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NASA Midwest racer here looking for some direction. Started racing in GTS3 (E36M) and couldn’t keep up with the escalating $$$ war (that I admittedly started in my region). Sold the M and bought a 99 SM last year. By far the most humbling and rewarding experience of my motorsports career. However, I long to race a BMW again and it may be a way to be able to race with my old friends again.
For the folks who went SM to SE30, or the other way, what was your experience?
Welcome to SpecE30 cosm3os. Do a search for Miata. You’ll find some posts by Steve Devinney. He’s the SE SpecMiata director but tends to race with us more often than not. He’s written some comparisons over the years.
I gave it a quick read. The only change I saw was that the 318i’s have been removed from the class. There was a convertible at MidOhio for the nationals this year. That might be the car to build for short-straightaway tracks.
Thanks. I chose SM over Spec944 because the cars are very old and parts are hard to come by (and you are usually replacing something broken with an unknown entity from the junkyard). You noted that SM has the advantage there over the BMW, but is the BMW much better than S944 in that regard?
I came to SpecE30 from the Porsche world. My DE car was a 911. E30 parts are much cheaper because 1) There was and is a helova lot more of them and 2) E30 parts are cheaper because they don’t say Porsche on them. 3) SpecE30 fields are bigger, and that’s really important.
In 30min, for example, I could find on the Internet and buy 10 perfectly serviceable high mileage motors for $400 + shipping. When you need a parts car for donor parts a person turns to Craigslist. Compare the number of Craigslist E30’s to 944’s in your area.
One thing to consider is you will be the first car in the midwest. I’ve had a few inquires of people wanting to build cars in the midwest but noone wants to be the first it seems. My first event I was the only car at Grattan 4 years ago, now in the great lakes we get around 4-12 cars at an event. Obviously Mid Ohio always has decent fields and you have Nationals. We crossover with the midwest at Putnam and a few other places. You will also get the occasional car at Autobahn (I’ve been twice). I think the midwest would grow just like the Great Lakes if you could get a few cars done. Sometimes it takes a while to take off just look at South Cali, they tried and tried and finally now its taking off. But you will always have us Great Lakes guys to race against while the Midwest is growing. If you have any questions or want help finding a car if you decide this is right for you, just drop me a pm. 944 Spec is definitely more Midwest orientated and Spec E30 is bigger in the Great Lakes region.
Sure, everything is available. You can even get crate engines from BMW for ~$5k, which is not a bad deal. Especially since a surprising number of “built” engines end up having problems.
Good to hear from you Simon. I think I can get something going in the MW. I grew GTS3 from 2 to double digits in the last 2 years, and I think some of my GTS friends are looking for a cheaper alternative, but can’t bear to break the BMW ranks and go SM like me. Tom Teid already has one and if I went in, I think we could see 3ish next year plus the stragglers we get from GL.
We’ll see. Got all winter to figure things out.
I raced Tom Teide in K-Prepared in BMWCCA way back 
I saw him at Autobahn last year. I think that if you guys get your cars up to spec over the winter and campaign them in 2012, you could get 5+ cars running in 2013. Do it!
I was thinking of mentioning that the midwest has no cars right now, but didnt want to scare you away. I live in wisconsin and am a set of wheels and tires away from being ready. I think i can do comp school first event of next year and run most of the season in the midwest so i need competition or i might have to run gts1 or 2.I probably sound like a broken record by now about being almost ready, but I just bought my defender and the rest of my safety equipment and Im in de4.
Kyle, if you’re serious about getting it rolling I also have a list of about 6 people who have expressed interest in Spec E30 in the Midwest. I keep a database of when I’ve contacted them and I have some notes on their current state. PM if you want to reach out to them, I have email addresses.
My email is kburkhardt12 at comcast dot net. I’ll pick Dave Royce’s brain this weekend, as well.
I meant to say I bought a hybrid pro rage not the defender. Also my hopes of racing soon depend on my house selling, so if anyone is moving to FT Bragg, NC let me know.