Wow. what a kick-ass school! We ran the racing direction instead of the usual club direction. It's considerably more challenging this way, Talladega feels really skittish at the turn in, and both turns 2 and 10 are decreasing radius, so it's a bit more effort but way worth it.
This was a bit more sedate party on Sat nite compared to the previous one. (FYI, check the new Bimmer magazine, it's just hitting the stands now. I guess the editor Jay Jones mentioned something about that nite. In case it's pertinent, I was driving the black '99 996 Porsche that night. everyone else was either in the 'Ring Taxi M5 or the Touring).
Friday was quite the eye-opener as Phantom mentioned, so I won't go into detail about the crash. The driver lived. the car is history.
Other than the crash, I won $500 bucks playing the slots in the casino, so that was cool. Turned around and lost it 5 minutes later. Last time tho, I won $2500 at keno, got a comp room overlooking the golf course so I used it this time. Sweet. Life is good at the top.
Lessee here, the Brothers Jim were there in their boosted M-cars. Mr Patrick Sarne was flying low and fast as was the Phantom. Me? A slow start but a satisfying finish, the last session went great, exiting turn 2 I got a massive power oversteer, kept my foot in it and corrected, stepped out again, etc etc. No biggie, but I carried so much speed through Magic Mtn and Talladega that by the end of the straight I was hitting 115 and at those speed you cover ground in a big hurry. So. Hard on the brakes, ABS kicks in, jam into 3rd *a bit late* turn in, drift waaaaaay over, carrying ALOT of speed into turn 7 over the hump, ditto for 8 (massive oversteer as I'm HARD on the gas) and power out into 9. Sweet. Life rocks at speed. If you don't know for yourself, ... *sigh* there isn't any help for you. Pick up bowling. Or golf. Whatever.
So Phantom, how come you aren't talking about outrunning The Man? What was it you said about burying the needle down the grade? Just what was that GPS telling you?
Don't know if the Brothers Jim are lurking tonight, but a boosted M-car will outrun just about anything other than a Bell Jet Ranger or a 600 hp Porsche, right? We can thank The Man upstairs for our V1's. Maybe the Brothers Jim want to chime in and describe the run to (Spearmint) Rhino? Run to the Rhino is a bit of a tradition, but strictly invitation only. If we want you to come, we'll let you know.
The new e46M3? Sweeet. Pictures don't do it justice. This one had 400 miles on it, driver picked it up that day from Seaside BMW in Monterrey. Laguna Seca Blue. One bad mother. On the track late Sunday he was keeping it under 5500, but that's still rather quick. Lessee here, ~3500 rpm = 80 mph, so 5500 would = ? well, it don't matter because the gearing is different for a 6 speed M3.
Okay, it's late, and I'm burnt out. To sum it up, B/w rocked. The car was great.

Phantom, wings level and check your six. Pat, the Brothers Jim and the gang; B/w rocked. See ya at the next event.

Drive hard. Keep the V1 alive.
Mike
'95 M3
da kar is yellow

Here's a pic of me chasing Brother Jim in his 400hp Mech Tech turbo'ed M3.

Hmmm, don't know what went wrong there, maybe it's a bit big at 999 kbits. It 'ought' to work per the specs, but maybe with the overhead it's a bit large? Anyway, if your'e interested, here's the url
Turn 8 at Buttonwillow (http://www.apexcone.com/LogosandPics/Buttonwillow0301/bl-75.jpg)

Hey, Mike, sorry it took me so long to respond. I just found this part of the forum today!!! Thought I'd re-post what I wrote about Buttonwillow here:

Update from BMW CCA Driving School: Friday, Instructor and Advanced student lapping day:

Having a blast on Buttonwillow Raceway. New Yoko AVS Sports are very communicative. New
5-spoke 17 x 8 Racing Dynamics really show off the brake hardware. Hell, you could change
pads just reaching thru the spokes!

E46 M3 showed up at the end of the day, new owner, won't track the car, though, because it's
still in the break-in period. Shoulda seen the crowd it drew.

Mostly E36 M3s on the track, quite a few E30s. Pair of Acura NSX's, one 911 Turbo, one Z28.

2nd lap of first session one of the students lifted in an oversteer situation, didn't look where
he wanted to go, only where he was going, snapped backwards, then sideways off the track.
Tire sidewalls dug into the soft soil and the car rolled. He's ok, a bit shaken, though. Wrecked
a 1998 M3!! Doh!!

More news at 11

about Outrunning The Man: Had to give that up a few years back. Got into serious trouble (jail time) when I wrecked my RX-7 running from what turned out to be a cop way back in 1989. Nowadays I get my speed fix on the track, in karts, on my Ninja, and in the air (giving up flying F-16s, though).

Dude, your description of BW was spot on!!! I finally got my tire pressures dialed in just right for the last 2 track sessions. Used 39psi front / 40 psi rear cold, which gave about 6 psi rise on the track. Exquisite balance, especially in Turn 2. Just like you said, had free reign between throttle oversteer, 4-wheel drift, lift and tuck for the apex!! I got into 2 just a bit hot, got a sweet 4-wheel slide going, gave it some throttle to step the rear out, aiming the nose for the apex and track out, and smoothly fed in throttle for the exit. Woohoo!!!

The setup for Turn 3 (Magic Mountain) was just soooo sweet. Brake for the right turn, aim uphill, tap brakes to set the suspension. Left turn in before the pavement falls away, aim for the imaginary, blind late apex over the hill, then feed in full throttle. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride as the suspension gets light over the top, floating all 4 wheels in an airborn drift. Sweet, muted tire song as they lightly kiss the pavement and the whole chassis does a graceful sideslide before re-settling on the suspension. Power out toward the track-out point to set up for Talledega.

4th gear into Talledega, brief brake to 75 mph, turn in, then it's full-throttle from apex to track out and all the way down the back straight. Last two sessions of the day I was nailing it just right. I was hitting the rev limiter on the back stretch in 4th (~120mph indicated), but didn't shift to 5th so as not to risk a 5th-to-2nd downshift f**k-up before Turn 6. Approaching braking zone: wait . . . wait . . . Now! Blend in threshold braking, 120 mph to 60 mph-- thank god for seatbelt restraints!!! :o) Off brakes so as not to trigger ABS over the whoop-tee-doo, then tap brake to set the suspension. Left turn in, apex, gas to track out, drifting right toward the rumble strips.
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Dude, I took a ride in Jim's Dinan SC'd E36 M3 after Saturday's track sessions. What a machine!! I mean, my stock motor pulls well to 120, but it's a long crawl in 5th from there. The Dinan SC pulls like nobody's business to 120, shift to 5th, and the same pull is still there and beyond. Watching the tach wind out, it's like a Rolex sweep-second hand versus my cheap Timex! Torque curve is flat as West Texas, and extremely track-able. That's definitely my next upgrade.

Oh, Jim had the AC Schnitzer wing with the extender for most of the school, lowered it by removing the extender on Sunday. Said he noticed the motor hesitating accelerating hard on the back straight and couldn't figure it out. Then he looked down and saw the ACS traction-control light under throttle. Well, he reinstalled the wing extender next session, and guess what? No ACS activation. Rear tires were gripping much better with the wing. The wing actually makes that much difference in Downforce!!!
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Good to see ya, Mike. Next stop--Sin City, for the BMW CCA school at Las Vegas Speedway. Hope to see ya there!!