[wjones14]

I'll preface this by saying I am neither an expert or a pro. I have done 1 track day each year since 2007 at tracks in the northeast U.S., most of them with a 2005 S197 Mustang GT until I got the 2 Series last year. I have gone out with the Intermediate group (once) and soloed (once), but still prefer to have an instructor aboard if possible.

The 235 has 6,000 miles and is bone stock with the original staggered Michelin PSS tires. I personally don't have any need or desire to mod the car at all - it's fine as is for what I do. I'm not trying to set any records, and no matter how fast you are, there are no trophies at an HPDE track day!

The M235i was great on the track. I was conservative with it, braking earlier than optimal, staying clear of the walls, Sport+ mode but DSC still on, etc. I just try to drive a good line, learn the dynamics of the car, and improve each time out. Don't get me wrong, the tires were squealing on literally every turn, but I'm just nowhere near the limits of what the car can do.

This was my third time at the Glen. It's by far my favorite track, with Lime Rock a distant second. Either I'm improving or this car is a lot better than the Mustang, because I beat my best lap in the Mustang by 11 seconds! Here's the Mustang lap from 2010:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzxOGIeYuqQ

Relatively speaking, my 2:34 best lap yesterday is slow. There was a white M2 at the track that did a 2:17 lap. My buddy rode along in that M2, and said the guy was on the absolute edge the whole time, all the nannies turned off, going completely over the rumble strips and within inches of the wall entering the front straight, and hitting close to 140 mph on the back straight. (My instructor hit 150 mph on the back straight and did a 2:07 lap, but he did it in a full-bore race truck, over 600 hp and 600 lb/ft at the rear wheels.)

Most importantly, I had a great time, and drove the car home, dirty, a little less tire tread and brake pad, but otherwise unscathed. And again, the M Laptimer app proves to be an invaluable tool that will let me review and relive the track sessions whenever I want.

[wjones14]

BTW, the reason the lap times in the Laptimer pic are so inconsistent is because I don't think I had a single lap without being held up by slower cars at some point. Eventually I got by them, and hence the 2:34 lap.

[overcoil]

Curious what the track temperature was?

Very cool.

[bryan_G01]

what kind of times you throwing down at LRP?

[M3 Esq]

awesome man

The Glen rocks, glad you had fun!

[wjones14]

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

Curious what the track temperature was?

Very cool.

It was cool and cloudy when we arrived. My first track session was at 9:30 am, so I was in the pit staging lane at 9:20, and it started raining lightly at 9:25. I didn't think of using Rain-X on the windshield so I had to flip the wipers every 30 seconds or so. It rained lightly the whole session and the track was definitely wet. According to the Laptimer app, my best lap of this session was 3:13 and top speed was 116 mph.

Scheduled to go out again at 11:00 am, but it was raining pretty hard so I declined that session. It stopped raining just before noon, and stayed dry until 4:00 pm. I went out at 2:00 pm for my only dry session. The track was totally dry, and I'm sure it was still cool. The sun did come out for an hour or so, but the air temperature was only in the low 70s.

One thing I didn't mention before - this is the first time my 2er had ever been driven in the rain! I owned it since Apr 2015, and never took it out if it was raining, the forecast was for rain, or even if the road was wet. I did find out that it didn't melt...

[wjones14]

Originally Posted by bryan_f22

what kind of times you throwing down at LRP?

Well, I never went with the BMW. I barely broke 1:09 with the Mustang on all-season tires. I know that's not fast since there was a BRZ in my group that did a 1:08 - he did have summer tires and a chip, but still, it was a BRZ.

Fastest cars I ever saw at Lime Rock were the NASCAR Bush East series. Matt Kobyluck did a 0:51 lap in the Mohegan Sun car! For the HPDE that I went to, the fast cars like the Z06 Corvettes were doing laps right around a minute flat. Not sure if anyone broke a minute in a street car.

I was really surprised how fast the NASCAR race cars are. I assumed they were these primitive beasts with a lot of horsepower and a live rear axle, but a 51 second lap?! Those cars are a LOT quicker around a road course than I ever would have guessed, and these were not even the top shelf Sprint Cup cars...

I'm guessing the M235i should do laps around 1:07 with an novice/intermediate driver like me - What do you think?

[M3 Esq]

Originally Posted by wjones14

Well, I never went with the BMW. I barely broke 1:09 with the Mustang on all-season tires. I know that's not fast since there was a BRZ in my group that did a 1:08 - he did have summer tires and a chip, but still, it was a BRZ.

Fastest cars I ever saw at Lime Rock were the NASCAR Bush East series. Matt Kobyluck did a 0:51 lap in the Mohegan Sun car! For the HPDE that I went to, the fast cars like the Z06 Corvettes were doing laps right around a minute flat. Not sure if anyone broke a minute in a street car.

I was really surprised how fast the NASCAR race cars are. I assumed they were these primitive beasts with a lot of horsepower and a live rear axle, but a 51 second lap?! Those cars are a LOT quicker around a road course than I ever would have guessed, and these were not even the top shelf Sprint Cup cars...

I'm guessing the M235i should do laps around 1:07 with an novice/intermediate driver like me - What do you think?

1:07 is a decent time for an intermediate driver but I wouldn't worry about chasing lap times. Learn to hit your marks and speed will come. I'd bet a guy like Simon Kirby could take a M235i around LRP in around a minute. The car is very capable.

Yes NASCAR road course cars are very quick. Just for reference the IMSA series prototype cars run 45s in qualy with the uphill chicane. That's just nuts.

[bryan_G01]

I'm running 1:07.6 at LRP on MPSS, I am advanced group and been there over a dozen times. The car will start to slide out, loose tires and brakes if you push any faster.

I think anything under 1:12 is a great lap. Im going back in sept 9-10 with Nitto 01's and will be trying for 1:05 or under. If i can hold 95 somehow through the downhill into the straight ill get there.

The m235iR cars from Classic BMW have done 58 second laps.

[M3 Esq]

Originally Posted by bryan_f22

I'm running 1:07.6 at LRP on MPSS, I am advanced group and been there over a dozen times. The car will start to slide out, loose tires and brakes if you push any faster.

I think anything under 1:12 is a great lap. Im going back in sept 9-10 with Nitto 01's and will be trying for 1:05 or under. If i can hold 95 somehow through the downhill into the straight ill get there.

The m235iR cars from Classic BMW have done 58 second laps.

You'll need some negative camber to run NT01s. Great tire btw. I ran them on my E92 M3 and they stay pretty consistent if you keep the pressures in the sweet spot. You can run em to the cords too.

[bryan_G01]

Yes i know. keep reminding me about camber...

I have the 500$ dinan camber plates that are sitting in a box for 3 months and can't use them because of the ball bearing issue.

I have used mich cups before on my 335 which were very good, the 01s are already on the car and handle extremely well in the dry.

[M3 Esq]

Originally Posted by bryan_f22

Yes i know. keep reminding me about camber...

I have the 500$ dinan camber plates that are sitting in a box for 3 months and can't use them because of the ball bearing issue.

I have used mich cups before on my 335 which were very good, the 01s are already on the car and handle extremely well in the dry.

Ok cool man not trying to preach, just share my experience with those tires. Just keep an eye on the outside edges.

[i8ur911]

Originally Posted by bryan_f22

I'm running 1:07.6 at LRP on MPSS, I am advanced group and been there over a dozen times. The car will start to slide out, loose tires and brakes if you push any faster.

I think anything under 1:12 is a great lap. Im going back in sept 9-10 with Nitto 01's and will be trying for 1:05 or under. If i can hold 95 somehow through the downhill into the straight ill get there.

The m235iR cars from Classic BMW have done 58 second laps.

Great time at LRP. I just did my first event there a couple weeks ago. We ran the chicane, so it's hard to gauge my laps vs others, but I ran a 1:10.8 in my modified 228i.

I gained a whole new respect for the downhill 😨.

[bryan_G01]

lol.

I hit down hill @ 85mph. 125-135 on straight.

my buddies in race prep cars are taking that at 95-98 mph throwing down 58 -59 second laps.

Turn 1-2 into 3 (left hander) slow me down.

[rich8566]

2:23 at the Glen

[wjones14]

Originally Posted by rich8566

2:23 at the Glen

Nicely done Rich!

You're not far off the 2:17 M2 lap. Any mods to your car other than the non-staggered tires?

[rich8566]

Originally Posted by wjones14

Nicely done Rich!

You're not far off the 2:17 M2 lap. Any mods to your car other than the non-staggered tires?

No mods other than the square tire and wheel setup.

[wjones14]

I doubt I could have gotten a 2:23 lap. I could have done better than 2:34 though. I ran with the Novice group thinking I didn't want to push the car all that hard. In retrospect I probably should have run in the Intermediate group. The problem with the Novice group is that I never got a single clean lap with no traffic. I got plenty of point-byes, but still had to run at their pace before getting the signal to pass.

On the other hand, I never intended to drive the car at 10/10ths even if the track was clear, because it's still too new and dear to me to take any chances with it.

The one dry half hour session I got was still amazing and there's NOTHING like driving your car on the track. Totally satisfied with the car and the track day. If there's a more fun track than Watkins Glen I'd like to see it!

[rich8566]

Originally Posted by wjones14

I doubt I could have gotten a 2:23 lap. I could have done better than 2:34 though. I ran with the Novice group thinking I didn't want to push the car all that hard. In retrospect I probably should have run in the Intermediate group. The problem with the Novice group is that I never got a single clean lap with no traffic. I got plenty of point-byes, but still had to run at their pace before getting the signal to pass.

On the other hand, I never intended to drive the car at 10/10ths even if the track was clear, because it's still too new and dear to me to take any chances with it.

The one dry half hour session I got was still amazing and there's NOTHING like driving your car on the track. Totally satisfied with the car and the track day. If there's a more fun track than Watkins Glen I'd like to see it!

One thing you'll need to do to improve lap times
is shut off all of the electronic nannies. You're losing time in the corners as the electronic systems are keeping you in check. The car is super stable and very predictable with the MPSS tires.

[wjones14]

Was watching some of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the Glen today. On the back straight where I was 131 and Rich hit 140, the Cup cars were over 181! Those cars may be primitive, but they're still 100% badass.

[Tpeterson]

Originally Posted by wjones14

Was watching some of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the Glen today. On the back straight where I was 131 and Rich hit 140, the Cup cars were over 181! Those cars may be primitive, but they're still 100% badass.

I watched some of it too.
About the same weight as a M235 with 8-900 HP and a tube frame race car! That's what makes them bad ass!

[bryan_G01]

If your in the novice group, don't even think of turning off the nannies.

That is horrible advice. So many people think they are being held back by dsc, when it actually helps you.

You want to run a faster lap, get real tires not street tires like PSS, real brakes - pagid or equivelant, SS hoses, racing fluid, and get practice at the track.