I know this sounds like a idiotic question..But I really don't want to gut my 95 M3 and turn it into a 100% race car. Since I like the ac and the stero on trips..And the car will be used for One Lap...

I would like to do some club racing again since I can't seem to finish the D mod project from hell sitting in my shop.

I just miss racing and am not interested in winning just going out and having a good time.

I made a pole for it...

Pole? Or poll?

***oops**** i lazily read your post and didn't realize you'd been racing before. i left my original post kind of as a comment for people thinking about getting into racing with their M3. For you, i would say that "if you just want to have fun and dont want to be competitive" then there is no point gutting your car, you can run your creature comforts on the track just as you can on the street. you may be 5% slower, but you shouldn't care.


i dont think this is a stupid question. i think this is a question a lot of people ask themselves when they have reached their limit in auto-x and want to take the next step. i however, am not yet to that point, but i see a lot of people in my region (Mid-Atlantic) are.

i think you need to ask yourself if you want to spend the money on a dedicated racing effort. the car is one thing, but i hear a race weekend can cost $1000+ or so in tires, brakes, fluids, repairs, hotel, and entry fees.

one day i'd like to get into racing with my m3, but i think for now im going to keep it a dual purpose car and start with several track days, DEs, and maybe some Time Trials next year to ease into it. Besides, im still trying to improve in STU autox.

You just have to sit down and take the logical approach, where do you want this to go and what do you want out of your car?

Poll, my grammer and spelling suck...:D

Yeah it's not cheap. I Instruct at DE's so I am kind of spoiled from not having to pay for the track time for the last six years. I already have most of the stuff needed to go racing done to the car. Minus a few things I am going to do this winter, like put it on a diet!. I have three sets of wheels now for it. And a spare motor, spare suspension. One advantage is I can do all the work myself so I don't have to budget for shop labor..

I figure I could swap out the shocks/springs to race stuff then back for street use.

I may try it out next year to see how it goes. I figure with a boosted car on slicks with the right suspension it would be a ton O fun!

Gary-

I have the car that's probably close to what you want. I've been setting the car up for Prepared, but wanted it to be streetable.

So here are some things I did/didn't do.

I have a full 6-point cage which required me to remove most of the interior. Very noisy. But, the front half of the car is fairly civilized. I have the carpet (front edge of seat forward), full dash and glove box, console around shifter, HVAC and stereo. Instead of having x-bars at the doors, I only have the bars from the main hoop to the bottom of the front down-tube. This gives me some side protection and allows for easier ingress/egress. I don't have a knee bar which allows the heating/AC ducting to be utilized. I had to fab aluminum door panels, but I added the tweeters from my component speakers and made a bracket for the power mirror control.

Here's how I feel a year later. Since the amount of street driving I'm doing is far less than I thought, I've decided to bag the stereo system. A nice place to put the gauges I want. Since I'm applying for my CR license and intend to do some racing, I think I may have the x-bars for the doors completed. This may necessitate the removal of the glove box assy and the lower portion of the dash on the driver's side. Not sure about this move yet. I will not eliminate the heating/ventilating at this time. Maybe the A/C.

If you want a dual purpose car, I think you have to decide whether you're willing to pull the interior. If not, you'll be limited on your cage choices. Not just what can be done, but how safe it'll be. Keeping the stereo and HVAC shouldn't be a show stopper. Especially if you just want to participate and have fun.

Jay

Wow, and i thought i was the only one who had the bizarre desire for a streetable race car. Obviously not.

Its the gutting and weld-in cage that has me stumped. Jay seems to have the "hybrid" figured-out pretty well, though.

Jay seems to have a good idea of what I am talking about.

My next step is the weld in cage, then sell the roll bar. I actually thought about doing the exact thing jay has done. But leaving the entire interior in the car.

Here is the tenative list:
Sunroof delete, make it nice looking
Weld in cage with removable door bars.
Diet: Carbon hood, trunk,wing, sunroof delete, rear seats gone lighter front seats, Removable stereo Bass box :D gotta have good tunes for One Lap!
Battery disconect
Possible removable fire system. Pull bottle out when in street mode.
Stop tech brakes front,
Some kind of boost..
Run Super Modified due to boost...
Have fun...

I got the idea from a buddies FULL RACE Porsche 993TT. It was a full on race car with the interior intact. Made me think about doing my M3 like his car. His car even had the roll cage integrated into the car the back half you could see but the front of the cage was upholstered with roll bar padding. The thing was impressive for a race car.

I might be crazy but imagine passing some IP guy in your "street" race car:cool

I figure with 400+whp it should be pretty fast...

Gary - Have you been on the Crack Pipe again???? :confused

I just hate having to compromise when a better alternative is available. Especially if we're talking streetable racecars...b/c you run into many safety issues.

Gary the porsche you mentioned is by definition not a "full blown" racecar :) Its a comprimise, and because of that its lacking potential performance.

don't some rules require carpet removal in cas of fires?
i think i read that in nasa rules or something. i keep talking myself out of racing because i don't wanna gut the car. i like this thread. i'm glad i'm not the only one that wants a streetable racer.

Gary - Have you been on the Crack Pipe again???? :confused

LOL. Gary, get the D Mod E30 up and running, do a couple of races. See if you can deal with it again (maintenence, towing, $$$) and if it still itches then sell the D Mod (already planned for + no once its up, running and collecting decent times at the track, it makes the sale that much easier) and start working on the E36. Dude you have way toooo many toys in the garage.

Lutfy

PS: In the meantime, keep the E36 a dual duty with interior in place.
PPS: you still cant touch me at RA.

Gary -

Think it is a TERRIBLE idea (especially since you'd be competing with me in SSGT1 - Small Bore in the One Lap);)

Neil

LOL!

HA! Montana is scared of being passed by me in my street car with the stereo thumpin:D Just kidding!

I will probably do it anyway since the thought of a full cage in the car is a saftey issue.

The Porsche had all carbon body panels and was the fastest car I have ever been in on a road course. It would skip speed in the triple digits on track...go from 80, 110, 130 on the digital readout. :eyecrazy

I think Montana can back me up when I say I have been around the track with some fast cars. I do know what fast is. :evil2

If I can get the car together before the one lap this year I may do it in 2006. But with a business, wife, Cycling team, time is hard to find.

Hey Gary - Just get a car together and let's RACE!!! Hell - I come help ya :cool

Don't mess up a perfectly good street car when you already have a race car...