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Originally Posted by AlanL
Very nice 
I liked the laps at the end better than the first ones, but still looked pretty good for someone doing his first day at that track. Major kudos for having the guts to take it out to a facility like that in the first place. I am willing to bet that the P-car owner who had to point you by is not too happy about how far his driving skill levels need to advance before he can do any justice to what his wallet can afford 
As a driving instructor who owns one of these critters, I would like to comment that you can tease your laps times down a little more by trying to enter the turns a smidgeon later with a little more speed. Since we don't have a lot of omph for the straights we have to carry as much speed as possible through the turns to make up the difference. From what I have seen with mine out on roadways at (ahem) playful speeds it is really happy about being trailbraked into a turn with a late apex and back on throttle immediately after coming off the brakes. As with any track/car, there are always improvements that will come about as you go back for more seat time and become more familiar with the turns.
Watch the Miata drivers carefully for hints on how to play the momentum card - these guys are experts on how to play that game to the hilt.
How did the brakes hold up? Given the weight of these things I suspect that it's unlikely BMW gave us pads that are up to heat levels we can generate if we really push them out on a road track. |
Thanks for the kudos! It was awesome!
Thank you for the tips!! I totally appreciate it!! I rode with an instructor in a Miata around california speedway and got first hand experience with conserving momentum as I watched him destroy an Evo 8...
The school was teaching a "school line" and the instructors were pretty insistent about sticking to it. Because of the high CG of the X3 I was focusing mainly on smooth steering inputs and gentle lines so as not to upset the apple cart too much. During the long sweeping corners I used the xdrive pretty aggressively to apply more throttle earlier to make-up for my lack of HP. There was really only one corner that would have rewarded trail braking (turn 4), but I was not carrying anywere near enough speed up the hill from 3 to be able to use that technique. WSIR really rewards high HP cars which unfortunately I was not driving.
The brakes were perfect all weekend. Not even a hint of fade or rotor warping. However WSIR is not particularly demanding on brakes. While speeds are high, the corners are almost all very fast so the amount of speed you scrub is small and braking zones are long. In addition I was always very well aware of the X3's weight and CG so I drove more conservatively than I would have in a car. As such my braking zones were even longer and more gentle than necessary, but again that was a conscious choice I made. I imagine that had an instructor been driving the X3 for a full session we would have gotten a better measure of the brakes!
According to a couple of friends of mine who are instructors and who followed me around, the car looked totally flat and stable all the way around. Everybody was surprised at how well it did (myself included). Seems as if BMW did a pretty good job on this thing!!!