A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

so brands Gp was to be two short sharp 15 min races, half the cars on slicks with serious power, the other half like mine, not radically modified and road tyres. i was to run as a guest car ( my car not quite being production regulation compliant) i was really keen to see how i fared, it was a different bunch of cars some of which i had raced against years ago, others which i had no idea how i would perform against.

qualifying didnt go great, but it wasnt due to issues with the car, a 43 car grid takes a log while to spread out so its hard to find space to get a good qualifying lap, sods law but a couple of laps in and one of the hondas suffered suspension failure which put of in the gravel at a dangerous location, this brought the safety car out so most of the session was done behind it, only right at the end did we get a green flag and were free to lap at full speed, end result was out of 43 cars i qualified 25th overall, and was 6th out of cars on road tyres on a 1.48 sec lap

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

i looked at the races as an information exercise, it might shape the future direction as to which way i change the car in future, as a guest i wasn't going to risk taking anyone out, and would ultimately back out if i thought there was a risk of contact, i knew over a lap i had competitive speed against things like EP3 hondas, but was that just a strong engine? first race i was to find out. almost immediately i had the answer yes, corner speed there wasn't much in it, mine was better under braking and some corners i had better traction out of and could get along side,

end result was a finished race one 18th overall and 3rd on road tyres, still learning the circuit i improved my best lap time to 1.473, it wasnt without issue though, for most of the race i was getting fuel pressure warnings through the left hander at surtees, towards the end of the race engine was hesitating, and i kept missing gears, my modified rover gearlever has a brilliant short shift, but you need to take your time with it to fast on the lever and it doesnt find the gate, which always happend when i was under real pressure.

what i will say thought is compared to 8 year old 888's the AR1's were brilliant, far more grip and predictable, they made the car very neutral, push the nose hard and it lacked bite to the turn in, but overall i was very happy with the handling definaty there was no down side to disconnecting the rear ARB which i was certain would be the case anyway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA-KOpZiEVI&feature=youtu.be

[katana]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

Always like your race reports G - can be frustrating for you at times but generally cos you seem to be doing them purely for the fun of doing rather than having to score championship points which is when the fun goes away and is replaced by stress!

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

race two, wrong slotted off the rolling start but another good race, again i wasnt prepared to push really hard and take someone out, but it was another good learning curve. i had a few more gear change issues during the race, it came to a bit of an abrupt end for me, as i pulled off on the last lap, not a mechanical defect, but just as i got past the turbo VXR astra i had been dicing with i saw the chequer flag, and backed off, i did realise my mistake, but it was too late to do anything, the starter did have the flag in his hand, but he was about to wave it at the leader who was coming up behind us, oh well never mind, whether i finished or not was a bit irreverent. As a guest i wouldn't of got anything even if i had won the race outright! what i learned was the car and i were competitive with a different set of cars, my best lap had improved to a 1.467, which was actually faster than i went last time i raced the GP circuit in the blue car on slicks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-Wi4d_HStc

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

buoyed up by the car going well at the last meeting i was looking forward to my next race, this time cscc 40 min pit stop race.

pre race prep comprised of an oil change, a new set of DS3000 front pads the old ones were down to about a fag paper thickness on the inside ones.


i took the rear ARB off altogether, no point leaving it on the car with one end disconnected!


im a bit annoyed with the fuel tank, o bought one with a built in swirl pot to avoid having to run twin pumps and a separate swirl pot, but brands proved its not upto the job, so ive added a standalone pot feed by a Facet red top. the install isn't the neatest, i did it using the minimum possible new fittings, and without cutting any existing fuel lines, not something you want to do, as you need a disc cutter, and thats not recommended when the fuel lines concerned have fuel in them! the new setup works well as gravity alone was enough to fill the facet and swirl pot. i had been pondering what to do to improve the cars turn in, i was unsure what to do until a spotted a picture online, it struck me the car had more body roll on the rear than front not surprising perhaps, considering i had disconnected the rear ARB, i thought about it and decided to increase the rear spring rate, my thinking was it might ease the load on the front end when cornering but keep the extra traction out the corners that i got from the ARB delete. at this point i didnt know the rear spring rate, turns out they were 600lb so i upped them to 700 (would give a wheel rate of around 350lb) finally i chucked it back on the scales it came in at 1031kg with me on board, so almost identical to the last time, but with about 15-20 litres more fuel on board, pleasingly front-rear bias had improved slightly to 55F/45R





finally i popped the tracking gauges on it, to see what if anything had happend to the geometry, the front was still were i had set it parallel, and the rear had slight toe in, id never checked the rear, but it had been modified to make rear toe adjustable so i was sure where it would be, slight toe in is way less than you normally get on a lowered E30 rear end.

i forgot to take a picture, but i also prepared another gear lever, this time to give a slightly longer shift, hopefully to avoid the missed gear issues ive been having

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

Always like your race reports G - can be frustrating for you at times but generally cos you seem to be doing them purely for the fun of doing rather than having to score championship points which is when the fun goes away and is replaced by stress!

yeah, i think my days of chasing championships are long gone, i do now complete just for fun, there is a race i would like to do at the end of the month, but ive been asked to baby sit my twin baby grandaughters on that date, so no racing for me, but thats cool, no points so no real pressure to do that race.

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

moving on Brands pit stop race. being Brands, the circuit i know best i was hoping to be quick. the only doubt in my mind being whether the stiffer rear springs would make the car all oversteery, we have to remember its a circuit race, on a high grip sealed surface sideways is slow as your either getting out/feathering the throttle, or simply not driving forwards, it was also a very hot weekend that could easily punish the tyres turning them to jelly, and as you know jelly is slippery!


we were first Qualifying session, it was 30mins long if your a two driver team thats not actually that much time, as each driver will only get 10/11 mins at race speed, but as a single driver it leaves plenty of time to get into the groove. i just stayed out the whole session, two reasons firstly the car ran well with no obvious issues (well none i could do anything about) secondly as my only pit crew the weekend was my wife, who knows about as much about race cars as i know about knitting machines, it was pointless trying to gather tyre temp/pressure data or making adjustments.

i wouldnt normally bother putting up video of a qualifying session, but the V box got the hump during the race and just recorded a load of fuzz. so here is qualifying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ5ax6dKoy8&feature=youtu.be

35 cars made for a busy session i set my best lap on lap 16 ( i did 31 in all) which makes sense mid session there would of been a lot of pit stops for driver changes going on.

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

my lap was good enough to qualify 8th overall, 2nd in class none too shabby when you look at the cars which were in front of me

1 79 A80 1 Mark CHILTON Nissan Skyline GTR (T) 2600 53.963
2 4 B70 1 M ELLIS / M ELLIS Talbot Sunbeam Lotus 2171 54.131
3 77 A80 2 Perry WADDAMS TVR Tuscan Challenge 5000 54.174
4 146 A80 3 JOHNSTON / WOODS-DEAN Audi V8 Quattro Saloon 3600 54.291
5 55 B80 1 Antony MCEVOY Porsche 944 S2 2990 54.645
6 63 B70 2 Geoff BEALE Talbot Sunbeam Lotus 2498 55.058
7 191 A70 1 Rikki CANN Aston Martin V8 Vantage 5340 55.105
8 46 B80 2 Graham BAHR BMW E30 2860 55.132

the skyline on poll is always blisteringly fast, but seem to rarely finish, the lotus in second won last years race outright, the quattro is actually an ex DTM car, so everything faster than me had a bigger engine/more power or in the case of the sunbeams a lot less weight.

in blistering heat i was more than happy with the way my car handled 31 laps flat out, just two negatives it wanted to understeer round the hair pin, and much to my surprise more fuel pressure warnings on left handers, i could almost understand them at surtees corner because it surged there the previous meeting, but i now had it at Graham hill where it didnt before, that could of only been down to the stiffer rear springs giving me a better turn in, but with the additional fuel swirl pot i shouldn't of had any surge at all.

come the race i made a reasonable job of the rolling start, got ahead of the Aston Martin and from memory one of the lotus's, the lotus pretty quickly got me back, but for 6 laps i kept the Aston behind me, then i got a poor drive out of clearways onto Braham straight, that was enough for the Aston to stretch its big v8 and blast past me, but it wasnt going to stay there, or so i thought the Aston was not a match for the beemer through the bends, i closed right up on entry into paddock, and took a wide line into druids to cut up the inside of it on the run down to graham hill, the plan was working until BANG! a Porsche 911 took a lunge from a long way back, clobbered my O/S/R corner which spun me round, and then clobbered O/S/F although i ended up sideways across the track the engine was still running and a shot off after the Aston again, but as soon as i next turned in something was very wrong, the steering felt horrid and i could smell burning rubber. i pitted, but no one was expecting me, another driver spotted the front wing pressed into the tyre and grabbed a crow bar to lever it off, meanest while someone else said my bumper was hanging off, so i just screamed at the m to rip it off, my wife wanted to know if i was going to make it my actual pit stop and get out, no too early i screamed and shot off again. in truth i knew my race was ruined, but i was just going to enjoy the remaining track time in fact i had dropped from 7th down to 27th!

as soon as i headed out the pits having stopped early i was in massive traffic, next two laps i did a lot of overtaking, then the pit window opened, so i pitted again, i was expecting my wife to help with the belts, but the scruts had said they didn't like my damaged bumper and someone gave her a roll of gaffer tape to fix it, so i had to strap myself back in, which i did surprisingly easily, and shot out the pits again, only to find all the cars id just overtaken i had to do all over again! next few laps were an overtaking feast, as a both caught cars, unlapped myself and lapped others, i recovered to finally finish the race 15th not bad considering two pit stops and the first being a very long one at that, Race control actually ended the race early due to a number of cars in gravel traps, so potentially i might of finished higher still, but not as annoying as being knocked out of 7th in the first place, i would of never won the race but im certain i could of got 5th and possibly on the podium as the skyline failed to finish as usual and the DTM Quattro Audi eat its tyres.

during the race i realized my fuel pressure alarms were not fuel pressure after all, they were oil pressure! the thing was its hard to tell the difference if your not directly looking at the dash at the time and as i had had fuel pressure issues my brain got it wrong, what i dont know was just how low it was dropping, i was seeing a 22psi alarm, but am not sure whether the dash was showing it was dropping to 22 or it was under 22 meaning maybe zero! i doubt it was actually going to zero, because it survived 63 laps surging twice a lap.

in summary, i didnt get the result i hoped for, but am pleased with how the car behaved, i now have body work to do and bearings to check, but i had a great time

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!





could of been worse, the initial hit was pretty hard, i didnt actually see the damage until after the race, it looks better than i expected!

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

fortunately when it came to the dents a bit of work with the porta power got 95% of the out, so just a bit of hammer and dolly work followed by a thin skim of filler got the sheet metal looking close to the correct shape.





plenty of super glue and some grp got the front spoiler or or less back to the correct shape, with one one event left this year i wasnt about to buy a new one.

you will of noticed the not very subtle lightbar and the cars now sporting front indicators, reason being i had entered a night race, for which the SR's required indicators and the light bar was in a vein hope i would be able to see where i was going in my first ever night race

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

it entered two races at Donnington park, both 40 minute pitstop races, one day one night. ive been to Donnington loads as a scrutineer, but that all, my only track knowledge is of watching cars go into Redgate corner at the end of the start/finish straight, which later would prove more useful than i expected.

i was looking forward to the event until the weather forecast turned from dry to 95% chance of rain all day.

its been years since i did a proper wet race, i was going to a circuit i didnt know, in a car ive never driven in the rain, and had i use normal road tyres (as opposed to proper wets) as wet tyres, something ive never done. what could possibly go wrong?

[chrisis]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

it entered two races at Donnington park, both 40 minute pitstop races, one day one night. ive been to Donnington loads as a scrutineer, but that all, my only track knowledge is of watching cars go into Redgate corner at the end of the start/finish straight, which later would prove more useful than i expected.

i was looking forward to the event until the weather forecast turned from dry to 95% chance of rain all day.

its been years since i did a proper wet race, i was going to a circuit i didnt know, in a car ive never driven in the rain, and had i use normal road tyres (as opposed to proper wets) as wet tyres, something ive never done. what could possibly go wrong?

Why not investing on a full wet tires? Normal road tyres on a race car it sound at least not a good idea.

At the end if anything happen can cost you a lot more than a set of tyres.

Anyhow it sound that someone will having fun out there. Please make sure that your camera works

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

Why not investing on a full wet tires? Normal road tyres on a race car it sound at least not a good idea.

regulations, the series regulations do not allow proper wet tyres, about the best you can use are uniroyal rainsports, i really rate them on road cars and sell a lot of them, they really are good on the road and in the wet, just not a patch on a proper race wet

Anyhow it sound that someone will having fun out there. Please make sure that your camera works

yeah, i moved the video V box and it didnt play up this time, i think heat of the exhaust through the floor was making it too warm.
i have lots of footage, its hard to see much as it was so dammed wet

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

with practically zero track knowledge qualifying was always going to be "interesting" added to the fact it had been raining for about 14 hours it was very wet and any excursion onto the grass would at best result in getting stuck, but more likely a long uncontrolled skid into a crash barrier.

i did very little pre qualifying prep, it just comprised of bolting the Uniroyal rainsports on and brimming the fuel tank, i didnt need a full tank of fuel but figured the extra weight on the rear end would probably be a good idea, i know from corner weighting the car that its a bit nose heavy, and any additional fuel only puts weight on the rear wheels, and traction wise they were probably going to need all the help they could get
visibility was challenging to say the least, the car has a couple of ceramic hot air blowers for screen demisting, but they didnt stand a chance. especially when water started spraying at the inside of the screen from behind me! you can tell in the video the water on the inside as the wiper doesnt touch it, strangely the camera had better visibility than i did.
mid session i actually pitted for no other reason than to hope the screen would clear a bit so i could see where i was going.

below is some footage from the half of the qualify session

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a616VzpW25w

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

much to my surprise i had qualified 12th overall, however it was short lived, at some point when i couldnt see where i was (just about the whole session) i had passed another car when yellow flags were out, that earned me an interview with the clerk of the course, i was expecting a telling off, although i dont see what else i could of done, you either see a flag or not, you dont ignore them. what i wasnt really expecting was to have my qualifying time cancelled which would put me at the back of the grid for the race, but i accepted it thinking i wouldnt be alone as i knew numerous other cars had also been done for the same thing, the clerk applied the same penalty, but as the other cars had two drivers cancelling one drivers times still left the cars with the qualifying time from the other driver, so most cars moved back a postilion or two, but as my car only had one driver i was the only one to end up at the back!

i didnt do much race prep after qualifying, i stuck a heater in the car to try and dry out out a bit, closed the n/s/r rear quarter window and built the edges of the n/s door up with gaffa tape, hoping to stop whatever weird aero effect that was sucking water into the car spraying it forward the windscreen. the only other thing i did was a level check and brim the fuel tank, i didnt need a full tank but filled it just to put some more weight on the rear wheels. ..

the race start was less than ideal, it was to be a rolling start, from a grid formed up off the circuit itself, unfortunately for me the car ahead had stalled on the dummy grid and wouldnt restart, by the time i got round it the pack of cars following the safety car had gone, and the marshals directed me up the pit lane, that was another blow, not only was i going to have to start last, but now from the pit lane, which meant without a warm up lap i would have to join the back of the pack as they tore past the pit lane exit at full speed.

As the pack shot past i joined the race, with no idea of track/grip conditions i had a tentative first few corners, without water being sprayed on the inside of the screen visibility was better than in my qualifying session, but i was paranoid about missing another yellow flag and being hit with another penalty. in the really wet conditions the engine proved blinding,i could keep the revs low, and feed the power in really control-ably, it was noticable that the V8 Tr7s which i normally struggle with had no answer to the beemer, i could take a wide line in the corners and get close to them and power past them in a straight line, i had a couple of minor moments where the back stepped out, and a bigger one where i couldnt get it stopped into the esses, so rather than risk clobbering a stack of tyres or spinning off i opted not to attempt the corner and bounced across the gravel safely rejoining. there was a couple of times my hours of standing as a scrut in the the pit lane came in handy, a coupl eof times i had passed another car heading down the straight at around 100mph unable to see Redgate corner to my front right, but recognizing the pitlane on my left used that as a marker and made the corner. my pit stop went really well, i had no crew with me, but got the assistance from one of the race officials who is well used to helping drivers in and out of cars. ive also learned from earlier pit stops, you have to stop the engine when doing the pit stop, but ive found it hard to find the master switch when strapped in, so instead of switching off, i simply stall the engine when i stop, and simply hit the starter button to get going again.

during a race sometimes i have a good idea of my position others ive no idea, this one was a no idea, so i was stagger to find after starting last in 36th place from the pit lane i finished 10th overall, and was awarded driver of the day in the process

https://youtu.be/Y0L8lCCFO9Y

https://youtu.be/C7cektc_8KQ