I'm currently prepping my car for club racing and I'm trying to plan ahead far enough so that I don't run into pulling the seemingly inevitable all nighters right before my new racers school. Recently the tentative 2005 BMWCCA CR schedule has been released which helps me a little but here comes my question: is the new racers school run at each BMWCCA CR event? Looking at the 2004 schedule it didn't *seem* like it was run at each event. If it is not run at each event how/when or who could I contact to find out which events will have the new racers school?

TIA :)

I'm currently prepping my car for club racing and I'm trying to plan ahead far enough so that I don't run into pulling the seemingly inevitable all nighters right before my new racers school. Recently the tentative 2005 BMWCCA CR schedule has been released which helps me a little but here comes my question: is the new racers school run at each BMWCCA CR event? Looking at the 2004 schedule it didn't *seem* like it was run at each event. If it is not run at each event how/when or who could I contact to find out which events will have the new racers school?

TIA :)
I don't think CR schools are held at every club race weekend. I found out about the one down at TWS via my local chapter.

Looking at the 2004 calendar it seems that the race schools are announced there. I'm sure you can also contact either Scott or Fran Hughes. Scott was the chief instructor at the school I attended and my understanding is that he is also the chief instructor at the Roebling Road school this week. Fran is his wife and she is the licensing representative of the club.

Where did you find the 2005 schedule?

I don't think CR schools are held at every club race weekend. I found out about the one down at TWS via my local chapter.

Looking at the 2004 calendar it seems that the race schools are announced there. I'm sure you can also contact either Scott or Fran Hughes. Scott was the chief instructor at the school I attended and my understanding is that he is also the chief instructor at the Roebling Road school this week. Fran is his wife and she is the licensing representative of the club.

Where did you find the 2005 schedule?

On bmwccaclubracing.com under hot news:

http://www.bmwccaclubracing.com/2005%20Series/05schedule.htm

Do you have contact information for Scott or Fran?

If you want to do one of the racers schools there will probably be only a couple each year, but like snk said contact Scott Hughes he is the one that organizes them. His email is on

http://www.bmwccaclubracing.com/2004%20Series/contacts.htm

scroll to the bottom.

Also you don't have to do the racing school to qualify for your license, you can just do the required number of schools. Althougth it is probably not a bad idea, plus they are probably pretty fun if you have only done driving schools. Hell you might as well do one even if you don't plan on racing.

PLEASE do a racing school before going racing, even if the bmw process allows only driving schools.

you don't have to do a bmw racing school. do an scca school if you can.

you will learn a lot and your fellow competitors will appreciate it...;)

marshall

What he (simonh) ^ said.

The race school was extremely educational. I would even go as far as to say that it was more educational than the SCCA race school that I just attended last weekend. There is a lot of emphasis on safety and the instruction/experiences provided/shared by Scott as well as Steve Olsen (current club racing president) and Jake Taylor (local chief instructor) were very helpful.

Edit: About the SCCA school... It was also very educational in that we got a lot of track time and there was passing everywhere from the beginning. (In the BMW school we gradually worked in the passing thing.) The instruction was more of a 3-5 students per instructor ratio and there was just one 2 hour classroom session. The BMW school had classrooms (each classroom session was about one hour long) in between each and every run session.

The more schools you can attend, the better, because you can start developing your racing skills in a controlled and safe environment.

More about the SCCA school. SCCA requires that your car be compliant with the GCR. This would mean that you at least need a full cage. The BMW race school doesn't require a full cage. SCCA also requires a novice permit. This means that you need to become an SCCA member, get a sports physical and send in for your novice permit ($55 fee).

FYI, the sports physical for the SCCA and BMW club racing are identical except for the part that says "BMWCCA club racing" or "SCCA", so you only need to get it filled out once. I asked Fran about this and she said that she will accept the SCCA sports physical form as part of the BMW club racing application. So it's definitely not money wasted.

Don't know if the SCCA school is even in your radar screen, but if you don't mind going through the steps, it's a great way to get some race schooling.

What he (simonh) ^ said.

The race school was extremely educational. I would even go as far as to say that it was more educational than the SCCA race school that I just attended last weekend. There is a lot of emphasis on safety and the instruction/experiences provided/shared by Scott as well as Steve Olsen (current club racing president) and Jake Taylor (local chief instructor) were very helpful.

Edit: About the SCCA school... It was also very educational in that we got a lot of track time and there was passing everywhere from the beginning. (In the BMW school we gradually worked in the passing thing.) The instruction was more of a 3-5 students per instructor ratio and there was just one 2 hour classroom session. The BMW school had classrooms (each classroom session was about one hour long) in between each and every run session.

The more schools you can attend, the better, because you can start developing your racing skills in a controlled and safe environment.

More about the SCCA school. SCCA requires that your car be compliant with the GCR. This would mean that you at least need a full cage. The BMW race school doesn't require a full cage. SCCA also requires a novice permit. This means that you need to become an SCCA member, get a sports physical and send in for your novice permit ($55 fee).

FYI, the sports physical for the SCCA and BMW club racing are identical except for the part that says "BMWCCA club racing" or "SCCA", so you only need to get it filled out once. I asked Fran about this and she said that she will accept the SCCA sports physical form as part of the BMW club racing application. So it's definitely not money wasted.

Don't know if the SCCA school is even in your radar screen, but if you don't mind going through the steps, it's a great way to get some race schooling.

Thanks for the advice. Also your write up on the BMWCCA CR new racers school was very comprehensive and helpful to me as far as what to expect.

I'm not planning on doing the SCCA thing bc I don't fit into their class system too well with my M3. Something like IT would be cool but my car places me in some heavily modified class, correct me if I'm wrong here bc I'm still new to all this stuff.

I am however planning on doing new racers school and club racing with the touring car club which is mostly califonia based and I want to look more into racing with NASA which I have heard is good.

Thanks for the advice. Also your write up on the BMWCCA CR new racers school was very comprehensive and helpful to me as far as what to expect.

I'm not planning on doing the SCCA thing bc I don't fit into their class system too well with my M3. Something like IT would be cool but my car places me in some heavily modified class, correct me if I'm wrong here bc I'm still new to all this stuff.

I am however planning on doing new racers school and club racing with the touring car club which is mostly califonia based and I want to look more into racing with NASA which I have heard is good.
Hey I'm glad my write up was able to give you a good idea of what goes on at a school.

In SCCA I'm pretty sure that your car can be classed in T2 or ITE. ITE is basically a catch all class so it probably won't be too much fun. I've seen a few M3's with the T2 class letters on their cars though. That might be better than ITE... I've heard good things about the NASA schools in this area, although I haven't attended one.

That's a good point...what's the deal with M3's being in T2 and/or ITE?

That's a good point...what's the deal with M3's being in T2 and/or ITE?
I'm not too sure about why it got classed in T2. Probably has something to do with the power stats. I don't know anything about the Touring classes.

As for ITE, the M3 is simply too powerful for ITS. If you consider the fact that a lowly 325 is considered a horsepower "overdog" in that class and is going to be required to run a restrictor plate starting next year, you can imagine how unfathomable an M3 would be there. ITE is the only class above ITS, so everything that is "too much" for ITS gets thrown in there. That apparently includes ex-Winston cup cars and other crazy varieties.

It's kinda hard to figure out where any given car would be classed in the SCCA without owning the GCR, which kinda sucks. The good news is that starting next year, the GCR is supposedly going to be available online. I don't know whether it will be password protected or something though.

I would imagine a T2 M3 probably would be be a CM car in BMW racing.

random thoughts:

Do a race school. Preferably a SCCA school, but any (BMW CCA or NASA) is better than none. There are guys running BMW CCA CR that don't know what you are supposed to do under a FCY. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say it is due to their having never been thru a real race school.

It doesn't matter what class your M3 is in in order for you to do a SCCA school, as long as it meets some minimum safety standards, the lowest of which would be to call it ITE in the WDCR. Not all regions have ITE. Next lowest would be Touring. Touring cars used to be allowed bolt-in cages like IT and SS but are now required to have welded cages and NASCAR door bars. One of my friends did the recent WDCR fall school in his M3 with a bolt-in cage without any problems.

The E46 M3 was bumped down to T2 from T1 where it was a moving chicane for the Z06s. Should be competetive in T2 I think. T2 should be interesting next year with the new additions (Evo, STi, M3).

A T2 E46 M3 should be in BMW CCA Stock class. They have full interiors and are allowed only minimal mods. The E46 M3 was allowed a "trunk kit" (springs, shocks & sways) for T1 but I'm not sure it took it along to T2.

I would imagine a T2 M3 probably would be be a CM car in BMW racing.

Krisko, More along the lines of an I stock car in BMWCCA.

Krisko, More along the lines of an I stock car in BMWCCA.

Yeah, I realized that after I made the post...got my Ts mixed up.

The E46 M3 was bumped down to T2 from T1 where it was a moving chicane for the Z06s. Should be competetive in T2 I think. T2 should be interesting next year with the new additions (Evo, STi, M3).

Are you sure about this? I had been looking for this news. I think this is the right place for an e46 m3, but I think the Sti could be the real killer there. Anybody looking for an IP E36 M3 :evil2

Are you sure about this?

Positive. Its in the Dec. Fastrack.

http://scca.org/_Filelibrary/File/04-12-fastrack.pdf

see 17.1.8

I believe that was recommended in the december fastrack but I haven't seen the board ratify it yet...

-Mike

The E46 M3 was bumped down to T2 from T1 where it was a moving chicane for the Z06s. Should be competetive in T2 I think. T2 should be interesting next year with the new additions (Evo, STi, M3).

It should be more than competitive. The top cars in T2 were runing in the 1:40's at Mid-Ohio without the kink. I've ran a high 42 in my J-stock car, I bet 38's would be reasonable in a stock E46 M3. They are going to have to add some serious weight to it.

It should be more than competitive. The top cars in T2 were runing in the 1:40's at Mid-Ohio without the kink. I've ran a high 42 in my J-stock car, I bet 38's would be reasonable in a stock E46 M3. They are going to have to add some serious weight to it.

No doubt thats why it landed in T1 originally. I'm guessing it will get a restrictor plate rather than weight if it turns out to be an overdog. That seems to be the trend with the CRB of late (SSB Z4, ITS E36 325).