New hot rodder type

[Frank Lee]

Looks like the same hot rodder type to me.

[bobesser]

Hotrodder Mk2?
Mk1 mod 2?

Bob

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by bobesser

I strongly agree with adding lightness.

Bob

Maybe use HELIUM to inflate your tires...and don't forget the spare (wink,wink)!

[bobesser]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

Maybe use HELIUM to inflate your tires...and don't forget the spare (wink,wink)!

Sadly, no spare to remove. I religiously fill my tires with a minimum of 70% nitrogen.

Bob

[gone-ot]

...adding lightness (helium vs. air)

[wmjinman]

Hydrogen!!!

[elhigh]

"Elbows out" = spirited driving, esp. autocross, where you get your shoulders and upper arms into the action for faster turns.

I think that may be more of a British term. I don't remember where I heard it first.

If you're not doing autocross really often and have easy access to a lift and air tools, you might do very well to round up a set of narrower steel wheels for some low rolling resistance tires. I say steel wheels because they have that little lip around the edge that clip-on discs will engage. Then you spend most of your time on the thriftier tires and save the sticky, expensive tires for when it matters, during events. The lift and air tools just means being able to swap the tires whenever YOU want, not at the convenience of some shop.

That V8 is a sweet mill. But it does churn through the gas, no question. I'm not familiar with them but maybe you could bounce this question around on the BMW forums too, I know there's technology-minded gearheads for every marque (with the possible exception of Kia) who have dug into their cars' engine management. You may just need to reflash the engine computer, or get your hands on a replacement one to switch in for your thriftier daily driving needs.

I'm pointing up my ignorance. I have no idea if there are anti-theft features built into a BMW computer that might prevent such swapping. Too bad if there is, swappability make converting the car from a track day athlete into a long-legged posh commuter a quick, click-click operation.

[bobesser]

Originally Posted by elhigh

If you're not doing autocross really often and have easy access to a lift and air tools, you might do very well to round up a set of narrower steel wheels for some low rolling resistance tires. I say steel wheels because they have that little lip around the edge that clip-on discs will engage. Then you spend most of your time on the thriftier tires and save the sticky, expensive tires for when it matters, during events. The lift and air tools just means being able to swap the tires whenever YOU want, not at the convenience of some shop.

That V8 is a sweet mill. But it does churn through the gas, no question. I'm not familiar with them but maybe you could bounce this question around on the BMW forums too, I know there's technology-minded gearheads for every marque (with the possible exception of Kia) who have dug into their cars' engine management. You may just need to reflash the engine computer, or get your hands on a replacement one to switch in for your thriftier daily driving needs.

I'm pointing up my ignorance. I have no idea if there are anti-theft features built into a BMW computer that might prevent such swapping. Too bad if there is, swappability make converting the car from a track day athlete into a long-legged posh commuter a quick, click-click operation.

Swapping wheels is not a big deal - I do it for winter wheels already. One big problem though is fitting wheels over the brake calipers.

The BMW M engines rock. 4.0 liter V8 with a 8300 rpm redline! I used to love big torque from turbo'ed mid sized 4 cylinder engines, but, there is just something about the urgency of a high strung naturally aspirated engine.

There are definitely a few 'tuners' for my car and some will allow you to change the tune through the OBD port, so, it is definitely worth looking into. I know that the engine warm up cycle used to heat /light off the catalytic converters tends to be bad for fuel economy. The problem is that it is bad for the environment to have the warm up cycle removed. Not sure where I fall on that compromise. I am sure that there are other places in the tune to find extra fuel economy.

Bob

[renault_megane_dci]

What is your commute ?

How do you drive ?

Honestly, I can't see much FE improvement coming from ecomodding the car.
It is already very much refined to be performance vehicle with a very big engine and such.

I tend to drive spiritedly once in a while, coming from motorbikes.
Thing is I have much more fun going flat out with a much smaller engined vehicle than I do allowing me to break the law once in a while with my regular car, not to mention the safety issues. And it's not even sporty !

So I seem to recall you're telling us that you use a M3 as a daily driver and that you don't break the law with it and that you drive hard on the track ?
Yeah, right !

Each to their own but an econo box on the side of the M3 is going to pay for itself in no time ...

Try P&G one of these days, it's much funnier than you think.

[UFO]

I like track racing, and I like commuting to save fuel. Two different ways to enjoy driving. I slowly got into hypermiling; it's too much of a challenge and requires too much attention to go all in at once with P&G.

Try coasting out of gear to known stops. Turn off the engine at long lights. Accelerate briskly without higher rpm to your target speed and get into high gear/low rpm to maintain. I am constantly challenging myself to maintain momentum through curves and turns, and timing traffic signals to minimize braking.

Spirited driving doesn't always have to be about all-out acceleration or rushing up to stops.