Class in SoCal?

#1

I will be buying a car to go racing in the very near future, and like the look of Spec E30 – seems to suit my limited budget. I have the following questions:

  1. Are there races organized for the class in SoCal? I’ve looked at NASA’s site and don’t see Spec E30 listed for any of the race meetings.
  2. Where can I find a well prepared car for sale in SoCal? I don’t have the space or equipment to prepare a car myself. Are there individuals out there building and selling Spec E30 cars?
  3. Who should I talk to directly to learn more about the class, especially in SoCal – I’m living in San Diego.

Any help, contacts or tips would be appreciated – I’m considering one or two other classes too, so need the best info to make the right decision.

Thanks,

Frank

#2

Steve Dais should be replying any second now - he is hungry for some spec e30 competition down there! NASA regions respond to the racers - if spec e30 racers sign up, there will be a spec e30 race (combined with other classes).
cheers,
bruce

#3

Is there any sort of push/promotion happening In SoCal to get Spec E30 going? I don’t want to buy a car, prepare it, and then have only 1 person to compete against…I’d probably always come second.

However, if there are 7 or 8 guys/girls out there in the process of building cars, with the intention of competing later this year or early next year - then I’d be interested.

Anyone willing to hazard a guess as to whether Spec E30 has a chance of getting an sort of grid together in the near future in SoCal?

#4

fcassidy wrote:

[quote]Is there any sort of push/promotion happening In SoCal to get Spec E30 going? I don’t want to buy a car, prepare it, and then have only 1 person to compete against…I’d probably always come second.

However, if there are 7 or 8 guys/girls out there in the process of building cars, with the intention of competing later this year or early next year - then I’d be interested.

Anyone willing to hazard a guess as to whether Spec E30 has a chance of getting an sort of grid together in the near future in SoCal?[/quote]

Sorry guys - I was up melting away at Willow Springs this weekend (102 degrees both days) driving with the BMW CR, and am just getting caught up on checking the boards.

As of today, I think I’m still the only comp licensed owner of a spec e30 on the west coast. However, Chris Donnelly (LA area) has a car that I hear should be done in a matter of days & he is planning on taking the comp licensing school in August at Willow with Driving Concepts in his spec car. There are also 4 or so others up in the Bay area (Joe Schmid, Lance Leong, Igor Koruga, and Cole Goeppinger) who are building cars as well with intentions to be racing by this fall. See the link below.

http://spece30.com/index.php?option=com_mamboboard&Itemid=42&func=view&id=2160&catid=3&limit=10&limitstart=0

I think it’s conceivable that we could have 4-5 cars lining up by next spring. However, I did say the same thing a year ago about this current year. There seem to be an awful lot of people standing on the sidelines waiting for series to get going out here - a couple Mod-class CR guys have even commented that they thought it would be cool to have a 2nd car to race in a spec class where the winner was determined by skill vs $'s. Once people see 5-6 spec e30’s start lining up at NASA events I think that number will jump to double-digits pretty quickly. Hey - a ~ $10k racecar that handles well, has some power, and is comparatively cheap to race makes this an attractive series to run in! Plus our cars don’t sound like they use a can of nails as a muffler.

One more thing - if the series doesn’t get going out here you can still run the spec cars with other groups, as has been noted already. (I raced in K-Prepared with the BMW club this weekend.)

I’ll email you my phone number. I’d be happy to talk with you if you’d like, or you’d be welcome to stop by & check out my car as well.

Steve

Post edited by: sdais, at: 2006/07/10 15:56

#5

Steve,

Thanks for the info. I was at Willow Springs on Sunday doing a little homework on one or two classes - I saw 104 degrees on the outside temp gauge at one stage. My biggest concern now about racing at that track is how to survive heat exhaustion! How guys could sit in the car, in pit lane for up to 10 minutes, in flameproof suit and helmet before going on track - in that heat is amazing.

Send me your number - I’d certainly like to learn a little more about the Spec E30 class.

Frank

#6

fcassidy wrote:

[quote]Steve,

Thanks for the info. I was at Willow Springs on Sunday doing a little homework on one or two classes - I saw 104 degrees on the outside temp gauge at one stage. My biggest concern now about racing at that track is how to survive heat exhaustion! How guys could sit in the car, in pit lane for up to 10 minutes, in flameproof suit and helmet before going on track - in that heat is amazing.

Frank[/quote]

BINGO!!! They were having some technical trouble with the timing system before the BMW race on Sunday, which led to us sitting on the grid for 15 min before heading out. I was extremely jealous of the guy next to me in his I-Stock car who had his air conditioning running while sitting on the grid - not fair! Worse yet, I was instructing a friend driving my spec car in HPDE 1 in the session immediately after the race, so I was in the car for an 1.25 hours in the middle of the afternoon. :sick: Also, while I still have carpet on the drivers side floor to give some insulation from the heat coming off the engine / transmission, there is none on the passenger side. Quite noticeable temp difference between the two seats.

One of the guys told me he took a temp of the pavement in the paddock on Friday which read just under 160 degrees. That helped to explain why I felt like I was frying while lying under the car checking for loose bolts - I literally was!!

Steve Soon-To-Be-Buying-A-Cool-Suit Dais

#7

Califorinia…e30

It takes a bit of leadership from someone out there to push to get a 5-6 cars into an E30 class, but once that happens it will grow on its’ own. As I don’t think you will find any better racing and the cost to compete is low.

That said one of our E30 racers on this this side of pond has offered to load up 4 E30’s in his 4 car race trailer and head to Califorinia for a weekend or two of racing. So if California can get 4 or 5 cars on grid we may be able to organize another 4 E30’s to go out and support E30 on the west coast. Carter would most likely be one of the 4 and myself.

Carlton 33

#8

Carlton,

a cross country Spec E30 Detachment sounds like a hoot…count me in if I’m in the country

brain

#9

Carlton - you hit the nail on the head - for a class to take off in SoCal it needs leadership, and some promotion. While Spec E30 looks like a great idea on paper, and works practically elsewhere in the US, I’m not going to commit to buying and preparing a car in the remote event the class gets a foothold here.

However, if I saw a definite push to form a core group of racers for next year, I’d start looking to buy an E30 now, and prepare it over the off-season. In Europe we launched classes by having a presence at every event, with one or two cars from the proposed class racing/ on display - leaflets being distributed with details of the specifications, costs, class reps etc. One clever ‘marketing’ ploy was to have a class sponsor - the idea being that sponsor would get free coverage during the ‘launch’ phase of the class, and once 8 or 10 cars were racing regularly, they would contribute. Makes the class look professional from the very start, and the sponsor gets coverage from an early stage, most likely covering the class long-term. For example, find a BMW Motorsport specialist who gets their name plastered over all the cars, and once a grid of 8 cars appears for a race, they can start paying cash for prizes etc, or give each driver special deals on parts etc. Until that ‘critical mass’ of 8 cars appears, the sponsor gets free promotion.

Right now, it is unlikely many will join the class in California as there is no obvious plan to get it going - including myself. The suggestion of shipping 4 cars from another region could be a great promotional stunt to launch the class, but someone would need to take the lead and organize it properly. I’d certainly attend that event with a view to learning about the class and ultimately buying and racing with you guys.

Frank

#10

Actually Walter, one of the guys in NorCal who is preparing a SpecE30 car, is trying to organize “promotion� along the lines that you described. He owns a shop in Sac – vmwerks.com

Igor

#11

build them and they will come…

Seriously you left coasters, don’t think if you build a spec car your all alone. They make awesome DE / GTS / BMWCCA cars. You’ll always have someone to run with. Once the #'s come up to 5-8 then you’ve got a series.

If and when the Navy moves me back to Lemoore CA, my Spec E30 is coming with me.

#12

brain wrote:

[quote]build them and they will come…

Seriously you left coasters, don’t think if you build a spec car your all alone. They make awesome DE / GTS / BMWCCA cars. You’ll always have someone to run with. Once the #'s come up to 5-8 then you’ve got a series.

If and when the Navy moves me back to Lemoore CA, my Spec E30 is coming with me.[/quote]

This is exactly what I’ve been trying to preach out here. There’s no reason to sit on the side and wait for the series to get going in my opinion (btw - if everyone does that the series will NEVER get going…). There are lots of cars to race against in the NASA classes, though they may be 944’s, Miata’s, and Nissan’s (there were actually 2 other e30’s racing in GTS at Willow this last weekend). Being the only car in your class does not mean you race alone - trust me, I know this.

I guess I’d thought that I was doing what I could to promote the series out here, short of setting up booths and handing out flyers. I admittedly haven’t taken an overly active stance to marketing the series, but rather have ‘spread the word’ through talking with people who have approached me at the track as well as via email about the series, and have done my best to get folks to join the series - to the extent of letting several people take my racecar out in their HPDE group for a test drive. In the end, most people give the same answer "looks like it would be a cool series - once it takes off"… I did have a windshield banner, but replaced it with the required Tire Rack banner when I started racing with the BMW CR. I guess I have some empty panels I could slap a "spec e30" on. Sorry guys - I’m an accountant and weekend racer, not a marketing guru or salesman.

One more thing to think about - while everyone is waiting around to build their car those who are already driving are only gettting faster. Despite 102 degree temps sucking the power out of my aging motor, I still managed to break my previous track record at Willow this last weekend by 0.4 seconds. :slight_smile:

Post edited by: sdais, at: 2006/07/11 18:01

#13

Steve:

Email your address to me and I’ll send a no-cost/promotional Spec E30 rear window decal for your car. If we’re going to spend the time and money to go all the way across the country, in the next year or so, I want people to know about Spec E30 from seeing your car pass them on the track.

:slight_smile:

Carter
carterhunt@aol.com

#14

I like that kind of thinking

#15

My partner and I on our current car have plans to build a Spec E30 car for resale here in SoCal. We have one car in the works (going very slowly) but just identified another great candidate that could be on the track much quicker. We are willing to prepare a car to your specification, time frame, and budget. I’m confident that we can deliver a reilable Spec E30 at or below the series goal cost of $10,000 (depending on the options and level of preparation). This candidate would be an 89 325i and would deliver with new suspension and bushings, brakes, and refreshed engine (new valve job, headgasket, water pump, timing belt and stock bottom-end). The biggest variables would be cage (custom or pre-fab), seats & harness, tires & wheels, fire system, etc.

We’ve already built a very reliable BMW CCA KP car. We’re not a formal shop, just a couple of guys who love cars, have the tools, room, and know-how, and would like to offset our racing budget a bit. We expect to prep one or two cars a year.

Drop me a note if you would like to discuss further or for more details.

#16

My partner and I on our current car have plans to build a Spec E30 car for resale here in SoCal. We have one car in the works (going very slowly) but just identified another great candidate that could be on the track much quicker. We are willing to prepare a car to your specification, time frame, and budget. I’m confident that we can deliver a reilable Spec E30 at or below the series goal cost of $10,000 (depending on the options and level of preparation). This candidate would be an 89 325i and would deliver with new suspension and bushings, brakes, and refreshed engine (new valve job, headgasket, water pump, timing belt and stock bottom-end). The biggest variables would be cage (custom or pre-fab), seats & harness, tires & wheels, fire system, etc.

We’ve already built a very reliable BMW CCA KP car. We’re not a formal shop, just a couple of guys who love cars, have the tools, room, and know-how, and would like to offset our racing budget a bit. We expect to prep one or two cars a year.

Drop me a note if you would like to discuss further or for more details.

#17

Guys:

Most all of us on the east side of the country have built the car and raced it with the engine as-is, or with an oil an filter change, a new paper air filter, and anything that’s really necessary.

Save your (or your customer’s) money and run it stock. Of course, look it over very well but I don’t think a new head gasket, etc. are necessary.

Regardless, keep us up-to-date on your progress.

Carter

#18

Replacing the timing chain isn’t a bad idea, though. On an unknown car, God only knows how long it’s been since the last one was replaced.

#19

As the candidate car in this case has a broken cam shaft, some head work will be in order. I think I can do a leak down test before I remove the head, even with the broken cam. If it passes leak down but shows damage when the head is removed then I have another complete engine to drop in. I’m headed out of town on vacation shortly but expect to have this car track ready by October for BW. As I’m not yet licensed I don’t expect to compete there, unless a buyer who is licensed shows up in the mean time.

On another note, how many of you run stock 14" wheels (bottlecaps) vs. 15" aftermarket (or stock I suppose)?

#20

sdais wrote:

Replacing the timing chain isn’t a bad idea, though. On an unknown car, God only knows how long it’s been since the last one was replaced.[/quote]

Definitely change the T-belt.

Good point Steve.

Carter