In reference to my previous post, I got to drive the M3 at Sebring today. And yes, it is that spectacular. And I’m just getting used to the car. The run today brought new light into the greatness of the M3!
We finished the lunch break, got the car prepped and I changed into my driving suit. Rolled up to the start-line, put my helmet on and strapped into the car. I was flagged off for my recon lap under sunny skies and 85 ish degrees. And most important, a DRY track. Although one of the locals that is running OLOA (Ian, who happens to be in 1st overall - way to go!!) said it was really greasy and slick: compared to Talladega in the rain, I didn’t notice since the amount of grip the car has to offer is AMAZING! So this is my first true experience with all that this car has to offer. And on quite the track. Sebring is fast, long, bumpy with a few very important high speed corners.
In the end, I ran similar (adjusted for slickness) times to what Dan ran in the morning, finishing in a 7:56.1 (the track was about 4-5 seconds slower for those who knew the track well). This put me in 15th overall and 4th in class.
Babcocks in their S4 followed up their first with a repeat performance, running a 7:45.7. Followed by Renner in the E90 who found a whole bunch of time out on track for the second session, finishing in 7:45.99. Jonathan in the M5 also found some extra speed in the second session with a 7:48.18. The me in 4th, with the Caddy running a 8:09.73
Next stop is the Gainesville Dragway for the low e.t. and bracket. Looks like I’ll be behind the wheel for this as well.
All right. This is just my opinion, but I have to say that this generation of BMW M3, the E90 sedan, might just have to be the greatest overall package car in the world. Well, at least out of the cars that I have had the pleasure to drive (and the ones that were not quite a pleasure.. ahem, ‘87 Buick Century - your purpose in life was to make this M3 that much better…).
Comfortable , easy to drive around the city, great for cruising on the highway, room for 3 of your friends plus stuff (or 1 good friend and 3 so-so or small friends), sexy looks, superb motor with breath-taking and smooth power delivery and a sweet exhaust sound (maybe a bit quiet…). It is composed when driven hard in the wet and increadibly easy to drive REALLY fast on a dry track with spectacular handling, neutral balance and controls that seem connected to your sub-concious mind.
Basically, the greatest car in the world!
Can ya tell I like it? Hum… I must have had some fun at Sebring today… 
And I think I need to find a way to make one mine…
What? It is day 4 already? This week can go by so fast. Especially when you throw in a few 600+ mile transit legs (like last night) and late night hotel check-ins (like last night…) and mix-ups with the room (again, like last night…. what do you mean you don’t have any double bed rooms left? or roll-away cots! and who the he!! is talking outside my room at 3 AM???).
We have a busy day today with the 2 events here at Sebring and the low E.T. and bracket drag races in Gainesville later tonight on our way to Daytona. Luckily it is pretty standard Florida weather right now, a few cool looking clouds, light breeze and 80 some degrees. Beautiful day for a track event!
And I think its my turn to take a nap in the car tonight…
We are now down in the beautiful (and WARM!!!) Sebring Florida and one of the premier tracks in the US. Sebring International Raceway. A long, fast bumpy track. Well suited to high power cars that can handle, and soak up the bumps. Hum, that sounds like a BMW M3 to me!
With the sun shining and a light breeze blowing, Dan ran a great first event, hustling the car around the track for 3 laps to finish in 7 min, 51.5 seconds. Just a tick off of the M5 and good for 3rd in class and 13th overall. With the M5 slotting in there, the Audi finishing on top and the other M3 finishing 4th, the top 4 cars got a bit of a mix up and is ensuring that the event point’s chase is close and looking to go down to the wire!
Dan pulling up to grid on the infamous Sebring International!
No sign of rain today, so it looks like I’ll finally get a chance behind the wheel in the dry and see what this car can really do!
Midway through the morning sessions, it looked like it was going to clear and I’d have some clear, dry track to run on after lunch. But somewhere between then and the end of the morning session, the skies opened up and dumped another 20 feet of rain… OK, not quite that much, but whatever had been dry in the area was now soaked!
So opportunity #2 behind the wheel would be on a track that was a bit wetter than in the morning. I decided to try running with the DSC on, which was great for the standing start that we use in this event, but very intrusive on turn exit. While it helped keep the back-end of the car in line and the car on the pavement, I found myself waiting for what seemed to be an eternity coming out of turn 2 and 3 for the car’s brain to let me have power. Incredibly easy to drive, and no concern about the car just flying off the track, but not that fast…. Results are not up yet, but I wasn’t exactly pleased with the run, only managed about a 3:43. The M3 and S4 both ran times very close to what they did in the morning. We will see where I placed soon.
Here’s a few pics from the afternoon - Look at all that water, not a good place to go off track! (note that its easy to tell if its me or Dan behind the wheel - I have a white helmet, Dan has a black one).
Check out the turn angle on the front wheels in the second picture - car is understeering there; I’m full throttle but the car is allowing about 1/4 throttle there. Without the DSC, about 1/2 throttle would get the back end to step out, taking out that understeer…
Talladega Grand Prix Raceway. Nice little 1.4 mile track with some fun on-camber turns, a few short straights and a few tricky corners. Recipe for fun!
Unless of course you add in a LOT of rain. Then it ends up being sort of wet fun… luckily we brought a tent along, since this is what we had to deal with out there. When we showed up, this was nothing more than a tiny little 6 inch wide, 1 inch deep ’stream’…
Dan ran the morning event, gridding 10th along with the S-4 and E90M3. Track was very wet, but at least very little was falling from the skies at that point. We did get to find out that even in the rain, the brakes on this car are absolutely amazing. Dan can in and said “I was WAY over-braking the car the first lap, the braking ability is astonishing!”. With the very wet conditions, he went out with the DSC (traction control) on to help control the car.
Even with the wet track, no fully utilizing the brakes and leaving a bit on the table with the DSC on, Dan still came in with a 3:38.9, giving a solid 11th overall and 3rd in class.
The top 4 in class were Renner in #12 E90M3 was first in class with a 3:34, followed by M. Babcock in the #10 S4 with a 3:35, then Dan, then Jeremy in the #21 M5 with a 3:40. Its gonna be close competition for the rest of the week!
Today was wet, but we made it through and were able to find our way fairly quickly to United BMW of Roswell (north of Atlanta), where Steve Maguire (running in car #12, the other E90 M3) was gracious enough to get us set-up with the repair show to get us in and out quickly (Talk about great sportsmanship! - Thank you!). We are incredibly thankful for the dealerships time and assistance. And with the visit out of the way, we have a CV boot that should be good to go for the rest of the week! Sebring, here we come!
Thanks Cliff, Ed and Todd for the work!
THANK YOU GUYS!!!!! The experience we had the dealership just goes to show how much of a complete package this car is. And getting us in and out so quickly says a lot about the dealership. Notice that we were not the only One Lapper these guys helped. The other car had a bit more work to do, and got the same great service as we did. If you live in or pass through Atlanta and have a BMW that needs anything, stop in a see these guys , say hi to Steve and Cliff - TOP NOTCH SHOP!
We woke up to relatively heavy rain this morning. Sounds like the area got a lot last night. Forecast says intermittent rain/thunderstorms througout the day. Looks like we get to play in the rain today!
Updated the results page from today.
Only 1 event (the autocross) due to the oval being canceled for rain / safety
Event 4. Highrim Speedway. Nice little 1/4 mile paked and banked oval. With cement walls.
Add rain to that mix and you end up with a very dangerous course. And this is what we had… On the bonus side, Nashville looks pretty cool with the low cloud covering up the top of the “Batman” building!
Unfortunately since we had the rain, the oval was cancelled. But we made do, since as we were waiting for word on the event from Brock, a bunch of us hung out at a nearby Shell station. Impromtu car show anyone???
So back on the road, heading down to Pell City AL where we will stay the night before the next track event at Talladega Grand Prix tomorrow. At least we will get a few more hours of sleep tonight.
And on another positive note, the ‘Quick Boot’ is staying together. For the most part…
