Testing... 1-2-3 Before 3-2-1 Launch!

Action Photo by Susan Dobson

DaveM3Fan's One Lap of America M3 took to the tracks at Summit Point Motorsports Park on the weekend of April 16-18 2011 for our first driver's school of the season. This made for a great chance to do some shakedown runs with the new tires and brakes (as well as the stickers)! 

It was "stress testing" when compared to the daily on-track format that we have on One Lap. At each venue on OLoA, we have only two relatively brief sessions where we get one warm-up lap, THREE hot laps and one cool down lap. 

At the driving school on the other hand, each run group gets four 20-minute run sessions daily. Over the space of 3 days, that amounts to quite a bit of track time if you drive all of each session. At the Jefferson Circuit for instance on Saturday/Sunday we could have driven as many as 76 (roughly 1 minute) laps per day! 

The car is really a STOCK 2011 Competition Package (ZCP) Sedan. To prepare, we maxed-out the factory limit of front negative camber, to a spec of -1.7 degrees. On the weekend we ran the NEW Michelin Pilot Super Sports in sizes 10mm larger than the factory tires: 255/35/19 up front and 275/35/19s on the OEM ZCP Wheels, which measure 19"x9" and 19"x10" respectively.

Nicole Osborne of Otto's Mini posing with the car in front of the Otto's trailer.
WHY? Because she looks one heck of a lot better than I do!

Quick impressions:
On Saturday we had LOTS OF RAIN. In the WET with these tires at full tread depth I drove two complete sessions with the "M Dynamic Mode" traction control still turned on. I figured there was no point in wrecking the car on day one if my brain wasn't "turned on" yet for the season.

It was a dark and stormy afternoon on Saturday!

With these tires, we were really cooking in the wet. They are better than any high performance tires I have ever driven in the wet. In the third session, I finally stopped "cheating" and turned all of the nannies OFF. The tires are brilliant. I'm sort of praying for rain on One Lap, except I don't want all of our belongings to get wet. This is a quandary.

Jefferson Circuit: Clockwise on Sunny Sunday!

Day two was sunny and dry!

I was able to push the tires hard for most of a 20 minute dry session and they did not get overheated or "greasy". They were very consistent. However, the Jefferson Circuit is a tight 1.12 mile course. A 3700 pound car with 414 horsepower does not fare nearly as as well as smaller, lighter and more nimble cars, such as those found in the instructor run group.

The Summit Point main circuit is also pretty tough on tires.

Being lazy and not getting adjustable camber plates for additional negative camber is a drawback here. My front tires' outer shoulders definitely took a beating. That said, Michelin has an impressive product here. Bravo!

ALERT: My Mom Lee Flogaus stole this Ferrari 458 and has not been seen since the weekend! If you have ANY INFORMATION about her whereabouts, please contact all the proper authorities IMMEDIATELY, if not sooner!

Get a load of THIS!

My friend Rusty Ristine generously photographed the car in the studio at Quadratec on Saturday 4/9/2011.

The results are extraordinary!

More photos pending, but this is too good not to share.

DaveM3Fan's 2011 M3 Sedan, to benefit the Children's Tumor Foundation www.CTF.org
Special thanks to our sponsors!

Other VERY cool news for 4/11/2011:

The tires arrived at Otto's BMW on Friday. The Michelin Pilot Super Sports are going on the car today, as well as the track-worthy brake pads. I will tell you more about the new pads after I get a few miles on them and I have established an initial impression. They are an all-new manufacturer and compound for me, so I am excited to give them a try.

Summit Point (with the Delaware Valley Chapter BMW CCA) is this coming weekend. Photos and a full report will be issued ASAP after the event!

Stay tuned!

Team "Only if its easy racing" Mark II

After a needlessly long delay, it is time to introduce the rest of our team for the 2011 effort!

A favorite of virtually every One Lap of America competitor I know,  Mike Babcock is a seasoned One Lap Vet with a diverse sportsman driving resume. He is more experienced in competition than I am and he's been a heck of a lot more successful in One Lap than I have previously. 

As I learned in elementary school gym class, always pick the best and most popular guy first!

Michael Sterling Babcock: Seasoned & Successful One Lap of America vet,
actually named for Mike Hawthorn and Sterling Moss!
Photo: Highland Design Studio 2006

If it pleases the court, I submit the following exhibits:

Mike Babcock was named after two former greats, Mike Hawthorn and Stirling Moss. He was destined to be a gear-head. Mike entered his first auto competition at the age of 14 as a co-driver in his father’s SCCA Pro Rally car, but by the time he was of legal age the rally car was gone and dirt bikes were the order of the day.

Mike and his father ran the enduro circuit aboard a pair of Husqvarnas until he moved to Arizona. Later, Mike campaigned a Husky WR430 in some desert races until marriage brought his motorsports career to a screeching halt. He then turned to BMX racing with his son Josh for a couple of seasons… but then Josh turned 16, got a driver’s license, and discovered girls… all at the same time. Needless to say, the BMX days were over.

Not long after that, the marriage failed, leaving Mike with a wealth of free time on his hands. Until December 14, 2000, when his father called, looking for a co-driver for the 2001 One Lap of America. Three days at the Bondurant school left him with a serious addiction to feed. A half-day school at the Motorsport Ranch in Texas, coupled with some track time in the family Audi S4 only made things worse. He ran Virginia International Speedway in the One Lap for his first competitive venue in the S4, and took 1st in class. Confidence was high. On the very next session… he went out and spun the car three times in as many laps. (reality happens fast!)

Since then, Mike has run Targa Newfoundland Rally, the One Lap of America eight times, three shots at the Open Track Challenge, and nine seasons of club racing in a Spec7 car.

Not ones to demand creature comforts, Mike and his father Norm (Team Iron Butt)
brought this warm and cozy vehicle in 2006... No, I am not kidding.
Photo: Highland Design Studio 2006

Based on Mike's background, I plan to have him share the on-track driving duties in my rather tame M3 sedan. Compared to some of his crazy rides in the past, we may have to prod him to stay awake in the Lexus-like bank-vault M3!

My next victim, oops...

I mean to say team mate is Ed Narewski.

Over the past few years Ed and I have talked each other into a host of stupid ideas.

From elective engine swaps, to unnecessary car purchases and insane european travel, Ed is a quiet guy of enormous talent. Laboratory tests have proven that his voice is actually a frequency I cannot hear, which makes conversation that much more nuanced.

I asked him to use his own words to describe his lifelong mental illness:

As a young toddler growing up in Roxborough (Philadelphia). I would ride my big metal Tonka truck down our street. After getting into trouble for riding where I wasn't supposed to be, I would grab my brothers Hot Rod magazines and read 'em cover to cover.

At home there were many large cars to be explored. We had a Torino wagon, a LTD wagon, a Volvo and a 1967 Mustang.  My sister taught me to drive in the Torino wagon when I was the ripe age of 12. My older brother would let me help change oil and perform general car maintenance. I loved taking things apart and ALSO putting them back together.  

As a young teen, it was BMX racing.  I loved the speed, the jumps and the very cool bikes. But, it was never enough, I needed a car. My first car was the coolest 1970 Volkswagen Beetle ever. It had no heat, no air conditioning, holes in the floor pans and needed help starting much of the time.  Regardless, it was mine and I was determined to make it great.  So, my love for detailing cars begins.  

Cars ought to be fast and perform well, but to me they also need to look good. I have a large collection of cleaning and detailing products.  I have been detailing for over 30 years. I frequently work with a close friend of mine detailing special cars for events such as Pebble Beach. Through this skill I have been privileged to have "hands-on time" with some very special cars such as  Ferrari 275 GTB twin-cam, Ferrari Lusso and an 8 liter Bentley.

I have owned quite a few German cars over the years.  One of the best was my 16v Volkswagen GTI.  Frankly, this car was the best GTI on the east coast.  With attention to detail I was able to win all the major Volkswagen shows in the mid-atlantic region for three years running. With the Delaware Valley Chapter of the BMW CCA I was able to enjoy the GTI at its limits on track.  I was also involved with the build and crewing for a BMW SCCA Pro-Rally team. This was my first experience with crazy high-mileage road trips for the sake of automobiledom.

Life moves on.  I now have a 95 M3 and also a 94 BMW 325is M-Tech.  I am once again a member of the BMW Club and throughly enjoying the track events. With my knucklehead teammate I have enjoyed a couple of trips to Germany and have logged many laps on the Nürburgring.  In 2011 I will be attending a fair amount of BMW track events, as well as a few Road Rally events (with the Main Line Sports Car Club) and participating in (my first) One Lap of America.

Ed will be handling a good bit of the transit driving, troubleshooting where necessary and "taking in" the general insanity of One Lap.

A few years back, I gave Brock Yates (Sr.) my own take on One Lap of America:

"One Lap is the circus that truly needs all of its clowns"

I'd say we are each "guilty as charged"!

SPEEDCO Products are on the way, direct from the Vaterland

The good news just keeps coming!
Our official Speedco order has been shipped from Germany, via budget shipping...

More exciting developments for the team!

English is obviously a second language for Jim, but it's a heck of a lot better than I can do in German!

The ongoing generosity of our sponsors is very gratifying!

UPDATE!
The special delivery arrived 3/28/11... And the contents are thrilling.

No, the German flag stuff is not a pair of matching thong underwear (thank goodness!)

You really have to hand it to the Germans for their attention to detail... 

Video clip of BMW M Performance Exhaust from the Otto's BMW wash bay

I'll make this one short and sweet...

Before we did the decals in the Otto's BMW wash bay, Otto's BMW photographer Peter captured this video clip.

DaveM3Fan's YouTube Page link

We didn't want to scare the folks in the adjacent MINI showroom, so this was just a small taste.

Thus far, I'm thrilled with the exhaust.

Thanks again to Otto's BMW of West Chester for the sponsorship!

Stealth Mode = OFF

Brock Yates usually finishes the One Lap of America's pre-start driver's meeting with a version of his old chestnut:

"Well, that that we have cleverly disguised you all as race cars,
take to the highway and live by the submariner's creed: Run silent, run DEEP"

Gerry Walsh uses Johnson's Baby Shampoo solution to float the large decals during placement

Looks AWESOME already!

Now for the tricky business of door gaps and the gas filler door... 

SuperEd applies the Michelin Man to the nose... to ward off road hazards!

I will have much more about the significance of the front plate, stay tuned.

Happy to be biting off more than I can chew!

It won't be easy to be inconspicuous wearing these clothes... But maybe we can keep our spurs from jangling... ?

One of my rationalizations is that in the 21st century, 1 out of every 5 pet-walkers and pizza shop owners have applied some sort of advertising car wrap to their Scions.

Very Special thanks to Gerry Walsh (good friend and Parts Manager at Otto's BMW) and SuperEd for a fantastic job applying and tweaking the decals.

It'll be up to me to attract ONLY favorable attention on the roads of Southeast Pennsylvania for the run up to the event, which starts APRIL 30th in South Bend, Indiana.

MUCH MORE to come between now and then.

Thanks for reading!

DaveM3Fan

I didn't dream it... They were all still there in the morning!

The BMW M Performance Exhaust has landed!

The exhaust is very sweet!

This is only the very first heat cycle, so this sound signature is VERY preliminary, and the video is from a camera phone on yukky gray day to boot...

But in the spirit of instant gratification, I present:

Early sound & video clip #1

Early sound & video clip #2

Special thanks to Otto's BMW for sponsoring this very special addition to our One Lap effort!

It's going to be great fun to spread the word about this system on One Lap 2011!