Took the ZHP out for the SCCA Autocross this past weekend...

[dotslashapex]

Well I'm going to focus on building the e36 for a bit now (and hopefully have the suspension on it by the time the National Tour comes to San Diego in March), so I threw on some new tires on the ZHP and went go to play.

Since I was event chair for both days, I was running around everywhere, but I did get a chance to test these new tires out.

Stock wheels, but I went with a 245/40/18 squared setup.
Tires: Federal 595 SS.
TW Rating: 240TW
PSI: 38 squared (kept the roll-over to a min)

For those that are curious about the classing of the ZHP in SCCA it's a D-Stock car.

It was kind of nice to just arrive and drive as I knew that the DS cars that run down here are all basically on Street Tires.

My competition was as follows:

My wife (co-driver)
2012 D-Stock champion in her husbands' WRX (unknown tires)
2012 D-Stock runner up in 135i - Hancook V12 Evo's
Mini Cooper S (some sort of Pirelli Summer tires)

It was a super fun course, easy to read, and I initially thought that it'd be a good battle. Apparently this got to my head my first run where I plowed through 3 cones, but ended up getting a mid 64 scratch time.

2nd time out was 'decent', so I decided I'd try and push a bit more on the 3rd run Ended up making a lot more mistakes because I wasn't looking enough ahead and butchered the speed I was carrying in the earlier part of the course. That's no good! lol

My last run I had to really buckle down and remember a few key elements that wifey and I talked about the day before, and I navigated the slalom with a lot more finesse and nailed he brake point to not cause understeer through the last turn around.

I ended up nailing the win, but MAN what a close battle with my better half.

See for yourself (look at middle of page for results in DS)!

Needless to say it was pretty awesome taking home an Acharya 1-2 finish beating out the normals on some 'drifter' tires! Woooo!

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[Ryans323i]

Sounds like a great family day! Congrats on taking 1st and 2nd. ZHPs taking 135's is not the norm.

[johnrando]

Nice win.

[M0nk3y]

I love those days where nothing works....and then something clicks and you throw down your best run.

But where are the videos?


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[dotslashapex]

I love those days where nothing works....and then something clicks and you throw down your best run.

But where are the videos?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah it was definitely one of those things that ended up working properly after I gave it some thought. I knew my competition was tough as Kristen and I are pretty much equal when it comes to driving skill (and we have a "Driver's Championship" that we do for every autocross season)…that and the added pressure of driving against the region champ and runner up really was a bit unnerving, but I held it together enough for at least my last run.

I will be uploading the videos of our fastest runs as soon as we edit the 'dead time in grid' as there's a lot of that. I think it will be interesting to see her and my approaches to any given situation and how we cope in it. The go-pro is at a bit of an odd angle (passenger-side front-tire, but I wanted to see how these tires would handle the stress since they are squared out, and as such running a 20mm wider track than the factory recommended. You can still see the course though.

Between wifey and me we have a policy. Whoever looses (and the run groups work out right), the other gets a set of X-runs to try and 'redeem' themselves. This time around it was Kristen that got a set of X-runs. We were actually doing some chatting between ourselves and she actually thought that we both were loosing some time on the back stretch right before the finish and she reckoned the car was capable of a 63.xxx time. That's over half a second faster than the fastest run in the car so far. I hadn't seen the video replay yet, but from what I remembered from the drive that morning, I didn't feel that was doable given our setup, so I told her that she would be hard pressed to get that time.

I actually ended up having to work the sound meter during her set of X-runs and noticed that the Kristen was VERY aggressive, but it did her signature 'pivot' that she's got to rotate any car she drives...I received a heard a text message come through after she finished and got back into grid. Then there was a delay due to some timing stuff, so I checked and I couldn't believe my eyes.

"63.131 + 1 cone on back stretch ;-p"

It was incredible…if she could clean that up that would be amazing. I'd be pissed because she'd have slaughtered my time, but also very impressed lol.

The next time she goes out, I start paying VERY close attention to what she's doing…I watch in horror as she navigates the first half then blows RIGHT Into the 3 cone wallom and DESTROYS the foglight and assembly and starts scattering the pieces up on course! I don't think I've ever seen my heart skip a beat like that before lol. Needless to say that was not her fastest time or a clean run. Her third run in this set was clean and she managed to get a 64.3xx, which bested my time by a few tenths since the tires were too hot at that point to really lay down a REALLY good run. The last one was a 64.503, so slightly faster than my time from earlier as well.

Once I got back to to the paddock, I inspected the damage and found that it was just some plastic grommets that came apart in the front diffuser, and the bumper was sagging a bit at hitting a set of cones at around 50mph, but nothing "too serious". She felt really bad about it, and I actually asked what happened since she did the same thing in a friends car but didn't do that in timed runs. She was trying to tighten up the first set to get more of straight-line speed through the first half of the course. It's a bummer that it got all banged up, but yeah so i'm driving around with a battle scar, but it's something I'm ok with, because at least with this, the response isn't' "oh I just didn't see the car in the parking lot", but "I trying to best my fastest race time and cut into an element of the course too early."

I really wanted to see this carnage so I asked if she'd turned on the go pro, but she told me she tried, but the battery died because "SOMEONE" had forgotten to turn it off. SMH epic husband fail on my part. lol.

[Imola.ZHP]

I miss Auto-X...

Had to give it up when I went back to school, just no extra time...

[Mike V]

That's awesome that your wife is running times very similar to yours. You guys must have a lot of fun giving each other a hard time out there.

[dotslashapex]

Sorry that it took so long for the vid as I was really sick the past week. Freakin' flu.

Here we go.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flGuBPJ_o_c

It's edited so we don't have 3 minutes of dead time. Drivers will notice that the back stretch was actually screwed up a bit so the car should've actually had a high 62-low 63 second time.

Car: 2004 330ci ZHP coupe
Tires: Federal 595 SS 240TW 245/40/18 squared
Wheels: Stock style 135 wheels (18x8 front 18x8.5 rear)
Tire pressures: 38psi squared seemed to work well on these.
Completely stock and rather screwed up alignment. I need to take it in as it hasn't been tracking straight...

[onepercent]

Great video and story! Thanks for sharing! I've been curious about autox for a while, might have to find one in my area.

[dotslashapex]

Great video and story! Thanks for sharing! I've been curious about autox for a while, might have to find one in my area.

Just don't even think. Do it. Your car control skills in any given situation will increase exponentially...as will your frustration as to why people brake so damn much while cornering!

Hats off to BMW in making the ZHP. It handles better than my e36 in current modified state...and the car is stock and cheap street tires. Quite impressive.

[Imola.ZHP]

^ yes, I learned a TON of car control at auto-x... Prior to the ZHP I had a Nissan Titan and prior to that all FWD Honda/Acura cars, needless to say, I didn't really have a clue on how to control my new (to me) RWD car. I was too scared to turn off traction control (I was young, this was 7 years ago) until after my 3rd or 4th auto-x. I hope to be able to get back into it someday, then again my car is much older now and breaking things is expensive...

[M0nk3y]

I hope to be able to get back into it someday, then again my car is much older now and breaking things is expensive...

What do you think you are going to break?

Only thing I damaged was a rock guard in front of the rear wheels (it is a designed break away piece that does fail when something hits it to save the wheel components). I took a corner too close and nailed a cone. It was a $35 part and that was it.

[dotslashapex]

What do you think you are going to break?

Only thing I damaged was a rock guard in front of the rear wheels (it is a designed break away piece that does fail when something hits it to save the wheel components). I took a corner too close and nailed a cone. It was a $35 part and that was it.

How about a fog light and the plastic assembly that houses it lol.

[M0nk3y]

How about a fog light and the plastic assembly that houses it lol.

Yea I don't have those.

:)


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[dotslashapex]

Yea I don't have those.

:)


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M-drivers :rollseyes:

[M0nk3y]

M-drivers :rollseyes:

Lol.

At least you don't have $100 raw cost oil changes.


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[dotslashapex]

Unless you run motul 8100x lol

[Imola.ZHP]

What do you think you are going to break?

Only thing I damaged was a rock guard in front of the rear wheels (it is a designed break away piece that does fail when something hits it to save the wheel components). I took a corner too close and nailed a cone. It was a $35 part and that was it.

Besides fog light housings (I lost a few of those back in the day), I just generally meant wear and tear; brakes, tires and other excessive wear... I'm sure I'll get back into it one day though, it's quite addicting!


M-drivers :rollseyes:

I still disagree with BMW M removing fog lights from M cars, basically they are "Ultimate Driving Machines" except in fog now...

[dotslashapex]

pictahs from the event!! I love our photo guy that comes out from lateapexphoto.com.

If you're in San Diego you should contract him to do work. He's fantastic.


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