not the greatest weekend for TeamZ4 at the SCCA National Tour event in Fort Myers, FL, but at least it ended on a high note.

Had a problem with a front control arm bushing on Friday that I was able to resolve before nightfall, but it prevented me from running the practice course :(

Went out Saturday and DNF'd my first two runs :rolleyes: . Stopped for a down cone near the finish on my 3rd run, then on my rerun I hit the same cone I had previously stopped for :angryfire left me way down in the standings

Came back on Sunday and set the fast time for class, even outran the Z06 Vettes in SS :buttrock , but was too far in the hole from Saturday to recover :dunno

the Z4 was absolutely awesome on Sunday, definitely put the class on notice :devillook


http://www.scca.org/amateur/solo2/nat_tour/2004/ftmyers/results.pdf

Stick with it, man, never surrender! Oh... and check your PM's... :D

What happened to the bushing?

originally thought I blew out the front control arm rear bushing, very common on E46 3er's and Z4 uses the same part. It looked like some debris must have kicked up and hit the bushing or something. The bushing is really a large rubber donut with a pair of stiffeners. The stiffeners had popped out, the front one is trapped by the control arm. Fortunately the rear one did not fall completely out or it would have been lost (it actually fell onto the ground when I jacked the car up :eek: ); the bushing with mount is only sold as a complete unit.

Changing it at the event would have been a major PITA (a friend that works at a BMW dealership in the area got a set down to me that evening :clap: ). Without the stiffeners in place the control arm/wheel assembly was deflecting and moving around. I knew something wasn;t right when I went out and then a course worker told me they could see the wheel moving back & forth in the wheelwell area

some event pics

pic2

pic3

pic4

and another :dunno

http://www.gulfcoastautocrossers.com/pict3523.jpg

What's the top speed of the events you run, generally speaking, Mark?

we rarely exceed 70 mph ...

Fast enough to do some damage! :evil2