Wow what a morning it has been!
Rolled out of bed and out to the Delaware Speedway (Ontario Canada) for some racing! Stopped at the 7-11 to grab some water and check the air tire pressures. Bumped them up to 40 front and 42 rear (Stock 17" Turanzas). Cleaned up the windows as much as I could as well. Had 3/4 tank of gas so I didn't bother filling up.
We were scheduled for a 9AM registration but the raceway wasn't even unlocked until almost 10AM, the insurance forms weren't there until 11AM and so we didn't get underway until 1PM or so....
My 325Ci was the only bimmer there. The other cars included a number of Civic Si's, a Couple of Mustangs, A Prelude, A Miata, A Neon, and a Fiero that someone dropped a V8 into!! The Track was hothothot and most people seemed to have brought thier racing rubber with them.
Course is a large banked oval with a pit road and a middle 1/2 paved section. We would start in the middle of the straightaway, take the 1st banked corner, then hit a low gate, a high gate and slalom 2 pylons. From there it was a tight 180 into the center of the racepad and back out onto the main track at the middle of the banked turn. Then back through the same 2 gates and a decreasing radium slalom to the end of the far straightaway. Then clear around the corner, a slalom at the end and the stop box.
I sat as a passenger in one of the honda Si's with racing rubber to get a feel for the course 1st then got behind the wheel myself.
From a driving standpoint I started cautiously with DSC on and had a clean 1st run at about 71 seconds. Even with the DSC on the car feels like the rear end wants to kick out a little bit. The whole race was done in 2nd gear although I was almost hitting the rev limited around the far banked corner... I was tempted to try 3rd gear but decided it would not make a big difference in time.
My second run was DSC off and I hung the tail out there a few times. The oversteer is very predictable and easing off the gas very quickly settles the rear end back down. I ran about 66 seconds that time. I DNF'd the next 2 runs as I went a little too agressively through the 180 the 1st time and too fast into the slalom the 2nd time. My last run was a 65 and it felt like there was definitely room to shave another few seconds off .
The fastest time of the day was from a Honda Civic Hatchback with EVERYTHING ripped out of it including rear seats, sunroof etc.etc. That ran in the mid 50's. I have new found respect also for the CRX which has about 80HP (according to the owner) and also ran in the mid 50's. The mustangs with considerably more HP than my car ran about 60 flat with racing rubber.
Overall I was VERY impressed by the way the car performed although I'm sure I'll take a lot of ribbing for coming in slower than these "economy japanese cars" but the 3 just doesn't corner the way these much shorter cars can. I wish I had a 318Ti with my 2.5L in it for this type of event. Its all about a short car with lots of power in 2nd gear
Anyways I'm sure I'll be out again. And I'm sure I'll do better next time!
Rolled out of bed and out to the Delaware Speedway (Ontario Canada) for some racing! Stopped at the 7-11 to grab some water and check the air tire pressures. Bumped them up to 40 front and 42 rear (Stock 17" Turanzas). Cleaned up the windows as much as I could as well. Had 3/4 tank of gas so I didn't bother filling up.
We were scheduled for a 9AM registration but the raceway wasn't even unlocked until almost 10AM, the insurance forms weren't there until 11AM and so we didn't get underway until 1PM or so....
My 325Ci was the only bimmer there. The other cars included a number of Civic Si's, a Couple of Mustangs, A Prelude, A Miata, A Neon, and a Fiero that someone dropped a V8 into!! The Track was hothothot and most people seemed to have brought thier racing rubber with them.
Course is a large banked oval with a pit road and a middle 1/2 paved section. We would start in the middle of the straightaway, take the 1st banked corner, then hit a low gate, a high gate and slalom 2 pylons. From there it was a tight 180 into the center of the racepad and back out onto the main track at the middle of the banked turn. Then back through the same 2 gates and a decreasing radium slalom to the end of the far straightaway. Then clear around the corner, a slalom at the end and the stop box.
I sat as a passenger in one of the honda Si's with racing rubber to get a feel for the course 1st then got behind the wheel myself.
From a driving standpoint I started cautiously with DSC on and had a clean 1st run at about 71 seconds. Even with the DSC on the car feels like the rear end wants to kick out a little bit. The whole race was done in 2nd gear although I was almost hitting the rev limited around the far banked corner... I was tempted to try 3rd gear but decided it would not make a big difference in time.
My second run was DSC off and I hung the tail out there a few times. The oversteer is very predictable and easing off the gas very quickly settles the rear end back down. I ran about 66 seconds that time. I DNF'd the next 2 runs as I went a little too agressively through the 180 the 1st time and too fast into the slalom the 2nd time. My last run was a 65 and it felt like there was definitely room to shave another few seconds off .
The fastest time of the day was from a Honda Civic Hatchback with EVERYTHING ripped out of it including rear seats, sunroof etc.etc. That ran in the mid 50's. I have new found respect also for the CRX which has about 80HP (according to the owner) and also ran in the mid 50's. The mustangs with considerably more HP than my car ran about 60 flat with racing rubber.
Overall I was VERY impressed by the way the car performed although I'm sure I'll take a lot of ribbing for coming in slower than these "economy japanese cars" but the 3 just doesn't corner the way these much shorter cars can. I wish I had a 318Ti with my 2.5L in it for this type of event. Its all about a short car with lots of power in 2nd gear
Anyways I'm sure I'll be out again. And I'm sure I'll do better next time!
