Oxford trackday for zoners on 27/02/09.

Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:09 pm

this was defo such a good day, got to be done again! do really need to invest in some wms brakes now i think.

was well impressed with that honda powered E30, very surprising, and seems a perfect match! and my apologies for holding up the red m3 powered e30 too!

Sat Feb 28, 2009 7:55 pm

turkey wrote:this was defo such a good day, got to be done again! do really need to invest in some wms brakes now i think.

was well impressed with that honda powered E30, very surprising, and seems a perfect match! and my apologies for holding up the red m3 powered e30 too!

No worries fella. Was you in the blue 4dr?

Sun Mar 01, 2009 12:38 am

He sure was, M30 powered too....

Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:11 pm

excellent day had by me and jp who was with me. I had 2 sessions with Irving (sp?!) Jenson and he was a massive help!
Messed up my tire pressures slightly and ended up killing my n/s/f tyre in 7 laps

The red E36 M3 was hilarious, sideways all over the place behind me, got black flagged and went on to do 5 more laps

Nice to meet a few more people and have a good chat. JP my passenger/driver is now searching for an elise and a type r engine after a very long chat with the red elise half way down the pit lane!

The M30 is now sounding a lot worse though and does smoke a bit so trying to decide what to do next in order to get something running properly for the ring... As much as a turbo M30 sounds like a good idea I am starting to wonder if it would be ok heat wise in the E30 engine bay.
Other problem is I was test driving e39 M5s yesterday with a mate and hugely tempted to buy an all rounder instead of a dedicated track toy

Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:18 pm

An all rounder would be an E36 M3 imo..

Compromise is never the answer though

Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:22 pm

winx wrote: As much as a turbo M30 sounds like a good idea I am starting to wonder if it would be ok heat wise in the E30 engine bay.
Other problem is I was test driving e39 M5s yesterday with a mate and hugely tempted to buy an all rounder instead of a dedicated track toy

Is there a build thread for tody_unna's car? That should have some good info about m30 turbo I'd guess.

Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:58 pm

Henry, an e39 is to big, it needs to be a 3 of some sort. As jhonno has said, and e36 is a good all rounder. Alot cheaper to buy, mod and repair them an e39 m5 as well.

Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:06 pm

All the above is true... however I fell in love with them after having one for a few months a couple of years ago and yesterday just confirmed that I love them!
Being sensible means putting a new engine in this one and enjoying it and rearranging the other cars to get something I enjoy driving everyday!
Everybody keep an eye out for an m30 engine!

Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:09 pm

Was that elise a burgandy colour as it was quite fast! I went passed it earlier on in session 1, then he came ripping back past later on in the session.

Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:11 pm

yup. A very seasoned track dayer who started off years ago in a 325!
From memory it was a civic type r engine with motec management and a lot done to the suspension. Had done 35 track days in 18 months

Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:16 pm

Thats a lot of ££££'s in track days! Fair play, I would if I had the money. There is a supercharged civic type R engined elise that is yellow that attends occasionally. The car is silly quick and it corners so well too. The perfect tintop track car without doubt.

Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:44 am

Know what ya mean about the M30 winx, after the day just keep thinking how good the honda engine would be. Don't know about yours but after 5 or 6 laps thrashing it the temp gauge was a bit close to red for my liking! think you've got a better rad?

Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:12 am

never had a problem with heat to be honest, where the gauge normally sits between 1/4 and half it was sitting at half on track, and rose once we had come to a standstill until the fan kicked in. I believe my rad is from an e28? Very thin but fills the whole front. I had problems early on with the car getting hot in traffic even when the fan kicked in. the air was hitting the rad and then going vertically up and over it. I made a cover for this and now all air has to go through the rad so keeps it cooler

Main problem was tyres as they were over-heating so quickly, plus I could do with some extra cooling for the brakes I think, after 8 solid laps they were just starting to go a little soft. Took the pads out yesterday to have a quick look and they had completely crumbled around the edges so they were swiftly replaced!

Was thinking about another engine in it but have only just put an M30 in, so would be very easy to replace with another one. I havent really got time to do another engine conversion especially with the track day season upon us!

Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:12 am

Glad to hear you all had a good day, im chuffed that my rear suspension is sorted I can get the car set up properly. back out on the 27th at Cadwell if anyone fancys that.
Regards
Ray

Mon Mar 02, 2009 10:38 am

Jhonno wrote:M52 can offer both.. 200bhp out the box with grandad spec cams, throw some cams in, light flywheel, M50 inlet and a remap and it will rev nicely

+1 better than a cammed m50 and m20 2.7 imo..
My 52 walked away from an m50 vanos compact stripped which was pretty good.

Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:00 pm

Winx, think i may have to use your trick there on top of the rad, i've defo got something not right as seems mine was running so hot. M30's ok but after feeling so underpowered on the track just want something with a bit more rev an go! Know what ya mean about the pads as well, they took so much abuse, just had metal on metal on the rears, surprising how much difference the rear brakes make to the car.

Is the M52 the 2.8 out the e36?

Tue Mar 03, 2009 5:09 pm

Official photos now up:

http://www.photodirectuk.com/abingdon20090227.htm

Nothing too exicting for any of us mear mortals, except Turkey or his mate getting snapped mid spin!

Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:26 pm

Hmm, they are a bit crap. Only one place, the hair pin.

One of me quite sideways comming out of the hair pin though!

Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:32 pm

very unimpressed

None of my co driver piloting at all. Shows how low my exhaust is and how much I need anti roll bars though

Tue Mar 03, 2009 7:40 pm

Bit lame arn't they! Proper lazy photography there. Pictures at the slowest corner on the track are never exactly awe-inspiring.

Mine rolls a bit as well, but its also to do with also being on the the throttle pulling the front up a bit. I still need some camber adjustment, strut brace and a nice cage to tighten it all up.

Tue Mar 03, 2009 7:41 pm

winx wrote:very unimpressed None of my co driver piloting at all. Shows how low my exhaust is and how much I need anti roll bars though

Good point, all of my car were with me piloting.

He must have just reeled off a few when the open it first started and the f*cked off home!

Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:52 pm

Loving the sunroof blanking panel Jon, very industrial looking

Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:28 am

bss325i wrote:
He must have just reeled off a few when the open it first started and then f*cked off home!

Yup, had a quick look and none of mine or Metals cars, arrived about 11.30ish.

Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:27 am

ROC wrote:Loving the sunroof blanking panel Jon, very industrial looking

That f**ker aint coming off. Its actually about twice as strong as the roof, despite only being 2mm thick ali.

You can see I need more camber as the NSF tyre is starting to die on the outer 1/3 as its being 'rolled' onto. If I had one of those nifty infered temperature sensors I could see how bad it really is.