[jacktli_g87]

Background

Last year, I started documenting my work in building my Cayman. This turned into a really fun experience to share my progress. So, starting one here with my new G87 as I figure out how to make this 3800lb blue piggy go around circles as fast as possible.




2025 M2

I picked this car up from BMW Grapevine.
2025 model year, ZF8, carbon roof, alcantara wheel.



ECR Day 1 - Bone stock

I got a membership at Eagles Canyon Raceway a little bit before I got this car, so this is where most of the car development is going to happen. I had about 15 laps in real life prior to first day on track with this car, and probably a hundred or two in the sim.

The first day on track was 100% bone stock (with the mishimoto undertray guard), with the factory pirelli tires.

The day started off super sketchy, but someone suggested running at 40psi to control the sidewalls, which helped the car come alive. Only had time to run 6 more laps with this pressure, with a best time of 2:11:44.

Definitely way more time on the table; very capable car stock.

ECR Day 2 - Camber, ECF, Eibach Springs

Threw on some vorshlag camber plates, eibach springs, and Conti ECF tires in 295/30/19 squared.

Aligned car at -3.0f, -2.5r

Threw down a 2:09:38, after messing up and losing 0.7s on entry for T13.

Also, my very fast friend took my car for a spin, putting down a 2:07:69 with this setup. His video is here


ECR Day 3 - Brake pads + fluid

The pads were getting pretty worn; honestly not as bad as I expected, but I had two sets of brake pads on the shelf so I decided to swap these out for some Endless CCRG (thanks NekoRacing )

I also had some speed engineering brake ducts (thanks LeggoRacing for the suggestion) so I installed these as well.



The pads feel better than stock for sure, and definitely a little more consistent after a few quick laps. The braking is definitely limited by tire grip, so didn't expect the total braking to be any different, but definitely nice to not have to really think much about the brakes and fluid possibly overheating.

I started to get more comfortable with the car now, and set a new PB of 2:07:26.

<excuse>
It's hard to be consistent in these base seats. My meat harness (left leg on dead pedal) gets pretty worn out, and I've been using my right knee to brace against the tunnel which makes it hard to be consistent with the throttle.
</excuse>

So, to rid myself of more excuses, I got some Recaro Podiums and Schroth quick fit pros which are going into the car next.

I also got a good deal on MCS 3-way that are coming as well, but I want to find more time with this mostly-stock setup before throwing these on.

Will try to keep this thread updated with more adventures, and hopefully my data here will help put some numbers on the effectiveness of some of these future mods.

[M2M3M3]

Looks like a fun track! The key panic button thing was hilarious!

[ZPD]

2:11 on bone stock is fantastic. I look forward to going to ECR on the same day as you sometime. last weekend was coooold

[jacktli_g87]

Originally Posted by M2M3M3

Looks like a fun track! The key panic button thing was hilarious!

There's highbeaming on track, honking, and now, for the ultimate disrespect, there's the panic button.

Funnily enough one of my biggest grievances with this car is that there's nowhere to put the key! The cayman had a wonderful slot on the left that you had to use to start the car. Having the key in my pocket just pushes it against the bolsters constantly and then the panic button happens!

Originally Posted by ZPD

2:11 on bone stock is fantastic. I look forward to going to ECR on the same day as you sometime. last weekend was coooold

Same here! Love the build and your posts on this forum (lurked a lot before I bought this car ).
Looking forward to standing on your splitter and eating lunch on your wing checking out your car!

Yeah the weekend was pretty bad. Friday was nice still at 40f, and I was able to run the 2:07:26 then. I went back on Monday to try to find the last second or so but the highest it got that day was 30f I feel like I found more time in the first and last sectors, but just couldn't get grip on 6-7-8 and losing so much time there.

[ZPD]

Originally Posted by jacktli_g87

There's highbeaming on track, honking, and now, for the ultimate disrespect, there's the panic button.

Funnily enough one of my biggest grievances with this car is that there's nowhere to put the key! The cayman had a wonderful slot on the left that you had to use to start the car. Having the key in my pocket just pushes it against the bolsters constantly and then the panic button happens!



Same here! Love the build and your posts on this forum (lurked a lot before I bought this car ).
Looking forward to standing on your splitter and eating lunch on your wing checking out your car!

Yeah the weekend was pretty bad. Friday was nice still at 40f, and I was able to run the 2:07:26 then. I went back on Monday to try to find the last second or so but the highest it got that day was 30f I feel like I found more time in the first and last sectors, but just couldn't get grip on 6-7-8 and losing so much time there.

Ya most of our sessions were in the 30's. Plus it was very windy. I don't think the track ever warmed up enough to have the type of grip that we usually get. If you haven't changed your brake fluid yet make sure that you do. NekoRacing got toasty with his stock fluid.

You and NekoRacing take the same line on turn 14. I will have to try that line next time. I once had an instructor who told me to go straight for a bit and turn in late hitting a late apex and cross all the way over on turn exit but it feels odd to me to turn in so late and feels like I am losing exit speed.

[jacktli_g87]

Originally Posted by ZPD

Ya most of our sessions were in the 30's. Plus it was very windy. I don't think the track ever warmed up enough to have the type of grip that we usually get. If you haven't changed your brake fluid yet make sure that you do. NekoRacing got toasty with his stock fluid.

You and NekoRacing take the same line on turn 14. I will have to try that line next time. I once had an instructor who told me to go straight for a bit and turn in late hitting a late apex and cross all the way over on turn exit but it feels odd to me to turn in so late and feels like I am losing exit speed.

Yeah, because of the off-camber incline, it's hard to get throttle down early, so I'm trying to just stay tight and get a clean exit by getting the car pointed and kissing the very end of the inside curb.

I think if I had more rear grip a wider line could be good to sacrifice entry for more exit speed, but hard to put meaningful power down early on the incline.

[jacktli_g87]

ECR Day 4 - Cold AF

Did 3 sessions on MLK day, 24f in first session, 28f in second session, and 30f in third session.

Only 3 cars on track, so open track whole day. Unfortunately mostly at different times, so grip was really low.



Managed the best of the day at 2:07:78, and dropped optimal to 2:05:91. Wasn't expecting fast times this day, but happy I was able to make some driver improvements for next time.

[M2M3M3]

Great thread. We need one like this for each different track!

[lutfy]

This is impressive and well executed. Do you have a pyrometer to get readings (inside, middle, outside)?

I am curious as to what it is yielding with the added front camber.

Will be following you (including YouTube).

Thank you for sharing!

[LeggoRacing]

Good work , Jack. Hoping to get out there one more time with you These cars are so good

[jacktli_g87]

Originally Posted by lutfy

This is impressive and well executed. Do you have a pyrometer to get readings (inside, middle, outside)?

I am curious as to what it is yielding with the added front camber.

Will be following you (including YouTube).

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you!

I do not, I really should get a simple one tho to check after sessions.

In general I do want to get more detailed data. The catalyst is great and I’ve been using the vehicle status display with the pov video to see how much throttle I’m adding, but would love to get a brake trace as I’ve been varying this the most between laps and I can’t correlate it back very easily.

Originally Posted by LeggoRacing

Good work , Jack. Hoping to get out there one more time with you These cars are so good

You’re always welcome!
I need to sneak in some COTA time as well, hopefully while you’re still here 🙂

[jacktli_g87]

Have some goodies sitting in the garage!

Recaro Podium seats

I was actually hoping to get the gfrp ones to save some money, but apparently they got discontinued. The carbon ones felt a little too expensive, but these are super nice and can fit a seatbelt receptacle on the side for easier street use, and also my planned harness situation (more on that later).

I had also thought about the Tillett B10 seats, and actually initially placed an order for those. Ultimately I decided that they might be a little too street oriented, and might prompt me to upgrade later.



To mount this, I have some VAC motorsports hardware coming. I got the bases, sliders, 6-pt mounting brackets, and went with the Recaro Podium FIA side mounts.

I'm debating right now between mounting the seat directly or using the slider. Being 5'7" and the steering wheel having a relatively high "lowest" setting, I feel like I might need to add the slider just to get a little more height.
Will play around with this a bit and see. I've also only ever mounted seats using a whole bracket, where I would assemble the whole seat out of the car and drop it in as one piece, so this mount will be a new experience. This car definitely has more side clearance than the tight space of the cayman though!

For harness situation, I didn't want to put in a rollbar yet, so I decided to go the Schroth Quick Fit Pro route. They also have a sub-strap that are compatible with these, so I'm going to use this.
I got the e92 quick fit set, haven't fitted it to the car yet so I will share more details when I attempt that.


MCS 3-way remote

I got these MCS for a decent deal, and they arrived last week.

I'll probably sit on these a little bit and try to squeeze a bit more out of my current setup first.

They look great though! 800/686 spring rates. QD on the front but unfortunately no QD on the rear.

I have a helper spring on the shelf that I'm going to add to the fronts.
Also have some SPL front tie rods, front endlinks, and rear toe links that will go on at some point too.

[M2M3M3]

Suggestion for cars used on track. Get a seat with "halo" head restraints. Huge safety improvement in an "off". The in car video from folks i know who had incidents is eye opening.

They are a pain on the street though. Solution I found is the SPARCO ERGO seat. Head side wings are easily removable for street use. I had this seat in my 1975 M2 street/ track car. It was awesome.

[TallGibbs]

jacktli_g87

[QUOTE=jacktli_g87;31806151]There's highbeaming on track, honking, and now, for the ultimate disrespect, there's the panic button.

Funnily enough one of my biggest grievances with this car is that there's nowhere to put the key! The cayman had a wonderful slot on the left that you had to use to start the car. Having the key in my pocket just pushes it against the bolsters constantly and then the panic button happens!

RE: Where to put the key: why not just use the "BMW Card" for when you actually go onto track? You can start the car with that card and just leave your keys in your toolbox back at the Paddock? The card goes flat by the cup holders (you probably already know that though).

[jacktli_g87]

Originally Posted by TallGibbs

jacktli_g87

RE: Where to put the key: why not just use the "BMW Card" for when you actually go onto track? You can start the car with that card and just leave your keys in your toolbox back at the Paddock? The card goes flat by the cup holders (you probably already know that though).

Ohhh I vaguely remember getting this... that is a good idea. need to figure out where I put this...

[jacktli_g87]

Originally Posted by M2M3M3

Suggestion for cars used on track. Get a seat with "halo" head restraints. Huge safety improvement in an "off". The in car video from folks i know who had incidents is eye opening.

They are a pain on the street though. Solution I found is the SPARCO ERGO seat. Head side wings are easily removable for street use. I had this seat in my 1975 M2 street/ track car. It was awesome.

Good suggestion on the sparco seat, will consider this down the road

[adenjr]

I've installed the Schroth QuickFit Pro for the E92 M3, and fits perfect

[jacktli_g87]

Originally Posted by adenjr

I've installed the Schroth QuickFit Pro for the E92 M3, and fits perfect

Nice!!! Great idea with the factory buckets.

cc LeggoRacing we were just talking about this last week

[M2M3M3]

considerations when using those 4pt systems.

1. MUST tighten lap belt first. must not pull the shoulders very tight. why? because without a crotch strap to hold the lap belt down, pulling on the shoulder belts pulls the lap belt UP, away from your pelvis. you will not be happy in an accident if the lap belt is high on the soft parts of your gut.

1a/ in an accident without a crotch strap, the shoulder straps are going to pull the lap belt up anyway. ouch.

2. improper angle of the shoulder straps back to their mounting points. while it may be easy to clip the mounts down to the back seatbelts, this is bad. the shoulder straps should come off the top of the shoulders and go straight back to the rear deck or a roll bar. why? in an accident when the body load goes forward with the straps mounted low, the forward load ends up pulling down hard on the shoulders, compressing the spine. not good. shoulder straps that mount down to the rear seat would fail an SCCA racing tech safety inspection.

If you are short, er, less tall, the down angle could work. i.e. if the straps come off the drivers shoulders and go UP to get to the holes in the seat back before going down, then the seat back mitigates the downward load.

3/ there is also the issue of a 4pt holding you vertical in a roll over making your head a roll bar. 3pt belts allow the body to slide to the side if the roof comes down. schroth does have a "release" on the shoulder strap closest to the center of the car that is supposed to release in a hit allowing the body to move to the middle of the car to accommodate this. it is important to not install a drivers side 4pt on the pass side or viceversa.

personally, i would never use a 4pt mounted like that displayed in the picture on a track. ok for low risk events like auto-x to help hold you in.

JMHO as an SCCA racer for decades. use or ignore at will. everyone accepts their own risk level while having a heck of a good time using these car on a track where they belong!!

[ZPD]

Originally Posted by M2M3M3

considerations when using those 4pt systems.

1. MUST tighten lap belt first. must not pull the shoulders very tight. why? because without a crotch strap to hold the lap belt down, pulling on the shoulder belts pulls the lap belt UP, away from your pelvis. you will not be happy in an accident if the lap belt is high on the soft parts of your gut.

1a/ in an accident without a crotch strap, the shoulder straps are going to pull the lap belt up anyway. ouch.

2. improper angle of the shoulder straps back to their mounting points. while it may be easy to clip the mounts down to the back seatbelts, this is bad. the shoulder straps should come off the top of the shoulders and go straight back to the rear deck or a roll bar. why? in an accident when the body load goes forward with the straps mounted low, the forward load ends up pulling down hard on the shoulders, compressing the spine. not good. shoulder straps that mount down to the rear seat would fail an SCCA racing tech safety inspection.

If you are short, er, less tall, the down angle could work. i.e. if the straps come off the drivers shoulders and go UP to get to the holes in the seat back before going down, then the seat back mitigates the downward load.

3/ there is also the issue of a 4pt holding you vertical in a roll over making your head a roll bar. 3pt belts allow the body to slide to the side if the roof comes down. schroth does have a "release" on the shoulder strap closest to the center of the car that is supposed to release in a hit allowing the body to move to the middle of the car to accommodate this. it is important to not install a drivers side 4pt on the pass side or viceversa.

personally, i would never use a 4pt mounted like that displayed in the picture on a track. ok for low risk events like auto-x to help hold you in.

JMHO as an SCCA racer for decades. use or ignore at will. everyone accepts their own risk level while having a heck of a good time using these car on a track where they belong!!

Thanks for typing this out. Very well said. I made a mental note to say something similar when I got home tonight.
I had a Schroth Quick fit Pro in my last trackcar and could never get it tight enough to allow me not to use my legs to brace myself against the dead pedal or trans tunnel. As M2M3M3 said the tighter I got it the more it pulled up away from my pelvis. I am currently in the process of installing a 6-point harness (properly). I will do a separate post or video when I get it complete.

[adenjr]

Originally Posted by M2M3M3

considerations when using those 4pt systems.

1. MUST tighten lap belt first. must not pull the shoulders very tight. why? because without a crotch strap to hold the lap belt down, pulling on the shoulder belts pulls the lap belt UP, away from your pelvis. you will not be happy in an accident if the lap belt is high on the soft parts of your gut.

1a/ in an accident without a crotch strap, the shoulder straps are going to pull the lap belt up anyway. ouch.

2. improper angle of the shoulder straps back to their mounting points. while it may be easy to clip the mounts down to the back seatbelts, this is bad. the shoulder straps should come off the top of the shoulders and go straight back to the rear deck or a roll bar. why? in an accident when the body load goes forward with the straps mounted low, the forward load ends up pulling down hard on the shoulders, compressing the spine. not good. shoulder straps that mount down to the rear seat would fail an SCCA racing tech safety inspection.

If you are short, er, less tall, the down angle could work. i.e. if the straps come off the drivers shoulders and go UP to get to the holes in the seat back before going down, then the seat back mitigates the downward load.

3/ there is also the issue of a 4pt holding you vertical in a roll over making your head a roll bar. 3pt belts allow the body to slide to the side if the roof comes down. schroth does have a "release" on the shoulder strap closest to the center of the car that is supposed to release in a hit allowing the body to move to the middle of the car to accommodate this. it is important to not install a drivers side 4pt on the pass side or viceversa.

personally, i would never use a 4pt mounted like that displayed in the picture on a track. ok for low risk events like auto-x to help hold you in.

JMHO as an SCCA racer for decades. use or ignore at will. everyone accepts their own risk level while having a heck of a good time using these car on a track where they belong!!

Yes, am aware that these are the risks with this setup, but I don't have the option of installing a roll/ harness bar, as you can see from the baby seat in the back seat, this is a multi-purpose car for me. The Schroth QuickFit Pro was designed to be mounted low and has ASM Anti SubMarining Technology, which helps mitigate some of these risks. So here's hoping the added stability in the car helps me be a better driver, and reduces the probability of an accident!

[jacktli_g87]

All good points, there's definitely risks to any restraint system.

I'm personally going to run mine with an extra substrap, as the quickfit system actually has a slot to add one:

https://www.schrothracing.com/item/sub-straps

Being 5'7" + variety of shoulder pass throughs on the podium seats, I feel relatively comfortable with the setup, but accept there are risks.

Rollbar will be in the future for this car, but hoping to keep most of the interior in the car until my new house is done at the end of the year so I have less things to move