Saturday, 10 May - Tire Rack and the END!

We got to Tire Rack by 8:00AM to get set up for the group photo.

For the Dry Skid Pad, which was the last event of the One Lap, the cars were placed on the grid in reverse order, so we were one of the first to run.  David generated about .95 g’s and did very well, placing 24^th overall.

At the closing banquet, we did NOT get any trophy, but we did have a great time found many new friends.

Mark, Jeff, David, Shane, Joe and Roy

We’ll try to get some photo albums posted after we get home.

Friday, 9 May - Gingerman

There was a ‘malfunction’ in our alarm clock this morning.  It was supposed to go off at 5:45 (it could have been operator error), but luckily somebody had to use the bathroom only to discover it was 6:45.  We missed breakfast and headed to Gingerman.  We got there just about the time that the first run-groups we getting on the track.  David didn’t have time to take the bike on the track.

It was raining pretty hard for the first run groups that have the fastest cars and they were exhibiting some of David’s behaviors on our previous races.  Later on the rain diminished and by the time we ran, the track was fairly dry.  It definitely leveled the playing field for us slower and lower powered cars.  David finished 14!

Our friend Roy had discovered additional problems when he ran at Mid Ohio after the strut was replaced.  He had also damaged the stabilizer link on that same wheel.  He had called BimmerWorld last night on the east coast and the manager hand delivered the part for overnight shipping.  While we were waiting to run, they got a call that the part had arrived in South Haven so they drove back into town and got the new part on the car in time to run with us.  He did run the first session but did not do very well.  They went back into town to find a repair shop and determined that the rear link suspension was severely bent.  It would not do well under high corner loads but seemed to be good enough to attempt the drive home.  Ray decided to stick around for tomorrow, but will not do the skid pad.

It rained again over the lunch break but did clear up by the time the second session started.  David looked good again but since the higher ranked cars had relatively dry surface he came in 33^rd, which is our best finish in an open field.

They opened the track for practice laps and I got to get some real track time.  It was fun, but being on the track with some of best cars here, I spent a lot of effort checking the rear view mirror and letting a bunch of cars by on every straight.  I did figure out how to break the rear end free but all I had to do was slow down to recover.

We drove back to South Bend, jumped in the Jacuzzi and are headed for a steak dinner.

Thursday, 9 May - Mid Ohio

Yesterday was the Mid Ohio Race Course.  It’s a nice wide track.  The best thing was the garages that were available.  It got us inside and out of the sun.  There were big long benches to store our gear and we had power to charge up all our electronics.

In the morning session, our run group was just us and two other BMW E36’s.  We’ve gotten be good friends with both of them.  There’s an M-3 Sedan from the Hallet Race Track in Oklahoma, that we visited two years ago and an M-3 Coupe from Massachusetts, that we’d raced with on the previous two One Lap’s that we’ve been in.  As we decided on our order, someone suggested the sequence of red/white/blue.  We talked to the starter and said we wanted some photos on the track so he agreed to release all three cars at the same time for the re-con lap.  Hopefully, the professional photographers got some good ones.

Unfortunately, Roy, who is in the blue car was trying out some advice on how to take a corner in the ‘esses’ where you come up over the rise, take a hard turn to the inside, and then as the car starts to slide and come around, he’d be headed directly for the next corner.  Ray later said that the car started it’s slide, but just kept going……  He hit the wall on the right side and the front wheel took most of the impact.

He got to the starting line, but knew something was wrong and he left the track before the start.

On David’s first lap, he must have wondered where Ray was, because in one of the more technical sequence of corners, he turned the car around to see if Ray was back there.  Since he wasn’t there, he just kept the car turning until it headed forward again and continued one.  He later explained it was something he’d seen on TV called the “Danny Sullivan Spin and Win”.  He still had a fairly good run.

That cloud of dust belongs to us!

We spent the noon hour helping out on Rays car.  His front strut was damaged.  One of the drivers who had already sent his car home (a TDI with a blown engine) owns a speed shop and, with enough borrowed tools, was able to get the damaged parts off.  We finally found a part in Columbus, and a volunteer took Ray down there and got back to the track 3 hours later.  They re-assembled the car and got it back on the track just before it closed at 3:30.

David’s second run was a lot better.  He says that he’s finally getting the hang of it.  (I think that means he’s always keeping the car pointed forward…….)

We had to make a Passage Control stop at Design Engineering where all our cars were put on display.  They fed us and we left.  We went to our hotel in South Bend instead of near the Michigan track at South Haven.  Gingerman Race Track I is only and hour north of there so we get to stay in the same hotel two nights in a row.  We got to the hotel in time to enjoy a decent meal.

Wednesday, 7 May

It was a long night.  Each of us got about 2 hours of sleep on the way. We got to our hotel at 4:10.  We checked in, and were in bed by 4:30.  The alarm went off at 6:30.

NJMP is another nice track.  They have a lot of condos and garages on site that people own.   There are two separate tracks on the site.  We raced at ‘Thunderbolt’ in the morning and “Lightning” in the afternoon.  The afternoon track had long straight sections and was very fast.

David had one interesting corner this morning that generated a dust cloud.  It’s the only useful way to answer the classic question:  “How do I know if this is the fastest I can go in this corner?”

We continue to race with the same guys on our run group and getting know each other well.  David finished 38^th in the morning and 43^rd in the afternoon.  There are now 10 cars that did not compete today.

We finished the afternoon session about 3PM.  It took us forever to skirt around Philadelphia.  It’s now 5:30 and we’re making good time on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  By the time we get to our hotel near the Mid Ohio race track it will be after 11PM.  We have to be at the track tomorrow at 8AM.

Tuesday, 6 May PM.

We got to the BMW Performance Driving Center a little after 4PM.  Some of the cars who had finished earlier at AMP were already on the track.  Several of them were leaving BMW about the time we arrived.

It was another technical track.  By now, David may be getting used to blind corners at the top of at hill on strange tracks.  You need to remember that we only get “ONE” practice lap on a track before your timed in competition.  A steep learning curve helps.  David said it was fun…….

We’re not on the 630 mile run to New Jersey.  Could get there by 3:30AM if we don’t stop, but I’m guessing we’ll have to.  We’re planning to switch drivers and take breaks often.

The odometer on the M-3 turned 165,000 miles during the trip last night.  We’ll get 166,000 well before the night is over…….