997gt3north

Andrew

Great job

I thought on those clear laps you basically nailed almost everything.
Your pro line bus stop entry was great - you also nailed the toe and you did the esses perfectly. There is a more speed to be had in 1,10 and 11 but there always is and for a new car and a new track you looked great.

Once you get Watkins in the blood you will keep going back.

Were you faster in the cup or the BMW?

TRAKCAR

Funny how I pretty much remember the track after only 2 days driving it 2 years ago but forget what I had for dinner yesterday.

Miss Mancation.....

Go for m3 e36 or e46. You see Rustang charm, learning a new track and nice people around just adds to it. I guess if you want to go race the e36 and e30 are cheaper with bigger classes?

Bottom line is if you spend 1000 - 2000 you can run a e30 in Chump racing full arrive and drive service and have a lot of fun!!

utkinpol

actually it is true - plus you can actually load all 4 wheels with R6 rubber inside of a prepped stripped caged E30 car and drive it to the track.

kinda tricky fun but I know couple of guys who do that to drive at LRP and NHMS. I would not try to drive in a race car 7-8 hours to long destinations, my back would probably not survive that.

last summer I saw 2 E36 cars with detuned E46 motors built for GTS3 class - it is a bit cheaper and more fun IMHO than a fully built e46 GTS4 car. but it will mean you no longer have a dual purpose car, so, it is quite a commitment.

M3EvoBR

good thing is you will never spend money on consumables again, with that weight and power ratio. Sebring probably tap the brakes in 17, 1, and 7 other than that just floor it.

deputydog95

Thanks for the feedback. You are dead on about 1,10,11. Either I didn't carry enough or carried too much and completely ran over the track out curbing. I'm sure a line adjustment would cure that. Those were the 3 corners I had to think about every single lap. Everything else seemed to be pretty straight forward. Got nervous about the paint in T1, as a very experienced driver munched a M3 after getting in the paint and totalled it. Day 1, session 1. Ouch.

I didn't think I would find a track I liked better than Sebring or VIR, but I have to admit the Glen is a special place.

I could coast around the track in 3rd in the cup car and blow out anything I did in the E30 2010 cup is brutally fast, brutally raw. I have no idea what times I did in it, nothing earth shattering I'm sure as it was my first time driving one at a track I didn't know that well. Guy was nice enough to let me run it so didn't want to repay the favor by wadding it up. I would kill to get more seat time in one though.

The spec E30 is more like $12-15k to be competitive, but still relatively cheap compared to running anything with the word porsche in the name

And yes, I totally get the rustang thing now. Never thought it could be that much fun running such a low hp car, but it really was. Especially when you could get in with other low hp cars. Speed is relative so it doesn't feel as slow when you're all slow

I think I'm ready to get out of the dual purpose thing and go for dedicated track car. Certain sense of confidence running a fully caged car. E30 class seems to have a lot more participants than M3 groups. I'm sure due to cost.

Not sure what direction I'm going to take with this next.


The guy I rented from, www.drive-gear.com, has 4 of these NASA prepped E30's. Trying to get 3 more people to go in and run them again for a weekend to see if I'm still into it before writing any checks. He takes them up and down the east coast. And it's cheap. $1600 for the weekend. Includes everything including fuel. So anyone interested....

deputydog95

Agreed. I think he said pads and rotors were under $400 for all four corners. Tires were around 800, and they seemed to last forever.

utkinpol

go with spec e30 car only if you intend to race it in that class. otherwise look for GTS3 built up cars, and again, to have a detuned E46 motor in a GTS3 class car is a big plus.
spec e30 has not enough torque for my taste, if you like how momentum car goes I would look at spec Miata class instead, but, it is a matter of a personal choice.

you should be able to find such cars at the end of this season, as of right now they will be probably more expensive than they are worth. do you have good bimmer racing shops nearby? go there and sniff around, people always know who wants to sell his racer and what/whose cars are worth spending money on.

if you already have a trailer/tow vehicle and ready to mess with all that infrastructure then why not? it is indeed cheapest safest way to have track fun.
as of speed, you are not nearly there in a GT3 car compared to how good GTS3 car can go. they are indeed a lot of fun, you will get in touch with NASA folks and start doing their events and will forget all that PCA DE crap as a bad dream.
on a problem side - it means additional storage, big trailer, big tower, etc. not really urban fit thing to own. I was trying to find a buddy here where I live to team up but most folks of my age here also got families and are way too busy to dedicate time to all that stuff.

deputydog95

E46 motor in an E30 sounds like it could be interesting...

Unfortunately I don't know of any bimmer race shops as I haven't ventured out of the pcar community. Time to start doing some homework.

utkinpol

E36 car, not E30.
something like that but with E46 3.2L motor installed so it will be 360hp car, they then get detuned to drop hp/mass ratio to fit GTS3 class but longevity is better and torque curve is better.
http://www.turnermotorsport.com/t-project-e36-m3.aspx

search on bimmer forums for details. those are very good cars. not in the 996 cup car class but very good cars.

TRAKCAR

I meant per weekend including travel and beer :-)

utkinpol

read this also, it is a good beginning for those E cars:
http://www.motorannex.com/news/2013/...as-the-best/30

then look up listings and info here:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...s-amp-Z-Series

o lost all my links for last season cars but if you look around you will find plenty.
320hp S50 b32 E36 motor is also not a bad option but E46 3.2l motor will last longer.

deputydog95

Beer is always figured in the budget. I consider it a consumable

Thanks for the leads. Great place to get started on homework. Now I need to figure out how to get back to the Glen sometime soon.

wanna911

I know. It was just too short of a notice for me once the weather cleared up. Couldn't convince myself to pay the 3000-5000 I was being offered for transport because I felt like I'd rather drive than pay that, then I couldn't convince myself to drive 14 hrs by myself.

Hopefully NARRA puts it on their schedule before the season starts next year instead of changing the event from another location with like 2 months to go till the event.

Not going that far for DE.

deputydog95

Let's all rent E30's and go back there. Arrive and driver, baller style. Fly in, drive, fly home. No hassle.

masmole

Sounds like a great plan, Andrew. That was my 3rd trip to the Glen with the GT3 and trailer all the way from Chicago and I think my future trips to that track will be arrive-and-drive like you did, assuming it's available. Those E30's looks great and despite WGI being a high speed track, it doesn't seem to short-change lower hp momentum cars like the E30 from any fun.

It was nice meeting you by the way. I think I met 3 other rennlisters there, including Peer, the other guy with the same aqua blue GT3 as me. I brought a fresh set of hoosier R6 with me but only ran them for 1 session just to get an initial heat-cycle in preparation for a local event in a few weeks. I was saving the ho-hos so I can beat some buddies and win the next local DE event lol.

Instead I ran street tires for the rest of the weekend. It was my first time with hankook RS3 and I was very impressed with them. I was getting 2:12 clean laps with them, which iirc are 1-2 seconds better than what I could muster with the worn factory PSC+ I ran there last year, and only 3 seconds off my 2:09 best with R6. For a street tire, they didn't get greasy when things got hot and remained consistently grippy throughout the entire 30 minute session. When the weekend was done, the tires held up great, wore evenly, and hardly showed any abuse despite my tendency to overdrive them after just swapping out from fresh R6.

I love Watkins Glen. Dare I say even more so than my beloved Road America.