Well I have now de-virginized my 335i. Yesterday I attended the BMW CCA LA Chapter School at CA Speedway in Fontana.
As a preliminary matter, I just want to comment how great it was to meet many of you there! Randy I hope your wife had a great time both days!! Whoever you were in the AW 335t...that is a beautiful car man! I also met a fellow silver e92 owner with gorgeous wheels (sorry...I forgot your name but enjoyed chatting). Those of us in B must have been running pretty similar times since we never crossed paths on the track.
The car is an 07 335i 6MT with a SSTT (only mod) running 100 Unleaded for the first 3 sessions. Tires were stock RFTs and the rest of the car is completely stock.
My report is going to be a bit odd because the event was odd...I was in the "B" (advanced intermediate) group. Many of the other drivers did not belong in the "B" group at all. When I arrived in the morning I garaged next to two guys in Mustangs (a Bullit special and an orange Saleen Mustang with a supercharged motor, r-comps, race seat and harnesses, the works...). These two gentlemen claim to have competed in the Silver State Classic. They went on and on about how fast their cars are...The Saleen even had the guys name painted on the door (a sure sign of speed if ever I saw one).
The first session was a combo of the instructor driving 3 laps and me driving the rest. I took that time to get familiar with the track again and to get a feel for the car.
The next session started out pretty fun.
Here is a link to the first video
However I soon caught the Saleen Mustang and there my session was spent...behind a completely incompetent boob. He had no business in the "B" group. I guess his ego was as enormous as the vacuum in his head and he refused to point me by, despite the fact that I was significantly faster than he was, EVERYWHERE on the track. I expected him to pull away on the straights at least and frankly it was all I could do not to run into his rear bumper. My car was significantly faster! He did finally point me by, but first pointed me by on the left (wrong side) and then on the right (correct side) but by the time he got his finger over the roof we were already in the braking area and I refused to take the pass.
Here is a video of my slow speed pursuit of the Mustangs
The third session was a lot more fun. I spent most of it behind an e30 race car. While I was probably faster than he was on most of the track, I did not feel compelled to try a pass. However a point-by probably should have been offered. During this session I passed some pretty quick cars and the e30 and I caught an e46 M3 who pointed me by just as the checkered flag flew. Here is a video of those fun laps
The fourth session I had refueled with 91 Octane and could feel the difference. The car was just not quite as quick on the straights. I pointed a 997 Carrera past and we had fun together for a few laps but ultimately I lost contact with him due to traffic. He was signed-off and passenger-less while I still had my instructor (I did not ask to be signed-off and would have kept the instructor even if he tried to). All BS excuses aside, he out drove me and had a faster car...Here is a video of that run. Sorry, but the camera shifted to the right...
During this last session there was no run group control at all...there were D students out there with many of us B and a bunch of A students. It was out of control.
The car did GREAT!
While it does have some understeer, I was not too bothered by it. I was able to rotate the car just enough to get around it. The SSTT performed flawlessly and the car ran without a hiccup. I experienced no limp home mode, but my oil temp did reach 280 during the last session when I was running against the Carrera. But again the car never seemed to suffer from the temperature. FWIW ambient temp was 78.
Also please note that I ran the entire day with DSC fully engaged and no DTC. I never once touched that button all day.
The BMW CCA does a nice job and I really appreciate all of the hard work these (volunteer) instructors do!
