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I’m thinking about doing a couple BMWCCA races. Those of you that do this, do you bother putting in a chipped ECU for their events (which is legal, correct?), or do you just go in knowing that your power is uncompetitive?
Any other advice about logical things to do to a SpecE30 car when preparing for a BMWCCA event?
I don’t do cross events, but I don’t think the chip would help that much against fully prepped KP cars. All it will really help you do is increase your chances of overrevving you motor.
I haven’t bothered. For me it is more fun to see what I can do as a legal SE30.
It is frustrating to race with those guys since depending on the track the 4.10 diff and the extra ponies, stickier tires, chips, cams, etc. Means you can make a pass but it probably will only stick until the track straightens out.
I enjoy the Club Racing since I have several friends that do it and like it, so I treat it as a racing social occassion. It also allows me to learn new or different tracks without the ‘pressure’ of points or finishing position. More or less like a racing DE.
All of this reminds me I need to give Chuck his chip back.
Chip is NOT legal in BMWCCA if you compete under SpecE30 rules. Only change from NASA rules that are alowed is you can run any brand or size tire that fit on the Spec Legal wheel.
Yeah that all sounds good, and if you read the rules it talks about running SE30 in KP.
However in practice you are KP, anyone I’ve mentioned that provision to, and how the rules read gave me a blank stare.
I suppose if you were trying to compete for points and were serious about running in the BMWCCR series it might be worth clarification.
To my knowledge I’m the only SE30 guy that regularly Club Races. I know Chuck and Patton can (and used to on occassion).
In reality if you want to make a run at KP, the things easily swapped in level of difficulty / expense:
Tires
Chip
4.10 diff
After that you get into some pretty significant changes.
there are several things allowed in Spec E30 that are not KP legal so you have to be careful going in that direction (which is why they created the KP/E30 crossover class).
thanks,
bruce
IndyJim wrote:
[quote]Yeah that all sounds good, and if you read the rules it talks about running SE30 in KP.
However in practice you are KP, anyone I’ve mentioned that provision to, and how the rules read gave me a blank stare.
I suppose if you were trying to compete for points and were serious about running in the BMWCCR series it might be worth clarification.
To my knowledge I’m the only SE30 guy that regularly Club Races. I know Chuck and Patton can (and used to on occassion).
In reality if you want to make a run at KP, the things easily swapped in level of difficulty / expense:
Tires
Chip
4.10 diff
After that you get into some pretty significant changes.[/quote]
Don’t make this hard…
You can play with tires - that’ it. You can run any tire that fits on the SpecE30 wheels, not just R888s.
You must follow BMW racing rules, BMW sponsor sticker rules and BMW Safety rules (that means a fire system, not just an extinguisher).
You could follow the KP rules, but, like Bruce said, for a couple races, that would be crazy. You can pull off your under-panel (if you have one), swap chips, change diffs, and still be a back-marker because the other guys are running coil overs and cams.
Stick with the SpecE30 rules and consider it more racing and track time.
Scott - talk to me at a race or Chuck or Patton since we’ve all actually raced in a BMWCCR race in the SouthEast. Which is presumably where you’ll be racing.
Or you can listen to the guys that have read the rule book.
Hey Jim - aren’t you signed up for the race at the Glen for O’Fest? I’ll see ya there! I know I saw at least one more SE30 car other than ours signed up.
Hard Core.
Lots of others from our ex-hometown (Cleveland) are going. On top of it, we’re driving 2 cars up (so we can participate in the other events not in a pickup truck). The Z3 is going to get a workout too. At least Natalie doesn’t have to listen to me for hours… 
Well then, you might as well stop in Atlanta on the way up and do the 3-day club race as part of the fall DE event at Road Atlanta Sep 19-21.
That would actually give me a reason to race my car. Wasn’t going to bother unless another SE/KP car or two shows up. One of the few benefits of being the organizer is I can race for free, and is also the reason I can’t do the Rock.
So far, Patton and I have just registered and run as a regular KP car. With or without a chip, no true KP competitor is going to give me a glance (except in their mirrors as they power away from me), so if I have something on my car that’s not KP-legal, it’s not been an issue.
When I raced at RRR last December, I kept it in full SpecE30 mode so that I could compare my laptimes across events without having to estimate the impact of the chip, if any.
IndyJim wrote:
[quote]Scott - talk to me at a race or Chuck or Patton since we’ve all actually raced in a BMWCCR race in the SouthEast. Which is presumably where you’ll be racing.
Or you can listen to the guys that have read the rule book.[/quote]
Cool. Ok guys, PM me and lay some of that insight on me. And that Sep race at RA was the first one I was looking at. The second is at RR in Dec. The fact that there will apparently be other SpecE30 types there is encouraging.
I’ve worked hard to get better at CMP this year, but RA was my other goal. And the 3 days of racing there with BMWCCA would be good practice.
Scott, if you want, give me a call tomorrow - 770.350.2382
I haven’t run CCA yet this year, but did a few races in 06 and 07. By last December, I really couldn’t give a sh!t about their graphics standards, so I showed up slumming in just my usual NASA ‘do’. The tech steward laid a handful of decals on me, but cautioned that the lack of a Tire Rack windshield banner would keep me off the track. I used clear packing tape to temporarily install the TR sticker for the weekend, then put the rest of the junk away and waited to be hassled, but never was. YMMV on that score, since 08 is a new season and perhaps different CCA officials.
As for actual car prep, forget about it. At least, if your goal is to race with a real KP car. We can be faster than the slower guys in a KP field, but the fast ones will eat our lunch. 5-8 KP cars is usually a good-sized field. As I said on the board, I’ve never bothered to register as a SE/KP but that might actually be the smart way to go for you. At least you can say you tried, even if the tech inspector you’ll get has probably never seen such a beast. Actually, all he cares about is safety, not performance bits.
As for safety, they will check expiration dates on your seat, belts, personal gear. Cages must be welded in. Don’t wait too long to apply for your license as they aren’t always fast about it. I’d be doing it now if I wanted to race in September.
Ask JimRob about door panels. I happen to run the CCA number boards by default, but I don’t recall if he had to change his out. That would suck to deal with at the track.
On track, the name of the game is speed differential. You may be the slowest car on the entire racetrack, or if not in the bottom 5. The fastest guys will blow by you in ways you’ve never seen in a Lightning or Blitz race. Adjust your mirrors well and be aware. Check mylaps, but I think the smoking dudes cut low 1:30s at RA. We’re in the upper 40s. Do the math. My experience has been that if I do what is expected of me, they do what is expected of them. Surprises are to be avoided.
Above all, have fun!
That’s good info, thx. I have a BMWCCA Rookie license and I have all the decals. I’ll tape on the Tire Rack windsheild decal and the number boards, but I might be looking to cut a few corners on the rest of the decals.
If they just had more track days at RA that’d be more track time/dollar. But I guess that’s not how the place runs.
Chuck as usual has nailed my point.
You won’t be competitive doing anything to your car short of swapping the head, and adding coilovers.
Yes the rule book talks about this mystical SE30/KP, and I was fooled to the extent of labeling my car as such when I applied the 70lbs of stickers. No one that I have encountered knows what that means. To them you’re KP, in fact many of the KP guys didn’t even know what SE30 meant and were surprised at how ill prepared our cars are / were to compete with them. You’ll compete with the KP cars and your class will show up as KP.
I’ve never been weighed or had anyone give my car a second look for compliance. I suspect they’re more worried about the cmod, IP, etc guys.
You won’t be competitive (did I say that) with KP, but you’ll probably be faster than a few JP, Cmod guys. 
There will be plenty of super fast cars out there stay out of their way.
The only thing they do look at is all your safety gear in detail.
Au Contraire, my friend. To be competitive in KP, you need a couple of things. First, tires. Second, a 4.27 diff. Third, a good race chip, Dinan, Turner, etc. NOT ebay. With those changes you can be competitive in KP. In 2006 (I think) Billy Jack Etheridge won the national championship in KP with an e30 built to ITS rules. The only difference from above was headers and custom shocks. The Spec suspension kit will be competitive. His motor made 170hp+ and was not revved over 6600rpm. Now, you people that are making 160+hp with the stock chip (yea, right) can gain another 17hp with a race chip (that is what the advertisement says anyway). So go play and have fun. Chuck
Ranger wrote:
[quote]The second is at RR in Dec. The fact that there will apparently be other SpecE30 types there is encouraging.
[/quote]
Well you’ll be seeing us there too… that’s a must-do over at the Black household. We can be KP-lite together
Just my 2 cents…
The benefit of having more cars running/registered in “E30/KP” will be purely for the fun factor-it’s not it’s own class. And as everyone has correctly pointed out, not competitive with the other KP cars. Having someone to run/compete with is a heck of a lot more fun that just tooling around on your own. Ask me how I know as one of the first SpecE30 competitors in FL. (Although like they say, a “bad” day at the track is better than the best day at the office )
I know that no one seems to be a big fan of the CCA decals/requirements, but it can be done, it can look good and you can have room left over for your own sponsors. The club race sponsors have spent their cash to support the series, I think it’s the right thing to do to run at least the minimum decal requirements.
This is what 70lbs of decals can look like: 