Here’s a video of the last few laps from this past weekend’s Driver’s School at the Jefferson Circuit at Summit Point. This is from the A Run Group, last session on Sunday. I was signed-off to solo so the only voices in my head this time were my own. Quite a different experience not having a passenger to balance (slow) the car.
This past weekend was the Spring Driver’s School for the local BMW club. Friday and Saturday were warm and sunny. Sunday was mostly cloudy with light rain. It was a good lesson in car control, but not as much fun as pushing it in the dry. The best thing about the rain is that it equalizes the horsepower advantage of the M-cars. The video shows a lap of the skid pad at large-angle oversteer. This club really emphasizes car control on the skidpad. Being able to maintain a full lap in oversteer is one of my last obstacles to finally making it out of the instructor program.
On the way up to West Point to attend a conference for work, I stopped off at Morristown MINI and picked up a JCW big brake kit. The kit includes big calipers, pads, and larger rotors in the front, as well as upgraded pads for the rear. It’s a simple bolt-on upgrade. Because they are quite a bit larger than stock, not all stock MINI wheels will fit.
It was a busy week here at GeorgeCo, with three events in five days. Saturday started it off with half a day with some of the BMW club instructors on the skidpad at Summit Point. About a dozen drivers, three at a time on the skidpad for four hours. Very helpful in finally mastering a full-lap with the tail out in oversteer. I also mastered the 360 degree spin. I spun so much that my radiator cap came undone.
Sunday was the first championship event for the SCCA. It was a fairly simple course on a very slicked repaved surface at FEDEX field. I drove the MINI which was probably the right choice for the surface. I had a bad tire bead on one of my racing tires so I tried slicks up front, street tires in the rear. Sort of a tire mullet. It really helped to get the car to rotate, but you couldn’t get the power down because the temperature was so cold.
Finally Wednesday was the Collonial Challenge Cup at Summit Point. This is a fun charity event with loads of track time. For the second year I instructed basic and intermediate students. I usually try to pick front-wheel drive or low horse-power cars, but this year I got a Corvette and an Audi S4 with a V8. Fun, but more power in the wrong hands is not always a good thing. The video has a couple of good recoveries in the wet, especially towards the end. Below is a screen capture of my finest moment: passing a Ford GT coming out of turn 10 onto the main straight, in the rain….
If you have an ’80’s BMW, chances are you have some funky looking door trim. If you’re turned off by the price of OEM replacement parts, take heart: there is a better way. OK, not better, but certainly cheaper. And you can get it at your local Ace Hardware. Acetone.
Tape off your trim so you don’t dissolve your rattle-can paint job, put on some gloves to keep your skin attached to your hands, and grab a decent rag and wipe away years of oxidation and discoloration. It’s like magic and only slightly toxic.
The change is dramatic and immediate, but it only works on the door trim, not the bumper trim.
Today was the SCCA practice event at FEDEX Field. It is a non-championship event where drivers can knock off the rust and organizers can try to get their act together before the season starts. It was unusually cold today. Most of the cars in the super-sticky-tire Street Mod class were running street tires for a change, including the GeorgeCo BMW powered by Beano.
Yesterday we had a bit of a set-pack in the suspension department. When we went to adjust the rear sway-bar, we found the drop-link was a wee bit bent.
Nobody likes having their drop-link bent out of shape. After (quite) a bit of judicious pounding with a sledge hammer and re-cutting of threads, it was almost good as new. Not really, but good enough for autocross. We won’t run it on the track. Not sure why only one side bent. Don’t remember any wheel-eating DC potholes.
There were some interesting cars there today. Of special note is Jeff’s E-30 with an E-36 M3 engine. More power. Ho, ho, ho, ho. Unfortunately, no grip in the cold, but if it ever hooks up, watch out.
Speaking of all fury, no grip — check out the Home Depot Spoiler on this C6 Z06 Corvette.
The GeorgeCo BMW powered by Beano participated in the first autocross of the new season Saturday. It was a beautiful day at BaySox Stadium. The course was a bit dusty and for the most part, not very complicated. The biggest challenge being two very slow gates going between the two parking lots. Done to slow the cars as the passed between the parking islands, it made it hard to maintain momentum, and this car is all about momentum. The relatively open design also favored the higher horsepower cars, but the GeorgeCo BMW powered by Beano performed well, placing fourth in class.
We didn’t have much time to sort the car after finally solving the fuel delivery problems last week. As a consequence of that delay, we went into the first run on essentially “sticker tires” — brand new tires which were quite slippery due to the release agent used in the manufacturing process. The rough surface of the course helped scrub them in, but it would have been better to have them scrubbed beforehand. The new adjustable rear swaybar also has a bit too much oversteer dialed in. We need to back it out some to get back to more neutral handling. Always something to work on.
Preparations are well under way for the new season. This year I plan to concentrate on the local BMW Club championship series as well as a few SCCA events. Since I am running the GeorgeCo BMW Powered by Beano in a street-tire class for the CCA, I am also running in STX for SCCA. I have a new set of Azenis RT-615 tires and new D-Force wheels for this season.
But before I can do all that, I have to fix the starting problem. As in it doesn’t. I had it towed down to Ed York’s shop to see if the MeatHead Racing guys can troubleshoot the problem. It cranks, but doesn’t seem to be getting any fuel. The fuel pump relay works in the other car as does the ECU but when I pulled a plug, it doesn’t seem to be getting fuel.
It turns out it was a double whammy: The wiring from the relay was bad as was the fuel pump. Since they were working on the car, I had them install the new differential and a new clutch slave cylinder. The car is amazingly quiet thanks to the new diff. I also got a new diff cover with more cooling fins so I will hopefully last with lots of track time. But the fuel problem isn’t completely solved yet. It still loses power above 3,000 RPM and the fuel gauge isn’t working. They also broke the passenger door handle, so it’s back to the shop on Monday. In the mean time, this weekend, I put in a new set of spark plugs and finally got around to the exhaust and rear sway-bar.
In installed a Scorpion cat-back exhaust from BavAuto. I like the stainless steel look and it was a simple bolt-on swap. (Simple is relative when you’re working without a lift.) It has a deep tone, but isn’t loud.
While I had the exhaust off the car, I also installed the IE 19mm adjustable rear sway-bar. I like the IE design with its beefy reinforced brackets.
I also plan to install a quicker steering rack later this year. That will complete the sorting of the suspension and I can start to work on more power, ho hoho ho. I have a header in my office…
The weather gods finally took pity on us in Maryland and gave us a seasonably warm weekend. With about two months of work to catch up on, I tried to spend as much time outside as I could. I managed to install a new Momo steering wheel in the BMW. Install is fairly straight-forward:
In this instance, installation consisted of a BMW hub adapter, 15mm extension ring, and Momo Competition wheel. It is quite a bit smaller than the standard BMW wheel and fairly thick. Now if I could just get the car to start again…
This is supposed to be that time of year when you watch the 24 Hours of Daytona, day-dream of the upcoming autocross season and start deciding the mods you want to make to your car. You take a close look at the rule changes and decide which of the go-fast bits you can get away with installing. This year has been no exception, only actually getting the parts on the car has turned into somewhat of a challenge.
Back in November I started down one of those “I’ll just touch up a bit of paint…” paths on the convertible. What started out as fixing a scratch and a nickel-sized rust spot, turned into repainting the rear quarter panel. Evidently the “scratch” was a crack in the paint. The paint cracked because the filler under it had separated from the metal due to a poor repair job. Many hours of sanding and a couple of tubes of filler later, I had the panel repaired and primed. Then I ran out of color-coat. The new shipment of paint arrived two days too late — it hasn’t been above 50 degrees since. I can only get the garage about 20 degrees above the ambient temperature outside so I haven’t been able to finish painting. Since I haven’t finished painting, I haven’t been able to get the other BMW in the garage to put the new parts on. Now I have snow drifts of up to 4 feet in front of the garage so I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance to get back in there.
You’ll recall at the end of last season, my differential was toast. I have a replacement (which is currently on the front porch under a couple feet of snow) that’s ready to be installed. Since the standard E30 limited slip differential can really heat up under heavy track use, I’m going to modify it with a cover from a Z3. As you can see in the photo above, this cover has fins to help cooling.
Next up is a new header. My old stock exhaust manifold is either cracked or cracking so it’s time to replace it. Though this mod isn’t legal for Spec E30, it is for the autocross class I’m running this year. Since full Spec E30 is still a couple of years (and an engine rebuild) away, might as well get as much power as I can out of the current lump. I like the shorty headers because you get the benefit of equal length primary tubes, plus the convenience of being able to still drop the exhaust ahead of the cat. Once I get all this in, then it’s time to turn to steering changes and the adjustable 19mm rear swaybar to complement the front bar I put in last year. For now, the Stealth has a set of Blizzak winter tires and is my primary means of getting around in the drifting snow.
