E46 Things
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Heel toeing on all downshifts?
Last fall on track yes, otherwise not a lot of opportunities on street besides roundabout entrances or those lucky right turns on green lights.
The main changes/improvements are:
-Learning how to rev-match downshifts quickly, smoothly, and accurately. Prior to figuring this out I would always rev-match but it was never quite enough rpm or I would do it too slowly. I wanted to give it SOME rpm to attempt a rev match but not too much that it surges upon re-engagement.
-retraining my brain to make sure the clutch pedal is 100% depressed rather than 95% before starting to change gears. It didnt always happen but I noticed this bad habit that I have probably been doing my whole life.
-memorizing the rpm change for each gear and actually timing the clutch release for a smooth upshift instead of just “shift as quickly as possible as long as you are allowing time for the synchros to do their job”. This was learned because the heavy dual mass flywheel decelerates more slowly and the clutch release timing is slightly different than every other car I have owned
-It is now a habit to shift 1 and 2 palm inward and 3 through 6 palm outward
-overall im using the tach as a useful tool much more often rather than just for avoiding bumping the rev limiter
among other things.
Trying to describe it is probably makes me sound like a caveman driving manual for the first time. But like I said, the Clutch Delay Valve and tricky cold shifting really forced me to be more mindful of shifting and pay close attention to all the details involved. As a result I think I have improved on some bad form from years past.
Now I just need some smaller feet.
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Kind of stuck with your feet, so think about shoes. Heel and toe tends to be easier for me on track with the race shoes. Size 13 feet. Though my foot size does make traditional/ actual heel and toe easier that just foot roll version. Also depends on pedal setup in the car. For a street car you can look into driving shoes: narrower, thinner but hard soles.
Watching tach on track means eyes down rather than up. I’ve got shift light on the top of the dash that goes off so I can keep eyes up and also avoid bogging at rev limiter. Especially on race starts where it’s a zoo or when I’m passing someone deep in a corner and need to make sure the other guy behaves. Realize installing a light may not be the best option for street car. But even without a light you can practice listening to engine noise and getting a sense of what noise is what rev.
For heel and toe shifting I rely more on sound cues that help to develop feel than tach. This means an exhaust loud enough to hear the throttle blips while wearing a helmet and also the rev noise when you get it wrong.
Good habit on palm reversal for 3-4 shift. With 5-3 shifts I tend to row 5-4-3 to make sure I get to 3 cleanly. Though again this depends if I’m clean into a corner or trying to deep pass after a long straight into a slow turn (e.g., turn 5 or 12 at Road America ).
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Watching tach on track means eyes down rather than up. I’ve got shift light on the top of the dash that goes off so I can keep eyes up and also avoid bogging at rev limiter. Especially on race starts where it’s a zoo or when I’m passing someone deep in a corner and need to make sure the other guy behaves. Realize installing a light may not be the best option for street car.
Im imagining a zoo of identical sounding M20s + a helmet could very easily leave you bouncing off the limiter without a visual cue. I recently coded the tach warmup lights into shift lights. Cant beat free!
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Im imagining a zoo of identical sounding M20s + a helmet could very easily leave you bouncing off the limiter without a visual cue. I recently coded the tach warmup lights into shift lights. Cant beat free!
Hah! The m20s and more the Spec Miatas in the same run group. Like running in the midst of a hive-belching swarm of loud angry bees.
Good deal on the coding. Nicely done!
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I fired up my engine vape to see if there were any opportunities for improvement. The silicone coupling on the new intake was leaking. Silicone couplers always seem to “settle” after engine movement and heat, and require re-adjustment. All good now! No other leaks detected.
Aaand some smoke rings
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-quick wash
-changed throttle mapping again to make a couple minor tweaks and Improvements to my first revision. It is much better than stock now. No dead zone on initial tip-in and sport mode isnt hyper-sensitive
-Finally got around to resetting the TPMS system. The light has been on ever since I have owned it. It’s wheel speed based rather than pressure sensors. This leaves only 2 more warning lights to remove from the dash, the washer fluid (just need to fill it
) and the brake wear sensors -
Signed up for July 15th track day at Blackhawk Farms with @patsbimmer1 . I'd love to see others sign up. A track day with a group of friends would be amazing fun!
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Plus side BFR has trees.... oops. Plus side hard to go 130 at BFR...for most folks anyway.
Advice to Brian and others: with the caveat that I wasn't there.
a) if you go off and even if you roll, stay in your car until the safety crew arrives. The NASA advice stated by the interviewer is NOT what NASA teaches at least for the three years I was racing with them. Yes they drill on quick escape door open and door shut. But you stay in the car unless it's on fire. Wait for safety crew if only to provide you with physical cover. Other idiots on track may follow you off and bodies standing outside the car are really soft targets.
b) if you drop a wheel off: do not try to turn back onto the track at speed, keep car straight and slow down, once under control and traffic is clear then gradually merge back onto track. He's doing 130, drops a wheel and from the video it looks like he tries to turn back onto track...not once but twice. NOOOOO!!!. This looks like it starts a tank slap, he tries to straighten it out, gets a reverse slap (is his foot still on gas, brake & clutch not clear ???), finally hits berm goes airborne.
Any way very glad he's OK and walked away from this.
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Plus side BFR has trees.... oops. Plus side hard to go 130 at BFR...for most folks anyway.
Advice to Brian and others: with the caveat that I wasn't there.
a) if you go off and even if you roll, stay in your car until the safety crew arrives. The NASA advice stated by the interviewer is NOT what NASA teaches at least for the three years I was racing with them. Yes they drill on quick escape door open and door shut. But you stay in the car unless it's on fire. Wait for safety crew if only to provide you with physical cover. Other idiots on track may follow you off and bodies standing outside the car are really soft targets.
b) if you drop a wheel off: do not try to turn back onto the track at speed, keep car straight and slow down, once under control and traffic is clear then gradually merge back onto track. He's doing 130, drops a wheel and from the video it looks like he tries to turn back onto track...not once but twice. NOOOOO!!!. This looks like it starts a tank slap, he tries to straighten it out, gets a reverse slap (is his foot still on gas, brake & clutch not clear ???), finally hits berm goes airborne.
Any way very glad he's OK and walked away from this.
Your input is always welcome and appreciated.
if you go 4 off dont you need to wait for a marshall to flag you back on track?
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Tends to vary by organization.
Typically four wheels off and able to drive the car and in sight of a flag station you wave to show you’re ok and watch traffic and the corner worker to signal you that there’s clear space to get back on track.
Once back in track you’ll likely get black flagged and yes you go around the track, signal for pit entry, enter the pits and check In with the chief steward... who may calmly ask you wtf happened and depending on how stupid you were might allow you back on the track.
Four off in a NASA DE and if the car is ok you get back in track and continue the session and debrief afterwards. Freaked me out the first time in my run group when a guy in a Miata went off three times during the same session and it was no big deal. I was expecting to see him get reamed in the group debrief. Bmwcca event and he would have been gone.
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Accumulated pollen
Disregarded the instruction to leave it to a professional and installed a new MAF sensor because unlike my fried chicken, I like my throttle extra crispy
I google searched leather treatments that work well for Nappa leather, found 2 people who seemed to like a product called Trinova on some obscure forum somewhere and that was good enough for me to blow some money.
Its clear and oily unlike the shampoo-like stuff from AutoZone that seems to do nothing.
its alright. It didnt turn the leather back into a baby cow or anything but its an improvement. Not like you can really tell anything from this crappy pic
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