Michael_vroomvroom
Well-Known Member
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There's some excellent cooling threads here, but I'm unsure about what's the most "bang for the buck" to start with, and what datametric gives the best indication on when I'm nearing an overheat situation?
On my first track day, I did not have any issues. On my second track day, last week and with slightly cooler ambient temperatures, after the first 15 minutes or so, the car would not go past around 6,100 RPM. I did not see any previous warnings, just suddenly would not go past 6,100. If I tried to push it past 6,100, I got a message about limiting power due to engine heat (or something a long the lines). At that point I was for the first time able to not be completely outrun by another guy in what looked like a daily driver (a BMW M4 competition I think), though I had a hard time at it, and even if the overheat limiter had not kicked in, I would have backed out soon anyway.
I did a couple of cool-down laps and parked the car for 15-20 minutes, and continued without problems for the rest of the day, probably due to changing my driving style to instead of pushing the car, trying to be "smooth" around the track, and only pushing when somebody passed me to see how long I could keep up. With a few exceptions, I could not keep up to anyone for more than half a mile or less before they were hopelessly ahead, at which point I reverted back to trying to be smooth, and had no problems the rest of the day driving like that. At my level, I'm still fine with this and it did not take away anything from me, but I hope to continue improving and be able to push harder.
I have some not yet installed heathshield foil (from the Heatshield Products company) that I'll try to wrap around the exhaust pipes to shield the differential cooler from some heat. A non-expensive solution that I'm hoping will give some relief.
If I knew what data (either from a built-in gauge, or something the OBD-reader can display), I'd probably go to the track without the heatshield foil again next time, just so that I can later install the heatshield and have something to compare with, to see if it helps or not.
I'm not sure what gauges to look at for an indication of whether I'm approaching an overheat situation? I tried looking at the oil temp gauge once the car already had overheating problems, but not sure if that's the best indicator. My car is the (EU) base model, and I have an OBD-reader too now. What should I be looking at?
What are other non-expensive things, that are also not too difficult to install, that give a reasonable return of investment/work for an amateur?
On my first track day, I did not have any issues. On my second track day, last week and with slightly cooler ambient temperatures, after the first 15 minutes or so, the car would not go past around 6,100 RPM. I did not see any previous warnings, just suddenly would not go past 6,100. If I tried to push it past 6,100, I got a message about limiting power due to engine heat (or something a long the lines). At that point I was for the first time able to not be completely outrun by another guy in what looked like a daily driver (a BMW M4 competition I think), though I had a hard time at it, and even if the overheat limiter had not kicked in, I would have backed out soon anyway.
I did a couple of cool-down laps and parked the car for 15-20 minutes, and continued without problems for the rest of the day, probably due to changing my driving style to instead of pushing the car, trying to be "smooth" around the track, and only pushing when somebody passed me to see how long I could keep up. With a few exceptions, I could not keep up to anyone for more than half a mile or less before they were hopelessly ahead, at which point I reverted back to trying to be smooth, and had no problems the rest of the day driving like that. At my level, I'm still fine with this and it did not take away anything from me, but I hope to continue improving and be able to push harder.
I have some not yet installed heathshield foil (from the Heatshield Products company) that I'll try to wrap around the exhaust pipes to shield the differential cooler from some heat. A non-expensive solution that I'm hoping will give some relief.
If I knew what data (either from a built-in gauge, or something the OBD-reader can display), I'd probably go to the track without the heatshield foil again next time, just so that I can later install the heatshield and have something to compare with, to see if it helps or not.
I'm not sure what gauges to look at for an indication of whether I'm approaching an overheat situation? I tried looking at the oil temp gauge once the car already had overheating problems, but not sure if that's the best indicator. My car is the (EU) base model, and I have an OBD-reader too now. What should I be looking at?
What are other non-expensive things, that are also not too difficult to install, that give a reasonable return of investment/work for an amateur?
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