Newbies track day car- advice please

[Paynts]

hi guys I bought this car on a bit of a whim before xmas,for track daying. It belonged to a guy who raced it in the Kumho challenge- my first outing on the worn Kumhos that were 2 years old in a day of pouring rain resulted in so many spins that i lost count
I want to get some road tyres for wet use what should get?

by the way the car is a 325i on Alpha weber throttle body kit and free flow exhaust- the engine seems very "cammy" with no power at all below 4000
the suspension is leda adjustable which is very hard, it has a standard gearbox and LSD
thanks for your help guys

[blitz877]

cant help you but get some pics up mate

[iguana]

Orange one from Nr Guildford? if so you you bugger! I was after that one & was viewing a couple of hours after you, you got it for a v good price too

I'd say it maybe set up too hard & un-compramising for a novice trackdayer, tyres wise new T1Rs are great in the wet, but maybe some race wets would suit you better.

[Paynts]

Bought it off a guy called Lee Sandy, I never went to pick it up so I'm not sure where it came from exactly
It seems I need a website or something to link to to upload a pic - is that right

I am a novice at track days, but I am keen to leave it hard set up as I have done a bit of Karting and have been competitive so i do fancy myself as a competent driver
Who makes TR1s ?

Thanks for your comments/help

[kimbo]

Hi,
For wet weather running you need to soften it right off (bit like a kart).
So remove one link from each of the ARB's and soften off the damping on compression.
Ideally run softer springs but this is a pain unless you know its going to stay wet.
Those Kumhos are lethal in the wet, especially if old and part worn.
Try the Toyo R888 (I think?) which if you want to go have a race are legal for CTCRC or TTRS events.
I'm told that theyre good in the wet but dont deal with standing water well. Will find out for ourselves in next few months, when our E30 racer is back on track.

Kim.

Edit - Look at recent thread for track day tyres for info on the Toyo's.

[Paynts]

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7467/img0856lv6.jpg
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/4503/img0857ey0.jpg

[kimbo]

Paynts,

I think I'm getting what you're asking now.

If you're going to use a racing slick for dry running and you optomise the suspension for that, then it wont work on road tyres for wet running (too stiff by far). Use a racing wet (sidewall construction all different to a road tyre).

Are you trailering to the circuit, or driving it?

Kim

[Paynts]

I don't know if thats the correct way to post pics or have I done something wrong

[Paynts]

Hi Kim Ok I see now I dont thing we would go to the effort of replacing springs just for a wet day but a decent wet tyre would I think make quite a difference, racing wets are the way forward then? which make model?

The Kumhos were diabolical!!! - we did wind the leda damper settings right out to try and make things a bit softer- but I didn't think about the ARB'S

yes I am trailering
thanks
Simon

[clubfx2]

Pirelli P-Zero

[tomze30]

Just to make it easier for folks to see, here's your second picture, Paynts. For some reason the first one won't behave

[northloop]

I need those wheels on my car. They look very nice

[Paynts]

Yeah this car should be titled looks great goes shit!

the tyres are hopeless in the wet and I have got the dyno results from the power /weight test for the kumho challenge

120 ftlbs at 2000 rpm
90 ftlbs at 3000 rpm!!!!!!!!!!
120 ftlbs at 4500 rpm
155ftlbs at 5500 rpm

max power @ 6500 175hp

all measured at wheels

Its like driving a car with a 2 stroke motorcycle engine!


Ive got 3 other wheels sdifferent design- no writing on anywhere anyone know what they are

[kimbo]

Hi again,

TBH the only full wet we've used was a Dunlop, but cant remember the designation. They were very good tho.

I would say that its most important to get tyres from the same 'family' as the slicks you use, just so the carcass characteristics are similar.

Probably best bet would be to look through various race series which use slicks, then poss pick up some 2nd hand (some people replace them so often its just silly). VW Cup uses Hankouk slicks / wets. Dunno about others.

At the end of the day, IF you get the setup spot on, you'll go about 1.5 - 2 secs a lap quicker {edit - than if you're using a list 1b tyre such as a Toyo} but wear things out much quicker - beware in particular the btm ball joints.

Kim.

[kimbo]

Me again

Looking at the figures for your motor, and the spec of it as far as I can remember, I reckon that the problem is in the cam. Either timed wrong, or not wild enough for the ITB's.
To get the most out of that setup (assuming it's set up properly) you need at least a 300 degree cam.
This should give useable power from 4 - 7000 rpm but shouldn't have that fecking great black hole at 2500 - 4000.
Ours on triple 45's and an unknown (as yet) cam made over 200WHP i.e. 240 - 250 at the flywheel.

Kim

[agreen]

do you have anymore pictures of the car if so email them to me and i will post them up on here for you if you need me to

azisbo@hotmail.com

cheers

[M3GTR]

Hi

I know that car (and Lea) quite well as I raced against it a lot in 2004/5. From what I remember, the last time it was out, there were a few people suggesting that it really needed re-mapping. The bottom end let go when we raced at Rockingham in 2005 and was never really properly set up afterwards.. it's a quick car in the right hands!

The inlet manifolds were cast as a one off at some ridiculous cost, when the engine was first built by the owner prior to Lea (John Wilcocks, who now races an E30 M3 in the Pre93 series of the CTCRC).


Not the best pic I've got... but at least you can see part of it!!