Earlier in the month I took the M Coupe to High Plains Raceway (HPR) for an open lapping day. I went with a group of local BMW guys. It would be my first time at HPR and my first time at an open lapping day. HPR is a new track built on rolling terrain about an hour east of Denver, hence the name High Plains. It has a little bit of everything; long straights, lots of elevation change, tight turns, wide turns, and even a set of esses. An open lapping day is a completely different environment than the BMW club track days I've done before. Anyone can go, meaning all types of vehicles and driver skill levels There is no tech inspection and there are no passing rules. Anything go's!
High Plains Raceway
(click for a larger image)
The open lapping day format meant we were sharing the track and mixing it up with everything from stock Honda Preludes and Volkswagen Jettas to open wheel race cars. The mix included track prepped BMW E30's and E36 M3's, all manor of Porsches, Corvettes, Lotuses, and Honda S2000's. My favorites were a V8 powered Porsche 914, a 911 GT3 RS, and a German Touring Class E46 M3 race car.
My Buddy Ben's BMW E30
GT2 Prepped BMW E36 M3
Honda S2000
Radical Race Car
Spec E36 M3 and Open Wheel Car
Lotus Elise
Porsche GT3
Which was cool until this Porsche 911 GT3 RS rolled up!
And its Massive Ceramic Brakes
(which is a $8800 option, $2200 a wheel)
GTS Prepped E46 M3 Race Car
V8 Powered Porsche 914
And of Course the M Coupe
We split ourselves up into two groups, fast and slow. I opted for the slow group since I hadn't driven HPR before and it had been a year and a half since my last track day. Although the desert roads I drove over our wedding weekend might as well have been a track day! HPR is a technical track and the late apex turns, blind turns, esses, and elevation change make it dynamic and challenging. It took me three sessions (one with Ben's help) to get my line down. Then I spent the rest of the day refining it. The talent of the other drivers was across the board. I had an epic battle with a supercharged Camaro SS who eventually put two wheels off the track trying to keep me from passing him. After that I pulled off into the hot pit to get some space between us. There was a stock Volkswagen Jetta who's driver insisted on driving the entire inside of each turn which put him in conflict with every other car on the track. I stayed the Hell away from that guy. On the other end was the V8 powered 914. It's closure speeds with me on the back straight easily exceeded 60mph. The exhaust note was a terrifying roar that only amplified the car's sinister presence. By the end of the day I had the line dialed and speed happened naturally without me trying to go fast. I hadn't swapped my track pads and rotors in to brake fade became an annoying factor.
The GTS Car in Front of the Z4 Coupe
Another Open Wheel Race Car
The Sinister 914 Setting Up on an E36 M3
E28 BMW 5 Series Leading a Train through the Esses
Corvette Going Off
Ben Closing the Gap on a 911
I mounted the Hero Cam on Ben's E30. He ran in the fast group for the second half of the day. I complied the highlights of his footage for the first part of the clip. You can see that idiot in the Camaro SS go all the way off later when Ben was following him. I mounted it on the M Coupe for the last couple minutes of the clip. There aren't many cars because I stayed the Hell away from most people. I got some cool footage of Brad's black E30 towards the end.
Hero Cam Compilation
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