ILC's 1991 318 S50 track rat

i_love_cars

Footage from Blackhawk. I need to pick up a couple additional bits for the GoPro - i used to have an array of them so I could make all kinds of angled arms but i lost some so I had to record this with the camera rotated 90 degrees and then rotated the video to get it upright. I will have a wider angle and probably top-mount the camera for Road America in July.

First 6-7 minutes interesting, 12 minutes or so I find more cars, and 15 minutes is cooldown lap.

KaiserRolls

Requesting in car footage please

i_love_cars

yep i have the suction cup for the gopro so i will definitely be putting it inside the car for some future events

i_love_cars

I got back from 2 days at Road America last night and have a better camera angle this time because I mounted my GoPro on the rollbar. Unfortunately I forgot to bring proper tape to strap down the audio cable for the external mic to the engine bay - I will be at Blackhawk in 1 week and will make sure I bring it so the engine sound is a bit better.

All in all the weekend was good. MVP Tracktime has a fantastic group of cars in all run groups, and this weekend they were also hosting CCR race trials for like 15 Ferraris. Unfortunately one of them money shifted after the carousel and threw a rod through the block leaving oil for about 800 yards of track on Friday and starting a fire under his hood, and even worse on Saturday we had a major crash where one of them dropped a wheel over the rumbles before the kink and hit the wall at god knows what speed. Red flag on track for total blockage shut down. No one was seriously injured.

I took my instructor from last summer with me and he was very pleased with my progression. He said at this point I really just need to continue to get seat time. My awareness is good, I'm willing to burn corners when I know I fucked up and every time I made a mistake I knew what it was before he even had to say anything and was correcting appropriately. You can certainly see in the video below that I had some corners that I came in too hot for and had to hold steady on brake in a straight line for longer and burn the corner. But he enjoyed riding along so much he wanted me to sign him up for all sessions the following day and do some lead-follow chasing each other (he drives an E92 M3).

Really good news is he has a spare set of Kosei K-1 wheels identical to mine and 10 hoosier r6 slicks he doesn't need any more because he has an E30 M3 that is pristine that he stopped tracking and is going to sell me the wheels and slicks for dirt cheap.

One of my biggest challenges was being that I am so new to this car, downshifting from 5th to 3rd was a bit tricky. At BHF I almost always downshift from 4th to 3rd. At RA there are quite a few corners that require 5th to 3rd so I had to figure out where to start braking to effectively have enough time to downshift to 4th while holding the clutch in, then rev-matching a second time on heel-toe to go from 4th to 3rd and letting the clutch out. I am continuing to work on that.

My best lap time of the day using Harry's Lap Timer was 2:47 which I was very happy with for my first time with the E30 at RA. I'll be back for Oktoberfast in September and hope to be able to get down to the 2:43-2:44 area. I know the car has a lot more in it but I need more seat time with it to really make it shine.

m42b32

Out of curiosity (maybe I missed it in the thread somewhere) is the 5-lug on your car E30 M3 or E36/Z3 parts? If its E30 M3, are you running stock M3 brakes?

i_love_cars

m42b32 said:

Out of curiosity (maybe I missed it in the thread somewhere) is the 5-lug on your car E30 M3 or E36/Z3 parts? If its E30 M3, are you running stock M3 brakes?

E30 M3 5-lug and i'm running the E30 M3 Massive BBK with Wilwood SLR6 aluminum calipers in front, and E30 M3 calipers in the rear.

m42b32

i_love_cars said:

E30 M3 5-lug and i'm running the E30 M3 Massive BBK with Wilwood SLR6 aluminum calipers in front, and E30 M3 calipers in the rear.

Thanks for the info!

i_love_cars

So the E30 had a rough day today at BHF. I went off coming out of Turn 7 and ate the tire wall on the inner side of the track at about 50 mph. I blame Stuart as bad luck because today was his first day back at the track with the E46 since he last crashed 2 years ago at BHF, and he rode along with me for the first session and this shit happened like 7 laps in LOL.

It rained all night and everyone was going slow today because the track was wet with no real sun in the sky to dry it and temps in the low 70's. I waited for 5 other sessions before I went on track because slicks + rain don't mix well. I was 90% of the way through Turn 7, nearly straightened fully for the main straightaway, and at the last second getting on throttle just shot the car sideways. The east side of turn 7 has a bunch of trees in front of it, so even if we had sun at 10:20 a.m. when this happened it was still going to be damp.

Unfortunately my tires were just a bit too cold still even on lap 7 because of track conditions. The day cleared up as time went on and in retrospect I should have waited another full round of sessions before going on track i.e. after lunchtime.

as you can see the engine bay is mint other than the radiator being slightly pushed upwards because the support for it got pushed in a bit. The car runs and drives just fine other than the passenger side front wheel is fucked but I have a spare set of Kosei wheels anyway so whatever. I dropped the car off at Big Bear to have them align it and check for bent suspension, and as long as that all checks out, I'm just gonna source some new quarter panels, a valance, and driver door and then replace the brake ducts and be on my merry way.

No leaks, no smoking, no odd noises when moving under its own power, steering wheel is straight as can be so I think the tire wall did its job today.

Even the fiberglass hood didn't crack - just has some chipped paint at the front.

Boris3

Sorry to see this. Glad you're ok, and it's just sheet metal.

i_love_cars

post updated with photo of where the car ended up. It was just a weeeeee bit wet out there

YoungCR

Glad you're ok man! Also glad it's fixable too.

Boris3

Yeow! Lucky it just climbed the tire wall and didn't barrel roll. Wet grass is slick like glass, once you're 4 wheels off at speed things can get ugly fast.

i_love_cars

The race seat and harness really did their job well. I woke up today with no soreness or pain, just the same mild tension in my shoulders that I had yesterday. I thought for sure once I slept and blood flow slowed down that I'd wake up with sore muscles and/or neck.

KaiserRolls

Good to hear man. Cars can be replaced.

Boris3

Good to hear! If you're going four wheels off, tire walls are a much better end point than concrete or trees.

As you start working on repairs be sure to take your seat out and remove the seat mounts (don't remember if you've got side or bottom) and check the seat and mounts for cracks, bends, other damage. Speaking from experience with post-crash damage this can be hard to see with the seat still in the car.

Also be sure to replace your harnesses with new ones so you can be sure they can do the job next time.

Can't have enough safety gear. You wearing a HANS or other h&n device? If not get one. Should be mandatory in any car with fixed back race seats and a roll bar or cage.

In the bad stuff happens and walking away from it category this is from a recent Trans Am race at Mid Ohio but stupid track reentry happens in DE events. Why a H&N matters:

i_love_cars

thanks Boris, I'm definitely going to check everything over, wasn't sure on harnesses but as long as the seats and mounts are not damaged, I'm guessing I can re-use the seats and just buy new harnesses then.

I don't have a hans but to be sure, after Saturday I was planning on getting one haha. If you have any recommendations I'm all ears.

The whole time we were sliding I was thinking two things:

yay we're headed for tire walls and not the guardrail 100 yards further down the track
go off straight

Jeff Fait was driving behind me in his 335i about 100 yards, unfortunately he didn't have a go-pro running because he got to see the whole thing happen and watch the car go airborne. I would've liked to see footage from outside the car because it was a hell of a ride.

suspenceful

Wow! This sucks, but like you said, it could be much worse.

Glad you're alright.

i_love_cars

just got the word from Big Bear - the E30 is fine. Nothing is bent, and the car was barely even out of alignment. All they could come up with is a cracked mount for the fuel pump, lol.

So, now I am officially on the hunt for new front fenders, a valance, and a driver side door.

Should be back on track first thing next season.

Boris3

Great news that there's no frame damage and all the suspension is intact!

Re the body parts quest: I've had some communication with this seller down in Rockford about the passenger side fender, though he's pretty slow in followup responses and I'm still waiting on promised pics and price detail. Anybody here know the seller?

https://rockford.craigslist.org/pts/5721149272.html

Might get a quicker response if you offer to buy the whole car...and we work out a deal for the passenger fender as a finder's fee.

My guess is the ad fell under the radar since a "BMW 325si" doesn't pop up in an e30 parts search.

patsbimmer1

I'm 20 minutes from Rockford if you need eyes.

WIBIMMERS

ILC's 1991 318 S50 track rat