bgames

Just what the title says. I am going to Blackhawk Farms on Friday with Badger Bimmers and want your best technical advice about driving the track. If it makes a difference, I have about fifteen track days under my belt and I completed Spring Mountain Level 1.

Thanks. Jason

UstaB-GS549

T1 is RH 3rd gear - late apex.
Hold wheel position and unwind a bit and you will bring car back to RH side to set up for T2.

T2 can be taken without lifting in 4th IF you have good sticky tires etc. Don't attempt it first time out. You need to touch concrete strip at left side and track out right. Brake in a straight line for carousel running almost out to the grass.

T3 carousel - clip apex concrete on right and track out to center of the track and line up for 3A. All 3rd gear.

3A is done touching concrete on right and left and braking immediately for RH 3B after car settles. Most people run too deep and mess up T3 exit.

3B needs to be late apex 2nd or 3rd gear. Start with 3rd as it will force you to be smoother.

3C should be almost a no lift left jog.

T4 is LH 3rd gear. Do not touch the concrete curb at the turn in point, as it will pull the car off the track driver's right. Track out from this turn to drivers right but again stay away from the curb. It's usually gouged out on the outside and the corrugations on top of the curb will tear up the bottom of the car.

T5 - stay right until you get to exit road on RH side and turn in late. I usually breathe throttle a bit in 5 and run wide. grab 4th just before brake markers for T6

T6 straight line into 6 for another late apex RH turn.

6A stay left until you pass entrance/exit road to turn in. Track out point is end of LH curb.

Kink - Brake before or after, but not in kink. The car must be settled before braking going into 7.

T7 RH leading onto long straight.

Blackhawk has a lot of hard objects to hit. If you go off in the faster parts you will be lucky not to hit anything.

If it rains, let the fools brag about how fast they are in the rain. BFR is full of antifreeze and oil that will come to the surface in the rain. This is my 20th year of running this track and don't believe a "rain racing line" exists there.

Coming out of pit stay inside the blend line as long as possible. Your left side is blind for a while. There is no reason to jog left right away to line up for T1.

The track is mostly flat. Some of the apex points are blind if the grass is tall.

Z06 Whisperer

Boo, just got back in town so I won't be able to do this event too (I'm still doing the 2 day at Road Am next Mon and Tues with PCA Nordstern if you or anyone else is doing that?)!

Anyway looks like you got tons of good info/advice from UstaB-G5549!!!

Of course that won't stop me from adding a couple of small things anyway!

-At Blackhawk I don't like to go out on the track with anything less then a half a tank of gas. I suffered fuel starvation going through track approx between T4 and T5 with my '01 M Coupe and won't risk it with my Vette. Fluids seem to slosh around quite a bit at this track in that area!

-At T3A (I'm using this track diagram btw) is where I personally notice tire wear first. I tend to run my more worn tires at this track to sort of use them up because I do one day events there (and it's closer to home LOL). I find my back tires getting "greasy" at this point. I've corded two tires here.

-I follow Ustab's advice for T3 carousel also. This is basically a straight. Again how you drive this area and the whole track will depend on your tire type--whether you are running R Compounds or whatever.

-They, like I think every club I've run with there, will blackflag you unless you run inside of the blend line through T1 when entering (or re-entering I believe) the track.

-It can get hot there so I like to pit under the trees LOL! My current fav area is between the timing bldg and the bathrooms. The pits are grass/some gravel so you will probably need to pull on the road to do any jacking.

-PS the bathrooms are clean but do provide a wide assortment of bug life, usually dead (I once collected them for my kid's science project one year! LOL). The concession stand is open limited hours (they will tell you) and have the usual, basic foods. There are soda machines. Badger Bimmers has provided coffee and donuts (good ones LOL) in the pavilion first thing in the morning. Folks can tell you where the nearest gas station is (I have to look up the address of the one I use).

-ENJOY YOURSELF Jason!!! (I know a couple of folks who should be going to that event. John V has a black E46 M3 and would be a good person for info/help if you run into trouble. I'll try to email him and let him know.)

Anita

bgames

The Badger Bimmer event at Blackhawk was well run and a lot of fun. We had four 25 minute sessions, and my instructor was a C6 owner. I found the course to be more difficult than I expected, and to my surprise more difficult than Gingerman (Perhaps it was the utter lack of run off anywhere that made it seem more difficult).

Question. At turn 6, as you head toward the silo, do any of you actually go so wide to the left there that you end up on the "frontage road" before turning in and heading down to the kink. My buddy's instructor had him doing that, but mine did not. Just curious.

Jason

Z06 Whisperer

Very glad to hear it went well for you!!

Yes, that track for me requires a lot of action--my wrists can just be killing me sometimes. I've found others say it's hard on their brakes and engine temps.

I run that area of the track you were talking about wider like that too. At the beginning of the season it seemed like that area had been leveled or extended out a bit or something too, making it a slightly smoother track out. I'm not sure what other people do and what you will feel most comfortable doing. I just like to try to get set up out of that turn so I get full on the accelerator as soon as possible.

So it sounds like maybe Howard was your instructor? He comes from tracking an E34 M5 I believe. (and I won't tell you which one of us is faster--so far LOLOLOL )(I'm sooo competative--sorry! LOL)

Anita

UstaB-GS549

After exiting turn 6, I touch or drive on the exit road pavement (driver's left) crossing the track to make 6A a wider turn. This makes 6A a no lift turn... or close to it.

Surprised you found BFR more difficult than GingerMan. The trees, tire barriers etc do make it a lot more intimidating. If you want to see lack of run off room, run the infield course at Milwaukee Mile.

bgames

Anita,

You're right -- Howard was my instructor. I also experienced a high tranny temp warning during my second session, so I started shifting to 4th after T1 and after T5, and I never got the warning again.

UstaB,

As far as Gingerman goes, I have been there more often than any other track and really feel like I have a good handle there. I'm even coming to think I may have figured out the T5-T6 combo.....

Jason

Axelrod

Shiny side up beotch!

Z06 Whisperer

Yeah, I wan't sure if he was going to be there or not. Howard's a sweetheart and so is his wife Susan. She tracks the C6 too. I'm not sure if she was there Fri but if you ever see her, she might have some driving tips too. As of the last time I saw them, they still ahd street tires on that car--maybe why his line might be different. I don't know what tires you have on your car?

I've been trying to retrain myself to shift into higher gears at RA too!

Z06 Whisperer

What fun is that! Kidding kidding!!

I seriously hope everyone stays that way!

bgames

Yes, Susan was there also. I probably spent more time talking with her than I did with Howard. They did have street tires on the car (as do I), although I don't believe they were the ones from the factory. The rims looked like aftermarket rims as well.

Jason

Z06 Whisperer

So this week at Road Am., I talked to a couple of the folks at the track with you last week and they were saying that bits of the pavement in places on the track was crumbling? Did you notice this too? It sounded like it would be worse then the junk would get moved off by the traffic and such? They said they thought it was either where it had been patched or repaved. I didn't notice this the time prior (but I can be oblivious too! )

One person also told me he was taught the magic of using the orange dots on the track.LOL

Anita

bgames

What's the magic of the orange dots? Howard must not have shared that secret with me.

Jason

Z06 Whisperer

Sorry I wasn't trying to bogart the secret, just been busy trying to get ready to leave town!!

Apparently there are these two orange dots on the track between 3D and 5 that you can use to help line up your car going through that area.

I'm going to try and get the one person to send me written directions. Of course the folks using the dots were in a 911 and an M3 so we may have to mod them a bit.

This is the area of the track I have the most trouble with, so I look forward to trying it. I'm not real good at trying to focus on stuff like that. Like I remember these people asking what speed I did in the carousel at Road Am and how I should be at a certain speed, etc. So I go and look down and drive on the grass a bit. Enough of that!