Pizzafest II Report - (the need for Brakes!)

["Christian Sorensen" <sorensen@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

As the Canadian representative for Pizzafest II I enjoyed a tremendous time.
Christina and I took a few extra days off and turned the excursion into a
mini-vacation / tour of Washington and civil war battlefields.

We met lots of tremendous people and had a great time swapping stories and
driving around. I got a kick out of the auto-X course which was
significantly less twisty than the types they lay out up here. This didn't
make it simpler, it just changed the nature of the challenge. My times got
down to the 63s which I figure are OK for a stock 328i on street tires.

Later at Rosecroft we couldn't resist a few wagers, too bad that for every
winning ticket there were 2 or 3 losers!  The next day at the go-karts I had
a real blast sliding around in my best Dale Earnhardt impression, tho of
course I got nailed every bit as much as I gave out. We don't seem to have
any of this kind of kart course up in Canada, too bad.

For the fun rally Christina and I took our time and managed to get ~95% of
the course answers Woody had laid out, but the 'BMW trivia' questions were
too much!  (I guess I shoulda brought a laptop with a satellite modem. Next
time :> ).  We arrived late at Hooters only to find out there'd been no real
car wash by Hooters gals (I'm sure Christina was disappointed).  Not
sticking around, we decamped to Dave & Busters were I underwent another
round of culture shock. I felt like I was being bounced around in a giant
pinball machine!

Track day at Summit Point opened under a drizzling rain that was really the
only bad weather we encountered on our trip.  It wasn't too bad, however,
and I proceeded to learn the track in what felt like a continuous sideways
drift (esp through 5 and 6).  Certainly the sight of Kathryn's M3 laying
cocked in the trees past the hairpin instilled caution. I wish it had also
made me think more about brake pads because as it turned out mine were
dangerously close to being gone.

For the afternoon sessions I really hooked up and began to appreciate the
track, especially the chute at 4 and the left-right combo through 7 and 8.
My instructor felt I was progressing fast enough he signed me off for solo
after the 3rd run!   However, its clear that my driving abilities had
eclipsed my mechanical common sense since I was not yet aware that my brakes
had gone. Sure, the brake light had come on during the 3rd session but since
it went away I took no more notice. (That, of course, was the wear sensor
getting toasted.)

On the next-to-last lap that session I barreled down into 1 from 180+kph and
started a smooth, hard brake application at the first marker.  Sure I was
slowing down, but I noticed that it wasn't fast enough!  I had my foot on
the floorboard but ABS wasn't kicking in, which is to say that my pads no
longer had the grip to lock the brakes!  I went in deep, then finally,
gently, cranked in steering. It was obvious my radius wasn't tight enough
but my squealing tires told me that was all there was.  The edge of the
track came up ... two wheels went off ... then all four ... my feet were off
the pedals and I straightened the steering a tad. We were still turning and
thankfully there was enough run-off to be able to follow the track around
whilst I lost speed. Somewhere around 2 a paved access road came up and
allowed the car to gently reenter the track.  Whew!

Oddly enough I had enough brakes to complete the lap without further
incident, albeit at reduced speed.  I mentally chalked up the off to 'glazed
pads' and proceeded to exult during the cool-off lap about my performance
during the session.  I was still in denial and would no doubt have charged
off for another session had not my observant fellow Pizzafesters noticed my
brakes were making waaaaaay too much noise!

At this point I examined the front pads and found that there weren't any!
My 'Metal Masters' had faded away to nothing in the space of 3 months.  Doh!
Furthermore I had no spare pads, much less than any tools to change them
with. To the rescue came Marc Plante with a full set plus tools. We jacked
up the car and in short order he had the left front calipers off the rotor
to reveal that all was left were fused-in backing plates :(. On went some
new, stock, pads in order to get me home but now I'll need new front rotors
and a sensor.  Marc departed to do his last session and Rafael helped me do
the right front pads.  Having seen and done this now I realize there's no
excuse for ignoring this aspect of maintenance as a DIY basic for any track
junkie.

Marc had the class to return after his session and check out my rears, which
also needed replacement.  This he proceeded to do in short order, revealing
that this was an operation he was very familiar with. I owe him a big debt
of gratitude now as well as the cost of his pads - just tell me where to
send the money, Marc. As I reflect on the events now I realize that for all
the fun involved with driving our cars and tooling around with them DIY
maintenance is also a basic safety issue. I appreciate also that the sharing
of knowledge, experience and effort amongst the Pizzafesters and BMW Digest
contributors in general is a two-way street - its important to pay
attention!

So ... I learned alot, made new friends, and had loads of fun.  I'm wiser
now but just as full of enthusiasm.  See y'all later.


Christian Sorensen
Vice-President, Data Recovery Labs
sorensen@domain.elided

BMW 328i (BL/SS'd)
BMW CC, CCA

------------------------------