Who is PencilGeek?

My name is Robert Collins, and I'm "PencilGeek" on the popular BMW car forum -- M3Post.com.  I decided to start my own BMW blog because it offers me more freedom to post what I want to post without the restrictions of the online car forums.  The online car forums are great up to a point.  But when they become too heavily moderated, then it's time to leave and find another place to post. 

A few recent acceleration tests

Tomorrow my car goes under the knife to get the new ACT carbon-carbon clutch installed.  I'm so busy this summer that I don't think I'll see her back until September.  So before I take her in, I decided to go out for some 60-130 MPH runs.  Nothing really spectacular, not trying to set any records -- just having a little fun to see the car's performance.

Dyno Results: Alekshop dyno day in Northern California

Today, Alekshop threw a dyno day at Newtech in Hayward, California.  We had a pretty decent turn out and a few surprises.  Alek collected the money, and I collected the dyno results.  I'd say it went pretty smooth.  Then at the end of the day, the dyno operator hooked up his monster Corvette and layed down an insane 885whp and 775wtq.

Product Review: ESS Supercharged RS-46 Stroker Motor

As early as Bimmerfest-2009 (maybe even earlier), ESS and I had been talking about supercharging the stroker.  We were both 1/2 joking, and both 1/2 serious about it.  ESS was always inspired by the challenge of supercharging the stroker and was always willing to take on the project. 

Rating Supercharger Kit Efficiency

A few months ago, I was asked by M3Post user 'per' to rate the efficiency of the different supercharger kits on the market. My first attempt was to simply calculate the ratio of GAIN/PSI (the ratio of whp gain vs. PSI boost). 'Per' quickly pointed out that I couldn't rate efficiency in that manner because my own results were included, and mine were skewed by my displacement increase. So, I came up with the same idea -- version-2: Efc = Gain / Displacement / Boost. The idea is to measure efficiency as a function of Gain, Displacement, and Boost.

High Performance Clutch from ACT

The ACT (Advanced Clutch Technology) company has designed a twin-mass carbon-carbon high performance clutch for the E9x BMW M3's (6MT only).  ACT is well known for their high performance and racing clutch designs. 

Video: M-Fest hot lap with ESS-46 E92 BMW: 2:09.01

WARNING: The cost of running leaded race fuel

During the run up to the Mojave Mile and Texas Mile, we started adding some VP Racing Q16 leaded race gasoline to boost our performance. Between Mojave and Texas, we switched to 100% Q16 and retuned the car for it. Q16 seemed like a logical choice because it's very high octane, leaded, and oxygenated -- just what we need for the moisture-rich Texas weather. I figured, I'm catless -- so what's the problem? ZZZZZZZZZt. WRONG ANSWER.

Mojave Mile - Final Analysis & VBox Data

CarTest Analysis

You knuckleheads at SS-Post had better pay attention for three minutes (if you don't all have ADHD).  If you look at the data below, you might learn something.  For some of you (JM), it might be the first thing you ever learned in your lives.

Mojave Mile Conquered: 181.8 MPH

Goal: 200 MPH

We had a simple idea: get enough horsepower to hit 200MPH in the standing mile. Thank goodness, things never work out exactly as you plan. In this case, that's a good thing because we wanted to break this project up into two phases (maybe more). Phase-1, go to the Mojave Mile and see what we can learn, apply any changes, and go compete at the Texas Mile. As we found out, it's a good thing we decided to "learn" locally -- because many things went wrong.