions R2.static wing and custom front splitter. Wing (Pre-Mounting) http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/E46%20M3%20Build%20-%20Black/AeromotionsWingUnmounted-web.jpg Wing In-trunk Mounting Brackets (the wing is so solid you can literally push the car around by the uprights) http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/E46%20M3%20Build%20-%20Black/WingMountBrackets-web.jpg Front Splitter http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/E46%20M3%20Build%20-%20Black/Splitter-med.jpg Gregory Mark one of the engineers responsible for designing the Aeromotions wing flew down from Cambridge, MA to assist us in tuning the wing and determining the maximum angle of attack before stall. He taped short pieces of yarn under the wing, attached his portable USB camera and watched as we drove the car up and down the street, adjusting the angle of the wing. Preparing for initial wing stall angle testing http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i167/nocab72/E46%20M3%20Build%20-%20Black/Barry_and_AeromotionsWing-web.jpg

Welcome to the BMWCCA, likely the most conservative car club in existence. I recently was told I could not participate in a local BMWCCA chapters DE sessions because I was driving "a race car with slicks" - and I would "scare" the other drivers. hahaha I was pissed then, I laugh about it now, because it's probably the truth. ;-) Shouldn't be an issue this particular weekend as the event is in conjunction with a BMWCCA Club Race and there will be lots of "race cars" in the paddock. A is their "most advanced" student run group. Essentially the same as NASA HPDE3. Kyle

more info from Registrar: Time is flying and our fall DE at Mid Ohio is just six weeks away. Dates are Oct 23 and 24th. There is space available for those who have not registered. We need instructors and students. So register and come join us. Will be a great time. Yes we have the track on Friday 22nd. Friday is for instructors and students by invitation -- we will invite "A" level students to Friday. Racers will also have their own separate track time on Friday. Our website has hotel info, forms, track info etc. The chapter website has a direct link to our event on motorsportreg. Chapter website: http://www.buckeyebmwcca.org We also have a club race the same weekend. Racers will have two sprint races on Saturday and an enduro race on Sunday. Great to watch. Notes: a) student cars and race cars are not allowed on the track at the same time. So do not worry about the combined event. b) Student track time is not affected by the race as we have reduced the number of student run groups from four to three. The racers make up the fourth group. We will have our Sat Night dinner for those who want to attend. It will be at the host hotel and inside. Questions? Email or call me ( after 10:00 AM and before 10:00 PM Yes I am retired) Buckeye Chapter BMWCCA Ken Price kenprice@fuse.net 513-309-0523 c

Cost: $395 Registration link: http://www.motorsportreg.com/index.cfm/event/event.advert/uidEvent/90BDAEC9-C0A9-E5ED-A08C3DE141474C6A Kyle

Unhappy I didn't make the NASA event @ Mid-Ohio in July, had some sh*t come up but I'll be making the trip in October to track with Buckeye BMW Club. Just registered! Anyone else going? Kyle