With 30 minutes left go on our drive home and in pouring down rain the car threw a CEL. I had a reader in the trunk but since the rain didn't stop we continued home without any noticeable stumbling or other issues.
After getting home from watching the Pagoda Hillclimbs in Reading I finally got around to hooking up the scanner.
Google says....
Thankfully don't have another event until 7/19 so will have some time to get it fixed.
I've been slacking on doing anything to the car other than get an appointment to diagnose and fix the throttle sensor code.
New tow rig has been keeping me busy!
First aftermarket additions so far are
Moving on from our Expedition that treated us well for the last four years. Just posted in Cars for Sale if anyone is interested.
Throttle actuator replaced, fenders rolled and new solid aluminum diff mounts installed.
Love how crisp the driveline feels now.
Definitely need to charge the AC though before my next event because its struggling mightily in the humid July temps.
Never got around to charging the AC before heading to NJMP Lightning for the annual Delaware Valley BMWCCA two drivers school.
Got down there for the Saturday session missing my tech and medical forms. Thankfully the folks at registration had printed out a bunch of blanks and I could complete them there.
Had four really hot and humid 25 minute sessions for the day in Intermediate group. Instructor rode along for 1 and 3, 2 I ran solo and 4 we did lead follow for most of the session and I finished up solo.
Set a new personal best in session 2 of 1:18.8 down from 1:19.5 earlier this season. After lead/follow in session 4 I had two back to back 1:19.3s due to miraculous clean laps.
On my drive home got a CEL for a misfire but it cleared up after a few minutes and I got home without incident.
Thought I might be able to get back for Sunday sessions this morning but loaded up the car and got a quarter mile out of the driveway before multiple cylinder misfires. Limped my way back home and declared defeat.
New coils and plugs are already ordered from FCP so hopefully I'll be back in track ready form before too long. Next event is 9/23 with HoD back at Lightning so hoping to close out the season with a 1:17.
All the damn codes!
Set a new personal best on Lightning on day 1 of the drivers school. Finally got around to grabbing the video off of the Catalyst.
Also received my instructor notes and ratings following the event and learned that I got signed off for Advanced run group with BMW CCA.
The weather and my schedule finally cooperated and I was able to get new plugs and coils in the car.
I had to start it to back it up out of the garage a bit and of course no misfires at all.
Got the new plugs and coils in, started up and ran great. Cleared all of the old codes and took it for a 15 minute rip around the neighborhood and no issues, plenty of power, no more codes!
Kept all of the old plugs and the two newest coils (2021) for trackside spares. 3 of the coils I replaced were from 2008 so I suspect they had simply seen far too many ignition events, heat and vibrations in their lifetime.
Put another 80 miles or so on the car this afternoon to give it a more proper shakedown. Hilly, windy backroads and plenty of highway miles all with no more codes.
I'm registered for a Saturday event with Hooked on Driving at NJMP Lightning and forecast is for 2+ inches of rain.....uh, no thanks!
Too late for a refund but since this was my last event for the year I think it might be time to try to register for Watkins Glen with NASA NE in October.
I'm getting my first trailer later this week for the car so now I'm open to a larger range of events.
Installed new front brake pads today as I'm headed to Jeffapaloooza on 10/30 at NJMP Lightning.
Ended up picking an HF Daytona low profile 3 ton jack to make the job easier. My little jack can't reach to the front center jacking point but if I use it on the front side point I can create enough room to get the big boy Daytona deep enough.
Wish I had ordered rotors and installed those as well but what's on there should last for a single day and I'll be towing there and back in case all goes sideways.
Ordered new FCP blanks which will hopefully be here before Monday rolls around so I can take them with me for backup.
I've got some new rear rotors and pads and a 3 day weekend coming up so should have plenty of time to get those on.
FCP Euro never disappoints. Should have my new front rotors tomorrow!
All loaded up and ready for Jeffapaloooza tomorrow. This is the first time I'll be towing to an event and it feels unreal.
Wish me an easy hour tow to NJMP tomorrow morning and a safe, successful time out on track.
Easy tow there and back today and easily my favorite event of the year. Open track all day, perfect temps and highly skilled and predictable other drivers really made it special.
Double bonus is that I set a new personal best lap of 1:17.17 down from my previous best of 1:18.8. Hoping to see 1:15s by the end of next season.
Weather is turning cold here and I've got a bunch that I'd like to square away on the car before it enters winter hibernation.
Oil change, rotate tires/wheels, torque and paint marker all suspension and brake fasteners are the bare minimum.
If I am blessed with more reasonable weather on the horizon I might tackle installing the new pedals, small adjustments to the drivers seat and adding a halo seat in place of the current passenger seat.
Nice job on a new pb.
what are the new pedals??
Bimmerworld makes these aluminum pedals with a bit of extension on the left side of the gas to aid in heel/toe.
My heel/toe technique is not good so I'm hoping these may help a bit.
No idea why but I've been procrastinating getting registered for events this year.
The procrastination stopped today and I got a good selection of events on the calendar:
Monday May 6 NJMP Lightning with MoE
Maybe May 18, 19 at VIR with Hyperfest
Maybe Mon, May 27, 2024 at NJMP THUNDERBOLT with MoE HPDE
Monday and Tuesday Jun 2, 3 at NJMP Thunderbolt with BMW CCA
Sunday June 23 Pocono with NASA
Sat/Sun July 20, 21 PittRace with NASA
I'm likely to add a late summer, early fall trip to Lime Rock as well if I can make the schedule work. Otherwise will probably add a few more NJMP days here and there throughout the season through to October.
My boys and I will be down at NJMP for five Friday night rental kart race series events starting in 4/26.
I've never done any karting and they have limited experience. Either way I think they will enjoy competing against each other in the same series and then they can hang out and watch me race.
First karting race on the horizon and I'm completely unprepared but excited to try something new.
trumant said:Bimmerworld makes these aluminum pedals with a bit of extension on the left side of the gas to aid in heel/toe.
My heel/toe technique is not good so I'm hoping these may help a bit.
How do you like these pedals? I've been looking for something similar to help heel-toe on my E46 track car. I've got relatively small feet so I almost always find pedals to be spaced a bit wide for my liking.
Headed to NJMP Lightning with MoE on Monday for my first event of the year.
Chance of light rain but I'll have a good time either way and it beats working!
Pouring rain all weekend kept me from loading up the truck and trailer the day before the event. I grossly underestimated how much time it would take to get loaded and leave the house and ended up getting to the event two hours later than planned.
Once there I was able to breeze through tech and was out on a wet and drying track by 10:20. Intermediate group was quite the mix of cars but biased strongly toward 400hp+ vettes, M cars, 992 911s, an Alfa Quadrofoglio and a Challenger.
I stayed for three 20 minute sessions and was able to build speed quickly and get back to last seasons lap times in pretty short order. Reviewing my Catalyst data I was thrilled to see a 1:17.59 lap followed immediately by a 1:17.61. Both laps 4/10ths off of my PB but the lap over lap consistency is the real reward for me given it's the first event of my season.
Zero issues with the car out on track but loading up to leave I spotted some sidewall cracks starting in one of my trailer tires that need attention before any long tows. Made it home safe and sound with my eyes on that side of the trailer the whole drive.
Headed to NJMP Thunderbolt this coming Monday and Tuesday for a BMW CCA event.
Running intermediate and excited to see what the freshly paved surface has done in terms of traction and times.
Loaded but not strapped down. I'll take care of that bright and early tomorrow morning before I head down to NJMP Thunderbolt for 2 days with BMW CCA.
You'll need to log in to post.
