Day Eight - Tire Rack

Well, once again, I am begging for forgiveness on the tardiness of the post.  This was a hard One Lap on me personally as I was not feeling well for all it, nor was Woody for that matter.  Fighting colds was not fun and the constant hack of a cough was extremely tiring.

Where we last left everyone was the Saturday morning dry skid pad event.  The dry skid pad test is the final competition for the 2011 Tire Rack One Lap of America.  The teams are run in reverse order from the last place teams to the front running teams.  As we were 29th going in to the last event, we had a rather long time to wait before our turn came.  But come it did and I was in the drivers seat.

I gridded up and off I went.  Pulling on to the skid pad, I was not sure which gear to stay in - second or third.  I opted for second as it felt right approaching the green flag start.  Whether or not that was the correct selection will never be known, but it again, the torque to the sensitivity on the throttle was perfect.  I ran the car as close to the inner diameter of the skid pad circle in both directions for two laps each.  It was over in the blink of an eye.  When coming off the skid pad, I was approached by Brian Hair who said I pulled over 1 g and was currently in second place.  That was good news. although many of the top teams had left to run.

When all the teams had run, many had run at 1 g and above.  In fact, a new skid pad g had been established.  Where did my effort place me finally - in 14th overall for the event.  It was also an effort that kept us solidly in 29th position in the field.

So, in the final tally, we finished 29th overall out of 75 cars that started.  We are very happy with the result and effort.  Woody and I had a great time and I would not trade the experience once again for anything in the world.  We had some adversity in our run in with our armadillo friend, but we over came it quickly and moved on.  The mechanical escapades from the 2009 One Lap with Woody proved to be a valuable learning experience.  Keeping our cool got us through.

I will post again in the next day or two with statistics of the event.  So please stay tuned.

Cheers!!!!!

Day Seven - Autobahn Country Club

Sorry this is coming in as late news, but here we go!

We arrived in Joliet, IL at 1:30 am CST after a 590 mile drive from Birmingham, AL.  It was a rather uneventful drive and we were very happy this drive did not follow the day directly after the haul from Florida to Louisiana.  When we put our heads on the pillow, we were out.

The alarm went off at 7:00 am and we were in the car by 7:30 headed to the Autobahn Country Club (ACC).  The ACC is a very nice facility and track.  It has a north and south course that could be combined for one larger track.  In the past, the One Lap has used only the south course for the time trials.  This year, the event organizers have secured running the north course which is the shorter of the two configurations in the morning and the longer south course in the afternoon.  Woody will take on the north course and I will drive the south course.

Woody sets off for the grid and is soon taking his hot laps.  He looks good for the small area of track we can actually see and due to the length of the track, his session is over quickly.  It's now a waiting game to see where he has finished.  We are in 29th overall, but we have a team or two at 30th and 31st that are definitely within striking distance.  Our goal is to hold on to our top 30th spot as we have fought hard for it.

Just before lunch, the results are in and Woody has posted a 34th fastest time.  It is good enough to keep us in 29th, but the 30th place team has now pulled within 10 points in the overall.  With a bobble in the afternoon, I could relinquish our 29th position which would be tough to re-take on the dry skid pad on Saturday at the Tire Rack.

Although I have driven the south course three times previously (15 total laps), I opt for a track walk as a refresher and to walk off lunch.  It is a healthy stroll of just over two miles in 30 minutes.

After suiting up for what will be the last time this week, I head to the grid.  I am in the 4th run group and looking forward to the session.  Just before reaching the grid, the 30th place team driver, David Teal, comes over to put the pressure on me.  David let's me know that I am clearly in his sights and that he is gunning for us as he wants out of the 30th spot.  We laugh and promise I have my A game on for this afternoon.  The session ends quickly and as I approach our paddock space, Woody gives me the thumbs up.  No official time, but by Woody's time piece, I had a three lap elapsed time of 5:11 +/-.  Apparently this is a good time - no pun intended, but time will tell.

We pack up in about 20 minutes and are in route back to South Bend in the hopes of avoiding Chicago rush hour traffic.  We also have a date with a beer or two once back at the city where we started a week ago.  WOW...a week has flown by, although on Monday night as we were staring at a pool of oil under the front of the car, it seemed like we had weeks to go and not days.  We're very happy to have survived and finished.

Trudging east bound across northern Illinois and Indiana on I-80/90 toward South Bend, Woody's cell phone rings.  It is Neil Simon and he relays us the afternoon results from Autobahn.  I placed 18th overall with a 5:11.20.  The 30th place car was 30th which put another 60 points between us.  Our point lead after the day at 70 with the dry skid pad on Saturday.  David is driving an all wheel drive Audi, so he is praying for rain in the morning.  Obviously, we are not.

We are back in South Bend by 5:30 EST with a brew in hand.  Other One Lappers are arriving every few minutes and before you can blink, it's a party!  Everyone is in good spirits and congratulating each other on completing another One Lap.  While we still have one event left, it is a great relief to be near the end as we are tired.

Next report, the dry skid pad!!!!

Blast Off!

Quick Note!!!

We have driven right through Birmingham, AL and I-65 north toward Huntsville, AL.  The amount and extent of damage caused by the tornados of last week is staggering.  Swaths of trees with no tops.  The remaining stumps just twisted like cork screws.  Amazing to think of the power of those storms.  And then think about today's weather which could not have been prettier.

The Winner's Podium at Barber

Woody at Turn #15 - Barber

Joe Drumheller's Porsche

Day Six - Barber Motorsports Park (Part Two)

The results are in from the afternoon session.  Woody's elapsed time was 5:38 which was 33rd fastest for the event.  For the in car competition that puts us tied going in to the last event.  Unfortunately, there are two different tracks at Autobahn Country Club and we are running both.  There is no way to determine the handicap of one over the other, so for this One Lap we'll call it a draw.  Although, I think Woody should be docked one win since he finished 69th in the wet skid pad - JEEEEZZZZZ Woody!

With today's performances we have moved up one spot to 29th overall.  As of now, we have gained 40 spots which included having one DNS (Did Not Start) which was good for zero points.  Not too bad!  May be we'll still another spot tomorrow?

We left Barber at approximately 2:30 and have 670 miles to travel to Joliet, IL.  The GPS currently indicates an arrival time of 11:51 pm.  After fuel stops, comfort stops, and what will surely be a quick choke down dinner my touch down estimate is 12:45 am.

Woody has confirmation that his wallet that he left behind at dinner last night in Meridian, MS will be overnighted to South Bend.  Yes, I failed to report that little oops.  No worries though other than we are cruising along at 85-90 MPH literally as I write this and Woody is behind the wheel with no driver's license.  His response - the trooper will understand, won't he?

I will cut blogging short tonight as the lap top does not have much battery left and I am looking forward to some sleep in the car.  I will post some more photos though.

Cheers!

Day Six - Barber Motorsports Park

WOW...what a day here in central Alabama!  There is not a cloud in the sky and the temps are in the mid 60's.  Camp ZERO is once again set up and we are enjoying the shade after a quick lunch and a few parade laps on Barber Motorsports Park (BMP).  BMP is a beautiful facility.  When we arrived this morning and completed a track walk, I thought I should be pulling out my five iron for a shot in to the green.  This place is immaculate.  Where else would you arrive at a track and the grounds crew is tilling the mulch and planting flowers?  The grass is a variety of golf course quality bent and is perfectly mown.  And if you go off and damage their precious grass, guess what?  They send you a bill.  I kid you not!

I drove the morning session so I was able to get in few extra laps at slower speeds to see where I had screwed up earlier and when it counted.  Dave Miller joined me and we had some fun here and there in the E92 M3.  It may be my car, but the M3 is simply awesome right out of the box.

Before heading out on the noon time parade laps, Joe Drumheller informs me I finished with a 5:35 which places me 28th overall in the morning session.  I am pleased with that result, but know that I could do better with a little more time learning the track.  I have never driven here nor has Woody.  We are both newbies to this circuit, so you have to be a quick study in just one recon lap and then three hot laps.

Woody is suited up and getting ready to head to grid as I write this, so for now I'll sign off.  Woody's time and position next posting!

Day Five - No Problem Raceway

Our day started at 3:30 am when we arrived at our motel in Donaldsonville, LA after a 590 mile leg from Gainesville, FL and went to bed.  In reality, Woody and I had driven 960 miles in this day with an actual moving time of 14 hours.  Remember we had to drive a 240 mile leg from Savannah to Daytona to start the day!

The alarm went off much to early at 7 am.  OUCH!  Three and a half hours of sleep.  Today's event is at Grand Circuit Bayou.  Since the owner of the track has not changed the name at the main entrance, I will keep using it as it is what we know, No Problem Raceway (NPR).  Woody and I have both driven here before in 2008.  It is an interesting little track that shares the main straight with a drag strip.

We flip a coin to see who will drive the morning session - I lose.  Woody suits up and then grids the car.  It is not long before he is off and running.  He looks smooth.  Brian and I are watching from the stands at the carousel.  We both agree that he could be on the throttle sooner as he is exiting this turn complex.  The results are posted and Woody turns a 4:31 total elapsed time for his three laps which is good enough for 32nd fastest.  It maintains our 31st overall position.

Lunch comes and goes and we are sitting around Camp ZERO with One Lap friends laughing about events of the week.  It's here that I learn that Joe Drumheller paid and coached the armadillo to run out in front of a white BMW M3 with Virginia plates.  It was a suicide mission of sorts with a promise of a 1,000 virgins and putting the kids through Armadillo University.  What goes around comes around.  In transit to Louisiana Joe hit a tire carcass that destroyed his front splitter.  No serious damage and we are glad Joe and his co-driver, Don, are okay after the experience.

My turn at the wheel arrives and before you know the session is over.  After packing up and heading north toward Birmingham and Barber Motorsports Park, we learn that my time was 4:22 placing me at 18th overall in the afternoon event.  It moves us up to 30th overall in the standings.

It is a short 460 mile jaunt to Birmingham from Donaldsonville.  We stop for a nice dinner in Meridian, Mississippi with friends (Joe, Don, Brian, Dave, Mike, and Steve).  We are back on the road by 7:30-ish with another 146 miles to travel.  The GPS has us arriving at 10:30 pm.  Right on schedule, we pull in to the lovely Hampton Inn in Leeds, Alabama.  By 11 pm we are horizontal with 8 hours of blissful sleep ahead of us.  We need it as it was a long Tuesday and Wednesday.....3-1/2 hours of sleep in a 42 hour period.

The Critz BMW Gang

Day Four (Interesting Facts)

Woody pointed out to me that I had not included a couple pieces of in my last post.  I'll also briefly discuss the drag races.  Here it goes.

As it turned out, adding the extra fuel just before going out on Daytona was key as I went through a 1/4 + tank in the session.  We would have had fuel starvation.
 Next, when I was brave enough to look at the speedometer coming through the tri-oval it read a smidge over 160 MPH.  Factoring in the discrepancy in gage to actual, I believe the speed to be an adjusted 155 MPH.  Still damn fast if you ask me.  The new photo at the top of the blog page is in the tri-oval area.....no way you can tell from that photo that the speed is 155 MPH.

After leaving Daytona, we had a short 116 mile drive to Gainesville and the drag race track.  Pulling in we quickly unloaded the car and had our tech sheet completed and signed.  I suited up once again and then staged the car with all the other competitors.  A brief lesson on drag racing timing lights and safety issues and it was time to run our ET (elapsed time).  We score overall points in the ET based on time...pretty simple concept.

I line up and stage.  The lights on the christmas tree (a pole between the two lanes with position stage lights, yellow count down lights, and then green lights - GO) begin their sequence.  Green lights up and I let out the clutch and press the right foot pedal - hard.  It is worth noting here that the lights or jumping the green lights do not matter for the ET pass, BUT they will in the next event.  Four shifts later and 13.665 seconds and I have gone a 1/4 mile and reached a speed of 104+ MPH.  Slow for sure as the M3 in "official" testing has ripped off a 12 second 1/4 mile.  My guess is we are down slightly on power as it is hot and the car only had 40 minutes to cool off from the drive prior to the ET.  The ET pass is 32nd fastest and the second fastest BMW.

After the ET comes bracket racing.  Based on your ET you select a time that you believe you personally will not beat.  Usually you put down a number slightly lower/faster than your ET time.  You want to be as close to your ET as possible.  Other competitors are doing the same thing.  You come to the line again and the difference between the two cars is dialed in to the christmas tree sequencing.  So for example, if I  dial in 13 seconds and the car next to me is at 15 seconds, he will start 2 seconds before I will.  The start is dictated by the lights so you must be sure to concentrate on your lights and not the car next to you.  Now if you jump the green light you are out.  You are also out if you beat (are faster than) your own dialed in time.  If everything goes off perfectly (no jumped lights and no one "breaks out" of their dialed in time, then it is a true drag race.  There is a winner and a loser.  The loser packs up and heads to the next event.

Now there are not a lot of points available in the bracket racing portion of the event.  As there are 597 miles to drive to No Problem Raceway in Donaldson, LA, I am all about losing on purpose so we can start our long drive.  I lose straight up, so no worries.

We were on the road in 20 minutes with the GPS showing an arrival time of 4:30 am EST.  We will gain  an hour, but big deal.

Cheers!!!!

Day Four - Daytona International Speedway & Gainesville Raceway

Yes, you are reading this correctly.  After Critz BMW finished up at 11:15, we took a quick photo of our saviours and hit the road.  Our goal was to make the afternoon session on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway.  This is a 240 mile drive from Savannah, GA to Daytona, FL.  We decided that we would call One Lap organizer, Brock Yates right after getting through Jacksonville, FL to determine our arrival time and ability to make our run.

Needless to say, we were pushing hard to make it.  Woody was nice enough to say you drive Daytona as you deserve it.  Why I don't know, but it was sweet of him to say.  As we cruised through the Jacksonville, we made our call to Brock.  It was just shy of 1:30 pm and we had approximately another 75 miles to go.  At our current pressing speed we told Brock we could be there by 2:45.  He said come on and be ready to go at 2:45 - suit, helmet, etc. fully deployed.

After exiting I-95, we stopped for a quick splash and go of fuel as we had a little less than a 1/4 tank.  The 1/4 tank seemed like enough for 3 hot laps plus a recon and cool down lap at Daytona (17.5 miles).  Woody was more skeptical and said let's plop 7-8 gallons in it.

We arrived at the track gate and signed the waiver and boogied to the garages and paddock.  Brian and Dave were waiting for us.  It was 2:20 pm.  Everyone jumped in to action to unloaded the car while I suited up.  By 2:30 I was on the grid chatting with Brock.  Brock said, your early, go to the back of the line.  He was joking.  I was waived to the front of the line.  At 2:45 my group was released for the recon lap.

During the recon lap I am amazed at how smooth the track is after the re-surfacing that was completed last fall.  When we ran here in 2009, it was very bumpy through the banking and even in our limp mode that year it was unnerving.  It is not long before I arrive back at the start finish line.  I stop and wait for the green flag.  It is waived and I am off.  WOW....what a ride!!!!!

It is over before I know it and am back in the garage.  Woody arrives and we start re-packing the car immediately.  I am still on a high that will last for the next hour!  As we pull out, we check our watches - time, 3:15.  Less than an hour and we arrived, unloaded the car, ran three laps, re-packed the car, and left.  It was worth the 3 hour, 240 mile drive.  Thanks Critz BMW!!!!  Next stop, Gainesville Raceway for the bracket drag races.

Breakfast at Denny's - $24.00
Fuel Costs to Daytona - $75.00
Cost to fix the M3 - $2,073.00
Driving the High Banks at Daytona - Priceless!!

After dropping to 36th overall by missing the morning session at Daytona, my total elapsed time of 6.52 for the three hot laps brought us back to 32nd overall.

Pesky Little Critters

Fact is stranger than fiction.  I swear you cannot make this stuff up!

So we are cruising at 80 MPH along I-95 having just crossed in to Georgia on our way to Daytona Beach around 10:00 pm last evening when a medium size critter strolls in front of the M3.  As I was slightly distracted by a fast approaching car from behind (mirror watching), I unfortunately view the animal much to late to make any sudden avoidance maneuvers.  There is an instant thud on the right front side of the car.  I actually think Woody's passenger seat jumped up 6 inches as the mass passed under the car.  I see the terrifying look in the nasty little guys eyes just before impact.  What was that Woody asks?  An armadillo says I.  Even with this fellows leather like hard shell he could not withstand the 80 MPH blow.

I immediately tell Woody that there are some vital parts down in that area, particularly the oil cooler.  Within a mile or so we are approaching our first available exit and radio to Brian Hair and David Chow that we have hit an armadillo I need to check out the car.  After pulling off, we start looking the car over.  Everything appears to be in relatively good order.  I walk back to David's car and get down on my hands and knees to see the car lights shining under the car.  David had mentioned seeing something hanging down that I could not see from the front.  It is then that I see a small puddle of fluid at the front of the car and on the right side.  I have that OH NO moment running through my head.  I get in the car and back it up about 5 feet.  The OH NO moment turns to sad reality as we are leaking oil.

With a flash light in hand (a damn good one too from David's company - 4 Sevens) we can see that there is in fact a leak at the oil cooler, but we cannot determine if it is the oil line or the cooler itself.  In any event, driving the car is no longer an option and so we pull in to a Days Inn within 1,000 feet of the exit ramp.  Woody and I get a room and say goodnight and safe travels to David and Brian.  It is obvious how bad they feel for us and of course we are very disappointed as this means we will miss Daytona.  I phone Suze and give her the news.  She is keeping me upbeat and thinking positively about the situation as is Woody.  Strangely, we have been here before....just read the posts from 2009.

Getting to our room we formulate our plan.  The first call is to BMW Roadside Assistance where we arrange for a tow at 6 am to the local Savannah BMW dealership, Critz BMW.  How lucky are we that there is a dealership only 16 miles from the motel?  Darn lucky as this could have occurred 100's of miles from no where.

The first call from the towing company rings in at 4:15 am to verify we are still waiting for a tow.  At 5:35 the tow truck driver calls to announce he is in route and should be arriving by 6 as planned.

The M3 is loaded up on the roll-back tow rig very quickly and we are off by 6:15.  The 16 miles seems to take for ever as the tow truck is slow and rush hour traffic picking up.  Our driver, Thomas, is a great guy and points out our only mistake from last evening.  Appears we left some good eats out on I-95 that could have complimented our eggs, pancakes, and bacon breakfast.  A real delicacy here in these parts!

Arriving at Critz BMW the car is unloaded faster than it went on.  We pull it in to the service line and wait for the doors to open at 7:30.  At 7:15 a gentleman arrives and asks if we are doing the One Lap?  We respond yes.  Our visitor tells us that he is friends with Doug Wilks who is part of the Leh Keen team in the Nissan GTR that is leading the One Lap event.  Small world!  I introduce myself as does Richard Papy, who happens to be the quality control manager at Critz.  Turns out Richard is a racer too and has an original Porsche 944 Ex-Fire Hawk series car.  We explain our plight and Richard says he cannot promise, but he'll mention the event and our problems to the service manager and may be we'll be fit in today.

Within minutes the assistant service manager Steve Scarano arrives with his two young boys in tow.  Steve and the two boys are very interested in the car.  We exchange some stories and again explain our situation.  Steve invites us in and says we'll get it in first thing.  A tear literally comes to my eye as it does writing this story.  Steve says - not sure we'll have the parts, but let's see what we find.  Woody chimes in and says of course we have the parts....they're on that new M3 in the sales lot.  Steve comes back with we'll check with the owner if it comes to that.

As the techs do not start until 8, Woody and I walk over to the Denny's for breakfast.  Again, our regret is not having our breakfast meat.  Arriving back at the dealership at 8:30 we set up shop in the waiting room.  I begin this blog and it is not long before we are invited in to the operating room to see the patient.  The problem is in fact a small hole in the oil cooler and damage to the under tray.  Critz

After several long minutes, Steve comes to the waiting room to tell us the good news....the new M3 will give up its oil cooler and under tray parts so we may continue the event.  We are so happy and thankful to the entire Critz team.  Again, tears come to our eyes as we feel blessed.

As we are sitting, blogging, chatting, and watching the thousandth story on the wicked witch of the east's demise on CNN we are introduced to the owner of the dealership, Dale Critz, Jr.  He is very personable and listens to our story with keen interest.  Dale wants to know about the cause and how we got started with ZERO - The Project to End Prostate Cancer.  My relationship with Tommy Holcomb and how we always talked about competing in the One Lap together comes to the discussion immediately.  Mr. Critz is happy he can help.....so are we!  Dale returns after a few minutes and suggests we google The Armadillo Jackal by Robert Earl Keen, Jr on You Tube.  The link is here....I think....www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeZIHNo7Bvc.  If not, it is easy to find.

Chad, our tech wizard, just came in to say there was a part or two not on his original list that should be replaced if we are doing this right.  I agree after looking at the part and what it supports.  At this point, what is another $70.  Chad expects to have us out of here soon.  My guess is we will make the drag races at Gainesville, FL early this evening and rejoin our One Lap friends.

I cannot thank Critz BMW for the friendship they have extended us.  We will never forget this dealership, especially its kind and generous owner and the people who run it and service its patrons.

THANKS!!!!!!!!

Day Three (Part Two) - BMW Performance Center

Quick update before I stop for the night and take my turn behind the wheel.  We have approximately 500 miles to go this evening to Daytona, FL and the GPS shows us arriving at sometime after 1 am.  UGH!!!!!

Woody finished 32nd overall at the BMW Performance Center.  With the attrition and our finishes at CMP we have moved up to 26th overall.

Next, we met a gentleman by the name of Mike Forrester who either owns or manages a BMW dealership in Spartanburg, SC.  After discussing our plight with the brake warning light and what we have found or not found, Mike contacts a good friend and independent mechanic (Albert) who has an Autologic and can read the brake fault codes on the M3.  It is a simple brake sensor that can wait until we get home to fix.  It does not affect the brakes or their operation.  We can rest easy for now.  You too Suze.  Mike and Albert....HUGE THANKS!!!!!  You too Scott Hughs.

We link up with our friends from the Executive Inn and their news is not quite as good.  It appears there is more damage than originally thought and they must retire.  The car will be patched together well enough for them to drive home and then fix properly.  We will miss them and wish them a safe and speedy trip home.

Good night....more tomorrow from the high banks of Daytona International Speedway.

The Baron (just because)

Day Three (Part One) - Carolina Motorsports Park

I realize I am behind a bit, but there was no Verizon service available at the track today - Carolina Motorsports Park (CMP) in Kershaw, SC.

One word is coming in to play today and in the 2011 One Lap - ATTRITION!!!!!!

We arrived early last evening by One Lap standards (10:00 pm) at our lovely lodgings in Kershaw.  The well appointed Executive Inn was our choice.  There is nothing executive about it!  When we tried to check in they had put down the incorrect arrival dates for us.  Appears we should have been arriving next week.  Oh well said the huge man behind the counter.  They still had a room and Woody and I were going to have our very first spooning event.  I couldn't wait.  Fortunately, Chris DeYoung who is teamed with Mike Renner from the BMW Performance Center had a room with two king beds and was flying solo.  We completed the old key switch-a-roo and we were in business.  I'll take Woody up on spooning another night.

The results for the second session at Summit Point were posted and Woody was 23rd fastest.  Amazingly, he was roughly 5 seconds faster overall than I was in the morning session (my time being 21st fastest), but other teams picked up the pace as well.  That's how the One Lap works.  To quote Van Morrison, "What you gain on the hobby horses you lose on the swings".  At the end of the day, we had positioned ourselves in 31st overall after being 69th after the first event!!!!

As we are standing on the balcony and talking to some friends working on their car (more on this later) another One Lapper (let's call him Don because that is his name) tells everyone to switch on CNN as President O'Bama is going to speak.  It appears the wicked witch of the east has been killed.  This is great news - so can we now please bring all the boys home from Oz!!!  That's as far as I will go with my political rants.

The alarm comes at 6 am again which is earlier than we really need to be at the track, but not trying to worry Suze, we had a brake warning light come on right after leaving Summit Point yesterday.  As we are headed down the highway about 2 miles from Summit Point and discussing the light I finally say to Woody - may be we should touch the brakes and see if we have them???  Woody in his calm, cool voice says...good point (we both laugh) .  He does and we do.  Good news.  Arriving at our garage space we jack up the car and pull all the wheels and look the situation over.  Everything appears in good order.  We head out for a track walk and a little exercise....2+ miles worth.

While walking I bump in to Ben Shaut.  As Ben and his father Dan run an E90 M3 and are very mechanically inclined I ask about what our problem might be.  I describe everything in detail and say the good news is we still have brakes.  Ben proceeds to ask if it is a yellow or red warning light?  I say red.  He says.....OH....it sounded bad when he said it too.  We walk back to the garage and the Shaut's are paddocked right next to us.  We walk through the issues with Ben and Dan.  We complete some more investigative work.  Brake fluid level - OK.  Jack up the car again and put rear on jack stands to check rotation of wheels and parking brake - OK.  Dan's OBD code reader....nothing comes up.  Nothing else we can check for now.  Dan's solution until we can have a dealer look at it....place black tape over the warning light and put it out of your mind.  I am all smiles at the thought of that.

It is soon time for Woody to grid up as he has won the toss to drive the first session.  First test on recon lap is to check the brakes.  He stops at the starting line after his recon lap so I assume everything is still a go for launch.  He finishes quickly and later we find he is 32nd fastest.  It is good enough to move us up to 30th overall.  Why, because a Mitsubishi lost a turbo oil line and the car caught on fire headed in to turn one.  By the time he made turn two the driver was looking for a spot to pull off track and exit the car - rapidly.  The fire teams arrived quickly and the problem extinguished.  The car....no pun intended....toast.  Attrition.

At some point in the first session a Porsche 911 dumps coolant on the track.  Coolant is slicker than pig snot and the session is stopped so the track crew can clean up.  This puts finishing the first session behind by close to 45 minutes.  It is going to be a long day.  Attrition.

Woody and I are strolling the paddock and come upon the sick Porsche.  Andy Hennessy who supports the Dubler Chocolate team of HHR's

It is finally time for me to take a run at CMP.  I do and it is over in short order.  Brakes are still working obviously.  I place 24th overall.

During the second session the Mazda 2 has an issue as it towed off.  Our guess is that the turbos let go or over-boosted the motor/head gaskets and the car is finished for the event, but we won't know really until tomorrow in Daytona.  Attrition.

Now to the saddest story.  Let's back up to our friends working on their car last night in the motel parking lot.   The ones we were watching from the balcony and helping as we could. Appears when the team arrived and parked at the reception drop off the parking brake was set, but not fully.  The drop off area leads directly to a steep slow that flows in to the parking lot.  As the team was checking in, the car decided to take a stroll on its own.  It went down the hill and struck a large Harley Davidson motorcycle, proceeded to jump the small sidewalk curb, and eventually strike the exterior wall of room #126 placing a 24" x 24" hole in the plaster.  The bike had serious enough issues that it could not be ridden.  The exterior motel wall never looked better.  The car had a dented hood, right front bumper damage which appeared mostly cosmetic.  The team's plan is to skip the CMP events held today and get the car to a dealer in Columbia for a look over.  Hopefully we see that at the BMW Performance Center in the afternoon.

Next....the BMW Performance Center in Greer, SC.

Day Three - Summit Point Motorsports Park

Dear Readers;

Sorry, but I need to make this a short post as I am having more technical difficulty with the power converter in the car.  I think it has to do with too much stuff plugged in - GPS, radar detector, PC, and cell phone chargers.  So here it goes!

First - We arrived in Winchester, VA last night at 12:50 am after traveling 590 miles from Peru, IN.  All in all, not a bad trip and getting 4-1/2 hours of sleep would be welcome.

Next - Woody placed 27th overall in the autocross yesterday afternoon at Grissom Air Force Base.  We were very pleased with this as it commenced our long climb from the cellar where we found ourselves after the wet skid pad.  This is the last time I will mention that stupid event...I promise Woody!

This morning we arrived early at Summit Point Motorsports Park in Summit Point, WV.  It was raining upon our arrival and that was not what I wanted to see as I was scheduled to drive the first session.  Oh well....stuff happens and this "ain't" NASCAR.

About an hour after we unloaded the car and set up camp, friends and family started to arrive.  We were very excited to see everyone, some more so than others (sorry fans, but Suze takes the cake).  It was soon time to line up the front runners and hot shoes on the grid.  The rain had stopped some time before and the track was drying.  There were dark clouds surrounding the track so I opted to grid up sooner hoping to luck out on good conditions and letting the big dogs help dry what little moisture that remained.  Just before heading out, Woody and Dave Flogus stopped by to say that the track was still slippery in spots.....great!!!!!

It was soon my turn and the three hot laps went quickly.....from a standing start 4.33 minutes to be more exact.  Not long after the session was completed the results were posted.  I placed 21st overall.  I am very pleased with the finish and it was good enough to move us up to 40th overall in the standings.  We'll keep chipping away.  Rumor has it that in the afternoon session Woody beat my time which hopefully moves up some more against the field.  We need to make big gains now as later in the week it is very difficult to move up.

Finally - huge shout out to all that came out to see us!!!!!  John and Diane, Neil (we miss you little man), Zach, James, Holland, and Max, Seth and Julie, Mark and Tricia, Steve, Vic, Chuck (thanks for the donuts & OJ), Harley, Al and Tiki, Janeen, Gordon, John H, Debbie, Shannon, Tyler (grill master), Melissa, and last but not least Kay and Suze!!!!

Day Two - Wet Skid Pad & Autocross

The day started early with a 6:15 am alarm.  A quick shower and it was back to the food trough at the Pancake House.  The breakfasts there are very good and the portions generous.  Of course this is all top of what was a big dinner the night before at a sports bar called 'Between the Buns'.  We had top watch the CAPS game while popping a brew.

Between the Buns is a great little place about 5 miles from the motel and just off the Notre Dame campus.  We had a wonderful waitress and at some point she went outside to let us know which car she liked best.  After returning, she says confidently that she loves BMW's (well of course there are three of them in the parking lot), but the orange car is really special.  Oh no, say it ain't so, she likes Joe Drumheller's GT3 Porsche!!!!!  Joe is all grins and slips the young woman an extra $10 for the fine choice.

Back to the One Lap though.  After a fine meal we head to the Tire Rack for the official start of the event - the wet skid pad test.  200' diameter circle with water sprayed on it by a sprinkler system.  Object, go around two laps in each direction as fast as possible.  The skid pad had been recently re-surfaced and it was proving by the early runners' times/g's to be quite slick. Woody's turn finely arrives and off he goes.  You can tell from the very start that the car is understeering and Woody is having to slow to make corrections.  The pain is over soon enough though and he heads back to our paddock space so we can pack up.

Next stop is Grissom Air Force Base near Peru, IN.  Peru is approximately 80 miles due south of South Bend.  We arrive with no issues and unpack.  Woody is also driving the autocross event today, so his chore is to walk the course which he does twice.  It is not long before cars are called to grid with the first cars off the start line at 1:00 pm.  While we are waiting for our turn the news of the skid pad results are filtering through the crowd like wildfire.  Let me get the bad news out quickly.....our sweet little E92 M3 finished 69th and four spots from last.  OUCH!  Oh well.....we'll just work hard to make up the points.

Woody finally starts the first run of three passes/trys in the autocross event.  He steadily makes improvements and by run three has knocked his best time down to a 55.82 seconds.  The best time was a 50.+ and second a 51.11.  There were a few 52.+ times and then a bunch of 54.+'s, 55.+'s, and finally 56.+'s.  Of course there were times slower than those, so it is hard to gage where Woody may have finished overall in this event.  At this writing the results have not been posted, so we will need to report later this evening or tomorrow morning.

For now I will sign off.  It is 8:22 pm and we just passed through Zane Grey's home town, Zanesville, OH with another 295 miles to our destination.

One last thing.....sorry there are no photos for this evening.  Have a slight technical issue that I hope my better half will be able to assist with tomorrow at Summit Point.

Cheers!

Remembering Why We are Here!!!

Day One - One Lap Registration & Tech

The routine at the start of year five's participation in the One Lap of America has become much to familiar. Today was no different than any other for our Day One registration and technical/safety inspection....except for Woody's cold shower.  Appears the control valve for the shower shot craps and so Woody was relegated to what amounted to a sponge bath.  A quick call to the front desk and we had a new room and me....a hot shower.  Voila!!!

After an absolutely lovely breakfast at the Pancake House directly across the street from our wonderful motel we headed to the local do-it-yourself car wash.  It is always wise to remove the road grime before applying yet more stickers.  This must do chore takes no more than 20 minutes and we are off to the Tire Rack headquarters for the first time.

Arriving at the Tire Rack, we are greeted by an employee who provides us our "paddock" assignment for the next two days.  We are literally at the end of the row and the farthest from the event tent.  No worries as it provides some exercise which we all could use.  The next 8 days of eating garbage on the road won't help in that arena either.

As Woody and I walk to registration, we talk with many of the return competitors and friends we have made over the years.  Many of them look the same, may be just a bit longer in the tooth and with possibly a new toy to drive in this years event.  After a quick signature or two signing our lives away we are handed a packet of stickers and this years lovingly prepared route book.   We have been assigned car number 21 for those of you going to the One Lap of America website for timing and scoring updates as we motor through the week.

As we begin to sticker up it is no surprise that the wind is blowing across the open country side of Indiana.  While not a total pain, it does make installation of more vinyl tedious.  It comes with the territory and there has not been a year here that it is not blowing at least 20 mph.  Tomorrow's forecast....even windier!

Within an hour we finish up placing the required stickers on the E92 M3.  Yes, it is true...the more stickers on the car the faster you go.  I estimate from today's activities that we picked up another thousandth of a second on the field.  We're chipping away on them and you can see the fear in their eyes already.

Noon came and went with a nice lunch at AJ's Burger's & Pub which was then followed by the driver's meeting where we all are reminded to place nice in the sand box together.  That goes for the One Lap competitors (duhhhhh) and the general public we meet on the roads.  The meeting wraps up rather quickly and in short order we are packing up the car and headed back to the motel for a good nights rest as tomorrow starts a grueling week.

Peace and good night until tomorrow!!!!  By the way, we are very much looking forward to seeing folks at Summit Point on Sunday, May 1.

Waking Up in South Bend

Woody and I just awoke from a pleasant slumber here at the Quality Inn in South Bend, IN.  I repeat this every year, but this place never seems to change.  The exceptions being the beer smell is slightly more pronounced and there are a few more spill stains in the carpet.  Win or lose, those Fighting Irish know how to party!

Our big 2011 One Lap adventure started yesterday morning with our first stop a link up with other One Lappers (Brian Hair, Greg Lindsey, and Dave Miller) from the DC Metro area at the scenic overlook at Frederick, MD.  Brian drove solo to South Bend as he would be hooking up with his co-driver who was making his way up from Atlanta.  The weather as we left Arlington was cloudy, but not raining.  We were only a few miles up I-270 before it started to rain heavily and the storms that were just missing Arlington were passing overhead.  But in what we hope is a good omen for the remainder of the trip, the rain stopped as we were pulling in to the scenic overlook.

The rest of the 605 mile trip was uneventful which is how we like it.  As we headed west we drove in and out of small rain showers and watched the mercury steadily drop (72 when we left home and 42 at the Quality Inn parking lot).  The group stopped for lunch at the Beer Kettle south of Cleveland where Megan was pleasant and served up a great lunch.

As we arrived in South Bend and passed the golden dome of Notre Dame I went in search of a drug store for meds to fight a burgeoning cold while the others stopped to pick up a six pack or two.  Finding a Walgreens and the meds I needed, I made my way back to the motel.  Pulling in there were a few One Lappers there and also checking in.  Not feeling that well, I grabbed the room key and made off to unpack the essentials

Not long after, our small caravan came to our room where we ordered pizza and had a beer or two.  The crew left for the bar while I popped a few drugs and went to sleep.

Hello South Bend.......more to come after tech inspection and registration today!!!!!

Drive Against Prostate Cancer - The Golf Outing

The Drive Against Prostate Cancer golf tournament for 2011 has come and gone.  The event held at International Country Club in Fairfax, VA was a resounding success.  The course was in great shape and the ICC staff was extremely helpul.  The weather Gods listened to our prayers and provided a glorious day...a bit on the warm side for late April, but no one complained.  The tournament continues to grow and we are truly making a difference in our fight against prostate cancer in support of ZERO - The Project to End Prostate Cancer.

But it is the tournament sponsors and the people who participate that make the event what it is each and every year.  To all of you.....my deepest gratitude and MANY THANKS!!!!!

With everyone's support, the tournament mulligan "program" raised $2,200.  Thanks to Shane Ferguson, our long drive champion, and the Tee to Green Challenge we raised another $800.  Thanks again Shane!!!!  To top it all off, each of the win, place, show teams for the tournament generously contributed back all of their winnings totalling another $1,400.  In all with tournament sponsors and individual donations, we have raised nearly $50,000 thus far. 

It's not too late though!!!  You can still donate to the Drive Against Prostate Cancer by visiting www.zerocancer.org/events/pennies-for-prostates.  Every dollar counts in this important cause in men's health.  Please help us make a difference.

24 Hours of LeMons - A One Lap Warm Up (of sorts)

Last weekend, a group of true knuckheads as my better half calls us went to Millville, NJ to race in the 24 Hours of LeMons.  The team was made up of Woody Hair, Neil Simon, Robert DiGiovanni, Grant Stephens, Jerry Reich, and me.  While we have participated in another race within this so called "series" that was a true 24 hours in duration, this particular event at New Jersey Motorsports Park's (NJMP) Lightning Circuit was only 15 hours and broken up over two days (8 hours Saturday and 7 hours Sunday). 

For anyone that does not know about the 24 Hours of LeMons it is a race series for cars that are not worth extensibly more than $500.  Safety gear - roll cage, race seat, racing harnesses, tires, brakes, and the like do not count against the $500 limit.  Of course our crapper car of choice is a 1991 BMW E30 318is.  A little four banger that had seen better days, but loves the track!

The weekend before the race a few of the team members gathered at Bobby D's abode to work on the car.  Minor items to shore up the car.  After our fine mechanical skills were exhausted we loaded DaChit back on the transport trailer and headed to Woody's house where it sat on the street until our 7:15 am departure Friday morning (April 8th).

Woody and I hooked up the X5 to the trailer and off we went.  Despite the nasty weather, tolls, minor rush hour traffic, and a wee wee stop we arrived at NJMP at 11 am.  We set up camp, repainted the number from 50 to 70 (really just the 5 to a 7 as the zero is a toilet seat and requires no painting - see photo), and went to tech.  The car failed due to slightly questionable welds in a couple of places on the roll cage.  In addition, Woody could not exit the car in the required time of 4 seconds or less.  Woody narrowed it down eventually to 4.2 seconds, but that was not good enough.  I wondered how they had passed another driver in the paddock that was at least 350 pounds and would have had to been dislodged from the seat and car with a crane and that only after a 30 minute soaking in bacon fat grease.

Unable to borrow any welding equipment within the paddock, we found a tooling/machine shop on the other side of Vineland, a neighboring metropolis, who agreed to look at it.  We were at the shop from 2:20 to 6pm, but were able to close up the questionable welds.  Arriving back at the paddock, tech had closed for the day.  Not to worry though as we had another chance on saturday morning prior to the race start.

While the others left for their hotel in Atlantic City, Woody and I went to the Old Oar House Tavern in Millville for beers.  After a beer or two and a nice meal, we retired to our luxury suite at the Quality Inn.

Saturday was a beautiful day with temps in the 60s. Our welds passed tech and Woody's egress from the car, while one of his admittedly slower attempts, was quite satisfactory. We then had "BS" tech where penalty laps are assessed for the judges' estimate of the cars value over $500 and speed potential.  They questioned whether this abandoned car came with shiney new H&R race springs.  OOPS, I knew we should have muddied those puppies up.  Anyway, we were happy with only 1 BS lap penalty as other cars in the field were assessed up to 40 laps.

With 6 drivers for our car, we decided on one 1:15 stint each, allowing for 5 minutes for fuel and driver change. We just weren't sure if we could go 2:30 on a tank of gas and didn't want a driver to have to pit early. I started, and according to the other team members watching was quickly knocking off good laps and passing a ton of cars.  Early in my stint a piece of thick metal debris/plate struck the windshield right in front of me. My efforts to duck were stymied by the harness.  The resulting crack wasn't bad.  When I came in to the fuel pumps for the first driver change I reported getting lots of fender rubbing on the left front.  A quick glance at the tire showed the outer edge of the new Dunlop Z1 was shaved off.  The fender had been damaged when we were knocked out of the race at Nelson Ledges. It was not an issue at a subsequent race at Summit Point due to the mostly left hand turns, but at Lightning there is a very long, banked, fast light-bulbed shaped turn. Think of a one mile stock car oval run clockwise. After re-fueling, our new driver, Neil, drove to our paddock area and a jack handle was used to bend the fender out. At the end of Neil's stint we didn't think there was any more tire damage, but to be sure we pulled the wheel and I pounded on the inner fender with a BIG F'ING HAMMER.

Neil, Jerry and Woody continued to do a great job in their stints and we were in 7th place in the 5th hour. We hadn't received any black flags for wheels off, spins on track, or contact.  Wheel-to-wheel racing is SO much fun and with 66 cars on the track with widely varying speeds (and skills), it is quite intense.

It was soon Bobby D's turn at the wheel.  Robert was not out more than 10 minutes when the car was seen moving gingerly through turn 7.  I next saw Robert exit the track and drive VERY slowly to our paddock. The clutch was slipping so bad it had almost no forward umph.  Neil and Jerry tried bleeding the clutch slave cylinder to no avail.  So after 188 laps of the 1.9-mile track, and 5 1/2 hours of the 15 scheduled, we were forced to pack it in.

Given the hour, Neil, Woody, and I opted to stay another night in that swinging town called Millville.  It was another fine meal, a brew or two, and good laughs at the Oar House.  We were so tired that we were horizontal by 9 pm, but with alarms set for 3:45 am so we could watch the Formula One race live from somewhere in the Far East.  After a quick cat nap post F1 race we were back at the track by 9:00 am to pick up the wounded warrior and head for home.

In all, a bittersweet weekend. But we're looking forward to our next LeMons at the Shenandoah track at Summit Point in June.  Where did we finish officially?  With missing almost 2/3rds of the race, we ended up 54th of 66.

Cheers!!!!

Catch Up!!!

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, but things have been happening and so it's time to do a little catching up on the news.

First a photo of the new ride is posted.  The 2011 E92 M3 is a bit dirty in this photo, but that is to be expected after having just returned a few hours ago from Virginia International Raceway (VIR).  This past Wednesday, I made a late decision to head south to Danville, VA to VIR and finally get some ON TRACK seat time in the car and compete in the NASA Time Trials.  The weather was forecast to be ugly, but what the heck.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  The drive down Friday afternoon was uneventful and quite nice.  I arrived at VIR around 4:30 and got the necessary registration, transponder rental, and car technical inspections out of the way.  From there I patiently awaited the arrival of a sales person (Ryan) from Bimmerworld, an on-line BMW after market parts distributer, who had a set of Performance Friction race brake pads for my car.  I was not really looking forward to hauling down the M3 from high speeds on the stock, original equipment manufacturer (OEM), pads!  Thus the call for track delivery of the more agressive race pads.  The appointed arrival of said delivery boy came and went.  It was well past beer-thirty, so it would be an early Saturday morning swap of the OEM to race brake pads.  I would have plenty of time as the first time trial warm up was not scheduled until 10:20 am.

Fast forward to Saturday morning.  I only had two beers with my enchiladas dinner and a ton of laughs with friends the night before (thanks....Jon, Neil, Barry, Kathyrn, Mary, Kyle, and Adam).  Replacing brake pads and driving at high speeds require a good nights sleep and no hang-over.  The good nights sleep helped the on track portion of the day as it turned out, but replacing the pads turned out to take a bit more concentration than originally contemplated. 

Our new friend Ryan finally arrived at 8:15 and I was happily handed a set of front and rear pads.  Off I hiked to our paddock space and the start of a nasty chore that I was not really looking forward to.  I had no sooner started jacking up the car and I said....I friggin' hate doing this!  It was cold and the car is worked on from the ground (a fine crushed stone...not pavement) versus a lift.  Thankfully, it was not raining.  Left side wheels off, caliper pins unbolted, retainer clips pulled, brake wear sensors removed, pads removed with some effort (I don't think the M3 engineers ever wanted them extracted!?), and finally new pads installed.  Then put it all back together in reverse.  Time taken to do one side - 45 minutes.  Approximately 20 minutes longer than it should have!

Let's repeat the same exercise now on the right side of the car.  Okay Einstein, lessons learned from the left side adventure are and should be applied to the right side.  Seems like a good idea and as it turns out things are running more smoothly...apparently.  I must add here that Jon and Robert have been assisting in an effort to make the work progress quickly as no one likes doing this.  THANKS gents!  The right side rears are done and Robert and I are finishing up the front.  "Finishing up"....that's an under statement!  After I try unsuccessfully to replace the caliper pins (essentially long bolts that connect the caliper to the brake assembly hugging the rotor) for 10 minutes, Robert makes a fateful attempt and after Robert, Jon steps in.  None of us are successful.  There is no shouting, but a fair amount of frustration and a few - "get out of the way...let me try again".  There are several more rounds taken by each of us.  At this point, I feel as though we are in a World Pro Wrestling cage match and I just got the tag to enter the ring with a 3,700 lb musled brute affectionally called Helga.  I am not exactly sure of the total elapsed time, but my guess is we have been working the "issue" for 30 minutes.  The issue is that the caliper pins will not align with their proper bolt holes and that is due to the caliper not "nesting" to the brake assembly caliper bracket.

At this point, Robert and I are the only idiots (sorry Robert....that idiot is singular - me) left trying to solve the puzzle problem.  Jon had smartly moved on to more important things such as working on his own car.  Scratching our collective heads - Why won't a square peg go in a round hole?  We are so close!?  Crap, the other side went back together with no effort!?  Like most problems, one simply needs to sit back, take a deep breath, have a shot of Patron, and a long drag off a Marlboro to properly assess the situtaiton (or recount whatever activity you just finished).  Certainly a solution will present itself if we just slow down and THINK.  Well, it does.  I start looking more closely at the brake pad configurations....specifically the brake pad "backer plates".  I look at Robert and most confidently and proudly say as if to have just solved world peace - "there appears to be a front pad and rear pad to the front rotor assembly".  The tabbed pad goes on the front of the rotor, but not the rear of the rotor.  A truly eureka moment.  Robert runs to the other side of the car and inspects the previously assembled front brake assembly.  Sure as sh*t, there are two types of pads for the front brakes.  What has to happen next?  You got that right, we need to take apart the left side brakes again to get to the one pad we need and replace with the one pad we have in hand and won't fit on the right side.  We complete that in about 10 minutes and are back to the right side where we wrap up the project in another 5 minutes.  A new record for brake pad replacement on an E92 M3 - 1.5 hours.  I kid you not, a project that should have taken no more than 20-30 minutes tops for all four wheels!

Glad we completed the brake swap though as the car ran great on the track which equals fast!  The weather also held off with not a drop of the wet stuff all day which added to the go fast fun.  I saw a 155 MPH on the back straight which is realistically more in the 148-150 range as BMW builds in some underspeed fluff.  On the front straight I see 140 MPH which is the fastest I have personally ever traveled that piece of earth.  The Performance Friction pads did their job perfectly and added confidence going in to the braking zones.  Through the twisty parts of the track, the car handled superbly.  What a brilliant piece of machinery and engineering.  The V-8 sings and is only really happy at 6,000 RPM's and above.  After each session I arrive back to my paddock space with a huge grin.

The One Lap is going to be fun!!!!!  Enough said.

The M3 is Up and Running!

It appears we have great news.  The M3 has been returned to her rightful owner and she appears to be holding steady with the limp mode issues resolved.  Emotionally, I have been pulled through a meat grinder.  There is nothing like purchasing a brand new sports car (why buy used as you're just purchasing someone else's problems) and right out of the box the car has issues that the manufacturer has never seen before.  What are the chances?  Has my luck totally forsaken me and headed screaming for the hills of West Virginia?  For those of you who know me, officially I have no hair left to pull out.

So what was the ultimate problem?  To be honest, I am not really sure BMW knows, but here's what they did.  They replaced three parts that center around the Idle Air Control Valve that feeds cylinder bank number one of an eight cylinder engine.  Obviously there are four cylinders to a "bank" and there are two banks, one each side in a "V" block configuration, but that is far as I can go with today's techno speak. 

It appears that every fault code was informing our well schooled BMW techs that the number one bank was being robbed of air (sorry about the pun).  There are basically three components that make an engine operate....fuel, spark/igniter, and air....from there you get violent yet controlled mini explosions that make everything down stream move forward.  For those of you old enough, thing about your last colonoscopy prep!  If one of the three is missing (if "missing" frankly you're screwed) or lacking in the appropriate quantity then an extremely refined on-board computer throws a fault code which then leads to, yep, you guessed it, LIMP MODE - REDUCED POWER - GO HOME WHIMP!

So after replacing these air control parts with no improvement, the geniuses on the other side of the Atlantic decided it must be a glitch in the software.  The next step in this highly thought-out process was to give the car a full on lobotomy and then, like Dr. Frankenstein, hook up the car to these crazy machines and re-install its brain (Abby Normal - not).  Hopefully, we are now glitch free.  With the car in my possession for the past week, all is well, so I am remaining very optimistic.

I am off this Saturday to a BMW autocross event, so we'll put the car through some mild paces and see how she performs.  After that it's a track day the middle of April at Summit Point for a good old fashion thrashing.

Stay tuned for more updates and thanks for your patience in listening to our now extinct tale of woe.

I've Got Those Limp Home Mode Blues!!

Say it ain't so Batman.  That's right boy wonder, your car is at the BMW dealer where it has been for almost two weeks while they work out lord knows what?!

It all started about 3-1/2 weeks ago when the new and I mean brand new 4,000 miles to date M3 went in to limp mode while backing out of the driveway.  While I like to engage in a spirited start to my day and the drive to work, it does not include throwing the car in to reverse and smoking the tires out of the drive.  So naturally it was a call to the dealer and an appointment with the BMW techs.

The car has been with the techs now for just under two weeks where they are in daily communications with the M Group wizards in Germany working through replacement parts.  Seems the issues are centered around the idle air control valve and the number one bank of cylinders.  They have replaced three components at this point and have the car once again under "testing" which involves nothing more than going out and cranking it up after a cold night.  After starting her up, they see what happens after a brief cruise around the block.  The daily ritual involves a repeated crank in the afternoon after the car has completely cooled off.  Day two progress report card came through with flying colors.  Day three always seems to bring the unhappy news it seems though, so I will light a candle to the Gods and stand on my head as that is a trick I have not yet attempted to cure those limp home mode blues.

I am confident that BMW will eventually fix whatever the issue is...it's that or a new car in my book!  Anyway, when I last wrote, Woody and I were looking forward to our testing days at Virginia International Raceway with the M3.  That weekend has now come and gone as of a few days ago and obviously without the M3.  So, now we'll wait for  an autocross event on March 19th and then a track day at Summit Point in mid-April to get in some testing.  I am looking at this as the glass is half full and that BMW will be able to sort out the issues by those dates.

So in closing, I ask that everyone remain calm and light candles to the Gods in concert with me.  I've determined that if we all participate in a nod to the pantheon of petrol guzzlers, we're bound to wake up from this nightmare!

Cheers!

Drive Against Prostate Cancer - Prologue

Where has a year gone?  Wow....it has flown by and we are three short months from the start of another Tire Rack One Lap of America in support of ZERO - The Project to End Prostate Cancer.

The ZERO - The Project to End Prostate Cancer golf tournament date is set for April 25th at Westwood Country Club.  Once again, we plan to put on a great event.  Hitt Contracting has graciously agreed again to be the title sponsor of the event.  Huge THANKS to Hitt!!!!!!

We'll be running a new car in the One Lap this year - a 2011 BMW M3 with a Competition Package (factory suspension upgrades).  The first shake down cruise has already occurred with Woody Hair and me driving it to Daytona, FL for the Rolex Series 24 Hours at Daytona.  The car ran great, is very comfortable, and gets fairly good mileage on the highway (21.1 MPG) given it sports a 4.4 liter V-8 motor.  The next shake down occurs at Virginia International Raceway the end of this month.  It will the cars first time on track and I am very much looking forward to it.  Woody will be at VIR as well so we'll both grab some seat toime in the car.  I hope the weather starts to take a turn for the better over the next few weeks.

I'll post some photos of the new car and provide an update after the VIR event.  Please stay tuned!!!!