WIBIMMERS

Saw nine SpecE30 cars at Gingerman Raceway this weekend. Fun times!

So Zach we have to find this out through CL?

http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/cto/4332396634.html

One last warning though, track days can be addicting. If you have a street car soon it seems to make sense to start improving suspension, tires, brakes, adding better seats and seat belts/harnesses, and adding assorted go fast parts, and carefully cutting out your carpet to install a roll bar and 5-6-7 point harnesses and picking up a HANs, and then maybe "adding lightness" by removing some weight...and then maybe you hit the cross roads of getting out for a cheaper hobby or if the jonesing is strong buying a dedicated track car or going full bore gutting and caging your once mild-mannered street car.

In the meantime you will find yourself wandering the paddock when you're not out on track and looking at other folks rides, sitting in their driver's seats "just to try it out", and then maybe you start looking at their open trailers and tow rigs, and looking on Craiglist for cheap tow setups, and then having tow rig envy when wandering the paddock and looking at enclosed trailers and bigger tow rigs.

Perhaps you come to your senses somewhere on this slippery slope by choice, economic necessity or family push back. Or maybe you don't and you start hooking your friends just like other folks hooked you, and hey you know instructing looks interesting, and/or hey rather than this point-to-pass stuff maybe actual racing sounds like a good idea so let's check out Chump, Lemons, WRL, NASA, Council, or SCCA, etc.

Not saying this will happen to you but consider yourself warned. 

Congrats on the purchase!  Does this mean we stop posting FS links to 318 ti's now?

Great to see everyone and all the progress on the builds.  Nicely done guys!

Cool mix of stock, swapped, and forced induction e30s; coupes, sedans, verts; garage queens, weekend beasts, and dailies with assorted levels of wear; and the mix of owners from old school purists to younger innovators. Each year this keeps on getting better.

This?

Glad it made it! USPS folks working the counter were a bit confused about the mailing address. In the time it took to explain that yes it was an actual street address, I felt I could have almost driven out and left it on your porch.

This?

https://imgur.com/walIqj3

You're still good. When co-founders Wayne Dempsey or Tom Gould calls you personally to thank you then start to get worried.

With Road America you get a larger track with greater combinations of turns, layouts, elevation changes. Also much longer straights which allows for greater speeds and high horsepower street cars to have more fun than they would at more technical tracks like Blackhawk. If you're in a beginning-intermediate run group the speed differentials won't be as great since folks are still learning how to catch up their skills to the potential of the car. I did my very first DE at RA in a 1993 Miata and have been hooked every since. Very fun track. It will be more costly than BFR, ABCC, and Gingerman both in terms of registration fees and track day insurance but well worth it.

Blackhawk is a shorter track and has two straights where you can wind things out a bit. But the real fun is learning and working on carrying speed through the more technical parts of the track. The turn 3-5 sequence is a blast and a challenge. BFR will work your brakes hard (pads, rotors, fluid), especially as you learn how to drive it so make sure your brakes are in good shape before you go. The facilities upgrades the past few years have been a nice plus.

Gingerman is less technical than Blackhawk but has its challenging parts. Some slight elevation changes and turn sequences that make you work and wonder about where exactly is the line--except when you're racing there and the answer is "it just depends". They expanded the track a number of years ago to add a longer back straight which allows for some greater speeds. Compared to Road America and BFR it is harder to make an expensive mistake at Gingerman. Plenty of runoff room where you will never be near a concrete wall (say compared to RA) and there are no trees in sight (say compared to BFR). Facilities are a work in progress if your planning on camping there. The showers work...drainage at times is questionable.

I've only run the south track at Autobahn which is kind of like Gingerman in terms of layout (two long straights, some slight elevation changes, and a challenging turn sequence called "Patience"). One difference is that there are closer tire walls and less runoff room in a few places. So behave. The track is also built on reclaimed swamp land I think and there are some design issues that lead to interesting water flows across the track with heavy rains. Still a fun track. Facilities depend on your access. There is a nice clubhouse but for members.Otherwise the bathrooms/showers are good, newer with better drainage than Gingerman.  Camping at the track requires really good earplugs or a white noise machine. One of the largest truck distribution terminals in the country is about a mile away and you will hear trains and semis backing up all night long. I've found ear plugs plus harbor freight headset ear protection works if you can figure out the sleeping angle. On the plus side if you can't sleep you can look at the flames at the oil refinery in the distance to the south.

Bottom line get out there on a track and have fun. Get an instructor, listen to what he/she says, and be humble. It will take you a long time before you as a driver catch up to what your car is capable of on the track.

Just because someone needs to post this. Anyone with a lot of $$$ and time for a project?

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/cto/d/1939-bmw/6653715015.html

I tried to sneak a glance while on the track heading from T7 to T8. Looked like a good crowd.

Sorry, didn't mean to freak folks out. Well-run DE events rarely have issues, especially in the beginning run groups. For most DE folks who are using their daily, track day insurance (through Lockton or other vendors) is cheap relative to the value of your car for an extra piece of mind. Listen to your instructor, pay attention to track conditions, your concentration (especially early and the last sessions of the day), and all good. Autox you go 10/10ths out of the gate, track events you don't. As the organizers in a well-run event will tell you this is not racing, you're here to learn about your cars, to become a better driver, and drive your car home at the end of the day.

I needed something as a longer distance / more civilized daily that would fit in the fleet between the well worn 318is (not for sale so stop asking ) and the first gen Tundra tow vehicle, sooo welcome to a 2004 330i ZHP, 6MT, 154k, slicktop, leather, and a few more tweaks. California car until late 2011, and little negative effect from being in WI since. I'm sorting through a few things like the zkw headlight curse and catching up on changes in technology since the e30 era.

Every year you guys say this. Unfortunately I wouldn't get 5 minutes on the street before getting pulled over between the assorted livery, cage, containment seat and especially the required SE30 exhaust that makes a Harley sound quiet. Ask @merl. Too much of a hassle to trailer it to the picnic. For those who haven't seen it already you'll just have to come out to a Badger Bimmer DE event.  

Small compensation I know but the Stromung is on the 318is and sounds sweet.

All depends on your intended use of the car. Year round daily, only out when the sun is shining, show stopper, future BaT retirement fund, etc. All are worthwhile pursuits.  But if you're thinking about the car as a daily with all the bumps, dings, and bruises that'll throw at it,  once you let go of "perfect" you can actually relax a bit and focus on the the things that make it fun to drive and actually be out there driving it.

There are restrooms near the entrance though only one stall which from the sounds of it may become toxic. The river is nearby if things get desperate though this may lead to 911 calls. Should be enough of us there at the picnic to post bail if it comes to that.

Dave, I had to check on the Autobahn one to be sure since I've always just run the south course.

After the drop off post on Sunday I figured Chris had paired us up. Glad you like the key chain. I remembered the "Bassboy" correction from an earlier thread involving assorted fish pics.

Rich

I saw the last few runs on Saturday. The car looked good back out on the track and the driver wisely avoided offs into the grass swamp.

andyhundley said:

I doubt a healthy 2.5L M20 could put down 145 whp. haha

Interesting, and I would have agreed up until a few years ago. But NASA Spec E30 series cars with the stock m20 and stock chip are now HP limited to 160.9 hp at the wheels (e.g., standard was set using fresh rebuild and max allowable overbore of 0.020 and allowable balancing). Plus hp and torque curves have to match a baseline standard set by the series. Folks with creative engine building on the west coast were pushing the na m20 into the high 160s and low 170s at the wheels which led to the HP rule. Series is trying to avoid the Spec Miata $10k engine build wars. 

NASA Midwest Region folks in SE30 are dynoing in the mid140s to mid-150s whp. I need to dyno mine...I'd like to think a tired engine is why I'm slow but I doubt it.  One of the faster guys in our group only dynos in the mid-140s, and two weeks ago ran a 2:46 at Road America during a race. Not bad for a stock m20 with around 155k on the engine, car weight with driver at no less than 2700 (he comes in at around 2730), the pretty soft required suspension package (Bilstein sports and H&R race springs), and the required 205/50/15 Toyo RRs.