ROAD TO TIME ATTACK Ep. 1 BMW Build StopTech Brake Install Sim Training on As
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00:00We spend a lot of time wondering what we might be capable of, putting off projects because
00:07life gets in the way, yet we always find ourselves inspired by those that push the limits.
00:13In the motorsport world especially, nothing is easy.
00:16We love to hear about race teams going for the podium in serious engine builds, but lately
00:21I felt like there aren't enough stories about the average enthusiast.
00:24I own a normal car, I'm not a professional mechanic or a race car driver, and I want
00:29to dip my toe into the motorsport world.
00:32So this season I'm going to enter Ontario Time Attack.
00:36Now obviously I'm going to need parts and expertise, so JRP has decided to help me out
00:41as I prep my car.
00:43In each episode of this series we are going to install and test a new part, and then the
00:47team at the Pinnacle Driving Academy is going to sharpen my skills and fix my bad habits
00:51on the track, hopefully in time for the first event.
00:54Ontario Time Attack is organized grassroots motorsport.
00:57I need to set the fastest lap that I possibly can.
01:00So the question is, how fast can we make me, and how fast can we make my car?
01:08This is the car in question.
01:14It's not an M3, or a 330, or a 328i.
01:19It's a 2003 325i which I bought for $5,000.
01:25Pretty good deal.
01:26Now Johnston Research and Performance is going to let me use their garage, and I'm not going
01:30to have to travel very far for the parts that I need because right over there is a warehouse
01:34with enough performance parts for the entire northern hemisphere.
01:40If you like making your car go faster, you might want to look around this place.
01:56This is going to be our home over the next several weeks where we attempt to take a pretty
02:06normal road car and turn it into a full-blown track machine on a budget.
02:11If you've followed along on any of my other adventures, you'll know that I've already
02:13installed some better sway bars, a lightweight flywheel, and some coilovers.
02:18But when you're doing repetitive laps on the track, there's something that you really want
02:21to take into consideration, making sure that your car can stop.
02:25Now I'm going to go back to the StopTech street performance pads because I used these
02:29before and I was really impressed.
02:30I was able to do repetitive laps on the track, and then I could drive home without any issues.
02:36So I found out that these are actually poured under the backing plate, and they're not glued,
02:40and they're scorched.
02:41So that aids in the bedding process.
02:42So I'm going to try these all the way around the car this time.
02:45And I'm going to try the rotors as well.
02:48So these are the StopTech rotors.
02:50These are e-coated, so they don't rust.
02:52And they are resin-poured.
02:54They're not just two pieces of metal welded together.
02:56So hopefully these will give me a bit of a performance advantage.
02:59And most importantly, they look cool.
03:02So we are going to do our best to show you how to install all the parts, and we promise
03:06not to be too boring.
03:07We'll differ from car to car, obviously, but the general concepts are the same.
03:11By the way, coming from a guy who does his car work while lying on his back on a hot,
03:15dirty driveway, having a lift to use feels like being fed filet mignon while getting
03:19a massage.
03:20OK, let's get to work.
03:22Now, it's always easier to be a mechanic with a friend.
03:27So Jay!
03:28You bellowed?
03:32This is Jay.
03:33Wheels.
03:34Jay, wheels.
03:35Jay, wheels.
03:36Oh, sorry.
03:37Nice unitard, by the way.
03:41Jay is the co-owner of the driving academy that's going to train me for Time Attack.
03:45Most importantly, right now, he's an extra set of hands.
03:48Use those muscles.
03:50This is why I got new rims for the new season, because these weigh way too much.
03:57Holy!
03:59Looking good.
04:00What are you doing?
04:01I don't know what to do.
04:02You're the one that's supposed to know what you're doing.
04:05Alright, first thing we're going to do is hit everything with some PB Blaster, because
04:12this is a BMW and it's 13 years old.
04:14Hit all the bolts and screws that you need to remove with a lot of penetrant and let
04:17it soak.
04:19If your rotor has as much patina as mine did, you may have to let it sit for quite
04:24a while.
04:25Now?
04:26In all honesty, hitting it with a hammer does actually help loosen up the bolts.
04:29Also, it is very important that you know the proper names for all the car parts.
04:33Alright, so we're going to take this retaining clip pin thing in.
04:38So you just put this in here, pry a little bit, and ta-da!
04:43Okay, we're going to take the two 15mm bolts off the back of the entire caliper assembly
04:49and just take the whole thing off at once.
04:51So Jay is underneath with a breaker bar, having a hard time.
05:00At this point, Jay quickly got a crash course in dealing with my old BMW.
05:05Nothing really ever goes to plan.
05:07Step one is going well.
05:13Alright, that's all of them.
05:18Alright, so we're going to have a little bit of a rethink because we couldn't get the mounting
05:23bolts off, so we're just going to take the caliper off the normal way.
05:27I used a 7mm hex to remove the caliper guide pins.
05:31Sometimes they get a bit stuck, so a small hit should get them going.
05:34Then they back right out.
05:36So I just use a tool like this or something, just kind of reach in here and push the little
05:40guide pins back because they're really greasy.
05:45For an E46 BMW, there is a wear pad sensor which just kind of has a little pinch C clamp
05:51and it just pops out there.
05:52Get that out of the way because you don't want to ruin that.
05:55I'm just going to pry on this a little bit just to get a little bit of play.
05:59Lean on it a bit so that you can get enough play in the piston to actually get the caliper
06:03off the rotor.
06:04Try not to let the caliper hang on the brake line.
06:06An old trick is to use a coat hanger to hang the caliper up and out of the way.
06:10Old pad.
06:11Fair amount of life left in it.
06:12Right?
06:13Yeah, it's not too bad.
06:14Yeah, that's okay.
06:15Well, at least it shows me that at least my caliper is working right because we have nice
06:19flat wear.
06:20It's about the same on both sides.
06:22Hey, you've got something growing in here.
06:25Very nice.
06:26What, like a plant?
06:27At this point, things were looking up.
06:29The only thing left was the tiny screw holding the rotor on and the caliper mounting bracket
06:34itself.
06:35My colleague Jay thought we could get the rotor out without removing the bracket, but
06:38I was betting it wasn't possible.
06:43I'm winning so far.
06:44And you'd be right.
06:45Ha ha.
06:46Yes.
06:47Well, not yes because these bolts are seized.
06:48That's a bit of an issue.
06:50And cue the impact tools.
06:51I was really hoping that penetrant worked.
06:55And would you look at that.
07:00Next, you compress the piston using a highly sophisticated and specialized tool.
07:04Uh, yeah, like that one.
07:07Don't forget to remove the cap on the brake fluid reservoir.
07:09Alternatively, you can put a bleeder on the bleeder valve and crack that when you compress
07:15the piston, it will bleed out that side as well.
07:18Next, we spread some copper anti-seize on the hub and clean the new rotor because they
07:22usually come with a layer of oil on them to prevent rust.
07:25StopTech recommends using soap and water.
07:27We then installed the rotor on the car.
07:29Make sure you are careful not to over tighten the retaining screw or you'll hate yourself
07:33next time you have to change rotors.
07:36Isn't that pretty?
07:37Look how nice that is.
07:39From here, it's pretty much smooth sailing.
07:41Reinstall the caliper mounting bracket, then put some lubricant on the back of the pads
07:45in anywhere where the pads slide.
07:47Line up the caliper itself, then clean and grease the caliper guide pins and install
07:51them to their torque spec.
07:53Lastly, reattach that caliper guide clip thingy.
07:59Aha!
08:03Just like that, we are done with the brake job.
08:05We are also going to do some stainless steel brake lines and we're going to bleed the system
08:08with some performance brake fluid because when you generate a lot of heat on the track,
08:13the pads are usually the first to go and then shortly after that is the fluid.
08:16The fluid will boil if you don't have a high enough temperature.
08:18So we're going to put a proper performance fluid in here and I'm going to test that on
08:22the track and see how it holds up.
08:24Again, I used the StopTech Street Performance Brake Pads before and I absolutely love them,
08:28so I'm really excited to test these with the rotors and the fluid and the lines to
08:33see how much of a difference it makes.
08:35Let's take it to the track.
08:36One of the great things about these StopTech rotors is that they are OE spec, so installation
08:41and fitment was seamless.
08:43We also installed the pads, rotors, and lines on the rear and I couldn't wait to get out
08:47and test them on the track in my first practice session.
08:49However, right away, there was a problem.
08:54I'll be honest.
08:55There is a little bit of a setback.
08:58Winter is refusing to release its icy grip on Canada, so the track is pretty much out
09:02of the question.
09:03We're stuck doing the next best thing.
09:06Alright, we're inside with a basic simulator setup.
09:10This is a Thrustmaster TX and these are T3 PA pedals.
09:14We also have the six-speed gated shifter.
09:17This guy is Colin Casey, head instructor of the Pinnacle Advanced Driving Academy, and
09:24he's going to help me see if I can learn my way around MoSport, Canadian Tire Motorsport
09:29Park, the Grand Prix track, because this is one of the tracks on the docket at Ontario
09:34Time Attack.
09:35Alright, Colin, what are we going to work on today?
09:36So today we're going to work on our vision and using it to basically pull all our inputs
09:41together and make driving nice and smooth.
09:44We chose an E30 M3 because it's the most similar car to mine in this set of Corsa, and right
09:49away, I was reminded of the challenges of the Grand Prix track at Canadian Tire Motorsport
09:53Park.
09:54This is blind!
09:55This is blind!
09:56What are we doing?
09:57You know your apex is going to be over the crest.
09:58You know the apex is going to be over the crest.
10:01Ah, braking.
10:02So the big thing is, of course, make sure you're always braking nice and early through
10:06these corners.
10:07It's the high-speed corners throughout MoSport.
10:09You don't want to blow your braking zones going through these corners too hot, especially
10:13considering some of them are blind.
10:14I have an important question at this point.
10:16Are the walls this close in real life?
10:18Some of them are, yes.
10:19Like, for example, down the straightaway, that's pretty realistic.
10:22They're pretty much right there.
10:23Okay.
10:25I chose to ignore the reality of the close walls at MoSport, and focused instead on practicing
10:30using my vision.
10:31So right now we're looking for our turn-in point.
10:33So as soon as you approach it now, start looking for your apex.
10:36Look through the corner at your apex and look at your exit.
10:39Looking at the exit now?
10:40Yeah, okay.
10:41Correct.
10:42Beautiful.
10:43Now we're already looking for our next turn-in point now.
10:44I always thought that I was using my vision properly, but it's amazing how far you actually
10:48need to look ahead.
10:49Find it once we cross the hill.
10:50See it now?
10:51Good.
10:52Look through the corner now, where you want to be up the hill.
10:54I can't see it's a hill!
10:55Just look as far as you can.
10:56That's all you can do at that point.
10:59Let's not crash.
11:00Let's try to stay on the pavement.
11:01That's usually a good thing.
11:03This is not my first time on a simulator, and I've been on a real racetrack many different
11:08times.
11:09But it's amazing how something as simple as looking in the right place can feel like you
11:13are rewriting your own rulebook.
11:15Instead of keeping it simple, I eventually started asking Colin too many questions while
11:19trying to drive.
11:21Wait, so the slower the corner, the faster the corner.
11:23What?
11:24One more time.
11:25So the faster the corner, meaning the speed we're carrying through the corner when I say
11:28that.
11:30Oh, you look like you're going to die.
11:32Now we're going to die.
11:33Oh, we died.
11:34We're dead.
11:35We died.
11:36I think that's a pit.
11:38So, like, we'll put that on the list of things that I don't want to do in real life.
11:42I got back in the virtual driver's seat and put Colin's help to good use.
11:46I knew this wasn't real life, but the habits that you build and the skills that you learn
11:50on the simulator will translate onto the real track.
11:53Eventually, I started linking together corners smoothly, and I found that using my vision
11:57allowed me to carry much more speed through the apex.
12:00When we first started, I set the best lap I could, a 1.46.6.
12:05Now it was time to see how much of a difference just tweaking my vision would make.
12:10Towards the apex, looking out.
12:171.44, so how much did I shave off?
12:19Two seconds.
12:20Two seconds.
12:21Two full seconds.
12:22Two full seconds.
12:23Pretty much just from vision.
12:25Just from vision.
12:26Just from looking in the right spot.
12:28So I had made a significant improvement, but the question is, will it translate to the
12:33real world?
12:34I consider myself a competent track driver, but in competition, hundreds of a second matter.
12:39The first Ontario Time Attack event is coming up, so I better get to work on myself and
12:44my car.
13:34Thanks for watching.
13:35Don't forget to like and subscribe!