MW3 Motorsports » Racing

Rolex 24 Roundup

christina — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:16:05 +0000

Unbelievably, 24 hours have passed since the cars roared past the finish line of this epic race. This was MW3’s first time attending this behemoth of a race and we can’t stop bantering back and forth about what an awesome experience it’s been.

We can’t tell you anything about it without detailing the obvious: the cars! The Daytona Prototypes are the epitome of engineering and art all in one package. Seeing them up close was… neat. How can something so enormous come from such a little package? We’re happy to tell you we found out! Lots and lots of money.

The GT cars are only a few seconds a lap slower, which makes them even more amazing (to us anyway). They may have tube chassis’ but they remain true to their respective manufacturer heritages. This was the inaugural year for the Audi R8 and they ran a stock clutch!

As expected, the start of the Rolex was intense. We expected the drivers to settle into some sort of rhythm over the next few hours. I guess they did… it just so happened the speeds were faster than the qualifying times. These guys were at the limit every single lap. To do that for (a record-breaking) 761 laps? Insane. Incredible.

We watched from a variety of corners until my feet gave out at 2am. We had planned to sleep in the car but Jeff insisted we head back to the condo for solid rest before returning. It was tough to leave… And when I woke up a few hours later, it was painfully obvious we wouldn’t be heading back. I could barely hobble to the bathroom without crying. Damn plantar fasciitis!! It seemed like forever before SPEED started covering the race again. I was miserable watching it on TV – the only thing that soothed me was the sound of surf just outside our patio. I suppose there are worse places we could’ve been!

Walking Daytona International Speedway

christina — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:17:18 +0000

Part of the Rolex 24 experience is the Daytona 5K. You take off from the Start/Finish line, make your way through the infield (skipping turns 5 and 6) onto the first set of banked turns before the Daytona Superstretch (pass the bus stop chicane). NASCAR 3 and 4 follow and cross over the Start/Finish line. For grins, imagine you’re strapped into a car going about 200 mph.

It was obvious there had been two full days of practice on the track before we stepped foot on it. Not only were there skid marks, there were actual gouges out of the pavement where cars had apparently fallen off the banking. Thirty-one degrees of banking must hurt when you come crashing down. Daytona track engineers have also put some thought into how cars enter into the infield road course. I’ve never seen gators quite like these.

For those of you contemplating walking a track, as we’ve said before – do it! Not only is it fun, you’ll be amazed at what you’ll see… and therefore learn. More from Daytona soon!

Slippery when wet

christina — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:17:55 +0000

We woke this morning to clouds and a light, steady drizzle. Knowing the cars would be out regardless, we hustled to get dressed and out the door. I turned off the radio when we got within half a mile of the track – no need for tunes when there are racecars running! We jumped out of the car just in time to see them coming in from the first practice of the day. Perfect timing for our first jaunt through the paddock. Again, concentrating was hard. Every turn found us face to face with another gorgeous car and their drivers.

I had a chance to talk with Paul Dalla Lana for about 15 minutes. He revealed the M3 took 2 full seasons to shake out the kinks! I asked him about his pre-race routine: he skips all the pre-race fanfare on pit road and “gets quiet”. After seeing the madness on pit road before the BMW Performance 200, I can’t blame him! It was mayhem with seemingly every fan out to get pictures with their favorite drivers and cars.

Before we knew it was race time. “Drivers… Start your engines!” and they were off for a couple of reconnaissance laps. Cars were already sideways, backwards and generally off track through Turn 2 due to the wet conditions. The race hadn’t even started!

Nevertheless, the new BMW M5 pace car peeled off. The GS class came through first with everyone jockeying for position while trying to keep it on the track.

The ST class was next and surprisingly, they kept the start clean too. The drivers seemed to be settling into a good rhythm when the GS cars started lapping those in the ST class. You guessed it: Yellow flag. It meant everyone could duck into the pits to put slicks on though. The track was drying quickly and things were about to speed up. (Full disclosure: We have a particular interest in the Turner cars seeing as Will has helped us out the past year and will continue to do so in 2012.) The TMS cars came out of the pits tail to nose.

Then Said and Auberlin started to pick their way through the field. We were on the edge of our seats as they went from 14the & 15th… up to 9th and 10th… up to 6th and 7th (the 96 car qualified 14th, the 97 car qualified 26th)! It was a brutal finish with several yellows the last 25 minutes of the race. Everyrestart had us up on our feet, hoping no one would get punted… passed… or both. In the end, the Rousch Mustang beat the rest of the field with relative ease.

And that was just the warm-up race! Rolex 24 starts tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned for more updates from Daytona!

Watching the big boys play

christina — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:01:59 +0000

It’s Day 1 of the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 25 at Daytona International Speedway. This is the first day everyone is out (not counting the Roar before the 24 earlier this month), shaking down the cars. And, not kidding, they get right down to business – practice in the morning, qualifying the same afternoon.

I’m not gonna lie. It was hard to concentrate. But we still managed to learn a few things: Mazda’s spit fire. Ferrari’s are shockingly quiet. ‘Stangs, Camaros, Astons and BMW’s roar. And the Daytona Prototypes? They shake your entire soul.

And, finally, the question everyone asks: how steep is that banking? Let us say, for now it’s… ridiculous. Stay tuned. We’ll be canvasing the facilities to get good shots of everything, including that banking…. We’re sure to get some crazy shots of degree angle when we do the 5K, on the track, Saturday morning. Until then, enjoy these. More to come!

Rolex 24 at Daytona

christina — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:52:28 +0000

That’s right, MW3 Motorsports is heading south tomorrow morning – to Daytona, FL for the 50th Anniversary of the Rolex 24! We wish we were driving. Instead we’ll be among the crowd, cheering on our favorite teams and drivers. (Go Turner!!) Tune into SPEED – maybe you’ll catch a glimpse of us enjoying ourselves.

It’s going to be a crazy weekend. This is on our must-do list:

Thursday: Practice and qualifying
Friday: Parade of Champions and Exhibit, more practice sessions, BMW Performance 200 starts at 1:30 pm EST
Saturday: Daytona 5K (we’re walking the track!), driver autograph session, Rolex 24 starts at 3:30 pm EST
Sunday: Rolex 24 finish at 3:30 pm EST

In between all that we’ll be enjoying all that Daytona International Speedway has to offer. This includes tastings from the Bavarian Beer Garden, Chili Cook-Off, Wine & Cheese Party and the Cafe 24 Breakfast Garage. That doesn’t even count the tickets we snagged… right above pit road!

We’ll have the camera on and focused – leave us a note on FB if you have any special requests and we’ll do our best to capture the shot you’re looking for. We may even see if they’ll let us up on the giant ferris wheel with it to see what kind of perspective that gives us.

Cheers!

christina — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 02:27:13 +0000

The three of us here at MW3Motorsports want to take a moment to say thank you to our fans and sponsors. We truly appreciate your support this past year. It’s been one of tremendous growth and fun and we couldn’t have done it with out you. Here’s to hoping you have a fantastic holiday season with your friends and family. Cheers!

2011 TTA Season Part 1

Jim — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:17:37 +0000

2011 has been a fun season so far in the MW3 Evo IX. With a rough start to the season by cutting a tire at the first event and barely mustering 2nd place, it seems to have picked up and we have started to put down some good laps. Jim and the Evo have made a home in TTA class with NASA Rocky Mountain and the class is really starting to grow. A-class tends to have a wide variety of cars from highly modified E36s to the baddest of American V8 muscle. Although the Evo is down 4 cylinders to most of these beasts, the power to weight ratio remains consistent in the class to keep it even. With the help of Tobz tuning in Denver (and a set of 272 Cosworth cams), the Evo can almost make the same power as a lot of its V8 counterparts with some skilled tuning.

Other new additions this year are external GPS units made by Qstarz, and a fancy Android app which logs valuable lap data and in-car laptimes that really help improve the car and driver. If you have an Android, be sure to check out the Trackmaster app by Trackaroo, you can save quite a bit of money going this route and get a good amount of data for the price.

Thus far this season the MW3 Evo has set 2 lap records, three 1st place finishes, a 2nd place finish and sits in the points lead going into the last two events. With some stiff competition beginning to mount in A-class, the second half of the season should shape up to be a great one. Hopefully with some good luck and some consistent driving the MW3 Evo can continue to get quicker this season, notch another record and possibly the TTA championship.

As we mentioned in the last post, come join MW3 at High Plains Raceway on August 5th for an open lapping day!

Stay tuned for more updates, results and product reviews this season.

The Scene of the Crime…

Jeff — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 01:09:58 +0000

Last weekend was the first points event of the year, PPIR. If you recall, (if you don’t, take a look here) this is the track that “helped” me rebuild an entire car. I bet you can guess how I felt about returning to the scene of the crime… Yes, this event actually started for me weeks in advance, with anticipation. Worry. Anxiety. All related to going back to a place that literally changed my outlook on driving.

Saturday morning started relatively early (5:30am) and started with an hour-long drive down south. Our buddy John joined the MW3 train. Once we got there, the activity of getting set up before our instructor meeting kept my mind off the track itself. Our session time crept closer and closer… it was all I could do to keep the butterflies out of the belly. It took 2.5 sessions, about 60 minutes of track time to start really driving again, even if at 70%. Some people told me to “just go for it”. But I couldn’t push it out of my head – this track took my first 95 E36 M3. I rebuilt an entire car and really didn’t feel like putting into a wall!

Before I knew it day one was behind me: day two loomed. Sunday started off with a few more butterflies. But I was instructing a model student and things seemed to get into the groove a little sooner. I was able to enjoy the day!

I feel great knowing I survived my first weekend back at PPIR. For me, this was a big step in moving past the “incident” that widened my view on things and, with any luck, helps make me a better driver in the future. I’m sure my partners have their own take on the weekend… I just had to get this out!

- Jeff

2011 Season Opener

christina — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:46:16 +0000

My, how time flies when you’re having fun… We have spent the past two months feverishly prepping for the NASA season opener at HPR. That event came and went this past weekend, and we’re happily exhausted.

First off, I’m proud to announce both Jeff and I passed the Instructor School Saturday. NASA was confident in our abilities and promptly hooked HPDE1 students into our chatterboxes Sunday. (You may recall Jim passed the same school last year.) We’d like to thank anyone who has shaped us as drivers via instruction and coaching to get us to this point. And now we understand why folks enjoy instructing so much. It is an incredibly rewarding experience!

Now to specifics about the weekend. In between instructing track newbies Sunday, we finally got to DRIVE.

Jeff was able to get his car out to the track 2 weekends prior, but this was really the first chance he had to put ‘Little M’ through its paces. He decided to add coolant Friday to prevent any freezing since the car was spending the night out at the track Saturday. ‘Burping’ took longer than we’d anticipated. The back end still seems a little squirmy under load going around uphill corners. But we’re not complaining. Because this car rose from the ashes and is a gleaming example of what a track-prepped E36 should be.

Jim was excited to try out some new shoes this year. He ordered and had mounted a fresh set of NT-01’s and scrubbed them in on the drive out to HPR Saturday morning. He was grinning like a little kid with a giant lollipop after feeling them out on the track later that day. Then Sunday morning… someone left a trail of shrapnel on the line heading into Turn One. Sadly, the resulting gash finished the passenger rear tire off, along with his day.

‘Big M’ was lucky to have new shoes too! I ordered a set of 18×10 APEX ARC-8 wheels for a track setup and called on our friends at Turner Motorsport for a set of Grand Am Koni Challenge Continentals (compare to a harder compound Hoosier R6) to wrap them in. My first two sessions out Sunday were with passengers so I was required to keep myself in check a bit. But the last session I was all by myself. I put the new setup through its paces. To say I was pleased is an understatement. The car felt planted in a way I’ve never felt before. So. Much. Fun.

We can only hope our first event is a precursor to a wildly successful, safe and fun 2011 season. More looks back at the E36 build are coming, along with reviews of products we’ve been thrilled to use on our cars. Cheers!

New Sponsor – Turner Motorsports

christina — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 01:46:29 +0000

It should come as no surprise we have tremendous admiration for the trajectory of a company known in “the biz” as a leading supplier of BMW OEM and aftermarket parts and accessories – Turner Motorsports. Without knowing anything about their background, you may think they’ve simply just existed. In fact, TMS was started by Will Turner, a man with passion for driving. Kind of like Jim, Jeff & I…

We are excited to announce Turner Motorsports as MW3 Motorsports’ premier sponsor for the 2011 season. Long before this, we had begun leveraging the R&D they’ve done on their own race cars to improve our own. Here’s an example of the work they did to prep the new E92 M3 for the 2011 Rolex Sports Car Series season (GT class). The result is a work of art to us. It’s inspiring, to say the least. Something to aspire to, yes?