959fan

The whole car is a pleasant surprise to me. The only reason I got the car was back in Dec. I had a student at Laguna Seca with the 2008 V8 M3 and when he told me he got the car for well under $30k I was thinking, say what they are that cheap? Then I started looking at M3 and M5's from around 2008 and found out blue book on 2008 E60 M5 are only $19-22k trade in at dealers... I read a technical guide to E60 M5 and was quite blown away at the amount of technology used in the car. The engine is heavily F1 derived it is a beauty!! Sounds amazing too. not quite as nice as CGT V10 but not too far behind it....

Yep stock original pads. Good for about 1 hot lap before it starts to fade before hot lap #2 is finished lol lol. That's why my best lap was the 1st hot lap after a full warm up lap. The stock rotors is actually pretty sizable both front and rear on the E60 M5 but the pads are just too tame... The Cf is very weak for track use. Nor does it like elevated track temps. Pretty much normal for street pads.

I look into upgrading the pads and apparently Pagid has an excellent race pad for the fronts. It was developed specifically for endurance racing and supposely can last entire 24 hours on the fronts. But retail price is pretty hefty at about $450 retail for the fronts. Coming from Honda Civic background my real race pads were usually $120-275 retail max. It is hard to swallow to pay $450 for just fronts. Even with a good wholesale discount it is likely $300+...

Not sure what I'll do yet, next track day is next weekend at Willow Springs for SpeedVentures Bimmer Challenge so I will need to make a decision fast as stock brakes will be down right dangerous for Willow Springs. I'm going to hit up ECS Tuning to see if they'll consider some sponsorship (I'll be glad to just pay cost on pads lol)...

Martin S.

Pagid Pads are awesome. Pagid's US Distributor, Wrightwood Racing, has 3 re-sellers: Northstar, The Racers Group(TGG) and Paragon Products. OG Racing carries them, but sorry, no discount form any of them. I priced them out at Northstar, Paragon Products and OG Racing. You did to call TRG, no prices on their web site.

For my car their prices were identical across the Board. Wrightwood Racing enforces pricing on Pagid Pads. With only three "official" re-sellers, these guys don't want to lose their franchise. I suppose if you offered to by #N sets, they may discount them, bit I doubt it. If you find a place with a discount on Pagid Pads, PM me. I'll buy my next set there.

Don't quibble about the price...it's worth it. I have tried other pads...nothing as good as Pagid. Get them for the rear as well. Those brakes like to stop on a dime too. I use Yellow Front and Black Rear.

mehoff

For what it's worth, Willow is substantially easier on brakes than Buttonwillow

959fan

I don't think it's that much easier on brakes... after all WS is known as the fastest track in the west! (well, until ACS came along lol). I've got 40+ days there. M5 is 4200+ lbs with me in it. So I'd guesstimate T1 will need to be ~130 mph down to 75-80 mph? T3 will be 110 mph down to 65 mph. T6 will be ~105 mph down to 60 mph. T9 will be ~120+ mph down to 90 mph. Four hard stop in less than 1:38 every lap... That doesn't seem that easy on the brakes to me.

I actually had a student with CGT at WS way back in 2004 and he let me drive it! I hit 160 mph on the front straight. No joke. Cort Wagner who was more skilled and experienced than I was said he saw 180 mph on the same day. I believe him. CGT is amazing.

mehoff

Let me clarify; Willow is substantially easier on brakes for well driven, dedicated race cars (DE cars could be different?). Only 3 braking zones, none of which are rowing thru numerous gears threshold.

959fan

I agree with you! Porsche almost have always fantastic stock brakes. None of my past Porsche students ever had brake issues that I can recall. Especially track prepped Porsche's. My BMW is a pig. heavy pig.

959fan

came across this well driven 996 GT3 (gutted street car) video that ran 1:47.7 on Yokohama slicks... i'm surprised at the 135 mph top speed right before braking for the last corner into front straight.

audipwr1

Not bad, his exit throttle application and slower upshifts are another second of time

Carousel another half second

Well driven, always room to go faster in this sport

959fan

1.5 seconds? I think your estimate is a bit optimistic...

Martin S.

NASA is having a 2 day event June 24/25. You will need to apply for a NASA license. If you are running in their HPDE or TT run groups, these licenses do not require a physical, a Racing License does. If you are over 50, you'll also need a EKG.

Note, to will be hot, so I recommend the installation for some sort of Cool Shirt system. I am hooking mine up next week, got most of the components from Summit Racing.

I did my first NASA event April 22/23 of this year. My cheeks were tight with the thought of running with a new Club.....as it turned out, no need to worry, good solid drivers, disciplined and courteous. I ran in the TT4 Group, weight to HP on DOT tires. My 256 X 12.0 = 3,072 Lbs, the car needs to weigh at the conclusion of a session with driver and some gas. With me and gas in the car, I am actually at about 3,250 so I have some weigh trimming to do, the easiest being body fat..should drop about 50 (Easier said than done).

Super Touring 1/Time Trial 1 (ST1/TT1) limit 6.00
Super Touring 2/Time Trial 2 (ST2/TT2) limit 8.00
Super Touring 3/Time Trial 3 (ST3/TT3) limit 10.00
Super Touring 4/Time Trial 4 (ST4/TT4) limit 12.00