So, BMW CCA AutoX was this past weekend. I totally forgot about it until like Thurs night. Daryl was NOT in attendance, but Max showed up...in an e21 no less! He and his wife shared a nice little white e21 with euro bumpers, exhaust and what looked like Epsilon wheels. Nice looking car, altough I had no camera to take pics. They did OK in their class (4 Stock), coming in between an e36 318ti (that looked like it had some Club Sport parts, but wasn't a Club Sport) and an old 1600 4dr. The driver of the 1600 was having a blast and just enjoying his old BMW. :D

But the streak. My last 2 autoX's before this haven't been good. The older one was pre-turbo, and I limped home on 3 cylinders, missing out on a 1st place finish by .200 seconds WITH hitting a cone (I was almost 2secs ahead of Tim aka TC535i...almost), and the last autoX post-turbo I broke twice, both before timed runs and the second time sending me home for the day. So I figured that if I could get through the day and not break, I would be able to win and continue my streak of winning if not broken. I couldn't.

There were I believe 5 of us competing in 4 Mod, in a broad mix of cars. There were 2 e30 318is between drivers, all M42 powered, 1 on R Compounds, both with suspension mods. There was also a 2002tii, fully restored, actually placed at the Clean Car Contest this year I believe, and again on suspension mods with R Comps as well. So I was the only car without super-sticky tires. And my old Azenis Sports are a bit on the greasy side too, this being the last autoX I think I will run them at (no tread left in spots, probably getting close to cording). So I had as much if not more power than them all, less weight, even compared to the 2002 since he's still got a full interior, and I'm STILL running stock suspension. I came in 4th, by fractions of a second in either direction. All 5 of us were within 4 seconds of each other, probably close to 3 seconds. The other guys could drive, I will give them that, but they were also in better prepared vehicles with MUCH better tires. I did not win, and I am NOT happy. I had fun, don't get me wrong, but I see that I have some work to do.

It is now my goal to beat these cars (both 318's and the '02) while still on street tires. The BMW CCA definitionof Street Tire at the SD autoX events is anything with a treadwear rating higher than 200. I need to replace my tires, so I'm getting as close to that (without going under) as I can. The coil-overs will be purchased in the next 2 months. I will get back out there and I WILL beat them in the e21 and it will be without R Comps.
:buttrock


BTW, I was having fun learning the new limits of the car. Having the extra power, esp in the tighter SouthEast lot we were in was interesting. Before Icould blast through turns at full throttle, the car didn't make enough power to break traction in the rear with these tires. It does now. Turbo spooled on me coming out of a long sweeper, back end stepped out, I tried to keep it under control. I did not succeed. The tail snapped around the other way on me, after it got out about 90deg. When it snapped, I knew I was well beyond getting it back, so I just floored it. Gotta keep it from stalling out, right? ;) That lit up the back tires, sent the car sailing the rest of the way around, threw up a cloud of smoke, and knocked over a dair amount of cones. I sorta felt bad for the corner workers....sorta. I figure I kept the car from stalling, which let everyone behind me stay at speed, and they didn't haveto wave flags all over the place. I spun between 2 of the stations, so there were plenty of people to pick up and replace the cones. And it wasn't during timed runs, so they didn't REALLY haveto hurry anyway. And besides, I'm sure a couple of them thought I was about to put the car on it's roof....which they would have LOVED!
:redspot

Cliff Notes:
I went autoX'ing and barely lost against some good drivers in some decent cars with better tires.

I'll be back with suspension but without R Comps and WILL kick their butts. :D

Oh, and I spun, big time.:alright

E21s are notorious for the rear end kicking out. I did this one time and it was almost unrecoverable...I pulled it the opposite way as hard as I could and fought it... barely missing a island in the road that what have totalling my 323i. :(

I got lucky and learned my lesson to behave in the corners...in an e21.
I can only imagine 300 HP in an car like this and spinning it every which way.

It sounds like you did try to recover from the spin, and you did the best you could.

Doug.:nono.dont spin it again...or we will have to start calling you Emerson Fittipaldi.

So, BMW CCA AutoX was this past weekend. I totally forgot about it until like Thurs night. Daryl was NOT in attendance, but Max showed up...in an e21 no less! He and his wife shared a nice little white e21 with euro bumpers, exhaust and what looked like Epsilon wheels. Nice looking car, altough I had no camera to take pics. They did OK in their class (4 Stock), coming in between an e36 318ti (that looked like it had some Club Sport parts, but wasn't a Club Sport) and an old 1600 4dr. The driver of the 1600 was having a blast and just enjoying his old BMW. :D

But the streak. My last 2 autoX's before this haven't been good. The older one was pre-turbo, and I limped home on 3 cylinders, missing out on a 1st place finish by .200 seconds WITH hitting a cone (I was almost 2secs ahead of Tim aka TC535i...almost), and the last autoX post-turbo I broke twice, both before timed runs and the second time sending me home for the day. So I figured that if I could get through the day and not break, I would be able to win and continue my streak of winning if not broken. I couldn't.

There were I believe 5 of us competing in 4 Mod, in a broad mix of cars. There were 2 e30 318is between drivers, all M42 powered, 1 on R Compounds, both with suspension mods. There was also a 2002tii, fully restored, actually placed at the Clean Car Contest this year I believe, and again on suspension mods with R Comps as well. So I was the only car without super-sticky tires. And my old Azenis Sports are a bit on the greasy side too, this being the last autoX I think I will run them at (no tread left in spots, probably getting close to cording). So I had as much if not more power than them all, less weight, even compared to the 2002 since he's still got a full interior, and I'm STILL running stock suspension. I came in 4th, by fractions of a second in either direction. All 5 of us were within 4 seconds of each other, probably close to 3 seconds. The other guys could drive, I will give them that, but they were also in better prepared vehicles with MUCH better tires. I did not win, and I am NOT happy. I had fun, don't get me wrong, but I see that I have some work to do.

It is now my goal to beat these cars (both 318's and the '02) while still on street tires. The BMW CCA definitionof Street Tire at the SD autoX events is anything with a treadwear rating higher than 200. I need to replace my tires, so I'm getting as close to that (without going under) as I can. The coil-overs will be purchased in the next 2 months. I will get back out there and I WILL beat them in the e21 and it will be without R Comps.
:buttrock


BTW, I was having fun learning the new limits of the car. Having the extra power, esp in the tighter SouthEast lot we were in was interesting. Before Icould blast through turns at full throttle, the car didn't make enough power to break traction in the rear with these tires. It does now. Turbo spooled on me coming out of a long sweeper, back end stepped out, I tried to keep it under control. I did not succeed. The tail snapped around the other way on me, after it got out about 90deg. When it snapped, I knew I was well beyond getting it back, so I just floored it. Gotta keep it from stalling out, right? ;) That lit up the back tires, sent the car sailing the rest of the way around, threw up a cloud of smoke, and knocked over a dair amount of cones. I sorta felt bad for the corner workers....sorta. I figure I kept the car from stalling, which let everyone behind me stay at speed, and they didn't haveto wave flags all over the place. I spun between 2 of the stations, so there were plenty of people to pick up and replace the cones. And it wasn't during timed runs, so they didn't REALLY haveto hurry anyway. And besides, I'm sure a couple of them thought I was about to put the car on it's roof....which they would have LOVED!
:redspot

Cliff Notes:
I went autoX'ing and barely lost against some good drivers in some decent cars with better tires.

I'll be back with suspension but without R Comps and WILL kick their butts. :D

Oh, and I spun, big time.:alright

good lord almighty... a post among boys.

But it was FUN!!! :buttrock

Seriously though, I don't think I would have spun had I been on legit suspension. The car's weight transfer is TERRIBLE right now, very hard to control. It is fun trying to do so, but that doesn't make for good times around the course. And the extra power is still something I'm getting used to, especially how it comes on when I may not be wanting or expecting it to.

get that suspension set up soon man! My motor turned really sour after sitting for 2 weeks when i went on vacation so I probably won't be doing any autocrosses this year unless either A) an M42 falls into my lap, B) my car miraculously runs well again. How many more Autox's for you this year?

Nice Doug, sounds liek you had fun.

I know i asked this before, but what class would i be under?

Once i get the EFI in the car and tuned, i just might trailer it down there and run. How well do u think my car will stand up to others (of course thats if im driving it well).

First; Glad you went and had fun :D:redspot:alright

Second; we do have to do something about those E30 318is' playing in our playground.

Third; Sorry I did not make it - The silver ghost really needs some TLC :help:help:( been pushing her really hard lately and not loving her afterwards.

I hope to be at the next one [ON RRR'S!] though :embarrasm I need the traction to make up for the lack of power and driving skills. :(
Adam should be able to make it as well - how was the attendance?

We've had a lot of fun there too. Was my 1st time, hers second. Stock 4 class- like Doug said we had only 3 cars, but I had a feel that this e36 318ti was not really stock. I was disappointed with my tires and awful suspension, other than that the car was great. :) I came in 2nd after this e36 ti, which is no comparison to e21's or older 1800 4 door car we had in our class. Obviously our times were like 20+ secs from the winning crowd with newer cars, so we need more e21's and 02's please ;). Attila you going to be in 4 cyl mod class with Doug, I might be moving to mod class next time as well, because I have to replace the shocks and planning on lowering it, which will bump me in the modified class. So my goal is - new rear susp bushings ( diff+ subframe), tires, shocks+springs and radiator ( was running at 3/4th- not good). Definitely coming to San Diego next time, would be cool if we'd have more e21's there.
Had a great time! BTW the wheels on the car are staggered Weds and the car has 300K miles on it :) We've owned it for about 3 years now...was a daily driver until recently. I just never got around to bring to to bimmerfest. Maybe next year.

Max

Attendance was good. I was actually shocked that I managed to get a spot. I forgot to pre-reg online and thre were only 20 spots left for onsite reg. I got there about 5:50am and was 2nd in line.

Attila, you would be in the same class as Daryl and I, 4 Modified, if you are running with us in BMW CCA events. SCCA events have so many class and the rules change each season, it is hard to know WHAT you would be in with them. CCA is much more simple, since it is really just BMW's, Mini's, and then everything else is lumped into X class (non-BMW).

OK, so the 318is' I really have a problem faulting, mainly cause I own one as well. It is honestly a damn good descendant of the e21, making use of more modern tech. Still small and light, in fact almost the same base weight as the e21 (US Specs). 1.8L 4 banger with 4valves/cylinder and nearly 50/50 weight balance (it is close if not dead on). With equal mods, the e30 SHOULD be faster, again with equal drivers. And don't get me started on suspension geometry. But that's OK, since things like that will just piss off those e30 drivers that much more when I beat them and I'm NOT on R Comps. :D

...of course that has me thinking that maybe with R Comps I could start gunning for top time of the day. I want to see what the results were for the day, but I think that top 4 Mod was only about 8 seconds behind top time. Granted this was in the SE lot where it is a tighter course, but it still has me thinking.....

The best time was 74 secs I believe. The 4 stock class best time was 82 or 83 for this 318ti, so it's 8 secs different from the best time of the day. I don't remember the time for 4 modified class but I bet it was in high 70's, which is not even 8 secs from the best time of the day... But these are not easy seconds there :)

Max

ohhh, i see. So how do u guys think my car will hold up against the others (asking cause i have never been nor do i know the other cars.)

Def thinking about going next time, when my car is done.

4mod guys are always closer to the top on the SE lot, the tracks do not fever the m5's and supercharged cars as much as the west lot tracks do. I've been within 8 sec from the top on the SE lot myself. Was the POR..... GT3 there?

If I remeber right Brendan almost had quick time of the day on the SE lot like thrid or so and only down 0.?? sec., He did have it once but I do not remeber which lot it was on.

I'll have to let you try my little hoosiers once Doug, you'll be stuck on R's for every!!!!!!!! :redspot :buttrock :redspot

I do know that the SE lot is bunches easier on the tires then the west lot, I've put four holes in slicks on the west lot - from rock cuts.

I wish we had 70 second courses....a new suspention will do wonders in an e-21. don't forget the camber plates either. You'll get em all next time.

My class this year up here has lots of competition. it's usualy me and 6 modded out wrx/STis in SM. Believe it or not the little 140 rwhp e-21 is up by 2 points overall in SM...woot all those 400 hp wrxs grumble when they get beat by a 26 year old BMW with no power steering and fried LSD (basically an open diff now)....

but I did install fred's urathane bushed control arms, frame rail support brace, Ground control camber plates, ground control coil overs w/ biley sports and got R compound Avon tech RA tires 205/50/15. The e-21 is loads of fun, but I'm considering running the M3 4 door next year since it can run in a stock class...Then I can dismantle the diff and fix it, and work on some other issues with the Baur if I don't have to have it ready to race all the time.

Stock classes are fun, esp when you can make use of the rules (no power adders, but stripping weight out :stickoutt ). Good luck against the WRX's. Im thinking that if any of them learn to drive the car correctly (sorta hard), you may have some stiff competition.

Atilla, you would do pretty well. I think you will run into the problem I was STARTING to have, which is too much power for the amount of grip. The turbo is nice, but it makes it so that I can't go full throttle in turns. Damn boost lag and then spikes!

Chad and Jestin from LA (both e36 guys) have been trying to run Chad's e36 318is in 4 Mod for a while. I see them as the next big threat once they get the car running well. It is still tipping the scales at about 2900 lbs they claim, but it is on nice suspension and has a DASC under the hood in place of the stock manifold. It is also running a Split Second Gen 1 controller to help get more fuel in there, since it's set-up for about 14psi. They might not be back for the next event though, seems there's something wrong with the piston rings currently. We'll see how quickly the motor comes out and gets put back in.

Camber plates will be part of the suspension equation. I'm thinking of getting most of what Top End has for the car, esp since my arms from Fred are now toast and he isn't selling anymore. I also still have those steering rack bushing that Josie got me over a year ago that never made it into the car. The rears got Delrin RTABs when the 323i arms were put in. I know that I still need some other bushings while I'm at it, so I might as well get everything all at once. I've been saving up for some of this stuff for a while, I will start pricing everything shortly here.

...actually gonna start a new thread on that in a few, might be after work though. Don't need to get yelled at for surfing/posting while on the boss' dime.

Daryl, the SE lot was looking like No-man's Land from WWI this weekend, especially the staging lanes. There were like 4 HUGE craters that the exit/staging lanes were marked around, I'm thinking the circuses (what is the plural?) tore up the surface with their tent poles/spikes and they are waiting to repave towards the end of the off-season. They usually repave once every year or so I think. Oh, and you don't want me on your slicks. Cause then I WILL get my own, and you'll need tons more motor to catch me. If I'm getting close to stricking distance to the top times (or at least most of M Mod) I may go that route, but as I said, I want to beat the e30 and '02 guys on 'street tires'. :D

Awesome, thanx for the info.

The part that would give me problems when i do go, is my tires. I have Kumho 711's so i nkow they will not grip that well. Either way, i would be there just to have fun :buttrock

Those tires will limit you, but at the same time you'lll still have a blast. :)

SO: you saying I'm Slow..???:nono LOL

You need the Tires to put the E21's back on top...

Brendan needs to come out and put a spanking on the e30's Too.

JUST think E21 1,2...

Atilla, It does not matter what tires your on the first time out - IT JUST PLAIN FUN GOING AROUND!!!!

YOU said you were slow...I'm just saying you need more hp and torque outta the e21. M10's are great...when they are forced to breathe. :D

And if we can get Atilla in decent tires, Brendan, and you with like a 50 shot of NOS...1, 2, 3, 4?

:buttrock

That would be awesome Doug lol. I'll look into getting some tires maybe for when the cars convertion is done.