[bmargolis]

Today was a CT Valley Chapter BMWCCA driving school at Lime Rock Park. The temperature reached a scorching high of 35 degrees, a full 20 below "average" for CT this time of year. Oh well, at least is was not raining! There were even a few snow flakes floating around the track.

To give you an idea of my ability as a driver, I'm in the "Intermediate" group. There are two groups below me and one group above me. I have driven solo in the Intermediate group as well. I'm in the top 1/3 in my group.

My 335i is absolutely bone stock, with 3,500 miles on the odometer. After an oil service yesterday I inflated the tires to 40 front and 38 rear and was off to the track at 5:45am. The front left tire got up to 50lb after the first session, even at those cold temperatures, so I backed out 4lb per tire after that.

My first session was at 10:00am and it was still in the 20s. The tires sure took a while to find any grip, but after a couple of laps they were as warm as they were going to get. The 335i has a TON of torque and it was actually fantastic around the circuit. Lime Rock is a VERY technical track, with every corner being important to drive properly. If you don't do hit the apex' right and keep up your exit speed...you're going to lose a lot of momentum. Overall, the car was very fun on the track and held it's own against 911's and M3's. The brakes were more than adequate for Lime Rock and I never once experienced any fade at all. Lime Rock is pretty much a 3rd gear track with only a single shift into 4th and back down again needed. I never hit the rev limiter at all. On the back straight, even with a really good run in, I never got to 7,000 rpm before needing to brake for the uphill.

I found that driving with the DSC partially disabled (one press) was fine for me. It only interrupted at the crest of the uphill where the car gets light. It also saved me one time when I missed an apex at the downhill and went in too fast AND off line. No DSC and I may have gotten a wheel off. At the end of the front straight, I was going about 125 - 130 mph. The front left tire takes a beating at LRP, but the run-flat's held up just fine.

I'll be back there in a month for another day and hopefully the weather will be MUCH better.

The oil temperature was never a problem, always staying in the same range that the car runs in on regular street driving.

I burned 12 gallons of fuel in about 80 miles.