# Nitto NT01 & Rotora - Laguna Seca - Track Record and Double Win



## ralphwarren (Aug 26, 2003)

Highlights of the September 23-24 Laguna Seca weekend for the Nitto/Rotora/Crevier/BMS/ E46 M3. Additional general weekend highlights are at the end.

After 2 solid weeks of chasing the SMG issues we experienced and had to deal with at Infineon, we reluctantly had to load up the car in the trailer for Laguna without solving the problem.

On up shifts the SMG computer is still slipping the clutch for about 5 seconds or so. Everything else is fine.

Over the past 2 weeks we tried the following...
1.) New clutch and pressure plate
2.) Re-adaptation of the SMG system (clutch, tranny, etc.)
3.) Look for errors on the AutoLogic computer, the BMW GT1 and Crevier's latest server-based system with constant VPN connectivity back to BMW NA.
4.) Installed latest version of SMG software
5.) Scour the Internet for information
6.) I called a dealership in England who sold a bunch of SMG CSL cars that are having a similar problem and talked to the top SMG tech there.
7.) Installed Dinan's 3.91 diff SMG software
8.) Tested at Cal Speedway

The only hint of luck we had was when we put an SMG computer in from another car. It worked great for about 5 minutes until we got a number of errors. Not wanting to mess up the other car which was under warranty we had to put our computer back in. This test told us that it is not a mechanical issue. I'm going to start replacing sensors that show errors. Some sensors are buried inside other components and are not replaceable without replacing the entire component (DSC/ABS pump, SMG pump, etc.)

We got to Laguna in time to test on Fri. Scott Lang drove the Friday test day and the Saturday sessions. I drove the 2 Sunday sessions. Sure enough, the car was excellent overall except for the 3-4 shifts. Same thing was still happening.

I wound up driving the car 200 miles to Paso Robles and back because I guess the car has to "adapt" when you reset the ECU or SMG computers. Didn't do a damn thing of course.

Fri. Scott bed in the new Rotora brake pads, set the pressures, made a small shock change and added a bit of negative camber to the front right. We bedded in an additional set of front pads in testing so if we needed to swap pads during the weekend, we'd be ready to go and not have to bed in pads during qual or the race.

Scott qualified first-in-class on Sat and won his class as well finishing 6th overall. He had a great battle with Hans from SSF, Scott Chan (who is our competition in the HP class) and Carl Lagoni. That pack exchanged positions here and there but Scott kept it up front despite the SMG issues. Scott did a great job of turning our powerful car into a momentum car by keeping the speed up through a number of corners allowing him to just keep the car in 4th for almost the entire track. Coming onto the front straight we had to go to 3rd and the front straight hill starts right where we need to go from 3rd to 4th so the actual clutch and flywheel must have taken quite a beating and will probably have to be replaced (again) once we figure this out.

My qual on Sun went well. The car was washing out on lefts a bit so we added more negative camber to the front right. This turned out to really help not only for left hand turns but helped braking as well. The front left negative camber was less than the right so under hard braking the car would start rotating to the left due to a larger contact patch on the front left tire - which was perfect. All the hard braking zones lead to a left hand turn so by the time it was time to turn in for the left, the car had already started its rotation into the turn. So cool.

For the Sunday race I got a killer start and went up the outside of turn 1 to make it 4-wide for the lead going into the braking zone into the tight turn 2. I could actually hear the top to race steward's stress pills pop open. I think it was Tom Miller on the inside, then John Trefethen (from Trefethen Winery), then Mickey Miller next to me and I was far right. I had to blink first and braked before the slick-shod 750 lb-less mod cars. I had the dirty outside line and came out 5th as VJ in my old world challenge car was right behind Tom on the inside. I looked behind me to see how Chan did on the start. I was hoping that the combination of power, big brakes, less weight and the slicks on Lagoni and Hans' cars would set Chan back a couple spots but when I looked back between 2 and 3 he was right on my ass.

VJ held me up a bit on the first lap as he worked through his diff issue and got his slicks up to temp. Once VJ started to walk away from me I was able to focus and get away from Chan building up a lead on him. On lap 4 I got a great run onto the front straight and knew that it was time to set my best lap time for the race. I was hoping for the track record which Chan had set the day before. I wound up with a 1:40.1 which was good enough. Once I had about 7 seconds on Chan I started taking it easy on the car.

With a decent lead and the race more than half over I was feeling pretty comfortable until a full-cores yellow came out. Lance Leong hit the tire wall and was in the middle of the track between 4 and 5. This gave Chan the chance to cool his Hoosiers, get back on my ass and have a shot at me for the final lap white-flag shootout. If I got wrong geared, held up or got caught with the clutch slipping at the wrong time, he had a chance.

Watching another race I saw where the starter threw the green and set up the run onto the front straight so I'd get a nice tow from VJ who was right in front of me. It worked out perfect - so perfect I could have passed VJ as well when he got held up a hair by a lapper. With me right on VJs butt and Chan behind me, we had one more lapper to deal with on that final lap. VJ's pretty smart and set him up perfect for the pass between 4 and 5. Knowing that VJ would do that, I got a run on VJ and made the pass as well going into 5 right behind VJ. This kept Chan behind us still and that was that. Such a fun race.

As usual, the Nitto NT01 tires and Rotora brakes performed flawlessly. The Nittos were up to speed on lap 1 and never went away one bit. The Rotora big brake kit front and rear kept the 3300lb car braking fade free at the hardest track on brakes I know of.

I have to thank my crew Scott Cary (car owner), Dave "The Animal" Beekman, Rick (owner of ohm-gear.com) and Adam "Party Monster" Johnson - big help guys - Thanks!!!

We accomplished our goal of a max-points win on Sun with a new track record for Nitto and Rotora!!!

-Ralph

Other Misc Notes from the weekend...

Mickey Miller and gang won the spirit of club racing award by helping Tom Miller swap out a diff.

Tom Bell continued his open door policy with his beautiful RV and got an honorary mention. Tom had a wild start on Sunday playing drift-master in 3. After being pushed off the track he kept his foot in it and held a sweet drift all the way around the outside of the turn. One of my crew guys got it on video - I will post it soon.

Mickey and Tom Miller had an epic battle in the Sunday race. Tom held off Mickey for the overall win with Trefethen a bit behind.

After owning the Infineon weekend 2 weeks earlier and the Fri test day at Laguna, Jon Holder developed had a nagging electrical issue with his ECU and couldn't make the start of the Sunday race.

VJ's diff finally went on him and he couldn't put the power down. He was able to manage just 4th overall on Sunday. The awesome PTG diff was rebuilt in 2002 before I bought the car and has been perfect up til now. Blanton - look for it soon.

Slicks and DOT tires are the same when on dirt.

Bret Strom had a great weekend in JS by driving well and going with a clever tire choice. He ran tall (yes tall) tires that allowed him to use 3rd gear for all the uphill sections of the track. While he was spinning in the S14 sweet-spot of 7600-8000 in 3rd, Blaine McNutt had to go to 4th and watch Brett walk away bit by bit. Very sneaky.

It was Bret Strom's birthday and Jim Basset just turned 40!

There was only one umbrella girl. I forget who she was with - he he.

The racing was tight, clean and we were on our best behavior.

I saw a battery-powered sit-down cooler scooter and fell in love. So cool - it's on my Christmas list big time. Look for speeding beer cans at track near you. http://tinyurl.com/lnqa3

The weather was perfect!

Hans drove incredible this weekend and was way up near the front in great battles both days.

Tarpy's was hopping on Saturday night. I'd say about 80% of the entire BMW gang was there. The wine and race stories were flowing "I once caught a race car this big!" The food fighting was actually quite minimal this year.

The sign says "8 Max" but the hot tub at the Cypress Tree Inn can easily hold 11 guys - ummm... so I hear.

Lance Leong had a single car incident in turn 4 and hurt the left side of his car pretty bad. Stepping away from the car you can almost make out cage design as the left side body panels had all pressed into the cage when he hit the tire wall. He had one of those seats with the "elephant ears" and the HANS of course. He walked away with just a bruised shoulder. His report is here... http://www.justracing.com/ggc_bmw_cca/viewtopic.php?t=340

There was a sweet BMW-powered Lola there in a Vintage group doing 1:30s. I smell Super Mod !!! Oh man - could you imagine? Holder and Miller just specs in your rear view mirror.


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## VCOUI (Jun 17, 2006)

FYI- If you are interested, there are over 60 photos I took of Saturday's event at the following URL *Click for Race Photos*


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