BMW Car Club
On Track

Oulton Park BMW Trackday
Tuesday 2nd November 2010

Not to be missed season finalé
Only £100!

Oulton Park full circuit,
Exclusive booking
Open Pit Lane
Capped entry – I’m keeping this one down to just 60 cars.
Noisy (105db)
Very cheap.. £100 members, £120 non members
Free ARDS instruction
Dedicated novice coaching and instruction
Trophies and Raffle Prizes
Friendly club atmosphere
Everyone welcome.

Run to my usual high BMWCC standards

I'm waiting for your call..

Nick Wright
07714 805804
nick@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Hi Fellas

We are organising another club trackday at Oulton Park, this time it’s Friday Nov 12th and we’re hoping to get a good group of BMW owners involved. As usual, we are offering this event to the owners clubs we work with first, it’s always a popular event with the clubs so it becomes a bit of a mini-meet as well. Oulton has some great places to spectate from, decent catering and plenty of space for everyone to gather together. We will also be having Xtreme Photography there so any drivers can see how their car looks on track and buy photos and CDs etc.

The trackday will be running with our usual setup of open pitlane and limited numbers to make sure you can get plenty of lappage on this fantastic circuit!

For the novices (or more experienced drivers) we will have free tuition available, all our instructors are ARDS licenced and hand picked from the guys I work with at the Oulton Race School so they are very familiar with how to get a car round the track quickly and safely and will make sure you get the best out of the day.

The list price for this event is £150 but we are doing a special club rate and we’ve frozen last years price so you can book a place for just £125. Passengers can be booked in for a tenner and extra drivers for £35.


Bookings can be made HERE but if you’d like to come along please shout up on here and I’ll PM you the discount code to get the club rate.

Cheers

Steve H
Trackaction-Online

Here’s a few shots from last years event -

Silverstone 'Bridge' Grand Prix Circuit

Open Pit Lane track day.

Full GP circuit,
Free Tuition,
Novices to Pros,
All BMW's welcome,
Organised and run by the BMW Car Club,
Non members welcome
(20 non BMW places available for other marques)
Trophies and raffle prizes
£249 !! (members price..this includes you opl forum lot as well,)

Wednesday, 6th October 2010

Taking bookings now.
nick@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

This is our 'National' trackday event and where it all started for us back in the '70s with the original Batmobile CSL's - today it's the modern E46 M3's that you are likely to see on track representing the CSL moniker - we do however have a group of guys from our first ever Silverstone trackday coming to this event with their beloved E3 CSL's and John Castle will be hosting a lunchtime seminar about these iconic motor cars and recalling the exploits of trackdays past from long before I was born - lol!

We also have for your delight some special machines from ACSchnitzer, Alpina and Hartge on display in the pit lane.
ACS are kindly letting us have use of one of their highly modified E92 M3's piloted for the day by their R&D driver Manni Woltgarten - hot laps are available FOC.

The 'Arena' GP Circuit is a mere £3k option over and above the £25k I have already paid for Bridge - if I feel we have enough in the kitty I will do the upgrade nearer the time - keep your fingers crossed!

It's our 30th year of running BMW Car Club trackdays and that's why I'm pushing the boat out a bit - I have spent a lot of the clubs money on this one, please come if you can or help me fill some spaces.

Thanks for looking
Nick

So as most will know i have an E34 which i have been "Slowly" transforming into a track beast, emphasis on slowly as it aint cheap and im saving for a house so monies are tight!

Anywho my long term project is to rip the engine out and stroke it to 3ltrs, add some US Spec M3 cams and custom map her, plus stick a better zorst and induction kit on and she should be pushing anywhere in the region from 220bhp to 260bhp at the flywheel...so not far off 330 CI beating

For those not in the know basically if you swap the internals (crank, rods, pistons) from an M54B30 or E46 330 (amongst other models) and put them directly into the block of the M50B25 or E34 525, it give you an extra .5 of a ltr stroking it up to 3.0ltrs total.

Now all i need is the crank and pistons, as apparently the rods in the 525 will work with the 330 pistons and crank as the only difference is they are a tiny bit heavier. I have managed to scrounge a blown 330 engine from Will Lam on here see linky below...Im hoping at least with some balancing the crank will be salvagable, however if not it will still be good fun to pull it apart and not worry if it will go back together and work still

http://www.e46zone.com/forum/index.php?sho...c=17804&hl=

I have also sourced a spare 525 (M50B25) block for £25 (genuine ebay bargain) including complete bottom end so block, pistons, crank, sump, oil pump, alternator and starter. I plan to swap all the internals over on this leaving the a working engine in the car so i can keep running the car at the same time as doing the project.


The only thing i am missing is pistons, however i may be able to salvage these from the blown 330 i have or i have found a set with a guy in the US for £80 delivered.

Lastly the US spec M3 cams will be like a brucey bonus at some point as these are going for around £350ish so not top of my priority list.

Anyhow thats all for now, just thought id let you know what i was up to.

PS - Watch this space for some exterior updates

BMW Car Club On Track

Croft Circuit BMW Trackday

Monday, 12th July 2010

Our 15th annual summer event at Croft
Exclusive booking
Open Pit Lane
Capped entry – I’m keeping this one down to just 60 cars.
Noisy (105db)
Very cheap.. £179
Free instruction
Trophies and Raffle Prizes
Friendly club atmosphere
Everyone welcome.

Run to my usual high BMWCC standards

One of the very few 'noisy days' at Croft this year, we are very lucky to have been allowed one of them - don't miss out

I'm waiting for your call..

Nick Wright
Nicks Inbox

as per title me and a few mates are soon to have our trackslag we have the engine but no car as of yet (if anyone knows of anything let me know) so as we wait for one to pop up on flee bay ect. i was taking a look at helmets and other bits we may need

on ebay helmets seem to vary from £20 to around £400 ! what do you lot track with and would one of these £20 helmets meet tracks regulations ?

also is there anything else i should look at ? gloves ect. or maybe even a stig style race suit

i thought it would be a good idea to start a thread for all those getting into track cars as i know allot you us zoners are at the moment. i wasnt sure were to put this so mods feel free to move to a more suitable place.

the idea is to give people an idea of what to look for in a track car eg what cars are good and cheap any specific spec on a vehicle making it more suitable ect, costs of owning, what mods can be done to achieve more power and better handling, tips and advice on preparing a track car, any tips for the track and advice on specific circuits and annything else you petrol heads can think of.

Got to do a track day at Silverstone with Gold Track on May 18... awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYpU4OOzdVE

And a little Nordschleife bonus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2TzKCoE_v8

Hi Folks

As some here know I'm racing my e46 racecar in the CSL Cup series in the UK, which is a race series dedicated to racing BMW M3s.

Here's the video from race 1, which was mildly damp!!

http://vimeo.com/11733158

I qualified 2nd, 0.5 seconds behind pole (Nick Foster), with number 3 0.4 seconds behind me (Dan Stringfellow). I finished 2nd, 5.4 seconds behind Nick Foster in 1st. Mark Steward got 3rd, 22.1 seconds behind me

My fastest lap in the race was 1.22.0, 0.3 seconds behind Dan Stringfellow who got the fastest lap of the race.

I hope you enjoy it; I think it gives a good idea of wet circuit racing in M3s

Spent the evening at Cadwell yesterday with Marty, Mike and Tim and what an awesome day!

I got there about 4.45pm which was lucky as i no longer have a driving license (it was stolen) so they needed to call the DVLA before they closed 4.45pm to confirm i am allowed to drive a car, i just managed to sort it in time. Mike was already there as was Tim and Marty casually rocked up about 5.05 just as the briefing began.

The briefing was just the usual track rules regarding overtaking and signalling then the use of flags and what they all mean. After the briefing we went out for a couple of sighting laps just to get our heads round the course, by the time we had done this it was about 6pm.

We then decided to go back out and do some proper laps but for some reason the E34 was feeling a little rough when she fired up. She ran all lumpy and when pressing the loaud pedal she it was like the it wasnt attached then all of a sudden the revs would fly up. It almost felt like she wasnt being supplied fuel or like their was the wrong mix of fuel and air.... Anyways we got out on the track after a few mins and she was fine.

First couple of laps we took it easy, get used to the corners and warm up the tyres, I came in after 3-4 laps as i had to drive home and i was worried about the car.

Second set she had a bit of a splutter but she was soon back to normal, only problem was that there were a LOT of faster cars on the track including, 3 Porkers, a million E30 M3's, a couple of E92 M3's, a new M5 and a whole host of others. Annoyingly it didnt give me Marty or Mike much time to spar and test each other out.

Luckily our last session was a little more fun as it was almost the last of the day. Marty took the lead with me in the middle and Mike close in my rear view, it was fairly clear that the E36's were a lot quicker on the straight but through the twistys well i was well impressed with how the E34 handled for its size and age, and easily kept up (obviously this was my superior driving skill) .

All in all a great day despite the 4hr journey there and 4 hour journey back, and luckily this time no injuries!

Hopefully Mike will be along soon with his video footage...

First post, so hiya

I currently own a Golf Edition 30 (daily) and heavily track prepped Saxo Vts, but will shortly moving in with the better half & will only have space for one car ...

Having owned 2 x 328i Sports in the past, a 330ci Sport seems sensible considering the 80 mile a day commute, but my question is, with some decent suspension/brakes, would it be ok on track as well - i dont want to have to give up on this aspect of driving and buying something like a Leon Cupra R really doesnt appeal An M3 of any sort is not an option due to budget (e46) and age (e36) ...

Some Vts pics, just to prove its not your standard chav mobile






Appreciate the responses.

Thanks
Dave

Me, Marty and Mike are all now booked on our next track day at Cadwell Park on 4th May. There is a day session which is about £175 and an evening session which is only £50. Or you can do both the day and the evening for £200!

If anyone fancies tagging along your more than welcome, im sure there will be plenty of pax laps going spare!

Annoyingly i have had so much on i havent had much chance to make any improvements over the last outing but im sure i have plenty to think about.

Will report back later with some pics etc.

Hi all,

Bit the bullet today and got myself a 'Slag'!

Yes an E36 328i 1995 Coupe

Mechanically seems o.k, but will need a bit of work to rear arches.... very rusty.... but not beyond repair.

Will obviously need a good going over ie brakes, running gear, service items etc... you get the idea.

Will post some pics when i collect the car in the next few days

Marty, Simon..... you may have competition!

Mike

Hey all I'm on a forum called "built4track" and there is a track day being organised at Llandow circuit (not far from Cardiff) if anyone is interested?

It was discussed that we wanted a track day organised that was prebooked and only open to like minded people (people that like track days but don't want the hassle of have a go hero's). There will be all sorts of abilities there and will be loads of time on track (will be my first track day so if you haven't done it before you won't be the only one!).

If we can get 20 people the cost will only be £80 per car with passengers going free. Obviously if we cannot get to 20 we are still booking and going. It was said that if it was 10 it would be £140, but we're already at 9 with a few more interested yet as there will be lots of track time (none of this 1 or 2 15 min sessions!).

If you are interested here is the link to the thread:

http://built4track.forumotion.co.uk/trackd...te-tbc-t867.htm

It should let you view the page without joining but incase it doesn't here is the link to register:

http://built4track.forumotion.co.uk/profil...m?mode=register

Hi Folks

Went to Hockenheim yesterday for the first testday with the new racecar. Not the fastest of laps as its my first time driving a sequential gearbox, and its left hand drive, but I had great fun regardless.

Needless to say the car is incredible and I'm extremely happy with it. Schirmer Race Engineering have created a monster!

The video is here

Our February trackday at Brands is now fully booked so we are looking towards Cadwell Park on Friday March 26th as our next track outing. We are running the usual setup of open pitlane, free tuition from our team of ARDS instructors and limited numbers to make sure you can get plenty of lappage on this fantastic circuit!

The list price for this event is £150 but as ever we are doing a special rate for the clubs that we work with to run these days and we’ve frozen last years price so you can book a place for just £125. Passengers can be booked in for a tenner and extra drivers for £35.

If you haven’t been to Cadwell before it’s one of the best circuits in the country, fast and flowing in some places, tight and twisty in others and with some gradient changes that you won’t believe until you have driven them - a fantastic trackday venue and perfect for cars that handle properly .

If you’d like the guided tour then here’s a video from an E30 at last years event

Bookings can be made HERE but if you’d like to come along please shout up and I’ll PM you the discount code to get the club rate.

Cheers

Steve H
Trackaction-Online

Here’s a few shots from Cadwell last year

Recently just booked my boats & hotels for Munich & Nurburgring aswell as visiting a little road called the Transfagarasan highway i'm looking to "prep" the car as such

Now i've already done the bigger brakes option (330 Front Discs, Calipers & Carriers) and thinking of changing the rears to maybe some EBC discs to match the front, but in 316 size as the 330 conversion is fairly difficult and not cost effective

What about changing the lines etc?

Also, speaking to the BMW specialist I use he does Powerflex bushings, I've already done the Wishbone bushes and he can get me the anti-roll bar ones aswell as the rear kit (diff carrier & rear trail arms) worth doing?

Finally, he also does strut braces at £30 each+ VAT, says the rear strut brace is a good job and does sharpen the car up, worth doing the front and rear?

Any other help or suggestions is welcome

Hi Folks

I hope this is the right place to post this - if not, mods please move

As part of preparing for the 2010 season I'm creating a new website for Team Schirmer, and I've been busy writing up my race reports from last year. I'd only written 1 race weekend before (Donington) but its amazing when I start writing how much I can remember!

I thought I'd post up the reports as I write them.

Hope you like it!

btw I've setup a facebook page for anyone who want's to keep track of what we're doing - its http://www.facebook.com/teamschirmer.


QUALIFYING

So the day has finally arrived. My first race ever, and I was starting to feel nervous. Why had I decided to leave the comfort and safety of trackdays despite only having started driving cars on track 4 years ago? I was asking myself the same question as I walked up to race control to sign on, and advise them of my transponder number.

Scrutineering was not long before qualifying, so I tried to get there earlier. Unfortunately, all my fellow competitors had the same idea, and I ended up being seen last. The last thing I needed was being late for qualifying, so I hoped the scrutineers would be quick - how wrong could I be!

The first thing they noticed was that the bottom part of the belt had a different expiry date to the top part - I had swapped them over with the passenger side on a previous track day and forgotten to swap them back. So we had to run back to the paddock to collect a spanner, and fix that. Next I forgot to switch the SMG into neutral before the scrutineer pressed the cut off switch, and the car didn't like that! Then the scrutineers decided they didn't like the fact I was using the standard CSL towing eye, with the X6 towing eye attached at the back. It *did* stick out quite a bit, but I liked that because it meant someone getting too close to my rear would come off worse! Unfortunately the scrutineers didn't agree, and warned me to have them replaced for fabric towing eyes before the next race at Donington.

Finally, as this was my first race I needed to pay £1.50 for a sticker on my helmet, and of course I hadn't brought any money to the scrutineering bay not expecting to have to buy anything!! After running back to the paddock, and running back (why wasn't I allowed to drive my car?) the deal was done and I could return to the paddock. By now of course I was a little stressed, knowing I had to get into my racegear and get up to Parc Ferme before qualifying as soon as possible. As it turned out I did have more than enough time.

Qualifying for the CSL Cup started at 11.30, and I was keen not to be late, so I headed up there a good 15 minutes earlier. It turned out I was the only one there! Soon enough, the rest of the competitors eventually turned up, and at 11.36 I was waved forward from Parc Ferme down the pit lane. So not only was this my first qualifying ever, but I was leading the pack - great!!

For some reason as soon as I got out of the pits I put the foot down, and thankfully I built up a good 1/2 lap lead over the rest of the pack, meaning I could try and concentrate on putting in a few hot laps without the pressure of others behind me. My first few laps were pretty consistent, all just over the 54 seconds mark, the closest was on lap 3 with 54.019 seconds.



I came into the pits where we checked the tyre pressures, and then I headed back out again. Thankfully once more I seemed to come out of the pits into clean air, which was good. I'm not sure what I'd have done had I been trying for a hot lap and discovered another competitor right behind me trying to get past - I wouldn't want to jeopardise my hot lap but annoying other competitors wouldn't be the best move on my first event. Thankfully I didn't have to worry about that, as the rest of the 20 minute session went by without seeing another competitor.



Changing the pressures down a bit seemed to help - my average times slipped just below 54 seconds consistently for the rest of the laps. My fastest lap was to come on my very last lap, with 53.534 seconds. I remember distinctly starting to really enjoy the laps and getting into a rhythm, so I think I could have brought that down slightly closer to 53 seconds with a bit more time. However it wasn't to be, just as I crossed the line to finish that lap the chequered flag was waved. Thank goodness I kept the foot nailed and didn't lift off going over the line!



Coming back into Parc Ferme, I was reasonably happy with my progress, even though at that time I didn't know the results. I expected to be the slowest in the modified class, but I hoped I would be faster than the standard class guys, or at least that was my aim! We lined up on the scales, and discovered I was the 2nd heaviest car on the grid, weighing in at 1425kg! Only John Harrison in the standard class was heavier. Upon returning to the paddock it dawned on me that I'd been that focussed on the qualifying that I'd forgotten to remove the passenger seat!!

After removing the seat, which we reckoned saved in the region of 25kg, Adam arrived with the results. I'd qualified in 6th place, so I was in front of 2 of the standard class guys, but 1 of the standard class cars was in 3rd place! Only later would I find out Nick Foster, the driver, has been racing for years in (amongst other things) a Dodge Viper in GT championships. This made me feel better!

I was still 1.8 seconds behind the pole position, which was Geoff Steel. Geoff has also been driving for years, and is an ex BTCC driver. I was 0.7 seconds behind John Thorne, who I decided was my target to aim for, thanks to his results at the previous race at Rockingham, in which he was considerably slower than the rest of the modified cars, qualifying 16 seconds behind the leader. I didn't know at the time that his car wasn't setup in time for Rockingham, but I was soon to find out in the first race that John wasn't going to be easy to catch up to!

John Harrison in standard class was 0.7 seconds behind me, and Darren Humphrey (also in standard class) was 0.7 seconds behind John, so I had my targets for race 1 clear. Keep in front of these two, and try to catch and overtake John Thorne. Race 1 was just under 4 hours away...




RACE 1

So my first race ever was here! It was just after 4 o'clock on a sunny afternoon, and I was thinking to myself what am I doing?!?! Arriving at Parc Ferme, they lined us up against the fence in order of qualifying position, and I was definitely nervous. Others were standing around outside the cars chatting, but I preferred to sit inside my car, belted into place, helmet ready to put on quickly for when they called us forward.

Adam (CSL Cup organiser) popped over with a camera which he mounted to the rollcage. I made a mental note to try and not do anything too stupid, as it was all going to be on camera now! Just before 4.30, they called us. I quickly fitted my helmet, my straps were tightened and then we were off. I stayed back a little from John Thorne so I could see where the marshalls wanted me to line up. As it was, I still cocked it up, and the really nice marshall just told me to move a little further over when we come off our warm up lap.

It seemed like an age before the marshall's boards came up - 3 minutes, 60 seconds, 30 seconds and so on. They made me laugh, as there was no way that it was 2 minutes between the 3 minute and 60 seconds board. However soon the lights were out, and we all formed a line for a warm up lap around the circuit. I noticed a few of the guys in front of me spinning up their tyres on their start positions, leaving some rubber down. Not knowing what I was doing, I just drove away gently - my driver instructor from years ago would have been proud! I then noticed the guys in front weaving from side to side to warm up the tyres. I tried to copy them, but an eternal fear of spinning out on a warm up lap stopped me from really getting any proper heat into them.

Not very long later, we were approaching the start finish straight, and we lined up again in our positions, this time slightly closer to the wall to make the marshall happier. It seemed like an age before the lights went out, I remember not knowing whether to hold my hands on the wheel, or in my lap, or on the gear lever - I think I ended up doing all 3. But then the lights went to red, and then they were out, and we were off!

I remember moving off as quickly as I could, whilst trying to correct the oversteer as the tyres lit up. As I approached the first corner, John Harrison snuck up my inside and jumped in front of me into the first corner! I was that focussed on keeping up I'd failed to defend the inside line and he'd snuck through. (I'm in the white car, John Harrison is in the silver car)





I was cursing myself for this, but thought I best just get on with it, and tried to fake a move up the inside of turn 2, which John blocked whilst I moved to the inside, hoping to get a better exit which I did, but unfortunately it was a short distance to the next corner which made it easy for John to defend.

Going into lap 1 I was 0.2 seconds behind John, but 4.8 seconds behind the leader - which is a lot considering the lap times are around 52/53 seconds.





No matter what I tried, I couldn't get past John until I tried the same move on turn 2 as the first lap, but this time I got a better exit and went down side by side to the next corner with John, making the move stick. So crossing the line into lap 6 I was finally ahead of John Harrison by 1.5 seconds, but 8.1 seconds behind John Thorne in position 4 and 12.2 seconds behind Jamie Martin who was in the lead.



It was not long after passing John Harrison that my paddles on the steering wheel stopped working. They had done this during qualifying, so I knew straight away to change to the gearstick. However, it did knock my confidence. Crossing the line for lap 7 I had only narrowed the gap by 0.1 seconds on John, but for some reason I started to fall off the pace, alarmingly so. By lap 16 I was 22 seconds behind John, and Darren Humphrey was 19 seconds behind me (having also overtaken John Harrison). I think that because there was nobody in close vicinity to chase, and with the gearbox overheating problems on my mind (which both John Thorne and I believed was causing the paddles to stop working) I lost a lot of enthusiasm and I remember thinking it was actually getting quite boring, as I was driving around in circles on my own.

Then something happened! Mark Steward, driving the other standard class car (Mark, like Nick Foster, had a lot of racing experience including drives in the Radical Cup) locked up his rear wheels going into turn 1, ending up buried into the gravel! As I approached the scene, this was my first yellow flag so I wasn't really sure how much I had to slow down.



I slowed down way too much was the answer, because after the next lap John was now 39 seconds ahead of me! Do these guys have no respect for the marshalls ;-) However, on the next time I past Mark's beached car, the safety car suddenly pulled out onto the track in front of me! What do I do now? I vaguely remember from the ARDS training that he should be in front of the leader of the pack, so why has he pulled out in front of me? Has he mistaken me for Dan Stringfellow, whose car at cursorly glance looks similar? Anyway, I tuck in behind him imagining all scenarios in my head, including the leader tucking in behind me - could I sneak a win here ;-) However on the pit straight, I suddenly notice the safety car swerve to the pit wall and a body is half hanging out of the side window, waving at me frantically to go past. Question answered! I speed up to catch up with the pack of the pack, now they are travelling very slowly behind the safety car.

I close the gap so I'm sitting 1.3 seconds behind John, and we do a few laps in formation. I'm not sure if it was the heat, or the lack of experience, but I was caught napping when the safety car came in. The 4 cars ahead of me shot away, and despite speeding up I had lost them - crossing the finishing line 3.9 seconds behind John Thorne, and 5.4 seconds behind the leader.

It was quite a feeling to pour myself out of the car in Parc Ferme. Despite having fallen right off the pace, I had enjoyed myself, although I was very hot - it was only after the race you realise just how hot it gets inside the car. I was disappointed with the gearbox though, and hoped that we could come up with a solution for it before the next race. There was some consolation though, when I was on the pace just after passing John Harrison, I posted my best time of the race which was almost a second faster than qualifying, at 52.6 seconds. I was pleased with that, and it was only 1.2 seconds slower than the fastest lap of the race set by Geoff Steel, who won the race. So overall I couldn't complain!

Video (low def): http://vimeo.com/5073315

Hi Folks

Here's my second race report from last year. This was race 3 and 4, at Donington Park circuit in July last year. This report follows on from this one. I'm almost finished the next report as well, Castle Combe. I'll upload that next week.

Hope this isn't too boring for you all, I enjoy writing it and hope people enjoy reading it


SATURDAY 4TH JULY 2009

Qualifying wasn't until 12.25, so we had some time in the morning to get the car ready. At the previous weekend, the scrutineers weren't too impressed with the towing eyes fitted as, despite being standard, they stuck out too far from the vehicle. This didn't bother me too much, as it meant anyone hitting me would come off worse LOL

I'd been told I needed to fit fabric towing eyes for this meeting, so I'd ordered a set from Adam at Thorney Motorsport. I collected them this morning from Adam, one small set for the front and a larger one for the rear. We set to work fitting them, with the assistance of the Thorney guys for advice, but it wasn't easy and it appeared the smaller towing eye wouldn't fit. After removing the drivers side headlight, we managed to get access into fit the front eye, and the rear eye was connected to a bolt on the inside of the car near the battery and hung out the boot over the rear bumper, which was fine for now.

Scrutineering was interesting, I was away somewhere (probably eating breakfast in the CSLCup lounge ) and so my mate Hamish helped the scrutineers who this weekend came to us, which was nice! Normally we need to take the car to the scrutineering bay. However when the scrutineer asked to see a demo of the fire system, Hamish didn't know how to use it so honestly told them so, and they let him off and decided not to test it. It was only later when I went to switch on the fire system (you always have it on during track time) it didn't turn on, and we realised that the battery must have died! Thank goodness nothing happened during qualifying, and we replaced the battery that afternoon before the 2 races the next day.

I'd bought some BP 102RON Fuel to try and see if it made a difference, and brought it in some jerry cans. However I hadn't had time to run out the Texaco 98RON which was still in the tank from Brands Hatch, and I was told its a reasonable sized job to pump out the fuel tank, so I topped up the 1/8 full tank with BP 102 until we reached half full.

Back to qualifying, and the weather stayed dry so the slicks went on. This was their 9th heat cycle (5 x Brands Hatch RMA testing day sessions approx 20 mins each, plus qualifying and 2 races at Brands) and they still seemed fine (to me!). We left the pressures as we had used in the last Brands race (approx 24 psi) but this time I'd brought a pyrometer so we could accurately measure the temperatures at the end of the session, and see whether the tyres were under or over inflated (as well as checking if the camber was sufficient - pyrometers are really useful!).

Qualifying was different this time - we all lined up in parc ferme as before but this time we had to do a green flag lap before going for it - at Brands I was first out of the pit lane and just went for it (perhaps I should'nt have? LOL). As I drove round for a few laps to warm up the tyres quickly the gearbox started playing up again - going from 3rd to 6th However, after about 5 or 10 minutes, it seemed to start working OK again. I couldn't work out if that was because it had heated up(?), or because the SMG had been reset and now was relearning again, but didn't like being driven at full throttle on a track whilst learning.

I also noticed the car didn't feel right. It felt soft, and despite the toe in at the front helping turn in, it still didn't feel 'good'. I knew my laptimes weren't going to be good, partly due to the gearbox, and partly due to the car feeling awful, in fact as I drove back into the pits as our 20 minute qualifying was up I quite expected the standard class boys (Darren and Curly) to have beaten me. It was almost a pleasant surprise to find out I still had qualified 6th, even though I was 2.8 seconds slower than number 5, and 4.3 seconds slower than Jamie Martin on pole. My qualifying time was 1.49.299, and my lap times were:

1.55.308
1.53.585
1.49.953
1.49.560
1.49.637
1.49.870
1.49.299***
1.49.680
1.50.209
1.49.420

The transponder system can produce a theoretical best lap, based on splitting the track into 3 sectors, and calculating your best time from that. My best theoretical qualifying time was 1.48.908 - only 0.4 seconds faster than my actual best time.

I had 4 seconds to find from somewhere!

As I was sitting in the paddock discussing what could be wrong with the car it dawned on me - I had completely forgotten to reset the dampers since they'd come back from AST for overhaul. I'd presumed (wrongly) they'd come back with the same settings as they'd left the car! When I inspected them I discovered a mismatch of settings, in the main they were set to soft with the odd rebound set on full hard - not good!!

Felt a bit of a fool, but I spoke to the boys at Whiteline who gave me some settings to start off with for race 1 - basically 1/4 from full hard with rebound at the rear slightly softer. The front anti roll bar was already set to full hard.

We'd taken the tyre temperatures immediately after qualifying (in fact I'd pulled into the pits whilst Mark checked them, but I neglected to notice where the rest had gone to (they had driven into the other parc ferme through a gate near the pit lane exit) so I'd cut through a shortcut out into the paddock, and arrived back at the CSL Cup paddock before anyone else - oooops! Luckily I checked with Adam and he said it was fine, they didn't need me. Last time at Brands after qualifying we'd all been weighed, but I guess due to my dismal performance in qualifying they presumed I hadn't magically lost a lot of weight in the car LOL). We measured the inside edge, middle and outside edge of the tyre, and ideally we're aiming for the inside to be hottest, and the outside coolest. As the middle was the hottest on the rear tyres it was clear the pressures were too high, so we knocked them down a couple of psi for race 1.

Because of the problems with the gearbox and the suspension, I hadn't really paid much attention to the fuel. The car felt responsive enough, but I can't say I noticed a massive difference from the previous race. I believe there was a difference, just not as massive as I was hoping for.

After qualifying, we set to work fitting a cooler pipe running from in front of the radiator blowing cold air onto the SMG ECU, underneath the airbox (pics to follow). We also butchered the fuse box to allow more air in, to cool it down as we suspected that might be part of the problem.

SUNDAY 5TH JULY 2009

Race 1 was scheduled to start at 9.55, so it was an early start :-(

When I arrived from the hotel, we double checked the suspension settings again, and I rigged up the camcorder with a new tape. I don't have an opportunity to switch it on when I reach the grid, nor do I want to have to worry about it there, so I start it recording in parc ferme which is where we all line up ready to go onto the grid once the race before has finished. Unfortunately this often means I get about 20 minutes of boring footage before the race starts, but I can always edit that out!

I was in the 3rd row on the grid, nearest the pit lane. John Thorne was in front of me, and Darren Humphrey in standard class was behind. The fly in the ointment was Curly, also in standard class who was alongside Darren. Curly has an annoying habit of getting a cracking start and getting past me off the line - he did it in race 1 at Brands, and almost did it in race 2 at Brands but (kindly) didn't risk it and stayed behind through the first corner. This was my third race so I was still wet behind the ear at starts, I need to improve them. After speaking to a fellow competitor who told me they change up to second almost as soon as they've started moving, I thought I'd give that a shot.

Lights went out, I moved off in first and quickly changed to second. Argh - the car bogged down straight away, it was completely the wrong thing to do! Whilst this was going on I had to swerve to avoid John Thorne whose car had broken down - it emerged later he had to switch it off and on before leaving the start line!

As expected Curly got a flying start and got in front - I braked straight to the apex on turn 1 trying to block him, but chickened out in case of contact and backed off, letting him through.

Then, right on q, the gearbox started playing up - when will it ever last an entire race without some gearbox problem? I switched to using the gear selector and it seemed OK, but I'm so used to the paddles that it affected my driving for sure.

I then followed Curly, once again outbraking him into the old hairpin, but let him through and had a touch of correction to bring the car back onto line. I was concentrating too much on trying to take the inside line, it was compromising my exit speed out of corners, which was daft. I was almost alongside him going down to the Esses, but he defended well and held the line. Likewise, going into Melbourne I was on the outside alongside him trying to get a better line to outdrag him on the uphill, but as I turned I realised John Thorne was right there so I had to do a quick steering adjustment to avoid turning into him (2.15 on the video) and that cocked up my plan. John overtook Curly on the pit straight a few seconds later.

John just behind me going into the Esses:


Into Lap 2 saw me 0.505 seconds behind Curly, and he was 4.386 seconds behind the front pack (with the exception of John Thorne who was only 0.5 seconds ahead of Curly, but that was due to his restart on the grid). I tried again to outbrake him into turn 1 but he cut across the front of me, I probably should have been more agressive. All this diving to the inside was seriously compromising my exit speed, which you can notice on the video. Going through Craners Curly was a good few car lengths ahead of me.

I was trying desperately to get past Curly again, but he was doing a good job blocking. Meanwhile the front pack were leaving us - they were close together, then a gap was forming, then Curly, myself and Darren behind me.

In Lap 2 Curly's car started overheating (it had been doing this in qualifying, we suspected a faulty thermostat) and he kindly indicated and pulled over to the side, letting me past (3.19 on the video). However the damage was done, the front pack were too far ahead for me to get anywhere near, so it looked like I was on my own for the rest of the race again. Crossing the line into lap 3 I was 4.982 seconds behind John Thorne who was in 5th place, and 10.743 seconds behind Geoff Steel who was leading the race.

Towards the end of lap 3 coming into Melbourne, I was surprised to see Jamie Martin had spun, and he just pulled back onto the track before me. I was aware of yellow flags at the Melbourne Loop and looking ahead it became clear - Geoff Steel's car had broken down, spilling oil all over the track. It made the corner before the pit straight interesting, very slippy! As Geoff had stopped the car behind the tyre wall there was no need for the safety car, so the race continued.

Into Lap 4 and I'd made up a little bit of ground, I was now 8.885 seconds behind the leader (now Dan Stringfellow) and 0.916 seconds behind Jamie Martin in (now thanks to Geoff) 4th place. The breakdown had worked to my advantage, as the front pack had to slow down as the accident happened but I was far enough behind that it didn't affect me, so I could keep on the pace.



Into Lap 5 I'm now 1.545 seconds behind Jamie, and 9.141 behind the leader. Into Lap 6 the gap grew, Jamie was 3.8 seconds ahead and I'm 10.583 seconds behind the leader. The gap continued to grow, into lap 7 I'm now 6.101 seconds behind Jamie, and 12.730 seconds behind the leader. Thankfully Curly was 21 seconds behind me now, fighting to keep Darren at bay, so I didn't have any pressure from behind. But still I'm losing pace, and I'm not sure why.

Into Lap 8 and the gap has increased again - Jamie is now 9.022 seconds ahead of me, and Dan leading the race is 14.138 seconds ahead.

During Lap 8 Jamie pushed too hard to get past John Thorne (who was only 0.3 seconds ahead of him in 3rd) and ended up going onto the gravel at Coppice (video at 14.14). He recovered it just as I arrived, sneaking in front of me, but it meant that going into lap 9 the gap between us was now only 1.03 seconds.

The gap widened slightly to 1.761 seconds going into lap 10, but this time he wasn't getting away as fast as previous laps where he was gaining 3 seconds a lap on me. Into Lap 11 and he's now 2.049 seconds ahead, so I'm staying with him but not really gaining. By now Dan is 19 seconds ahead of me at the front.

On the last few laps the car started surging on the long straight down from Coppice to the Esses, which appears was because we didn't put enough fuel in the car. Lesson learnt there! I changed up early and the car seemed OK to continue. I was worried that I wouldn't finish again though!

Into Lap 12 (the final lap) and Jamie is increasing the gap again, now 3.683 seconds ahead, and across the finish line for the last time he ended up 4.052 seconds in front. Dan won the race, 22.044 seconds ahead of me.

Just back in the pits after Race 1:


The paddles had started to work again after a few minutes into the race, so as I started to use them again my confidence grew, although before Jamie had gone wide at Melbourne I was losing an awful lot of time. However I ended up posting the second fastest time in sector 1 for this race, which was the start line through to halfway through Craner Curves. Not the most difficult section, but being miles from the 'pack' in qualifiying I was still proud of that and it gave me confidence that I could be as fast as the front pack, if I tried hard enough.

Thanks to Geoff bailing out after 1 lap, I ended up in 5th. My fastest lap time was 1.45.891, so thanks to the suspension settings, reduced tyre pressures and that little bit more practice on the circuit I'd brought my laptimes back into the running, even if only for 1 lap! I was still 1.5 seconds from the fastest lap posted by Jamie Martin (1.44.305) but I was much improved from my qualifying time.

I'm not quite sure why after my fastest lap I lost over a second a lap and sustained it, but I suspect that the fastest lap was a belter which for some reason I didn't repeat, meaning the typical lap was in the 1.47s - still an improvement over qualifying but not fast enough. Taking into account the fuel surging on the last few laps I think my laps were improving towards the end, as I'd had more practice round the circuit.

Race 1 was the 10th heat cycle for the slicks, they still seemed OK to me although they were oversteering around Melbourne Loop but I put that down to the off camber corner that slopes away from you.

This time after the race we took the temperatures again, but I drove into parc ferme :-) The scrutineers didn't check the car though, and we quickly drove back to the paddock to check the results and have a beer!

Video from Race 1 here (HD)

RACE 2

Race 2 started at 15.40. After speaking to Whiteline, we hardened the suspension almost to full hard on the front, and slightly softer at the back. The weather was still glorious, despite a heavy rain shower, so it was definitely slicks. This was to be the 11th heat cycle for these tyres, so they were getting to the end of their life - most of the competitors (with the exception of Curly) were working on a new set of slicks per race weekend - I was aiming to get 2 weekends, plus trackdays out of a set. They're not cheap!! :-)

As I hadn't put enough fuel in for the last race, we decided to ensure it was half full before race 2. However I'd run out of BP 102, so Thorney kindly let me use some of their Tesco 99 fuel.

I was starting in 4th place because Nick Foster, who shares a car with Mark Steward, starts at the back of the grid even though Mark Steward had finished 3rd in the last race. This meant I was in the second row of the grid, nearest the pits, directly behind John Thorne again.

Once we lined up for the green flag lap, we were stuck on the grid for about 5 or 10 minutes whilst they cleared up the carnage from the previous race. After all this we did our green flag lap, then lined up. I always find the variation in where the different circuits ask you to park bewildering, this time I was about 3 feet off John's rear bumper exactly in line with Jamie Martin who was beside me.

This time I got a better start. Racing down the outside of the track, John ahead of me with his greater power is pulling away slightly, and he moves to the inside of the track to block Dan Stringfellow who was alongside him. Meanwhile, Jamie uses the opportunity to cut down the middle and blocks me from moving in, so I end up going round the outside of turn 1, and ended up off the track slightly on the dirt as Nick Foster fights his way through pushing Jamie out of the way as well. This time, for a change, Curly is behind me!

Going down into Craners Jamie Martin is ahead of me. I manage to hang onto the back of him, which is giving me confidence. Even though the 'pack' slightly pulls away through Coppice down to the Esses (bigger bhp, or bigger balls?) I've caught them back by Melbourne Loop, presumably under braking. It is that bit easier to catch up when you're not being pressured from behind, I can recognise that but I use that to my advantage. Crossing the line into lap 2 I'm 1.016 seconds behind Jamie, and 2.372 seconds behind the leader.

On lap 2 Jamie Martin pulls ahead of Nick Foster, and I see an opportunity to dive to the inside under braking but chicken out at the last minute - I must get out of this car preservation instinct LOL. So going into turn 1 I'm behind Nick now. The gap between me and Nick is slightly growing through Craners, onto Coppice, and again its Melbourne Loop before I catch them up. Thank goodness we're racing the full circuit! Going into the esses I see that Jamie has got past Dan, and Nick forces his way past Dan as well, however Dan recovers to follow Nick through pushing Jamie wide at Melbourne. So now I'm back behind Jamie again! Into lap 3 I'm now only 0.472 seconds behind Jamie, but the leader is pulling away as I'm 4.233 seconds behind him.

Again going into turn 1 I have a beautiful opportunity to outbrake Nick Foster (who Dan and Jamie have got past again) but chicken out! By Coppice Nick has got past Jamie again and thanks to these boys fighting each other I'm right behind them again with a prime view.

Coming into the Melbourne Loop Nick decides to try and take a shortcut to turn 1, but discovers that a solid concrete barrier is hampering his progress. (5.30 on the video). With Nick out of the running, I've automatically moved up to 4th! John Thorne has built up a slight lead at the front, with Dan in 2nd and Jamie 3rd. However at this point I didn't realise that Nick had crashed and couldn't recover, I thought he would have rejoined the track so I'm nervously watching my mirrors expecting to see him come charging behind me! Into Lap 4 I'm now 0.803 seconds behind Jamie, and 5.825 seconds behind John Thorne, the leader.

There's a great pic of Dan, Jamie then myself at this point:


Now back into Melbourne Loop again I can see Nick is still in the barrier. I'm also right behind Jamie, and going into the turn onto the pit straight Jamie is focussing on Dan too much and leaves the door wide open for me to sneak through - so I do :-) (7.30 on the video). Crossing the line into lap 5 Jamie is 0.246 seconds behind me, and I'm 0.932 seconds behind Dan.

Now I'm behind Dan Stringfellow, and despite being confident very concious that the man who set the fastest lap in race 1 is now on my backside determined to get past! I try my best to ignore it, but make some silly mistakes (wrong gear into the corner before Coppice) and this allows him to get right behind me heading down to the Esses. Concious of blocking him, I alter my line into the Esses but realise I've carried way too much speed and amn't going to make the corner, so I straight line across the grass instead! (8.55 on the video)



Jamie gets past again, and I keep on his tail, perhaps with too much eagerness (see the oversteer at 9.13 on the video)



Trying everything to catch him, I mess up the corner before the pit straight and go in the wrong gear. Somehow into lap 6 I'm still only 0.677 seconds behind Jamie though, crossing the line. John Thorne leading the race is miles ahead now, 10.641 seconds ahead of me.

Crossing the line into lap 7 I'm 1.205 seconds behind Jamie, so he's pulling away a bit. Thankfully by Melbourne I've caught him again:


Now going into lap 8 I'm only 0.573 seconds behind Jamie, and going into turn 1 I fake an overtaking move on the inside to try and put him off, and as he turns his car oversteers, and the correction allows me time to sneak through Now I'm possessed, and despite some dodgy lines I'm determined not to let him past again. As I pass the pit straight starting lap 9, I try desperately the old Jedi mind trick (You WILL finish the race now, while I'm still ahead of Jamie) however for some reason it doesn't work this time, and I need to continue and complete the remaining 10 minutes or so!!

Into Lap 9 I'm 7.419 seconds behind Dan Stringfellow, and Jamie is 2.441 seconds behind. I understand Jamie had suffered a punctured radiator and the car was overheating, so he started to fall off the pace as a result.

Entering lap 10 Dan is 7.905 seconds ahead, and Jamie is 8.448 seconds behind. By now John Thorne in the lead is 16 seconds ahead of me.

Starting lap 11 saw me close the gap on Dan ever so slightly, he's now 6.563 seconds ahead of me. Jamie with his damaged car has fallen right back, now 20 seconds behind.

Into the final lap (12) and I was now 6.149 seconds behind Dan, as this was the final lap I decided in my head to try and not throw the car off the track, so took it a little easier on this lap as I could see Jamie was miles behind so the pressure was off. I wanted to secure my first podium of the series in 3rd place! (Actually my first podium ever LOL).

Under the chequered flag I finished 6.02 seconds behind Dan, and John won the race 11.605 seconds ahead of Dan. Jamie was by now 44 seconds behind me, but he managed to finish the race to secure 4th place.



My fastest lap was a 1.46.020, so still about 1.7 seconds from the fastest time of the weekend, but an improvement nonetheless. Again I got 2nd fastest through sector 1, so now in both races!

This race was the 11th heat cycle for these tyres, so they are almost finished! My plan was to use them up at the trackday in Croft the next day.

A side note: I didn't notice any difference between the Tesco 99 fuel and the BP 102, so from now on I'm using Tesco 99 for the races. If anything, the Tesco stuff felt better but that might have been because I was enjoying race 2 more!

Here is the HD video from Race 2

Just got offered one of the Sportscar Experience trackdays today. Not sure of date as still to confirm but will be tearing around Elvington in one of these
I honestly can't wait

Was a hell of a long day, and a late finish, but the cars performed brilliantly, we had no rain to speak of all day and track itself was fantastic.

Big thanks to Nick for organising it.

Just uploading pics to photo bucket, will post them up later when i get a chance.

So tomorrow is the first outing for the track slag, here's a bit of an update on what has happened so far.

Bought this back in November, original thread here:

http://www.e46zone.com/forum/index.php?sho...c=11550&hl=

We are kicking off the new season with a beauty!

Open Pit Lane track day.

Oulton Park, Cheshire,
Full circuit,
Free Tuition,
Novices to Pros,
All BMW's welcome,
Organised and run by the BMW Car Club,
Non members welcome.
Trophies and raffle prizes
£100 !! (members price)

Friday, 12th February 2010

Taking bookings now.
nick@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

We’re off playing on the Oulton Park drift stages again, this time it’s on Saturday March 13th and of course all zoners are invited along.

This is a bit of what we get up to –







This is a great fun event and a good way to learn how your car reacts when it runs out of grip. As an extra bonus, even after a full day drifting, the low friction surface on the drift stages at Oulton give virtually zero tyre wear!

List price for this one is £140 for the day but we are doing the usual members rate of £120, extra drivers can sign in for £35 and passengers for a tenner. Free instruction is included so it's no problem if you haven't tried it before - if you'd like to come along please shout up on here and I'll PM you the booking details and a discount code .

Cheers

Steve H
TA-OL

PS We have been told by Oulton that they will be increasing the hire cost for the venue this year, they have agreed to charge us for the March day at the 2009 price but if we run any more days there this year it will probably cost around an extra £30 per head so make the most of this price whilst you can!

Got the insurance docs through for the temp cover on the E34 Track Toy and it states....

The policy does not cover:

Use on the NUrburgring Nordschleife, or for racing, pace-making, competitions, rallies, track days, trials or speed tests either on a road, track, or at an off-road 4x4 event.

Just made me chuckle really as that the only reason i took out the cover, so i could get to and from the track.

Check me out

Yep your eyes dont decieve, it is an E34 pickup

Now where is my angle grinder!

Right guys i'm hoping someone has experienced something similar to this and there is a simple answer, cos it's doing my head in!

I have fitted some cheap coilovers to the track slag, didn't have any issues aside from rusty bolts, and everything went together nice and looked surprisingly good quality for the money.

I have fitted some Z3 wheels with ex BTCC slicks which aren't ridiculous offsets or widths, and on the nearside i am having no problems at all.

Have had both wheels off and measured the distance from the disk to the suspension strut and they are bang on 102mm on both sides:

N/S



O/S



The problem occurs when i fit the wheels. I have swapped the wheels round to make sure one is not buckled, they have recently been balanced, yet when i fit them and tighten everything up, the N/S has plenty of inner clearance - enough for me to go much lower:



But the O/S has no where near as much, to the point where i have had to set the ride height higher up on both sides so that the adjusters and the spring don't rub on the back of the rim!



I'm not so much bothered about the lowering it anymore as it is still pretty low where its at, but last night when things had settled a little, the camber on the O/S was noticeably more aggressive than the N/S. Looked fantastic but i'm sure running different camber on the same axle won't be good for handling on the track.

I know you can get adjustable top mounts to play with the camber, but by my understanding this would alter the angle of the entire assembly, and not create and additional clearance between the rim and the adjuster / spring.

Anyone got any ideas?

Basically over the past few days i have been swapping out all the old bits from the front end of the E34. The car is on a 1991 J and has covered 160k miles, and in that time from what i can see it has only had a new front pax damper so you can imagine what sort of a state the handling was like.

Under braking the car swerved almost uncontrollably from left to right depending on the camber of the road, there was about 3inches of movement in the steering wheel with very little effect on the wheels and add to this numerous knocks and a variety of other noises!

Here is my list of parts....

1 - Supersport dampers and springs (50mm lower front and 30mm rear)
2 - E30 front top mounts, required to get the dampers to fit
3 - New GSF ARB droplinks
4 - Upper control arm/thrust rod - GSF
5 - Lower control arm - GSF
6 - Steering arm including tie rods - GSF
7 - New rear top mounts - GSF

Add to this some new tyres all round and the transformation is simply amazing, the car drives like new.

Big day tomorrow though - MOT day and probable its first MOT in 2-3 years. My only worries are rusty jacking points and possibly emmissions, so i will make sure the cats are nice and warm first before she goes in. I will report the reslts back tomorrow!

Just ordered me a set of SPAX Supersport's see below linky, 50mm front and 35mm rear drop.

DC Performance Linky

Anyone know if i will need a shorter set of ARB Links with this sort of drop?

Unfortunately due to the fire @ powerflex she has had to go OEM bushes until they are up and running again in the new year, but still there should be a huge improvement over the handling even with OEM.

Roll on Feb 10th for her first outing!

Fellas,

Just signed with Book a Track for a track day at Spa on 27 March. 295 pounds for 7 hours of driving time (0900-1700 with an hour break for lunch). Anybody else considering going?

Snort