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<misc> July 18 Driver's School @ SIR

First, my condolences to Charles Harman on his loss of his '85 325e at the
Bridge.

Here's a report on the July 18th driver's school at SIR (Seattle).  The day
was sponsored by the Corvette Marque Club of Seattle.  Lots of 'Vettes (of
course), and 911s.  The BMW marque was represented by:  a Dinan M5 Turbo
(e28), '91 M3, '95 M3 LTW (not PeeKay), '87 535is w/ Dinan Stage III
suspension, '70 2002, and our '69 1600ti.

This was the first outing for the ti with its newly re-worked head and BFG
R1 tires.  Unfortunately, the day dawned wet and cloudy in Seattle.  The
previous run of sunny weather had expired that previous Tuesday.  The
morning sessions were excellent opportunities to re-learn your car at much
reduced corner speeds. In fact, the ti was able to keep up with about all of
the cars in the corners under those conditions.  The second morning session
was abruptly ended when a late model Corvette decided to get on the throttle
exiting turn 9...oops!  The armco came up suddenly and that poor fellow had
a four point contact with the wall.  Unfortunately, his misadventure took
out the trailing Corvette also.  No one was injured physically.  After a
stern lecture from the track stewards on controlling the speed along the
straights, the final morning sessions were conducted.

At lunch break I decided to put back on my Yoko A509 street tires, since the
rain appeared to be not going away.  Thinking that the A509s would be a
better rain tire I ventured out for my first session of the afternoon.
Imagine trying to run a foot race on ice in leather soled shoes!  That was
exactly how the A509s felt on the wet (and oily) track.  My corner speed was
reduced by a good 10-15mph.  At the end of the session I made the decision
to put the R1s back on for the final session.

Finally, the sun came out!  The novice and advanced groups did a fine job of
drying the track out in time for my final chance for the day.  After a
couple of laps on the dry track, the R1s felt up to temperature.  Absolutely
the most significant upgrade I've made since running the ti at driver's
schools.  The adhesion was fantastic, with controlled break away at the
limit.  What's next?  Bilstein Sports, negative camber plates, and new upper
strut bearings.  Then that's it.  Honest. :) (Thanks John Browne for the R1
advice!)

- -Mike

ps:  I must put in a compliment on Ireland Engineering's tech support.  I
called them today to discuss shock options.  Jeff Ireland spent about 15-20
minutes discussing shocks, springs, camber plates, then another 20 minutes
discussing engine rebuilds.  Their number is 818-359-7674 if you need 2002
advice.  While RD Enterprises offers lower prices, I went with Ireland for
the shocks because of this technical support.
================================================================
Kim & Mike Hood-Douda	Raindance Farm  "Goats & BMWs...living
raindance@domain.elided	Lacomb, Oregon   in harmony!"
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