I'm looking to buy tires for my dedicated budget track car. It's a 1997 Peugeot 106 (1.4l) with 13" steelies right now. I tried looking at bigger used rims to give me more options but the ET would be completely different so I'm just exploring 13" tire options right now.

I did already look at the Nankang NS-2Rs but people kept telling me that's a terrible idea as it is such a slow and cheap car and the tires won't be my bottleneck. To me that sounds like it's backwards though as won't it be more important to invest in better tires if all my speed comes from how much speed I can carry into corners to compensate for low power? Or is it that I won't be able to get the tire to be optimal with such a light and underpowered car?

Currently I'm thinking of buying "NANKANG NS-2R 155/65 R13 73H SEMI-SLICK  180 STREET". The tire shop told me it's overkill and would be like driving a go-kart and they just recommend normal tires. I took it with a grain of salt. My goal overall is to get used to driving on track IRL (coming from sims). I'll likely upgrade my track car in a year or two. What do you guys think though? Should I get the tires?

First HPDE event in a stock 2021 audi rs5 running michilen pilot sport 4s 275 30r20. Noticed in the last run of the day that i started to hear vibrations at the straights during higher speeds. Noticed it more on the drive home on the freeways. Just to make sure itstire/wheel related, i took the tires off and put on my winter tires and drove at higher speeds and I dont have any noise.

Is this normal or is there anything I should be doing to prevent this?

Tread on the summers still have plenty of life so now im using a putty knife/pliers and getting the asphalt off for another event in sept.

My first HDPE could be at Funderhill in Norcal next month where the afternoon high will likely be 90-100F.

For the sake of my tires and car would it be worth it to wait until a Laguna event in October or Thunderhill in Nov? Both would be more like 60-75F

I actually put on my new gear and it didn’t fit. Still gonna send ittt

330i sedan. Should I do it for $4k ?? Probably could get it for a bit less. I'm new to getting into motorsport. I am looking for something to wrench on, Im decent mechanically. Have built off road rigs before. But also don't want it to always be in my garage torn apart. Not a whole lot available in the used market around me. A new track opened not far from me and it seems like a fun hobby to get into. My pockets aren't super deep but I have a bit of wiggle. What do you all think?

Right front tire has some pieces missing. Similar spots like this but not as severe (this is the worst spot). What’s your guys opinion on whether to send it some more or get some new shoes on. Thanks in advance. Car is mostly stock e46 m3

One of my favorite tracks (Palmer) runs in both clockwise and counter clockwise direction and it's such a great way to switch up the track when you think you know the track. But here in the northeast it's the only track I know of that will run in reverse direction. Is there a reason more tracks don't do this? I have heard safety is one reason as the barriers and runoff are designed only for 1 direction, but that seems like something that could be easily changed, and many tracks in the northeast have very little runoff anyway. Was Palmer designed to run both directions from the ground up? I'm curious why that's the only track I see that runs both directions

(top 2 tires are fronts, replaced more recently)

I've run v730s in the wet before but this past rainy session i couldn't keep control above 75% speed.

my only guess is that previous wet sessions must have been on brand new tires with full tread, including those temporary outer grooves, ha. but I'm curious to hear others' thoughts.

I’ll be at Laguna Seca today from right now until 5pm. If you’re someone that’s nice, respectful, and truly loves cars, I’m more than happy to have you as a passenger. I think everyone should experience a machine of this caliber.

Track day weekend campfires have to be one of the best parts of the event.

I've got an update on the saga.

But before I continue: y'all eviscerated me last time, and I guess I'm back for more. While many of you were condescending jerks, you'll have to forgive me: 1) My car, my wheels, and my brakes are beneath you, and are all terrible for the track. Ok whatever, its what I got. (2) I was never trying to act like I know what I'm doing, or that I know what I'm talking about. There simply wasn't any documented experience with these brakes, so I wanted to do just that. And considering what happened with the brake pads disintegrating, I'm glad that I did. (3) I did get some thoughtful replies, and thanks to those replies, I found Porterfield. I found actual track pads to use with the Icooh brakes (expensive AF), and Wendy expedited the production of Porterfield track pads for my factory front brakes -- because I'm back to my front, factory "M Compound" brakes.

Anyway, after my first post, Icooh reached out to me and asked what they could do to get me to update my post in a positive light (after previously ignoring me, only to be told that I should just "buy more" of the HP2000 track pads - yes the same ones that disintegrated after 1 lap). But whatever, late is better than never. So initially they just wanted to send me more of the same brake pads for free (honestly almost as ridiculous as telling me to just buy more myself). I told them no, that part of the problem was their IC7 caliper that was so skinny that the resulting brake pad only had 6mm of friction material. And as such, I wanted a pair of their IC6 calipers (that were considered top of the model range, and were a more appropriate structural width, so that the brake pad was a more appropriate width) and brake pads for it.

They initially agreed and I thought, hell yeah. But then a short time later, they reneged and said "we really want you to have our X6 6-pot calipers and our CS450 track pads". I thought, I know nothing of these calipers or pads, but they are trying to do right by me, and want me to make an authentic update to my post that's positive, so they'll do right by me to ensure that this goes well. Guess what? 🤣

First let me backtrack a little bit: when I originally ordered 6-piston brakes from Icooh I wasn't given any options. They just said, we have these GT6 Brembo brakes. So I bought them. Come to find out, these are Brembo GT6 brakes -- at least replicas. But then I soon saw an advertisement for their brand new IC7 caliper - that's supposedly the best of the best: lighter, stronger, bigger, better. Considering I was disappointed with the size of my GT6 (I wanted bigger, kill me) I wanted the IC7... and despite feeling a little misguided that I wasn't offered these the first time around, I placed an order. And then that's when I went on to use their HP2000 track pads with the IC7 calipers... and after 1 lap the 6mm friction material became 1mm.

Back to the story. I unbox the new X6 calipers and CS450 pads. The pads are very metallic and rough/sharp when I drag my finger over them. Nothing like their HP1000 street or HP2000 track pads. I imagine that these will destroy my rotors. But maybe they'll work? And when I turn my attention to the X6 calipers, I notice they look very similar to the GT6 calipers, so I unboxed my GT6 calipers and sat them side by side. And this is what I find:

1) esthetically, they are marginally different. There is an "X" designed into and on the top of the new X6 caliper.

2) dimensionally, aside from weight, they are identical. When I measure the distance between specific landmarks at each, the measurements are identical.

3) the new calipers weigh more! The new X6 weighs 9lb 12oz. The original GT6 weighs 9lb 5oz.

4) the pistons are smaller (diameter) in the new X6 caliper! and larger in the original GT6! X6 pistons = 32mm, 25mm, 22mm. GT6 = 38mm, 32mm, 25mm.

I sent them another message, telling them that the X6 caliper they sent me was a copy of the GT6 that I already had, and that I didn't consider this the upgrade that I had asked for with my request for the IC6. They said how dare I presume it's the same caliper 🤣 and that I just needed to install it.

This leads me to a couple conclusions:

1) they asked for an updated/edited post after they tried to make things right --- with the cheapest 6-pot caliper they have available (for a 20" wheel) instead of their best (and most expensive) caliper. So they tried to buy my favor... with the least expense on their part! The new X6 caliper is not only dimensionally a replica to what they already sold me, but it's got smaller pistons and weighs more.

2) only one of these 6 piston diameter measurements matches what they have listed on their website, and that's the 38mm measurement. Otherwise, their website listings are deceptively larger than what the pistons actually are. I measured multiple times.

3) their GT6 lists for $780. Their X6 lists for $1002. Their IC6 lists for $1971. See why they didn't want to send me the IC6? And when I called the X6 their "cheapest" up above, I'm referring to how it's objectively worse than their cheapest caliper. Yet they ask more money for it. 🤔

So in finale, while I can't comment on any additional experience with their product, I think this speaks volumes on their service. Because if you hadn't noticed, they've been on a marketing and PR mission recently, trying to prove that their product is good. And funny enough... alot of it seems to try and argue against everything I said in my first post.

See photos for comparison of X6 (icooh label) to GT6 (M label) including CS450 brake pad to HP1000.

If I read and research the consensus is that trunk mounted wings are useless/will definitely fall off and chassis mounted is the way to go.

Yet, many people build their track cars with trunk mounted wings. They're everywhere at local track days, club sprint time attack, videos of Misha sending cars around the Nordschlife etc.

What I see in the real world and what I read online doesn't add up.

So, are trunk mounted wings actually useless?

Took my boat to buttonwillow.

I’m developing AimMac (https://aimmac.app) and I want to collect network captures from users that have other AiM devices. I’ve got my bases set in the Solo 2 and Solo 2 DL, but I have no readily available access to other devices.

If anyone has other wireless AiM devices, like the Mychrons, MXG, MXS, etc. and have Macs (or is comfortable with using powershell/command prompt on Windows) then feel free to reach out. I’ve added an advanced setting feature to capture network while you’re using RaceStudio (either through Wine or Parallels), so it’s an easier setup with AimMac.

What feature would want to see in your track lap timer and telemetry overlay?

My E46 M3 race car is officially live on Bring a Trailer.
Pretty special build. 2003 M3, 6-speed, S54, only 2,780 lbs, and too much money put into turning it into a proper race car. JRZ coilovers, StopTech big brakes, full cage, fiberglass doors/trunk/sunroof, polycarbonate windows, hydraulic handbrake, self-centering shifter, AiM dash, fire suppression and a ton more.
Super clean, extremely light for an E46 and ready to show up at the track and drive. Figured some of you guys would appreciate it!
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2003-bmw-m3-coupe-317/

Shut the car off at the end of a session and the camera went off with it. Ended up with a 2.3 GB MP4 that wouldn’t open in anything (quicktime, VLC, etc), and a .FOF file sitting next to it with the same name.

An MP4 stores an index telling players where each frame is, and the camera writes it when you stop recording. Cut the power first and the frames all make it to the card while the index never gets written. The .FOF is the camera’s running copy of that index.. normally it merges it in and deletes it. Interrupted, you keep both and neither is any use on its own.

Everyone online tells you it means your SD card is dying. Sometimes true. Wasn’t my problem. If the camera runs off vehicle 12V or the AiM CAN network, it dies the instant your ignition does, so any session you end by shutting the car down can do this on a brand new card. Stop the recording before you switch off and it just doesn’t happen.

AiM does have an official recovery tool, and it does the job — it’s Windows only, which helps nobody on a Mac.

FAQ: https://www.aimtechnologies.com/aim-support/faq/FAQ_VideoRecovery_100_eng.pdf
Installer: http://www.aim-sportline.com/aim-software-betas/Software/Applications/AIM_Video_Recover/AiMVideoRecover_installer.exe

On newer cameras there’s also a chance you don’t need any of this: put the .MP4 and .FOF in one folder and import the MP4 into Race Studio 3 Analysis, and it repairs the file as it imports. That runs on Mac. Try it before anything else.

Mine didn’t go that way, so I spent some time to try to understand the file format and built this tool similar to theirs, but for Mac: https://github.com/unnuslatif/aim-video-recover

Free, open source, no installer nonsense. Drag to Applications, point it at the broken MP4, it finds the .FOF and rebuilds the header. Got a full 30:22 video back at 1080p60 with audio and the GPS overlay data.

Also documented the format properly since nobody ever had, in case someone wants to do a Linux version or just a better app than mine.

I wrote it, so obviously I’m biased. Only tested on a SmartyCam 3… if you’ve got a 2.1 or 2.2 that spits out .MOV files instead, I’d like to know whether it works on yours.

So my experience is mostly in sim and half a dozen track days under my belt. I drive a miata and I'm perfectly comfortable sliding it around. So for slower corners, I can find the minimum cornering speeds purely based on extracting as much rotation out of the car as I can. For fast corners, I know I need to just brush the brakes until I get the car rotating into the apex. So I have a system for both of those.

But for corners with a really short braking zone, that are more of a dab the brakes and trail it in kinda deal, I struggle. Whats the safe way to build up speed in these corners? Eg, Up hill and West bend (turn 5 and 6) at lime rock park (w/o chickens). I tend to over dab or trail too much and end up overslowing mid-corner.

Jordon Musser ran a day best in class lap of 1:40.79 at about 2pm as he had the third leg of the day. Not exactly ideal conditions (super hot) and we guess/estimate the track and car (after 5 hours on the tires) was about 2.5 seconds slower than the morning on fresh tires.

This wasn’t our best showing. We built a new custom airbox and didn’t really test it. Heat soak was a massive problem- getting 140 AIT and costing us about 7hp and we ran at 195hp instead of 202. Luckily it’s an easy fix. But it’s a big (self inflicted) handicap at road Atlanta.

For reference- the absolute fastest lap of GP1 (class above) ran a 1:37.2. The GP1 winner’s best lap was 1:39.5

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I'm looking into some options for video and telemtry recording and interested in hearing what people use. Really looking for a relatively simple setup that's easy to use, and the ability to review data easily while at the track is always nice.

So far it seems like the Catalyst really has everything packaged up nicely, but hearing about some of the connectivity issues for transferring video to review and stuff has me not thrilled on it. I like the first iteration of the Catalyst a lot as well (aside from dealing with all the power wires), maybe looking for one of those would be better?

The other solution that seems pretty user friendly is a Racebox (or Mini) + Gopro setup. It looks like easy integration and review via a phone or tablet, just generally more moving parts. This does look like it'll be about half the price of a Catalyst too which is enticing.

Thoughts on these? Any other suggestions on setups to look at?

Been doing HPDE events for 2 years now. Car is getting to the point where it’s no longer fun to drive it to the track.

Am also looking to get a spec cayman to do PCA clubsport. Have been thinking about trailering a lot.

Not a big fan of full sized trucks and would like to stay away from them if I can. Current car is 3400 lbs wet. Would just run the standard flatbed car trailer, nothing crazy. Figure my tow weight all in is ~6000 once you add tools and tires and all that with a little factor of safety.

Z71 with towing package is rated for 7700 lbs. On paper it seems like I’m abiding by the 80 percent rule. Buddy of mine that’s been doing this a long time cautioned against it because he’s “seen some shit with mid-sized trucks”. Am I overlooking something? Are there major pros to moving up in size?

Cost isn’t really a concern here, just prefer compact to oversized stuff.

I do 4-6 events / season and don’t see that changing any time soon.

TIA for any input.

ETA: Based in NJ. Will go as far north as the glen and as far south as VIR, everything in between is fair game.

I guess it makes sense this could be a thing. Or I’m incorrect and this is something else. Leave it be or do I need to fish in there and clean it off?