2005 Spring Brainerd International Raceway

BIR map

First time taking the Instructor Development course imparted by Ross Bentley and Jon Olsen from Speed Secrets. What a fantastic experience, full of information and useful knowledge. It has helped me develop my toolbox of strategies and techniques to be a better driver and become an instructor. Weather wise, it was cold and rainy most of the day with only one of the sessions with a semi-dry track. Saturday was the wackiest; cold, windy, sunny, rainy, hail and even a tornado warning! Sunday however was a different story. The day started cloudy and cool, but it only got better. We had a max of 62 F in the afternoon and fairly clear skies. Perfect weather for driving around the racetrack. The rain wasn't a problem. I started driving with the street tires, Yokohama ES100, which felt squirmy and not exactly predictable. However, around lunch time on Friday I switched to the track tires, Yokohama AO32R. What a fantastic tire for the rain and a fantastic dependable grip for the dry. It is my first experience with track tires, but I can tell these are excellent entry point tires; well balanced for dry and wet conditions. Wear on the tire was minimal after 379 miles on the track and almost 12 heat cycles, of course driving in the rain helped save their lifespan. It remains to be seen how they do over time after more heat cycles. This was my first time at the track with the E30 1991 318is. What a fantastic little car! Fast! Quick! Nimble! With the track tires I got almost the same performance as with my E46 325i with 60 more horsepower. More proof of how important the power to weight ratio is. I am now convinced that if the straights are shorter, with more turns, my E30 is faster compared to my E46.