sharing your M3/M4 at the track

[evanescent03]

anyone have a partner-in-crime with the car the track? i've never shared so not sure what things to pay especially close attention to.

my co-driver will be my wife who has never done an HPDE before so i'm guessing the car will fair just fine but we will just need to be a little careful if we are doing sessions back to back (i can come in a little early if i'm first, or go out a few minutes late to my session if i go after her).

ordered her a helmet today and stoked to have her join me! looking for any advice about having two drivers, but also seeing who has done an HPDE with their wife and how it went.

i'm excited for her to get out there with me!

[MasterP]

I'd advise against back to back.

The tires and brakes (assuming stock) won't hold up.

A session off could be used to check over the car, get gas if needed, and visit with your instructors/co drivers.

My Buddy's wife does HPDE's in her own E90 M3. She can make some of the lads cry.

[brian99997]

2nd not running back to back.

On a small tight track, I could only drive 6-7 laps before the stock brakes were done. The only way to get a fast lap was on cold tires. The MPSS have been known to chunk when overheated as well and probably more easily at full tread depth.

On a large track, I burned over 1/3rd of a tank of gas per 20 minutes.

[robbo mcs]

Hi,

You will be fine sharing the car, especially if your wife is a newcomer to drive days. She won't be pushing the car too hard.

My wife tracks the F82, and I alternate occasional sessions. The car copes fine.

At my local club we have lots of people who share cars.

You have to be extra aware of heat management issues, brakes and tire wire. Make extra sure you allow a decent cool down lap a the end of sessions to let the brakes cool and air flow through the coolers. You also have to vigilant about tire pressures etc. Also because you tend to be in a hurry between sessions don't neglect basic maintenence issues like checking tire pressures, re torquing wheel nuts etc

Also, the car will consume everything twice as fast, fuel, brake pads, tires etc, so you need to be aware of that and watch them carefully.

Hope your wife enjoys the car on the track, mine does

[evanescent03]

Originally Posted by TrakBch

I'd advise against back to back.

The tires and brakes (assuming stock) won't hold up.

A session off could be used to check over the car, get gas if needed, and visit with your instructors/co drivers.

My Buddy's wife does HPDE's in her own E90 M3. She can make some of the lads cry.

brakes will be RS29s and Dot4 fluid, tires will be NT01s. definitely will need to manage our stuff but won't have to much of a say in what groups we're in though maybe I can ask to get bumped down into intermediate of that helps..

thanks!

[evanescent03]

Originally Posted by brian99997

2nd not running back to back.

On a small tight track, I could only drive 6-7 laps before the stock brakes were done. The only way to get a fast lap was on cold tires. The MPSS have been known to chunk when overheated as well and probably more easily at full tread depth.

On a large track, I burned over 1/3rd of a tank of gas per 20 minutes.

thank you! relatively short track.. I read the MPSS overheating stuff and am ordering nt01 to take care of that. the track surface has been recently repaved which is a plus.

good input thanks!

[evanescent03]

Originally Posted by robbo mcs

Hi,

You will be fine sharing the car, especially if your wife is a newcomer to drive days. She won't be pushing the car too hard.

My wife tracks the F82, and I alternate occasional sessions. The car copes fine.

At my local club we have lots of people who share cars.

You have to be extra aware of heat management issues, brakes and tire wire. Make extra sure you allow a decent cool down lap a the end of sessions to let the brakes cool and air flow through the coolers. You also have to vigilant about tire pressures etc. Also because you tend to be in a hurry between sessions don't neglect basic maintenence issues like checking tire pressures, re torquing wheel nuts etc

Also, the car will consume everything twice as fast, fuel, brake pads, tires etc, so you need to be aware of that and watch them carefully.

Hope your wife enjoys the car on the track, mine does

good call. I'll probably sacrifice some of my "personal best" attempts to let the car cool down towards the end of my session to get it to be more prime time for her. I've done it enough that the most exciting part about this trip will be having her out there with me.

thanks! I'll definitely be monitoring things extra closely for safety.

if she likes it.. we're going to need a bigger garage!

[MaynardZed]

Originally Posted by evanescent03

brakes will be RS29s and Dot4 fluid, tires will be NT01s. definitely will need to manage our stuff but won't have to much of a say in what groups we're in though maybe I can ask to get bumped down into intermediate of that helps..

thanks!

I think you'll be fine back to back sessions with that setup once your tire pressures are dialed in.