Evosport E46 M3 Turbo BMWCCA Club Race Report at Willow Springs

[jdholder]

7/7/07

The Evosport Turbo M3 Racecar is supported by AEM, Turbonetics, Rotora and H&R.

The weekend started on a great note on Friday and just got better as it went on. On the first shakedown lap for the Evosport Turbo, I felt confident that we had the power to put on a great show for the fans and to cover the field. I was knocking on wood and crossing my fingers that the reliability would be there with the 115 degree heat. I forgot my Cool Suit Cooler back at home, so I was suffering, but the exhilaration of straight away speed kept me thinking how amazing this car is. Also, to realize that this is only its third club race weekend since its delivery and that we are still largely in a “development” phase with the motor is just amazing. The evosport crew has done a tremendous job building a Forced Induction car that can really beat the heat and stay reliable. Did I mention that the track surface temperatures were approaching 170 degrees?

Prior to this issue, we had been chasing a lingering issue with the valves losing lash over a race weekend, which contributed to some very frustrating tuning and performance issues. These issues combined to make us chase a misfire issue which had me doubting the AEM EMS. I should have never doubted it, since as soon as we solved the misfire problem due to the head, the AEM ran the motor beautifully. We backed the AEM up with new M&W CDI’s that allowed us to run remote coils to help combat the under hood temperatures that were boiling the covering off of the stock coils. The newly prepared evosport head worked outstanding and our new smaller stock intake manifold helped move the power band down into the rev range where I could use it.

Saturday morning (with the cool suit cooler delivered – thank God) we awoke to 90 degree temps at 7:30am. It was going to be a hot one! We prepped for the first practice session where, undoubtedly, the best times of the day would be posted before the track temp rose into the high 160’s. On my third or fourth lap, I looked down to see my AIM Dash flashing 1:24.006 – wow!! An amazing time – the fastest I had ever gone. When I got the official times it read, 1:25.133 (where did the second go??) – still a fast time, and easily the fastest time of the weekend – but that was just practice. Quali showed me taking P1 and I was very satisfied with the car. The evosport crew busted their butts all morning to make sure the car was perfect – what a great and professional group of guys!

Saturday race was amazing. Rounding turn nine, I applied the Rotora brakes while pushing down the throttle to build boost, all the time watching for the green flag. When it fell, my first thought was, “oh no, I jumped the start” as my competition receded into my mirrors. The car pulls strong!! At the end of lap one I had a 4 or 5 second lead, by lap to a 7 or 8 second one and by lap 3 and 11 second lead. It was all about heat and tire management from then on as the water temps hovered around 235 to 245 the whole race – too hot for my taste! I worked my way through traffic and brought home the maiden victory for the evosport Turbo!!

Sunday was much the same, with maybe a 2 or 3 degree reprieve from the heat. The evosport crew rigged up some radiator squirters out of 3 washer nozzles, a windshield reservoir and a pump, all triggered by my AEM EMS – when the temps got up to 220 degrees, on came the squirters to keep them in check. This worked GREAT as I was able to push harder on Sunday. Interesting observation was that the temps would climb from turn 5 to turn 9 as I realized I was going with the prevailing Willow Springs wind. As soon as I turned and came up the front straight, the temps began to drop. Great job guys!

I can’t say enough about the commitment and hard work these guys have shown. We started this process in late 2006, and really jumped on it in Feb of 2007. First race was Laguna, where we would have had 3rd place (from the back of the pack due to wet quali) if it hadn’t been for an over zealous SCCA Official who didn’t appreciate my car spitting flames out the tailpipe – BLACK FLAG. Then my first Willow race ended in disappointment as the head gasket blew on the first lap. I was unable to attend Buttonwillow, due to conflicts with camping with my daughter, so all this waiting makes this victory sweeter!!

I also can’t say enough about my other Sponsors –

AEM has been there with us through all this, GREAT technical support and a GREAT bunch of people!

Turbonetics supplied us with a KICK A$$ Turbo – I am now ADDICTED to boost.

Rotora builds GREAT brakes!! Ask anyone sitting in turn one, these things haul the car down from “ludicrous speed” like you threw out an anchor – and they just don’t fade!

H&R – what a great group!! I know people will say a spring is a spring, but these guys are awesome! They are always interested in the car, and asking how they can help!

Finally, BMWCCA Club Racing is supported by some awesome and enthusiastic companies. I am so thankful that they find it economically viable to support the series I choose to run in! From the Tire Rack to HMS and everyone in between – THANK YOU!

Here’s a little video – I have posted it before, but I want it in this race report. Click Here

Next race is Aug 11 and 12 at Willow Springs with NASA – going to go pick on some Vipers and Corvettes.

Next BMWCCA Race is Sept 22 and 23 at Phoenix International Raceway, where we will get to test out the Turbo on a small, technical track. It will be a challenge!

Hope to see you all out at the track, and if you do come out, please stop by and say HI!!


Summary:
Fastest Sat Practice Lap: 1:25.133 for an average speed of 126.860 mph
Fastest Sat Quali Lap : 1:26.922 for an average speed of 124.249 mph
Fastest Sat Race Lap : 1:28.047 for an average speed of 122.662 mph

Fastest Sun Practice Lap: 1:28.649 for an average speed of 121.829 mph
Fastest Sun Quali Lap : 1:28.380 for an average speed of 122.200 mph
Fastest Sun Race Lap : 1:26.393 for an average speed of 125.010 mph

[S.Lang]

Jon, congrats again.

I was having the same timing issue with my AiM dash, with it showing about a second lower than the official times. Maybe we need to look at how the obscuring is set. I didn't notice how many AiM beacons were out there that weekend, did you?

[Steve J.]

If you were having the exact same time problem, I bet there was another beacon out there. Your obscuring time should be set pretty high.

I usually used to walk around and see who was running AIM to see who else had beacons out there, and everyone would use one persons beacon. Was a lot less confusing and avoided these types of problems. If it recorded a 1.x sec lap though you can combine them in the software and fix the problem in the data to get useful data.

[Draven]

very nice...

[jayhudson]

Nice to see all the hard work is paying off. All the setbacks just make it more sweet.

See you in Oct.

Jay

[=BA=]

Talk about monsterous power Must be an amazing machine.

How is the car in other departments, handling? Sure it must have a nicer turn in with the small 2.1L in front. Though in the last 5 min though were you overtake slower cars you don't seem to gain a whole lot of ground in corners, you just blow by them on the straights with a few hunderd HP more.

[JonathanL]

Originally Posted by =BA=

Though in the last 5 min though were you overtake slower cars you don't seem to gain a whole lot of ground in corners, you just blow by them on the straights with a few hunderd HP more.

It looked to me like he was just playing nice with other cars that were in the middle of class battles, which I'm sure they appreciated. Plus, I'm sure it was "fun" for them to see a car go by at twice their speed.

Man, those straights seem short in that car!

[=BA=]

Yeah that's why I asked These things are not always easy to pick up from a vid

[jdholder]

Originally Posted by =BA=

Talk about monsterous power Must be an amazing machine.

How is the car in other departments, handling? Sure it must have a nicer turn in with the small 2.1L in front. Though in the last 5 min though were you overtake slower cars you don't seem to gain a whole lot of ground in corners, you just blow by them on the straights with a few hunderd HP more.

The car has amazing turn in! The 2.1 liter motor is not the reason though, since it is made out of an M50, it weighs just as much as a 2.8 liter motor. The reason, is that the E46 chassis is GREAT! And the E46 Motorsports Chassis is even better. We are still working on mid corner and corner exit grip. The power just overcomes the rear tires and we lose out on putting the power to the ground.

At the end of the video, I was being nice. Trying only to pass other cars where I could get a run on the straights. Just didn't want to get into too many other people's races.

[Kos-motate139]

"And another thing -- when I step on the gas, I want people to think the world is coming to an end!"

I think you guys have achieved Homer Simpson's perfect car...it definitely makes some very R rated sounds.

[doeboy]

Originally Posted by Kos-motate139

"And another thing -- when I step on the gas, I want people to think the world is coming to an end!"

I think you guys have achieved Homer Simpson's perfect car...it definitely makes some very R rated sounds.

It looks nothing like this...

[Steve J.]

Is it me, or is there an uncanny resemblance between holders e46 beater and Homers creation from his long lost brothers car company?

[doeboy]

Originally Posted by Steve J.

Is it me, or is there an uncanny resemblance between holders e46 beater and Homers creation from his long lost brothers car company?

Jon should paint the car green to match.

[Lee*]

Originally Posted by JonathanL

It looked to me like he was just playing nice with other cars that were in the middle of class battles, which I'm sure they appreciated.

What Jonathan said.

At 11:51 of the video, wait, what was that? OMG I PASSED HOLDER!!!!! It didn’t last very long. But still. 8^)

Wow, Mr. Holder, that’s awfully fast.

[jayhudson]

You're a stud Lee!!!!!

Jay

Originally Posted by Lee*

What Jonathan said.

At 11:51 of the video, wait, what was that? OMG I PASSED HOLDER!!!!! It didn’t last very long. But still. 8^)

Wow, Mr. Holder, that’s awfully fast.

[Stealthauto]

Wow, I can almost feel the onslaught on power when you get on it on the straights.

That vid almost looks sped-up if you compare it with my in-car footage!! Then again I have 115hp and lapping at 1:43!! Good thing all my competitors and all lapping around the same time as well!

Looks like you might want to beef up those windshield strips. Looks like the windshield is flexing ALOT on the front and back straightaways. If you look in the vid the black strip on the windshield is at the top part of the rear view mirror then on the straights its on the bottom part.

Could just be a camera angle illusion but it sure looks like its flexing a lot....

But WOW, congratulations and a great debut! THe fastest I ever went at big willow was 1.29 on a Honda RS125. SO I have a good idead how fast a 1:25 really is. that is movin' !! I think after more development you can break-into the 1:23's

what kind of laptimes do you think is possible after more engine/chassis development?

Are these the biggest tires you can run?

[jdholder]

I think 1:21's or maybe 20's would be possible with more overall downforce. I lose time in 8 and 2 - can't hold the power. I think with more df, I could go faster through those two.

The tires are the largest I can fit under the fenders. I could go to widebody, but that means more drag, so it's a tradeoff.

[S.Lang]

Originally Posted by jdholder

The tires are the largest I can fit under the fenders. I could go to widebody, but that means more drag, so it's a tradeoff.

I'm sure you realize that you will be easily making enough power to more than overcome the additional drag created by a widebody, right? (Oh boy, Brad and Mark are going to kill me for that one).

[B.Watts]

Originally Posted by S.Lang

I'm sure you realize that you will be easily making enough power to more than overcome the additional drag created by a widebody, right? (Oh boy, Brad and Mark are going to kill me for that one).

Methinks that if the relatively low powered ETCC E90 320i sprint cars can justify a widebody to make them go faster, certainly Mr. Holder with 600+ rwhp can.

[Steve J.]

I don't think 315/335 would help him all that much. Suspension and fine tuning aero balance will make a bigger difference.

Without TC thats a lot of power to handle...I think if thepower can't be put down, its only slowing him down. Manageable power will always be faster than just balls to the wall straight away speed

[=BA=]

They could help keeping laptimes more consistant though, depending on the duration of the race.

Don't know what tires you guys run in clubracing, but out here in racing there is usually a 1-2 sec gap between lap 3 (where the slicks reach thier optimum temperature for the first time) and the last lap in 20-30 min races when they start on new slicks. Grip falls off slower on fatter tires. The GTR's running smaller rear tires are slightly faster initially due to less drag but that equalizes slowly throuhout the race.

On the ETCC car note, they have wideboy, but no huge rear wing. So Holder's car with that huge wing might be already producing more drag than a ETCC car equipped with widebody.

[Steve J.]

The widebody is not necessarily just extra drag, as its used to cover up exposed tires, which would cause a lot more drag if they were left uncovered. With this kind of power, drag is not your enemy, your enemy is lack of traction I'd actually be comfortable with running a very high drag setup with that engine, however that would come on a high downforce setup, which fits the application.

The underbody and rear wing aero I'm designing (well design, wing is out for construction now) is a medium/high drag setup and high downforce setup. Its a dual element rear wing, not your standard mounting method though, so drag should be reduced compared to the standard setup.

I'm not planning to run nearly as much power output as Jon is, but 350-380whp/wtrq is more than enough, and 280's on all 4 corners, with the Evosport/Vorsteiner front bumper, good suspension setup, and it'll be golden

[Dale@Evosport]

Originally Posted by =BA=

They could help keeping laptimes more consistant though, depending on the duration of the race.

Don't know what tires you guys run in clubracing, but out here in racing there is usually a 1-2 sec gap between lap 3 (where the slicks reach thier optimum temperature for the first time) and the last lap in 20-30 min races when they start on new slicks. Grip falls off slower on fatter tires. The GTR's running smaller rear tires are slightly faster initially due to less drag but that equalizes slowly throuhout the race.

On the ETCC car note, they have wideboy, but no huge rear wing. So Holder's car with that huge wing might be already producing more drag than a ETCC car equipped with widebody.

We use Yokohama slicks. You are over generalizing on the slicks losing grip. It depends on the compound and how the car is set up. Obviously the cars weight and track temp has to be taken into account also. On some of the ALMS level cars I test we have double stinted the tires and the fall off is not a 1-2 sec gap. A normal stint is one fuel load which is about an hour and a half or so in the Porsches. I can tell you in good conditions with the cars we have here the tires last the whole 30 min race without falling off.

Dale

[M3 Pete]

Originally Posted by Lee*

What Jonathan said.

At 11:51 of the video, wait, what was that? OMG I PASSED HOLDER!!!!! It didn’t last very long. But still. 8^)

Wow, Mr. Holder, that’s awfully fast.

Any relation to you passing Holder and your car being back in the shop yesterday?

[edit] watched the video, did they shorten the front straight at WSIR? Because Holder seems to go from Turn 9 to Turn 1 in about 2 seconds.

[Steve J.]

Originally Posted by Dale@Evosport

We use Yokohama slicks. You are over generalizing on the slicks losing grip. It depends on the compound and how the car is set up. Obviously the cars weight and track temp has to be taken into account also. On some of the ALMS level cars I test we have double stinted the tires and the fall off is not a 1-2 sec gap. A normal stint is one fuel load which is about an hour and a half or so in the Porsches. I can tell you in good conditions with the cars we have here the tires last the whole 30 min race without falling off.

Dale

To further prove Dales comments, there have been several instances recently where within the last couple laps of a race a "fast lap" has been run by someone fighting for podium position Definitely depends on the driver, and tire management as well, can make all the difference.