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June 7, 2009 7:39 p.m. pigeon Reader

So I decided to take my big 750Li out to the local BMWCCA autocross today. Yeah, given that it weighs roughly 4600 without my 200#s in the seat and the extended wheelbase it wasn't as well suited to the sport as, say, the Lotus Elise or the Noble M400 that I ran with (which together probably weighed the same as my car), but I still had a blast. The site we used is the site of the National Tour event next weekend, Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, NY. It's a decommissioned runway with a parking pad off to one side, resulting in a giant P-shaped course about 3/4 mile long. It was a very open, fast, flowing course with only one real tight section and even the course designer told me 1/2 way through the event that he had made that too tight. The open course wound up serving my car well, though. I ran a best time of 55.6xx, roughly 10 seconds slower than that Elise but right there with a C4 Vette on street tires, and faster than a number of other cars. If I were a better driver I'd sure I could have knocked 2 seconds off my time. I impressed everyone with what was described as a "John Force" level wheel-well filling smoky burnout at the start once I turned all the electronic nannies off - 360 hp and 360 lb/ft onto street tires can do that. I was pretty pleased to get some compliments on how I hustled my big car around course by the chief instructor.

The Noble was disappointing to watch, the owner just didn't know what to do with it and as a result his fast time was a 55.5xx. An instructor took it around course and knocked down a 50 second run. The Elise was incredible, totally stock but with R comps it made a very fast CSP Miata look very pedestrian. Other interesting cars included a modified '65 Vette Stingray 'vert, a supercharged Z4 and an S2000 CR. The S2000 was driven by a cute girl who I give a lot of credit to for going out but who never got the car into VTEC (yo!) in her first 4 runs - I'm sure my runs were way faster than hers. There was another cute girl who ran very well in her Cobalt SS, complete with pink car numbers. It was nice to see cute girls racing.

Next up is a track day, perhaps in August, now that I know I fit well in the car with a helmet.
June 7, 2009 7:50 p.m. daytonaer Reader

Seneca army depo is awesome. How many people can say they flogged their car on a 9000 foot runway?

If you enjoyed yourself, check out the Glen region SCCA, they run a few events there.

Glen SCCA
June 7, 2009 7:53 p.m. P71 Dork

There's just something fun about hustling big cars through cones. Sure, we're more competitive in the little stuff (like my RX7), but I'd go for a ride in your 7 BMW any day. Sounds like a blast! Wonder how close the P71 would be to you? You have a HP/TQ advantage (and probably suspension and tires as well) but surprisingly the P71 is lighter. Is your 7 a manual?
June 7, 2009 7:53 p.m. pigeon Reader

I just checked, the wheelbase on my 750Li is 123.1 inches, a 1st gen Miata's wheelbase is 89.2 inches. The Miata's overall length is 155.4 inches, vs. my car at 203.8 inches. The Miata weight 2293 pounds, almost exactly half my car. Interesting stats (to me at least).
June 7, 2009 8:05 p.m. pigeon Reader

P71 wrote:

There's just something fun about hustling big cars through cones. Sure, we're more competitive in the little stuff (like my RX7), but I'd go for a ride in your 7 BMW any day. Sounds like a blast! Wonder how close the P71 would be to you? You have a HP/TQ advantage (and probably suspension and tires as well) but surprisingly the P71 is lighter. Is your 7 a manual?

No manual 7s in my generation - it's an '06, the E65/66 chassis. Sport mode works well though. I didn't try to use the manual mode with the shift buttons on the wheel, the buttons are too small and too hard to find when steering quickly. I have lots of tire - 245/40R19 front and 275/35R19 rear.

I really wanted to pile in 3 instructors for one final run but I hadn't gotten a good, clean run all afternoon so I went solo.

I think there's an event at SEAD every weekend this summer between Glen Region SCCA, GVC-BMWCCA, and Finger Lakes Region SCCA. Makes me want to find a beater autocross car, or something to co-drive. The nice things about the BMWCCA events are that car counts are usually relatively low (more runs), and the atmosphere is a LOT more laid back than SCCA events. There's no PAX and no classing, just BMW, Porsche and Others. Finger Lakes Region SCCA can be a little, um, uptight at events, but they also have several national-level drivers and cars so I understand why.

I wonder what class an '06 750Li would run in with SCCA?
June 7, 2009 8:13 p.m. P71 Dork

245/275 is what my new tires are, but on 17's. They'll be here Friday

I don't know much about beamers, but it sounds like the auto is doing an ok job. Does it hold a single gear or is it up/down shifting? The Superchips tuner allows me to adjust the trans in the P71 so when you drive around in "2" it will automatically up/downshift between 1st and 2nd only. It also goes 95MPH in 2nd, so it's more than enough for autocross (and that little track I was on last weekend).

With a 700# and 60HP/60TQ difference we should be pretty close. I autocrossed with a guy in a 71 Roadrunner, that was a hoot! Also an old Mopar wagon used to come out (Coronet IIRC) that was just killer to watch. One of these days somebody needs to do an all large-car auto-x event at a national level site like Packwood or Seneca with an open course.

Oh, and 4 helmets in an autocrossing car is epic good fun! You must try it next time!
June 7, 2009 8:21 p.m. d_jabsd Reader

pigeon wrote:

I wonder what class an '06 750Li would run in with SCCA?

The straight-6 7 series is in HS. I would guess FS for the 750, but it isn't classified, so that may stick you in the catch all class -XP.
June 7, 2009 8:34 p.m. pigeon Reader

The trans in my car has 3 modes - normal, sport and manual. Manual unfortunately will upshift for you at the rev limiter, and requires that you find 2 buttons roughly 1x2" on the front and rear of the wheel to shift. Sport shifts freely but will hold gears while turning hard or slowing down, it worked pretty well but I had to really nail the gas to kick it down in one spot where I would have already downshifted if I were rowing my own. Normal is designed for buttery smooth shifts, as a luxury car should have. Screw that, if I wanted my luxury car to be uninvolving I would have bought a Lexus!
June 7, 2009 9:49 p.m. P71 Dork

Sounds sweeeet! Is the 750 a V8 or V12 or???
June 7, 2009 10:10 p.m. pigeon Reader

P71 wrote:

Sounds sweeeet! Is the 750 a V8 or V12 or???

It's a 4.8L V8. One of these days I'll put some interior pics up in my profile.
June 7, 2009 10:18 p.m. neon4891 SuperDork

So what are the Non- SCCA groups in the finger lakes? I was wanting to start this year but could only find info on the glen region SCCA.
June 7, 2009 10:22 p.m. P71 Dork

360HP/360TQ out of a 4.8L V8 stock? Sigh I still hate my puny 240HP 4.6L. WITH mods I'm at maybe 300HP (flywheel).

How's it sound?
June 8, 2009 7:35 a.m. pigeon Reader

The only non-SCCA group I know in the Finger Lakes is BMWCCA. Porsche Club runs with us, as does a small group of Corvettes who aren't a formal club. This: GVC BMWCCA is their web page, the autocross schedule is on there but we run one more time at SEAD and once at a kart track in Lafayette, NY, and twice at a kart track in Batavia.

P71, I didn't buy it new but it stickered at about $98k. For that money I expect that much power out of a 4.8L motor. For '09 they slapped twin turbos on the same motor, pushing output into the mid 400s Unfortunately with the windows up the motor makes no sound inside the car at all. Windows down it's pretty heavily muffled but still makes a nice growl.
June 8, 2009 8:22 a.m. P71 Dork

Throw some Flowmasters on My car sounds a lot meaner than it actually is between the cat-back and the FIPK. A mean set of pipes would probably make the 7 sound devilishly delicious.
June 8, 2009 8:38 a.m. Strizzo Dork

ChrisV has flowmasters on his 745Li, i think he's got some youtube links in his profile as well.
June 9, 2009 10:51 p.m. pigeon Reader

Well, the results are up. I was faster than 2 Vettes, 4 other BMWs, a pair of 911s and various other cars. I was within a 1/2 second of the Noble M400. I may have to do this again in the big 7.
June 10, 2009 1:41 p.m. thatsnowinnebago HalfDork

Your luxo-barge () was faster than 2 911s? Sounds like fodder for the 911 thread...
June 10, 2009 2:55 p.m. P71 SuperDork

thatsnowinnebago wrote:

Your luxo-barge () was faster than 2 911s? Sounds like fodder for the 911 thread...
June 10, 2009 8:43 p.m. daytonaer Reader

neon4891 wrote:

So what are the Non- SCCA groups in the finger lakes? I was wanting to start this year but could only find info on the glen region SCCA.

NASA runs some events at the glen.

http://www.nasanortheast.com/schedule.html

I don't know why you want to avoid SCCA, but there is an event coming up at the pyramid mall. If I see you there I promise to be friendly.

I'm way over my head in SSM and can't drive for beans, but they still let me have fun.

I would LOVE to see someone hustling a 7series. I would also love to see 4 helmets bouncing around inside.
June 10, 2009 8:59 p.m. pigeon Reader

P71 wrote:

thatsnowinnebago wrote:

Your luxo-barge () was faster than 2 911s? Sounds like fodder for the 911 thread...

Oops, my bad - it was one 911 ('99 Carrera) and a 944. I was actually more impressed that I was faster than the 2 C5 Corvettes given the wide open course.

Having done it once now I will very likely autocross it again. I'll be sure to get pics & video next time, hopefully with 4 helmets bobbing along in comfort and style
June 10, 2009 11:25 p.m. Jamesc2123 New Reader

daytonaer wrote:

neon4891 wrote:

So what are the Non- SCCA groups in the finger lakes? I was wanting to start this year but could only find info on the glen region SCCA.

NASA runs some events at the glen.

http://www.nasanortheast.com/schedule.html

I don't know why you want to avoid SCCA, but there is an event coming up at the pyramid mall. If I see you there I promise to be friendly.

I'm way over my head in SSM and can't drive for beans, but they still let me have fun.

I would LOVE to see someone hustling a 7series. I would also love to see 4 helmets bouncing around inside.

Glen's next event is actually at the Army Depot. We're very nice, don't worry about that. Also, look up Southern NY region out of Binghamton. They have very small, laid back events, and last time i was there a super nice old guy running a super nice Street Prepared neon.

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