If you didn’t read the earlier blog…. I did a track day at MSR Houston with Drivers Edge. They are a high performance drivers education (HPDE) organizer. It’s kinda like racing school where you get instructors and class time. There are four levels: green, blue, yellow, red. Green is novice, blue is you have some track experience but same its the speed at green, yellow is SOLO, and red is SOLO also but allows passing on the corners. As you get better you can move up the levels.

I have some experience at the track but its my first time with Drivers Edge and Im no way professional level. When I signed up I placed myself in lowest class (novice) becuase I did want some class time and an instructor to help me on my techniques.

The first day at MSR Houston (MSRH) I was bumped to blue group (semi novice) becuase I “was too fast for the green group,” said my instructor. The instructor mentioned that my car was set up for the track and could tell I had some track experience. Not going to lie I was shocked and felt confident, and happy that my experience helped me move up the group.

The 2nd day I continued to track with the blue group. The cars in that group are more powerful cars like GTRs, and Corvettes. We still get the occasional traffic but passing is more recognized. We still get class time but its on more advanced techniques and spatial awareness like recognizing the flag stations are the cars around you. On my 2nd session of the day the instructor was impressed enough that I could move up the the yellow group (3rd highest) which means I can go SOLO!!! I was told to go out with the yellow group on my third session and do a ride check. Ride check means an instructor with grade you and see if you are ready for the group.

Unfortunately… It started to rain on the 3rd session and I wasn’t able to get ride checked for the yellow group. But they still let me run with the yellow group by myself! I was nervous becuase the I don’t have much experience in the rain and the yellow group are more advance drivers and some had race cars! I just kept saying to my head “don’t mess up now, you made it to the yellow group. Last thing you want is to spin out and go back to blue group” I wanted to move up the group levels because the red and yellow groups have discounted rates, and my fellow M3 friends are in that group!

I was pretty happy that I moved up to the yellow group. I was never checked off with the yellow group, but I was able to ride with them on the last two sessions in the rain! The tip to move up the groups is not being the fastest. You have to recognize the flags and corner workers, show good driving techniques and recognize cars around you. You may be the fastest driver but if you don’t see the cars around you or the flags then you’ll never move up.

My lap times did improve and I was getting faster each sessions except when it rained of course. Next week its another track day at Texas World Speedway with NASA and then MSR Houston! Looking forward to that! I honestly think the car show days are gone hahaha.

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We all have dreams or ambitions to go to a track day at least once but sometimes the cost is a big issue. Soo, is track day expensive? Well, it depends… It depends on what car you want to track, what track day events you go to, and how much are you willing to spend. Anybody can go to a track day with a budget, you don’t have to be rich or wealthy to be in this sport. We all start off somewhere.

Let start with what car you want to track: people want to track with a track oriented car but sometimes it isn’t the case. With track days, there isn’t really any requirements except for safety and stock cars passes those safety requirements. So who cares if the person next to you has a Porsche GT3, Corvette Z06, or some other fast super car. Just bring whatever car you have becuase its about the joy of being at the track and gaining experience. On the track I’ve seen people drive their base model automatic Mini Cooper around the track and have a blast. Learn with what you got, don’t make excuses “my car isn’t fast”, or my car needs this or that. You’re only limiting yourself when you make excuses.

Now what kind of car you are going to track will also be dependent on maintenance. If you have a more expensive car, then the maintenance and parts will also be expensive. The oil change on my M3, it is around $150ish just for the oil and filter. When I had the Miata I would pay $50 for the oil and filter. As you start tracking more often, the maintenance intervals will be more frequent. Whatever car you decide to take out to the track, also think about maintenance cost. Because a car that isn’t maintained wont run well anywhere.

Next is deciding what track day events to go to. Some tracks cost more than others and some events doesn’t give you as much seat time. Some events offers instructors and others don’t. I usually go to several websites to check out track days. Ill post the links in the bottom of the page. Most track days are around the $355 range like MSR Houston and Texas World Speedway for 4 sessions. Others tracks like Harris Hill and MSR Cresson can cost $150 for 3 sessions. At Circuit of the Americas you’ll pay $545 for 4 sessions. If you stay with an organization and move up to a more advance group then there are usually discounts. In order to move up though, you have to go to several track events so your skill levels will improve to an advance run group. Then if you are good enough to be an instructor, most track events are free or pay a very small amount.

Last factor is budget…Once you factor in the maintenance cost, then you can kinda decide how much you are willing to pay for track events and how ofter you want to go. For me, and thankfully I can afford to tack my M3 once a month. I don’t always go to the $355 track events, most cases I pay the $150 events. Only once I’ve been to COTA. If I did have the money, then I would go there more often. But with the heavy price tag, its a track I could go once a year. To keep my cost down, I buy a lot of used parts. As a matter of fact, most of my mods on my M3 are used. I go on the forums and most people sell their parts at least 50% less than retail. By doing that, I have extra money to attend track days. When Im looking for parts Im very patient, if the budget doesn’t allow it then I’ll pass. Took me over a year before I found a really good deal on seat mounts. Finds ways to save in order for you attend track days.

Of course track days has some dangers like crashing and the possibly totaling your car. Yes most insurance companies will not cover the damage if it happened at the track. But with that danger in mind, do you limit yourself and say no its too risky. Some people do, because of that fear. For me I know about that danger, so the track demands respect. I don’t let the fear control me but Im not YOLO and attack the course balls out. Track days is all about having fun, learning car control and pushing yourself mentally to take your car to the limit in a safe way. This is my golfing. I push myself mentally to go a bit faster each lap, learn the lines, and feel the behavior of the my car.

This what I love to do.

http://www.motorsportreg.com/

https://www.tracknightinamerica.com/

https://www.nasaproracing.com/

https://www.thedriversedge.net/index.html

http://www.edgeaddicts.com/

https://clubregistration.net/login.cfm?CFID=3965862&CFTOKEN=30ea6b22219748fb-8C803F2F-155D-65DD-342863EB5E563CA1

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It has been one year since I went to my first track day, and ever since then I’ve been hooked. Some cars you just have more fun at the track then on the street. Especially with performance oriented cars like the Porsche GT3, Corvette Z06, Cadillac CTS-V, Nissan GTR, and the BMW M3. These types of cars are more appreciated the track because you can’t feel the full potential on the street… at least legally and safely.  Auto manufactures do see this niche in this market and glad they continue to make cars like these.

My M3 has been very good and reliable after 10 track/drift days, BMW build a great car that you could daily and more than capable at the track. Sometimes I go to track days and see other cars break down, or have some kind of issue but not the M3. I think that is becuase it was made for the track. Yes owning an M3 is expensive to maintain compared to other cars but a little maintenance goes a long way.

Last month I was lucky to go drifting on TX86 Day at the Houston Police Academy and was great fun. But after several runs and Texas summer heat, my differential started to get too hot and make a whining noise. I knew I had to take a break and let the diff cool. Last thing I want is a busted differential. Realizing the diff fluid hasn’t been flush after 60k miles and several track days it was due for a flush. Since I was doing a diff flush I went ahead and included a transmission flush. Thats when I called the guys at ABR Houston and scheduled an appointment.

ABR Houston is an independent BMW shop. I take my M3 there for more BMW oriented installs or maintenance. They have great customer service and they do know to how to work on BMWs. They did my engine bearing replacement on my M3 and its still running strong. For the flush, I went with factory BMW differential fluid and Motul fluid for the tranny. Why not just use the same brand? Well, I’ve gotten lots of recommendations to use the factory BMW diff fluid because of the friction modulator additive. With the transmission fluid I went with Motul because it was cheaper then OEM and with the tranny fluid you can use any brand. I also bought ECS Tuning magnetic differential drain plug to pick up any contaminants.

The following week, I went to Backyard Auto, which is owned by Fernando. He is very good guy that knows how to work on cars. Its not a BMW specialty shop like ABR Houston but I go to him for bolt on stuff, small maintenance and alignments. On the M3 forums I managed to get a set of floor mounts and Hawk race brake pads for really cheap. Most of the modifications on the M3 are used, hahaha. It helps keep the cost down, so its something to think about if you are on a budget. I was eyeing a set of used rotors but I backed off becuase the rotors didn’t look too great and was almost expensive as a new OEM rotors. Plus I track the M3 once a month and I wanted try something better than OEM but not pay for a big brake kit. I ended up going to with ECS Tuning 2 pc rotors because the price difference for the OEM rotor wasn’t much and has a better cooling efficiency than OEM. I only replaced the front rotors because the OEM rotor was below minimum thickness and most of the braking is done by the front brakes.

The ECS rotor is a two piece rotor with the additions of slots and more holes and this allows for better cooling then the OEM version. At the track Im pretty sure I will feel improved braking performance compared to OEM.

The ECS rotors have more vanes then the OEM version. Already glad with my purchase and a nice upgrade to a more track oriented set up

Then onto the the brake pads. I went with Hawk DTC-70 brake pads, which is a track pad and not really intended for the street. You can still drive on the street but I wouldn’t recommend that. I bought it from a guy that used it for two track days in Circuit of the Americas, obviously it can do track duty.

On the left is my Akebono street pads after one year of track use and Im happy to say it’s still useable and I do intend to switch back to Akebono pads after track days because the Hawk pads are soo abrasive that I don’t want to go through rotors frequently. The Hawk pad (right) has a lot of meat left compared to the Akebono pad (right). Interested to see how long the Hawk pads last during track days.

Hawks pads and ECS rotors installed!

Next we worked on to replace the stock driver seat to a bucket seat. I still had my old Status seat from the GTI, and the only hardware I needed was a floor mount. I picked up a set of used Macht Schnell floor mounts and the install was fairly straight forward. I didn’t get sliders because I wanted to keep cost down, sit low, and I like the fix seating. If you can’t fit then you can’t drive it.I did cut some good weight with the Status seat, because the stock seats are very heavy.

After the install, I did get an airbag waring light but I’ll code that out before the next track day. The waring light doesn’t disable the iDrive or make noises so it is livable. I kept the stock passenger seat mainly becuase I still wanted the functionality of back seat. The problem with the M3 coupes is once you have two bucket seats, then there isn’t any room to the get into the back seat, at that point you might as well remove the rear seat.

After the initial drive, I didn’t feel any difference in the shifting and wasn’t any noises from the differential. The didn’t feel any noticeable gains from the flush but least I got fresh fluid. I have yet to take to take it to the track to see if the differential would make noise. The noise I did notice was the brakes haha. Sounded like the bus stop squeals. The common problem with race pads is they do make a squealing noise, and very abrasive to the the rotors. You sacrifice comfort for better stopping at the track. I also noticed after two days of city driving they produce a lot of brake dust, worst than OEM. It is annoying to have to clean your wheels more frequently. Thats why I kept my street pads so i can switch them out between track days. The Status bucket seat fit snugly to my body and holds me in place in the corners. I feel the road more, and lower seating position has a s2000 ergonomics feel with more helmet clearance. This weekend I have a two day track weekend and excited to see how they perform.

http://www.ecstuning.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Backyard-Auto/1098057443561688

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Saw this very clean E36 M3 slammed on bronze TE37 wheels at the TXDF event last weekend. Very nice and simple build, I couldn’t find the owner though…

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Such a dope pic from the photographers at Blacklisted Crew.

“There’s no wax on, wax off in drifting. The first drifters invented drifting out here in the mountains by feeling it. So feel it!” – Han

http://www.blacklistedcrew.com/