Albi Blue 200 >> BMW E46 Track Car

[Pav]

loved the laugh at the end..

 

[tombate911]

loved the laugh at the end..

Haha that was a Chris' 14 year old son who I had in as a passenger.

Here's a highlights clip from the weekend.

 

[Pav]

what an awesome track..hats off to you Tom..your driving skills are really impressive..well done mate..
the weather looks dry to so bet you had a cracking time..
love your video...makes me wanna go on track again

 

[john_walker74]

Going well there, what tyres and pads do you run?

 

[tombate911]

what an awesome track..hats off to you Tom..your driving skills are really impressive..well done mate..
the weather looks dry to so bet you had a cracking time..
love your video...makes me wanna go on track again

Cheers Pav. Was a wet greasy morning which you can see in the video at the beginning. but by dinner there was a solid dry line on the track. Great to get the dry tyres on for a change. Really enjoyed catching the quicker cars through the corners. The later part of the video was from the last session of the evening when everyone went out as a big group together, think everyone has a passenger in too which makes it all the more fun!
@Pav I was meaning to offer you a passenger lap at Oulton but everyone was so caught up in the track time I never got around to it, will have to do it next time I see you especially with the Megane engine in!

Going well there, what tyres and pads do you run?

Tyres are Federal RSR's (There's a little photo of the tyre and tyre wear on Page 7) Great tyres for the price. Every one of the 5 cars which were there at weekend in our group was running them.

Brake pads has been an interesting topic of conversation in our garage this weekend. I'm running the Brembo Pads and Discs. The 4 people who I took out as passengers couldn't believe how good the brakes are on the car and thought I was running a much more expensive set up.
If you watch the video back you can see how much later my braking point is that than any of the other cars on track. I do catch most people under braking.
I am however in the process of moving to braided lines. 330mm rotors which I've had a bit of input into the design and then i'll be trying some more track orientated pads.

 

[john_walker74]

Cheers Pav. Was a wet greasy morning which you can see in the video at the beginning. but by dinner there was a solid dry line on the track. Great to get the dry tyres on for a change. Really enjoyed catching the quicker cars through the corners. The later part of the video was from the last session of the evening when everyone went out as a big group together, think everyone has a passenger in too which makes it all the more fun!



Tyres are Federal RSR's (There's a little photo of the tyre and tyre wear on Page 7) Great tyres for the price. Every one of the 5 cars which were there at weekend in our group was running them.

Brake pads has been an interesting topic of conversation in our garage this weekend. I'm running the Brembo Pads and Discs. The 4 people who I took out as passengers couldn't believe how good the brakes are on the car and thought I was running a much more expensive set up.
If you watch the video back you can see how much later my braking point is that than any of the other cars on track. I do catch most people under braking.
I am however in the process of moving to braided lines. 330mm rotors which I've had a bit of input into the design and then i'll be trying some more track orientated pads.

Going to Snetterton on Thursday; hope its dry conditions like you had.

Yes, after I asked about tyres I remember the photo of the even wear. Getting even wear is one reason for getting the top mounts. I run direzza or R888R and find them to be more consistent and not go off like the rsr.

Have you not been tempted to try different pads before going for a 330 upgrade? I was set on getting a 330 kit, but with cheap brembo hc plain discs and carbotech XP10 pads the braking performance is phenomenal. I now don't see the need, although upgrades are always nice.

 

[tombate911]

Going to Snetterton on Thursday; hope its dry conditions like you had.

Yes, after I asked about tyres I remember the photo of the even wear. Getting even wear is one reason for getting the top mounts. I run direzza or R888R and find them to be more consistent and not go off like the rsr.

Have you not been tempted to try different pads before going for a 330 upgrade? I was set on getting a 330 kit, but with cheap brembo hc plain discs and carbotech XP10 pads the braking performance is phenomenal. I now don't see the need, although upgrades are always nice.

Yeah eventually i'll get around to trying more tyres, (the end goal is to move to slicks eventually in the distance future) but I guess when you've got something you like and are confident with it's easy to stick, I managed a good 20 minute session on the RSR's on Sat though. The last set I bought cost me peanuts, about £12.50 a tyre with a mix up so couldn't complain.

Regarding the brakes I was just going to upgrade the lines and pads and put new standard discs on as there needed anyway, Defo going to upgrade pads after this years track days but undecided as to what pads yet, but hopefully the upgrade to 330 with two part rotors won't cost a lot more so I'm probably going to go down that route depending on what the price works out at.

 

[john_walker74]

At £12.50 I'd happily run them. Even at normal price they are superb vfm.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised when you get some new pads.

 

[tombate911]

At £12.50 I'd happily run them. Even at normal price they are superb vfm.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised when you get some new pads.

I won't ever get them that cheap again so i'm glad I've got them wearing really evenly now.
I'll have a look at those CarboTech pads. I've seen them recommended before and the prices seemed pretty decent from what I can remember?
If I stick with standards Discs that money can be put towards the coilovers, but i'll weigh up the options when I price it all up. Cheers for the info, good to hear other peoples experiences. Have a great time at Snetterton, hope it's dry for you too.

 

[tombate911]

Here some of the video from the session with the spin.

Had to split the video in to two parts while I was using the trail version of Race Render. Full version going on my mew laptop soon.

No real car updates for the moment, I've been focusing my spare time to working in the garage/workshop getting things organised, tidied and cleaned for 2017 projects.

 

[tombate911]

Very little updates over Christmas, I've been resisting the temptation to spend money on the car at the moment as much as I'd love to drop a cage in and order my coilovers, I've decided to slow down the upgrading a little bit and see what needs replacing as it goes through 2017.

Only things i have purchased in December are some eye bolts to relocate the rear harnesses until I get a cage in there with a harness bar.

I filled the cars fuel tank with Petrol when I took it off the trailer after Snetterton and the fuel gauge is still reading full. That's how little use it's seen recently.

Now I've got the front geometry sorted with some good tyre wear I've decided to play with the rear a little more now starting with some 1 degree camber shims to bring it inline with cup specs for the rear.

 

[tombate911]

Hope everyone's well, I've been pretty quiet on here but it's been good to read everyone elses progress threads in the background.

Got my self booked onto Anglesey on the 25th Feb so starting to get things in order for then.

Spent the weekend fitting the camber shims and adjusting the harness locations. What a ball ache of a job it was fitting the camber shims, the bolts were well and truly stuck in the hubs. averaged 10-15 minutes per bolt to remove, not bad when there's 4 each side! Now running 1.5 degree camber each side on the rear.

Little treat turned up in the post this evening ready for this year. Anyone know what it is? Not that hard to work out to be honest.



Got some ideas in the pipeline for 2017. Hope it's a great year of modding and track days. Also would be good to meet up with more members on here so i'll be posting up well in advance any track days i'm doing in this thread as well as on the track days section.

Cheers

 

[Pav]

looks like a great year ahead..
didnt forget about the top mounts btw..will be in touch next week by the latest..cheers

 

[Big Ben]

Nope I don't know what it is lol. Any clues Tom?

 

[tombate911]

@Big Ben
Bought my self a 12 ton hydraulic press to help with jobs this year. Put it to use this weekend and fitted black Polybushes to the suspension on Chris' Clio Cup. Ill be using it on mine to do the bushes and rebuild the gear box at some point in the future, one of those tools that will come in handy along the way.

Progress updates but no photos yet....

Put in an order for suspension this week. Shame there's a 4 week build time for them at the moment but i'm super excited to get them on and fitted! Looking forward to a lower stiffer adjustment track set up.

Sourced a replacement wing to replace the damaged one from Snetterton so that's a job for weekend.

 

[tombate911]

Don't feel like I've posted many photos on here recently so he's some from this weekend.

Removed the front end and the old broken wing and replaced it with a Albi Blue panel from a Clio 197 which was being broken by a forum member on here. While it was in pieces.....



.... The AC had stopped working last summer and rather than starting to look at fixing it I would start by trying to remove some of the parasitic losses on the engine by starting getting the ball rolling with the AC delete. Removed all the pipes and the condenser while the bumper and wing was off it.



... All back together now and thought I would give it a wash for a few hours. I will describe it as wash, I've seen some of the detailing efforts but in by forum members lately!



Last weekend I fitted the camber shims in the back to give an additional 1 degree and moved the top mounts on the front further inwards.

Rear Camber - 1.5 Degrees
Front Camber - 2.5 Degrees



Little interior shot. Show's I've still pretty much got the full interior in except from the rear seats and isofix bar which were removed when the seats were fittied. The next step with be a rear cage for the car. When that goes in I'm planning on removing the rear interior and painting the inside of the shell to match the exterior with a black cage.



And finally a seats photo. Just because I can. Absolutely love these seats and harnesses. Going for a blast on the road in the 6 points makes the car feel totally different to wearing the standard belts.

 

[tombate911]

I also bought my self a suction mount that I can tether down for track days and thought I would give it a test on the way back from the petrol station with the go pro.

 

[Big Ben]

Some great photos Tom.

Car sounds good with the Milltek...!

 

[Pav]

good stuff Tom..so no more ac on a hot day for you??

 

[tombate911]

good stuff Tom..so no more ac on a hot day for you??

No more AC. However it was broke anyway so it was just added parts that wasn't really required and never used it on track days... In the summer i'll happily drive around with the windows down and listen to the exhaust.

I've got an AC delete kit on it's way which gets rid of one tensioner and the AC compressor along with fitting a smaller lightweight pulley.

Some great photos Tom.

Car sounds good with the Milltek...!

Thanks, sounds so much better in person than it does on the video, I wish it was slightly louder at times, however Chris on here has just fitted a cobra which sounds amazing but does ring the ears a little.

Still struggling with the wait for the coilovers to turn up!