April 8, 2006 BMW CCA LA Auto-x

[White05X3]

The next installment of the BMW CCA LA Chapter auto-x series will be on April 8, 2006 at California Speedway. Now that I have a little auto-x experience under my belt, I am going to shoot for a better result.

I really hope to see some other SAV drivers at the event!

[White05X3]

Well, it is 4:45a.m. and I am getting ready to head off to California Speedway. Wish me luck!

[AzNMpower32]

Geez that's real early. Hope you had good luck today. Now we're all waitin for the pics

[White05X3]

Well, it was quite a day. California Speedway makes a great auto-x venue!

The X3 and I came in 2nd, approximately 1.2 seconds behind 1st place (an 01 330ci). I was faster than many cars in M Stock, and faster than 2 of the cars in M modified. There were 16 cars in "X" class (all non-BMWs) and I was faster than a WRX, G35, 1985 911 Carrera, and a 1985 Civic. I was less than 1.3 seconds behind a 2006 Carrera "S." Fast time of the day went to a wild 1999 Corvette... I was 10 seconds behind that guy.

Take a look at http://randall-harris.com/X3_Auto_x.html to watch the 3 runs from inside the car.

[818Guy]

Congrats (again).

[White05X3]

Thanks man! It was quite a day!

[RastaGurl]

Originally Posted by White05X3

Well, it was quite a day. California Speedway makes a great auto-x venue!

The X3 and I came in 2nd, approximately 1.2 seconds behind 1st place (an 01 330ci). I was faster than many cars in M Stock, and faster than 2 of the cars in M modified. There were 16 cars in "X" class (all non-BMWs) and I was faster than a WRX, G35, 1985 911 Carrera, and a 1985 Civic. I was less than 1.3 seconds behind a 2006 Carrera "S." Fast time of the day went to a wild 1999 Corvette... I was 10 seconds behind that guy.

Take a look at http://randall-harris.com/X3_Auto_x.html to watch the 3 runs from inside the car.

Looks like fun!!

[White05X3]

Thanks! It was a great time. I kept trying and trying to power slide it, but to no avail. X drive just sent the extra power forward and the car would hook-up. It was also interesting that contrary to normal rear wheel drive dogma, when the car pushes you need to ADD throttle...

I hope to start seeing more SAV's out there soon!

[Speedfreak]

Congratulations on those fantastic results. It says alot about your driving skills and the sporting capability of the X3. One of the videos shows the absense of heavy body lean that other suvs suffer from. I believe you posted somewhere else that you were using stock tires. Do you believe the optional performance rubber (stickier & with wider rears) would increase the body lean to a considerable degree? Thanks.

[White05X3]

Originally Posted by Speedfreak

Congratulations on those fantastic results. It says alot about your driving skills and the sporting capability of the X3. One of the videos shows the absense of heavy body lean that other suvs suffer from. I believe you posted somewhere else that you were using stock tires. Do you believe the optional performance rubber (stickier & with wider rears) would increase the body lean to a considerable degree? Thanks.

Thanks! I appreciate the compliments!

As for body lean, the tires are not all that involved. While the level of cornering grip would increase and thue place more force on the suspension, I don't think the increase would be so great that it would cause a dramatic change.

That being said... I have considered sticky tires for auto-x (to get me those precious fractions of a second), I have decided against that. I think because of the high CG of the X series it is helpful to have the tires slide before the cornering forces get too high. That way it minimizes the probability of rolling over.

Does that help??? I am afraid it doesn't...