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NCC BMW CCA HPDE Summit Point 3.17.09
No, that’s not a vintage photo from 20 years ago. That’s from this past weekend at Summit Point. It was time for the annual Spring HPDE on the main circuit. It was a weekend of a number of firsts for me. First time out on R-comps; first time for this car; and first time on the track driving a rear-wheel drive car.
[The sound quality is poor. If you have a fast connection, click the HD button to get better picture quality once it starts playing.] The video doesn’t convey the sense of speed down the front straight. I was just touching on 120 before the braking zone. There may have been a bit more in the car, but since it’s more than 20 years old and has over 215,000 miles on it, I didn’t want to have to buy a new engine, so I didn’t push it. Since it’s so much quieter than the MINI, I often ran it out to 7,000 RPMs on the straight from turn 9 to 10 before I got my rhythm down.
The car was much more like the MINI than I thought it would be. They are similar in weight and braking characteristics, thought the MINI brakes have more bite. It is very neutral in handling like the MINI, but no where near the amount of torque. You have to get on the power much sooner in corners and are rewarded with trailing throttle oversteer. Toward the end of Sunday, I felt as comfortable diving it into an apex as I did the MINI.
Here are a couple of things to remember for next time on the main circuit in this car.
- Between 2 and 3 don’t follow the edge of the track. Line up in the middle toward the gap in the tire wall, wait for the dip after the access road to turn in and use the camber on the inside.
- Tap the brakes right after the crest before 4 to settle the car, turn in, and full gas through the apex. Brake straight into 5.
- As soon as possible, get back on the gas in 5 to counteract the understeer. Go wide to keep up speed into 6. Position in 6 isn’t as important as a good set up to apex 7.
- Between 7 and 8 starts steady throttle to max gas at apex of 9. Try to get the shift into 4th gear before 9. Don’t early apex 9. (See M3 photo below.)
- Move the brake point for 10 back a bit. Key off of power lines. Brake less, carry more speed into corner, full gas through the apex. There is plenty of room to track out. An extra 3 MPH at exit is worth 10 MPH at the end of the straight. Remember to adjust brake zone into 1 with that in mind.
- Try to separate end of braking from turn-in in your mind as you adjust. Work on one thing at a time. If you can get on the gas before the apex, then your speed at turn-in isn’t high enough.
Stealth Enters the Home Stretch
I had some time on my hands the other night, went out to the garage, and much to my surprise, there’s nothing left on my punch-list to do on the BMW. Sure there’s plenty left to do — just not much I can do myself. The new suspension components have started to arrive. Once the new brake calipers get here, I’ll throw on the rear springs and shocks and take it down to Dan Martin to install the front struts/springs; fix the leaky cam gear seal, and flush the brakes. The first CCA track weekend is in less than 3 weeks. I should be in a good position to base-line the car. I won’t do the full Spec E30 suspension right away. I’d rather get some seat-time and understand how the car handles with only minor changes before going with a full race set-up.
Winter Break
It’s hard to get motivated to do anything related to my cars when it’s 15 degrees outside. If I’m lucky, I can keep the garage about 30 degrees above the ambient temperature, but when the best you can get is in the low 40’s, you don’t want to stay there long. Fortunately, we had a break in the cold today. With sunny skies and temperatures in the 60’s it was time to break out the hose and wash away the salt and grime. Much like the groundhog seeing his shower, the mid-February car wash means another six weeks of winter for sure. To hedge my bet, I put snow tires on the BMW.
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to make any progress with the appearance of the BMW. I started out this morning to see what a little polish and a random orbital polisher could do to the severely oxidized paint on the trunk lid. Here’s a photo of what it looked like last summer.
I started off with polish and made no progress. Then I tried rubbing compound; nada. Then a combination of wax and advanced polymer polish; nothing. Getting frustrated, I got out the sandpaper. First 400 then 1000 wet/dry. I couldn’t get anything that would take a polish, so I got out the spray bomb and painted the thing.
Once I put the snow tires on and backed the car up into the sun, I realized I am making progress. The look I’m shooting for is a satin finish because this is the Stealth Bimmer after all. I’ve painted the front back to include the doors and now the trunk lid. I also got the rear-end and rear valance. Now just the rear quarter panels and roof to go.
I’ve got about 6 weeks to go until the first track event. Now I just need some drive-line work; a new clutch; brakes and… Anyway, here’s the finished product of today’s work.
Not “Old” but Historic
The wait is finally over. The F-22 turned 20 this month and can be registered as a “historic vehicle”. Since I purchased the car out of state, I would have had to go through the Maryland’s bureaucratic inspection goat-rope, aka the mechanics & bureaucrats work protection act. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for safety, but this process makes no sense. I actually got the car inspected so I’d have a punch-list of things to correct, but found the inspection checklist was of little value for sorting out the car. For example, here’s a list of things my car failed:
- No rear seat-belts (because there are no rear seats).
- Hole in fender (where the antenna used to be).
- Window tint uneven (on a rear passenger side window).
- Window won’t go up due to bad switch. (I can understand why not going down would be a safety issue, but up?…)
But what didn’t the inspection turn up? A cracked and crumbling flex-joint in the drive-line; one of two transmission mounts was sheared as well as both engine mounts (meaning that the lone remaining transmission mount was all that was holding the engine & transmission to the chassis). And the speedometer didn’t work at the time.
So rather than fixing things just to get registered and then turning around in the Spring and ripping them out when autocross season starts up again, I thought I’d just wait for historic eligibility and skip the State inspection process since I have to get a technical inspection before I can go out on the track anyway.
So here’s where I’m starting the year:
- Weight Reduction: Items removed so far — Cruise Control; AC Compressor, AC Condensor/Dryer, & Electric Fan; Mechanical Fan; fog lights; stereo, four speakers, & electric antenna; automatic locking system; trunk trim; rear seats and seat-belts.
- New Items: Adding some weight back — seat-covers; new electric fan.
- Repairs: Timing belt; fan belt; PS belt; valve cover gasket; coil, spark plugs & plug wires; water pump & thermostat; replaced all hoses; rear shocks; catalytic converter & muffler; instrument cluster; driver’s door lock; control arms, tie rods, control arm bushings; brakes, rotors, stainless steel brake lines.
I don’t have enough miles on the car yet to know anything about it’s reliability. My plan is to take it down to Dan Martin to get the Guibo fixed and get his assessment of what needs to be done to be track worthy by March. Depending on how that goes, I’ll start driving it more regularly and then prioritize what needs to be done to make it faster.
New Exhaust for the F-22 Stealth
After several false starts, I finally managed to remove the old exhaust system on the 325is and install the new cat and muffler I’ve had since August. All of the DIY postings I’ve read on e30 exhausts have said the same three things: 1. Don’t try this without a lift; 2. This thing is long; and 3. It’s heavy. Right on all three. You can do it with the car on jack-stands, but be prepared for a lot of up and down work. It helps to have a couple of extra stands to support the exhaust; an extra jack to move it up into position; and a skateboard to help guide the exhaust under the car.
Bolted together, the old cat and muffler weighed in at 60 lbs. The new one came in slightly lighter at 55 lbs. The mufflers are essentially the same, but there have been some changes to the mid-pipe over the last 20 years. Catalytic converters are much more efficient and much smaller now. The old one also had an elaborate heat shield that rotted away.
The e30 exhaust system has basically three parts. A pair of very short exhaust headers (which I didn’t remove); a mid-pipe with the O2 sensor and cat; and a pipe and muffler section.
I’m not sure I understand the basic design principles involved though. The BMW 6 cylinder engine has two exhaust headers. The new pipe has an X-pipe at the O2 sensor, but then the two pipes continue to the cat. Before the cat, they go through a Y-pipe and enter a larger diaper tube into the cat. That larger pipe is perhaps 2 1/2 inches in diameter; the other pipes about 2 inches. Then there is another Y-pipe and back into two smaller diameter pipes to the muffler. Why not a Y-pipe at the O2 sensor, then a single pipe all the way back? That has to be a lighter design.
I guess I don’t have to understand it to appreciate it. The new system sounds great and seems to have a bit better throttle response, so the redesigned cat must be more free flowing. Also when I walk up to the car, I don’t have to look at the old crappy muffler any more. Yeah.
