First outing with F80: impressions + photos

[evanescent03]

First off, I'm not very experienced with HPDEs. over the past 6 years I've done 9 weekends for 16 days. Those 9 events were at 8 different tracks and in three different cars. I've moved around (5 different houses/apartments in those same 6 years) an I've been more interested in experiencing new tracks than honing my skills on a particular track. It's been very fun.

So the F80 now ... after reading reports from people who have far more experience than I, the modifications to my car were pretty standard: square apex ec-7 18"x10" et33 wheels with 10mm spacer in front and wrapped in 275/35/18 Nitto NT01 tires coupled with ATE DOT4 fluid and a set of Pagid RS29 pads and off I went. It was a 5 hr drive so i put the apex/nitto in the car and drove the MPSS and stock 19s to the track to avoid ruining my weekend by getting a flat in the NT01s ... also i wanted to have the MPSS in case of rain.

Everything i've heard so far about the car seems very true.

Settings:

:: SPORT PLUS for everything
:: MDM for the first two sessions since my instructor encouraged it and it was my first time at the track so i like to see if there are areas it's saving me so I can make sure i watch throttle in those areas... the rest of the weekend everything was off and felt far better ... and i think the brakes were getting hotter with the MDM on.
:: started tires at 31PSI and ended around 38-39 which felt good to me, if anything the rear could've even used more.. only a couple oversteer times where the rear end started coming out from under me, each time it was predictable and no bad outcomes

Brakes:
I noticed after the second session that i had a little brake fluid coming out from around the bleed valves/nipples and trickling down the calipers. It seemed to me that the brake travel increased some after the first session and i'm wondering if this had something to do with it ... the brakes did what they were supposed to do but i think my technique lended to a little more fade than necessary as well (longer, less severe braking zones .. i probably should've compressed my braking zones a bit more). only rarely did i actually try to manage my brakes to try and improve the travel/fade but i was very happy with the brakes and i was going hard 99% of the time.

Power:
More than adequate. Some of the passing zones were rather short but the power in this thing made zipping past some slower cars a breeze. my run group mostly consisted of people in older Boxsters/Carreras on one end of the spectrum, and GT3s/Turbo/TurboS on the other end of the spectrum. I had a pretty good run with a 997 Turbo for a while but he did end up pulling away from me. The TurboS is the only car that really would smoke me in a power perspective ... he also had carbon ceramics..

DCT:
No malfunctions the entire time ... i didn't like one or two of the shifts it was making so i ended up shifting myself and keeping it in the hardest shift setting which led to a little tire chirp a couple times coming out of turns hard.

Steering:

It felt perfect to me. It barely entered my mind because it was doing exactly what i wanted and never was there something i wish it was doing/had done.

Overall impression:

Loved it! I didn't get any warnings/malfunctions except TPMS which I didn't have installed and a chassis malfunction when i had the car jacked up and on to bleed the brakes. Couldn't ask for much more to be honest.

Not a lot really to say that hasn't been said before/better by other people, so i'll just toss in some photos and a video!

















^^ highway/track



^^ my car hates me to some degree, car had just been jacked up for old-fashioned brake bleeding. turned the car off and back on and cleared and never came back.



^^ 1/4 tank per session

in the videos i had the flaps full-open (unplugged the cords) and had the microphone hanging from the tow strap on the rear bumper. the mic was definitely hot by the end of a session so this probably will have a deleterious effect on it long term... moving the mic to the license plate is something that may help with that.

[Flying Low]

Great review and video. Loved the sound track. Is that the stock exhaust? What suspension? I noticed that your RS29 pads squeal under lighter braking. I tried the Pagid RSL1 pads and they squealed like that as well. I've used the RS29 pads on my 2003 M3 with Brembo BBK for years and they have never squealed at the track and very minimal on the street after the transfer layer wears off. I did notice that the M4 RSL1 pads were very loose in the calipers as compared to the Brembo BBK fit. Has anyone else noticed this squealing with the RS29 pads and loose fit on our new M cars.

[evanescent03]

Originally Posted by lo flyn

Great review and video. Loved the sound track. Is that the stock exhaust? What suspension? ..... Has anyone else noticed this squealing with the RS29 pads and loose fit on our new M cars.

hey man!! stock exhaust but with the flaps stuck open (drive around in sport plus exhaust throttle, come to a stop and turn off the car. shine a flashlight down the exhaust and you'll see the flaps open... then unplug both sides of the exhaust flap actuator or whatever it's called, search and you'll find photos of which plug). stock adaptive suspension in "sport plus" also.

squealing is crazy on the street, but minimal on the track and more noticeable in the lighter applications. the pads also "clunk" when you go from reverse to drive an vice versa, so i think that's a loose-fitment issue. i was wondering if it has to do with the lack of backing plates and weights on the RS29 (present on stock pads).. some people say this isn't the issue ... doesn't seem to make a difference in braking so i'm happy. very little pad used over the whole weekend.

thanks for checking it out

[Gearhead999s]

Good videoLooks like you were having fun!

[GOLFFRR]

awesome! great write up and you def were moving in that vid!

[CanAutM3]

Thanks for sharing. Very happy you enjoyed the car .

vid BTW.

Regarding RS29 slap and squeal, I believe that the OEM pads have some sort of adhesive applied so thst they stick to the pistons. When I removed the OEM pads, they definitely seemed glued to the pistons. This could be the main reason they don't slap and squeal .

[evanescent03]

Originally Posted by CanAutM3

Thanks for sharing. Very happy you enjoyed the car .

vid BTW.

Regarding RS29 slap and squeal, I believe that the OEM pads have some sort of adhesive applied so thst they stick to the pistons. When I removed the OEM pads, they definitely seemed glued to the pistons. This could be the main reason they don't slap and squeal .

thanks!

and i think you're right... the metal cover over the stock pads have a little bit of a coating to them.. perhaps that's what creates the bite? i actually re-used the silver anti-squeal from the stock pads on the rs29s. that metal clip that wraps around the plate could be it. someone said the pagids were smaller but i'll measure them next time i swap and see for sure.

[harrisch]

awesome video and awesome driving man! that was good fun

[FTS]

Very nice, well done

[adc]

Cool, thanks for sharing. Looks like you had fun...

Was the external Gopro suction-mounted on the rear side window? That's a nice POV.

[JNoSol]

Nice driving bro. How were the outer tire shoulders without cambers? Any chunks come off?

[evanescent03]

Originally Posted by JNoSol

Nice driving bro. How were the outer tire shoulders without cambers? Any chunks come off?

thanks man! i am not a natural racer or even extensively trained but i do have fun

ambient temps weren't too high as it was breezy and overcast some but probably about 80 degrees... the tires held up fantastic. very even looking wear. my wife and i will be sharing the car at DE later in the month so after a few more laps we'll see how they do. both tracks are rather smooth though so hopefully not too much chunking.

speaking of tires... amazing how other guys are using the MPSS without destroying them. two 997 Turbos (one was an "S" with carbon ceramics) were running the MPSS and they looked fine. I wonder why some of the M3/4 guys are killing them in a weekend... different tire formulation or car dynamics perhaps.. the Turbo guys were pushing their cars really hard, too. still glad i got the NT01s tho

[evanescent03]

Originally Posted by adc

Cool, thanks for sharing. Looks like you had fun...

Was the external Gopro suction-mounted on the rear side window? That's a nice POV.

that was an ever-so-questionable location... it was on the door frame on the smooth black plastic. it's JUST wide enough on the bottom to get a good fit. i challenged it pretty good an made sure everything was clean. the cup extended over the edge by 1/8" or less on each side but did fine at over 100mph with a cross wind.

thanks for the kudos!