Track Sch**g E85 Pics

[RJS-Z4]

So for a couple of days, my polished and adored z4 has become a hardened track beast.

Set off to Llandow (Wales) on Wednesday afternoon with a friend in the passenger seat and another two friends in a Subaru wagon as a support vehicle, we'd done something a bit different with the wheels (which are off of a 5 series) especially for the track day. Although not staggered wheels, we fitted staggered tyres, purely to give us grip at the back and no rubbing at the front.

So, upon arrival at the camp site:





I present to you, 205/45/17's on the front, 255/45/17's on the back, 8j wide wheels, sprayed BMW sparkling anthracite then splattered with luminous green/yellow paint.

After an awesome night camping with all the guys from the Clio forum, we jumped on the track, which soon got very wet. :evil:

At this point I'd like to point out I've only had the car a few months, first RWD really and first ever track day...

Anyway, some pics:









The verdict?

The car was awesome, really really awesome, but the brakes were honestly beyond shocking.

So. Much. Fade.

It had aparently had discs and pads just before I bought it, but that pads are useless, and I'm not sure on the discs. It's got braided lines on the front but not the back at current.

The pads were as soft as anything and have quite frankly disappeared... (overy 50% wear in one day).

On the back of this I'm looking at brembo HC vented discs and EBC yellowstuff pads.

One last picture, an idea of how much of the brake pads we used (note the sand castles of brake dust built up inbetween the spokes and the colour difference on my clean spot).



All brake recommendations will be welcomed.

 

[mrlozzer]

Looks like you had fun there in the wet

The track's not too far from me - what were the facilities like?

 

[Tommo Two]

I also was disapointed with the Z4 brakes, upgraded them to the E46 330 setup better but struggled massivly with keeping them cool. Black diamond predator setup, with ATE super blue fluid. bearing in mind they are 'fast road' pads I was quite disapointed.

Fast forward 6 months the Z4 is gone and in its place a 5er tow car and E36 track car. At the same track and with the Z4 being similar power and very similar weight to my 328 with the 328 running on very old standard discs and pads but super blue fluid i was expecting an abomination from the brakes. However thats not what happened, they were good suprisingly good lasted alot longer before they over heated.

This puzzled me some what, but the only thing i could think of, is the M3 brake cooling ducts in the 328, my 3.0 Z didn't have them, does the ZM's? I would suggest getting some brake cooling sorted if your going to be tracking the Z any more. See topic http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=33498 (bottom of page one) I recon the same could be done using foglight removal, or coming from the sides of the centre grill, has any one with a track based Z4 done this?

 

[tomscott]

Some great pics! Looks like you had a blast!

 

[Adamski]

Looks like you had fun. Couldnt agree more about the brakes. Even on some forum runs I've found that the brakes fade quickly.

The wet track must have been fun

 

[RJS-Z4]

Looks like you had fun there in the wet

The track's not too far from me - what were the facilities like?

Facilities were very good actually and the track is great fun.

More suited to slightly slower/lower gear ratio'd cars but I still really enjoyed it.

It was all organised through a friend who rented the track for the day and then had 30 of us turn up. The toilets, briefing room and cafe are great. Really nice food for lunch etc and the staff were quite lenient and up for a laugh rather than being over strict and irritating.

I also was disapointed with the Z4 brakes, upgraded them to the E46 330 setup better but struggled massivly with keeping them cool. Black diamond predator setup, with ATE super blue fluid. bearing in mind they are 'fast road' pads I was quite disapointed.

Fast forward 6 months the Z4 is gone and in its place a 5er tow car and E36 track car. At the same track and with the Z4 being similar power and very similar weight to my 328 with the 328 running on very old standard discs and pads but super blue fluid i was expecting an abomination from the brakes. However thats not what happened, they were good suprisingly good lasted alot longer before they over heated.

This puzzled me some what, but the only thing i could think of, is the M3 brake cooling ducts in the 328, my 3.0 Z didn't have them, does the ZM's? I would suggest getting some brake cooling sorted if your going to be tracking the Z any more. See topic http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=33498 (bottom of page one) I recon the same could be done using foglight removal, or coming from the sides of the centre grill, has any one with a track based Z4 done this?

Interesting read, thanks.

The cooling I think is a big issue, maybe some sort of temporary ducting that I could fit and remove just for track days?

I'm going to go have a good look at whats on there and possibly go for the vented HC brembo discs and try the EBC yellowstuff pads for the Brands Hatch day I am going to have a go on.

 

[Dreamer]

Looks great fun

Try some different pads and see how you get on. Ive tried yellowstuff and they arent too bad.

 

[dario]

I used to do lots of track days with my 2004 3.0 and there was always a compromise when using a road car to do track work. Realistically, if the track was dry, you may have run out of brakes by the end of the day as the braking effort is so much less in the wet.

I tried all sorts of combinations and the preferred option was a race only based pad. Poor cold performance, but worth it at the end of the day. i also tried and like a set of cryogenically reworked discs at the front which lasted very well!

by the time i decided to get a real track car, i have changed from RFT to Michelin PS2 (tried Pirelli and they died in a very short time. PS2 give a much firmer outer shoulder to the tyre and deals with the inherent understeer present in the Z4 chassis. in addition i had the engine mapped for more torque and fitted a Milltek front to back exhaust system with 100 cell racing cats. added to this were the H&R antiroll bars front and rear and dealing with the appropriate tyre pressures through the day.

good fun, but untimely frustrating as its always a road car trying to do a different job.

Landow is good, but when i was there the bumpy approach to the control tower before the chicane was utterly impossible to deal with.

Dario

 

[RJS-Z4]

Looks great fun

Try some different pads and see how you get on. Ive tried yellowstuff and they arent too bad.

Thanks, I'm going to give the brembo HC front discs a go with the yellowstuff pads all around and see how I get on.

If the answer is not well, I may be looking at a brake upgreade :evil:

Alternatively, a friend and I are looking at buying another old Renaultsport Clio just for track days as I currently have an empty garage and he has a trailor.

I used to do lots of track days with my 2004 3.0 and there was always a compromise when using a road car to do track work. Realistically, if the track was dry, you may have run out of brakes by the end of the day as the braking effort is so much less in the wet.

I tried all sorts of combinations and the preferred option was a race only based pad. Poor cold performance, but worth it at the end of the day. i also tried and like a set of cryogenically reworked discs at the front which lasted very well!

by the time i decided to get a real track car, i have changed from RFT to Michelin PS2 (tried Pirelli and they died in a very short time. PS2 give a much firmer outer shoulder to the tyre and deals with the inherent understeer present in the Z4 chassis. in addition i had the engine mapped for more torque and fitted a Milltek front to back exhaust system with 100 cell racing cats. added to this were the H&R antiroll bars front and rear and dealing with the appropriate tyre pressures through the day.

good fun, but untimely frustrating as its always a road car trying to do a different job.

Landow is good, but when i was there the bumpy approach to the control tower before the chicane was utterly impossible to deal with.

Dario

Thanks for the in depth reply, genuinely grateful.

I'm glad it's not just me that found mega problems with the quality of the braking, we were having a discussion on the way home about what we would have done if it were dry, I'm pretty sure I'd have had to get to a eurocarparts or something and buy some new pads! Having checked the wear this weekend I could not believe how much pad disappeared in just one day!

A few questions if I may?

When were you last at Llandow? It's been resurfaced recently-ish and IMO was a very good surface to drive on with no real noticeable bumps.

Is a remap actually worth while? I've not really seen an awful lot about them?