BMW e30 on the Pocono Banking

Couple of weeks back, our Spec E-30 heroes, The Freep, Pete and Sean were at Pocono raceway with NASA. The configuration for the day was long course reversed, that would be the North course infield and then out to turns 2 and then 1 of the NASCAR try oval.

Aside from the, to me still incredible, GPS speed of 150 137+ mph in a car with 23 hp and brick shaped like the e-30 (I kid, I kid...I know the e-30 has a better Cx than the M Coupe...or even the 1 M Coupe). Yeah, aside from that you got insane speed differential with some of the faster classes on track, check out the Porsche fly by at. 4:45 secs, woah!

In the top video , you are riding with the Freep in a Drive-Gear.com rental. Freep drives the boobs off the tires, eventually overheating them with predictable results. Please join me in amusement at all the 500HP Corvettes getting owned by the e-30 in the corners...

In the bottom video we are riding with Sean (green and white e-30) , check out the bump drafting with Pete in the gray and orange Axis-SOH machine... Pete's a big NASCAR fan, he doesn't like lifting.


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Axis Glossary: "Cole Trickle" (v.)

Cole Trickle: (v.) To avoid a crash by the narrowest of margins. Example: "In today's video, Axis Pete takes his chances and successully Cole Trickles his way through the nastiest club racing crash we've seen in a long time."


Bonus Entry:
Pete Trickle: (n.) Mysterious, pot-bellied, little-known cousin of Cole who drives for Axis of Oversteer. Thought to be intimately familiar with Dick Trickle.

So you get the idea.



After the jump: A few more perspectives from Pocono. -Freep

Dipstick.

Lo-Buck tells us:

"The talk of the GTS3 crowd at Pocono this past weekend: part because this epic baller has a brand new M3 built by Turner for GTS, part because no one could find the dip stick ;)"

Home

Hard. Fought. Win.

So this one was interesting.

Pocono North is the complete opposite of the Nurburgring. Sure, cars and pavement are involved, but that's it for similarities. A lap at Pocono North is around one mile and involves one corner of the famed NASCAR tri-oval, giving you that rare flying-Superman feeling just before Turn 1. There are only about 6 turns depending on your counting abilities, and you accumulate laps here faster than any other course we visit.

The advantage is that racers get comfortable with the track quickly and can focus on racing. Sean Curren and I took advantage of that comfort zone last weekend with NASA Northeast in the SpecE30 series.... MORE AFTER THE JUMP

On Saturday, thanks to nonstop preparation help (preparation H?) from Ray, Pete, and Justin, my little "murdered-out" Axis of Oversteer 325i was in its best shape in years. I captured my first pole position and got within a couple tenths of the track record held by the Evil Johnny Allen.

Saturday's race was a hoot. I led the first ten minutes or so and Sean followed closely, no doubt enjoying the spectacle as I heated my tires to the boiling point. As we encountered some lap traffic Sean put a slam dunk on me, taking full advantage of the tiny hole I left him on the inside Turn 2. He then proceeded to teach me every trick in his book about defensive driving as I made his life hell for the balance of the 25-minute sprint race. So it was 2nd for me and well-deserved congrats to Sean.

Sunday morning: I stood down for Practice to work on setup. Bad luck: I broke a swaybar link the previous day and would have to run without it today. As a result of that and a tire rotation, Qualifying was slower but I still had front-row seating for the race.

Sunday's race video is below (courtesy of Sean Curren to the Axis) and you can see what happened. Needless to say, it was a hoot to win in SpecE30 for the first time... much more of a thrill when it comes from a real battle.

(sorry about the music...)

Axis Brilliant plan A update

Stee ran the 3.4 FrankenBoxster in the NASA race at Pocono North this past Sunday. He had fun though he bitterly complained about bumps that brutally attacked him and caused the agricultural excursion at the end of the video!*

This clip was made with the new TraqStudio software now available from Traqmate.
*Ok, Ok he just went into the corner too fast and did not get on the power quickly enough...

Dude, where's my turn?

We had a slight visibility issue at Pocono East this past Saturday.

CG, Stee and I were there to get in a last little bit of practice before our upcoming trip. You'd think we were in the Westphalian forests...but no, Pennsylvania in May! I was actually hoping for rain but instead we just spent most of the day inside a cloud.

Still, it eventually cleared up enough that you could see the turns and we got some runs in. I had a blast running the MCoupe on street tires in the first session. Pocono East is low speed and twisty, a great place for some douchy sideways action. The MCoupe with my stiff suspension and skinny tires is pretty silly stuff: no front end grip and come to think of it not much rear grip either... weeee.

Later I did put proper rubber on, the video below is my best lap. The Boxster in front is Stee's "Axis Plan A", with the 3.4 carrera engine. Once all issues are sorted, that car is going to be f.great! CG is driving it in the video and as you can tell towards the end, the car is a proper Axis of Oversteer car!

You can download my Traqmate telemetry file HERE

Axis Brilliant Plan A...in action from Axis on Vimeo.

I'm a retard and my neck hurts.

No, I did not crash... but it's amazing how thick those winter cobwebs are and how quickly your track day routines can be forgotten.

I was with Freep at Pocono Raceway on Friday, instructing with the NY BMW CCA. First day on the track for me this year and that, combined with instructor, duty made for one "casual" trackday! I think I checked my tire pressure once the whole day, forget temperature or suspension settings.

I went all ready to record video, get data...the work, but over the winter I forgot completely how much space a ChaseCam recording takes on the CF card and as I result I went out twice (in the more interesting sessions naturally) with no space and recorded a big fat zero. Ironically the only video I did manage to get was on the little unit I use now as a aiming screen. Turns out that while the recording quality on the PV 500 is pretty lousy, it will record forever on a 2 gig card.

Pocono North is not the most exiting track but it does have the kind of long, tight corners which the only M Coupe with Kumho V710 is perfectly happy to take in the 1.1 to 1.4 g range. Thus the sore neck!

Shop for KUMHO tires at Tire Rack.

If you click on the picture below, a new window should pop up with the running data for my best lap of the day, a 1:00.185. This is really not bad considering the casual day and the year old tires, last year with sticker V710 I had a :59.xxx and I was certainly trying harder.

If you want to look at the full session you can download the Traqmate data file HERE (free Traqview software on Traqmate site).

The video is not especially exciting, Pocono being so huge and featureless but if you are going to be driving there at some point it's always useful to get a look at the track.

I chose a couple of laps where you at least see some other cars. Two of the faster cars in the instructor group were Ernie Lombardo's J Prepared BMW e30M3 and a black 944 Turbo (I did not get the chance to meet the driver). We got the chance to chase each other around a few times.

East the hard way

I always have a bit of a hard time convincing people that the Pocono East course is fun. Truth is, Pocono Raceway is not the best facility and the East course is the rattiest looking course there. Tight, lots of gravel off line, East's layout is however very entertaining and has the distinction of being a real handling course, the kind of tight track an Elise or an Exige would love.
We have quite a few videos from there you can look up, but today I have a video sent in from a reader and fellow F1 fan (a Kubica fan to be more specific!) that shows a slightly different prospective.
All I kept thinking looking at Krzystof's video was....man it's gotta hurt when those Pocono East rocks come flying up. I feel for bikers in our area, they really have few options, hopefully for them, the new New Jersey Motorsport Park tracks in south Jersey will be bike friendly. Always better on the track than on the street!

Oh, and check out at the end of the video just how nasty snap oversteer is when you only have two wheels!.

Axis of Oversteer launches new service.

Axis of Oversteer will torture test your car to verify part durability and failure rates. CG and Adil got started this past week end during PDA's "Grand Slam Weekend" at Pocono Raceway. PDA ran all configurations of the track during the two days and with two drivers, the Exige-S was tested to the limit running the equivalent of 3 one hour enduros. Final tally: a popped off radiator hose and a cracked rotor car had to flatbedded home but it DID complete the day.

After a quick repair at Hunting Ridge Motors, the car was loaded onto a transporter and shipped to VIR where CG, on his first time at that track managed a very impressive 2:13 lap time.

He also got lap data from Matt Becker, chief engineer test driver for suspension development at Lotus. We will have a separate post on that later, suffice it to say that it was QUITE impressive.

After two days at VIR the car is driven to DC where it will again wait for CG to complete his TRI-TRACKTHLON at Lime Rock this next Saturday and Sunday with PCA.

OK Lotus, no charge for this one, but from now on...

Axis week end plans...

Stee, Adil and CG will be at Pocono Raceway doing PDA'a super week end running on all the different infield configurations. If you are going stop by and say hi, arrange to get on their video cameras...give then hell...whatever!

The Stig would get sent home....

Posted for CG

Session 1 - 3rd lap, Pocono Double Infield course:




Black flag called on the Back Straight. Message from Track Marshall: "You almost lost it in several places"

...CG gives the logical rebutt...

"I don't care if you are in control or not, listen, we don't do sideways here..."

".... Yes Sir.... "and CG proceeded to pussyfoot for most of the rest of the day.


Seriously, I don't blame them. How can they know I'm not another "IflySolo"?

The reality is the 275/315 Nitto setup sucks in my non adjustable 997S, and the only way to drive it fast is with turn-in oversteer that occasionally ends up in full corner length power slides ( just slowing down would be so ungraceful!...).

I did improve my best double infield time by 2/10ths (1:44.1) but I know I would have been much faster on the RA1s... I just hope the new R888 are as good and not similar to the Nittos.


AC adds:

I don't see the big deal, especially if there is nobody around. That turn is a very safe place to spin if one had to choose... Here is more from that turn...

Axis going for a track day world record!

the perfect storm of scheduling has hit the Axis for the next 10 days: 5 cars and an aggregate of 15 track days and at least one autocross.
CG was at Pocono with Adil for a double infield open track day with PDA. Then it's on to Lime Rock on Tuesday with SCDA for a Lotus Clam bake and then straight from there to Watkins Glen for 2 days of open track with Group 52 on Wednesday and Thursday.
Stee will be joining CG for Group 52 then on to Summit Point to instruct at Hyperfest on the 23rd and 24th. badbadM will be doing the spec e30 NASA race there.
I was supposed to instruct at Watkins Glen next Monday and Tuesday but had to cancel because the MCoupe is still at the fabricator getting the roll bar, but I lucked out when HRM Motors' boss Mark Starr had to cancel his spot with Group 52...so I will be at the Glen with CG and Stee next wednesday/thursday then down to Summit to instruct at Hyperfest with Stee...

hopefully our cars will not explode.

Cool thing is that this week saw the debut of Adil's and CG's new toy...the Axis-Gulf S-exige! it is going to be an awesome track car...more on it as the marathon progresses.

Ever wonder how your tire feels?

I was curious so when we were at the last Pocono East track day with PDA, I attached a camera to the bottom of the MCoupe. The camera is pretty cheap but you do get an idea of what your tire goes through on a typical day out.

In this case you can see my Kumho V710's contact patch change as the tire loads and unloads. When it's unloaded only a quarter or less of the tire touches the ground. At the end of the straights you can see the tire compress and flatten under braking.

If you ever wonder why the outside shoulders get worn out so quickly, just have a look at what the tire is put through in the tight right hand hairpin... Consider that my car has negative 3.8 degrees of camber, imagine a car with stock alignment.
Now you know why it's a good idea to put extra air in a street tire on a stock car!

Sound is not so good, you might want to turn the speakers down.



download

I used this elCheapo $40 security camera

Junk in the trunk: CG puts some Oversteer back in the Axis

CG demonstrates the entertainment value of having the engine in the wrong place and one rear right Nitto NT-01 with a slow leak...



download

First round of the American HPDE championship

The usual group of track-tards ran the hotly contested first round of the NA-HPDE Championship at Pocono East on Cinco de Mayo 2007.
An international group was vying for the top prize: India, Venezuela Italy Colombia and the USA all after that most elusive of prizes, a good time....ok and bragging rights.

We'll post Traqmate data files and individual videos later, but suffice it to say that the GT3 Rad eS was unbeatable.
OK, we got to kick Rad's ass when analyzing the data we found he left at least 1 second on the table by being too lazy to downshift, but there was no denying the 3000lbs 400hp car with giant tires. Rad had a 1:11.3, AC a 1:12.0 and CG 1:12.2.
Stee in the Spexster for the first time ever almost got to 1:14 and Adil... he is still in transcendental meditation mode and has not yet shared his data!

The Data analysis is going to be interesting, each one of us was faster in a different section, even Stee with a slower lap time had the fastest apex speed of all in one fast turn showing the handling potential of the Spoxster.













Below is a VERY LARGE Cinerama extravaganza: from left to right, in CG's 997s, from the rear bumper of AC's MCoupe and finally inside with AC, the sound is only from the MCoupe. CG and I had fun for a few laps until I left the braking too late and decided to do the smart thing rather than risk eating hay bales and armco for lunch.

As I said large but I think well worth the wait. On a Mac it will stream, on PC I'm not sure. Click on the window to see it online or the link below to save on you computer.


download

Pocono Raceway, May 5, 2007 by AC

Pocono Raceway, August 2006 by Robert Plafta



Want to have your photo considered for Axis Picture of the Day? send it!

Vomit Comet

I had heard about it, I never though it actually happened. Last friday our friend Mo from Off-Camber Motorsport takes a student out in his car and just makes it back to the pits in time to avoid a re-enactment of the split pea soup scene in the Exorcist inside his IP car.
Opinions are mixed as to the actual cause but thanks to badbadM's keen reporting eye the scene was immortalized for posterity! :o)



Vomit Comet update...

Bimmerforum reader fritzintn posted this other spewed upon or more precisely, within, vehicle. Apparently, in this case, the student can be seen using his shirt in a pathetic effort to clean up his shame!

Have any other tales of the automotive-intestinally challenged? Let us know we will add it to the Vomit Comet hall of fame and make sure there is no way the guilty ride in our cars! :o)

P.O.D.

Pocono Raceway 4-13-2007 by AC

Snow Day

A first for me seeing snowflakes just as I'm heading onto the Pocono track last friday...hmmm, very British, wish I was driving a Caterham...right. Temperatures in the mid 30's (F) I would however much rather have these few flakes than raindrops so off we go.



BadBadM was with me on Pocono North with NY BMWCCA and CG with our Caymanized friend Craig were on East with NY Metro PCA.
Pictures courtesy of Tom Branhoff, if you were there Tom has a picture of you.


If you believe internet lore you would think that running on R-compound tires in such low temperatures is essentially a prescription for suicide, in reality I found that my Kumho V710's had great grip after just one lap. While this makes me wonder how these tires might be in august, I was happy to run my fastest ever time at that track and do so very consistently.
My best for the day was a 59.45 but I had many 59.xxx and 1:00.xx laps.
You can download the Traqmate Data file for my 3rd session here and download the free Traqview software here.

It was also my first time instructing for NY BMW, had a father and son, It was actually very nice help both of them have a "a-HA" moment and discover the next level in their abilities. Nice.