We took part in the “Pink Ladies” Charity Sprint last week-end. There were quite a few BMWs at the event and I am pleased to report that we did very well on the day. Grant and I had the fastest E46 M3′s on the day beating even the CSL. My car was the 6th quickest overall too which was an excellent result. Somehow, I even managed to have the overall fastest 64ft time at just under 2s!

This short video shows a few of our runs including Dave (Golf R32) and Tony (Vauxhall Monaro).

Here are the final results from the day for all competitors.

It’s like a new car now. Exhaust and engine sound smooth as anything compared to before. In future, oil change every 6 months is on the cards!!

If you are interested in this kit, you can find and buy the kits from the following online store. They had quick delivery with no problems at all!

Before the next track day arrives I thought it would be wise to provide a very quick and dirty analysis of the data I collected on the Performance box. For those of you that may have seen some content here, things have changed, you will find the overview as it stands now in the ‘Track & Travel’ articles… here!

We have not managed to get all the data in yet. Grant has found his files and so we will aim to put more info in soon!

Le Mans Bugatti Circuit 2008

• A couple of videos that are being worked on. (Just waiting for some new software!).
• Details of the repairs being done on Shane’s M3.
• Statistics from the ‘Performance Box’ logging device.

Grant’s car has racing pads, Goodridge braided hoses and Dot 5.1 fluid. The performance I noticed in his car last year at Le Mans was superb; the lack of brake fade gave a lot of confidence when heading for the bends. Though I have ordered standard pads, I felt a set of Goodridge hoses and Dot 5.1 brake fluid might give me a boost. They have been fitted and the system flushed and bled with the new fluid.

So far driving on the roads, I have noticed very little difference, though it is perhaps a little smoother. I very much hope that next week at Le Mans there are no surprises. Here is a ‘fingers crossed’ for consistent braking!

In a previous post I mentioned that the dealer did not have dot 5.1 fluid and I could not get some down to them, so they put in regular brake fluid at the inspection II service. With the track day around the corner, it was time to get some dot 5.1 fluid back in.

Thanks to Dave who did most of the work, while I pumped the brake pedal and Shane filled up the reservoir. Dave jacked up the back and we turned the front wheels for access and the wheels did not even come off. There are some pics in the gallery.

Helen took me to work and when I got home later the car started fine and I had no problems getting it to the dealer. Of course it was not booked in so it was a couple of days before they had time to look at it. I asked them to do an inspection II service while they had. I got the call to say that one of the injectors was shot so that was ordered. I had mentioned that it had dot 5.1 brake fluid in so please not to change. But the car had an ABS sensor that had intermittently been throwing up a fault so I got a call in the afternoon when I was due to pick it up, saying that they do not stock dot 5.1 fluid and did I want them to use regular fluid or could I get some down to them. Needless to say I was slightly stranded so I will now need to get the fluid changed to dot 5.1 before the track day on the 2nd of August.

Got the car back and pottering around the island the car just did not feel right. I could not put my finger on it . The car was also quite rough when cold and it almost felt like before I had it remapped. Once it was warm it seemed ok but I was wondering if the dealer had put the map back to standard or something. That concludes the misfire part of the story.

It was then time for our annual trip to France with all of Helen’s family and after leaving St Malo I once again had that niggling feeling that things where not all as they should be. The car just felt flat and when accelerating out of the toll gates it felt slightly slower. Once at speed when accelerating in 6th gear to over take it even sounded a bit different.

When we got down to the South of France the next day, I popped the bonnet and was greeted by a bit of the orange air filter element sticking out of the side of the airbox. The two clips on the one side where not seated properly and the air filter was wedged between the 2 halves of the air box preventing it sealing. Once Tony and I got the air box sealed back properly and I took it for a drive all was well again. Goes to show it always pays to have a check under the bonnet!

After picking up the car, nearly every corner that I drove around caused the rear LSD (Limited Slip Differential) to make a sound like a walrus mating. If you want the full story about this rather large can of worms and why I don’t think a local “non-BMW” garage did the work they claimed to have done – read the full article and check out the photos.