conrod

Wlilwoods are okay, as long as you aren't planning on being the last of the late brakers!

300mm is getting more like it, especially with a thicker section rotor, that won't overheat so quickly.

and will probably knock a few tenths of your lap time!........

The DS3000's are good, but still no substitute for decent size brakes. The E30 325 front brakes are pretty average in size, but the rears are puny, not so much the (solid) rotor, which will overheat quite quickly, but the pad, which is tiny.

They will send a taxi for that. And I have a Labrador which does the most horrendous turds if you need some.

Dead right about that one Gus, a lot of expense to then go and leave that bloody trap-door bunging up the intake!..........

Cain:Hmmmm, I'll have to eat humble pie on the 944 Turbo prices it seems! They have dropped a lot in price from when I last looked at them. (which incidentally, was when I built the last E30 Targa car, we considered a 944T as an option) What do you mean by the VW class being able to evolve their cars? Okay the new E30 series guys won't be able to evolve their cars much, but that is the essence of the class too, cheap racing. With a couple of faster classes thrown in the mix with less restrictive rules, it would enable people (like me!) to build and develop their own "ultimate driving machine" as and when I like, and for me that is a big part of the fun. There are a few places I can run this car I am building, but I think it would be good to have a "BMW only' series, as do the Porsches and RX7's. Kerry:I understand what you mean regarding your car and not conforming to the rules, it is unfortunate that Whittakers and Southern Festival of Speed are probably the only meetings you can run against similar cars. I also do not like handicap races- what a load of crap! The odd reverse grid race might provide a bit of excitement for the crowd, but I say put the fast cars at the front in their qualifying positions please! And yes, speed does cost money,but hey, if we didn't like it we would all be off playing lawn bowls or something!........... :thumb:

Why don't you run in Central or Auckland Muscle Cars? As far as starting a series that looks obsolete, I guess you only have to look at the E30 series in Australia or England, it is hugely popular even though the cars are approaching 20 years old. And although I won't be building one, I still think it will be a hit. As for E36's, remember that these are now 2 models old (E46 and now E90) so they are far from "modern". This brings me back to my suggestion about a three tier race, where you could run an E36 if you wanted to, against E30's, and even 2002 Turbo's! Coming up with a good set of rules would be the hard part, as well as policing them. I am typing this as I am cutting out cardboard templates for my E30 racer!

My point was that you won't get a 944 Turbo for $10K, a non-turbo yes, but when I last checked a Turbo will cost you $15 to $20K. And yes, certainly a good handling car. But we are not here to promote the merits of Pork are we?!!!!!!!!!!

I agree, my last Kart cost me $17K and that was without any spares! And it was costing me around $1000 per meeting to run. It was about then I thought "bugger this" or something to that effect, and decided to sell it and build a car. Not sure about a $15K 944T- I think it will cost you that just to buy a stock one, let alone prep it for racing. Just while we are on the cost thing, the last two E30's that I was involved in building for Targa etc. cost about $30K each to build, and that was without any engine work, and watching spending very closely. I'm sure Andrew knows this too well, so $15K for an E30 race car is still pretty good, even if it is "detuned" a bit in spec.

Hah! I found both of those links yesterday, you were obviously trolling on S14.net. The seller of the centrelock hubs on EGay has some wheels as well, there are on my watchlist!

I agree with some of your points on the new E30 series, but as I don't plan on building one of these cars I don't feel it is my place to comment. I would rather let those who are going to run in this series sort out what they are comfortable with. The Bridgestone Porsches might be a good blueprint to have a look at, but they have not been without issue, so some tweaking of the rules would be required I think. Suggestion to run the new E30 series as a race within a race was just for the first however-many-years it would take to get sufficient numbers (twenty plus cars) to run their own separate race. I guess this idea really needs to be put to current BMW race car owners to see if there would be ongoing support, I know something like this has been discussed for some time, but hadn't heard anything for a while. Perhaps if the support is there (from the racers) it just needs someone to take the reins and get it happening.

I hear what you are saying, but what I am suggesting would require most of the teching in the new E30 class (class "C") with the "A" and "B" classes only having engine capacity restrictions,and maybe a minimum weight,both relatively easy to check. There is the risk of someone dominating "A" class by taking a chequebook approach, as happens in Super GT quite frequently, but I think the main aim would be to : A. have a class exclusively for BMW's to promote the marque B. encourage some of the BMW race cars in NZ to get out on the track,there are a lot that compete in Targa, and there are a LOT of superb examples of ex-works cars in our country, with nowhere to go, apart the the Southern festival of speed, and Whittakers, otherwise they must run in classes like Super GT (usually by invitation) where they are not really in their element. C. encourage new BMW race cars to be built. I appreciate it would not be a simple thing to implement, but nothing worth having ever was! :thumb:

Same here, I thought it was a GTO, a bit hard to see the grille from the angle the shot was taken. Still v.cool though!

To be honest this is one of the things I have struggled with most about this build- M3 or not? I initially started looking for an M3 to use as a donor car, and then decided to go the normal E30 route for the following reasons. Firstly,think E30 M3 race car and immediately the Group A car comes to mind, with anything else tends to be a diluted version of one. I discounted buying a Group A on the basis of being too expensive to run, and requiring many people to do so- I wanted something I could take to the track on my own and run, and not have to rebuild it every few meetings or so,also it had to be reasonably fast as well as reliable. I wasn't super comfortable with putting a six cylinder into an M3, its been done a few times I know, but to me it just isn't "right" As far as bodykitting an E30 to look like an M3, well it may work out slightly cheaper than starting off with an M3 but I am back to the same issues about building a "lookalike" I wanted something unique, that would give a Group A car a run for its money without necessarily trying to imitate one- at 320 hp and 260lbs.ft it should be off to a good start. So maybe an M3 front spoiler, because they work well, but I won't be bodykitting it!

The "Transam lights" evolved into what is now the NZ V8 touring car, so probably not a good example to use. But I know what you are getting at. I personally don't think another new class needs to be created to cater for E36's, rather a new race series for existing BMW race cars- there are LOADS of them around, and certainly enough to support a series. When I was in England there was a series called the "Vecta Fast Fords" and this was essentially a race series with 3 different classes within one race. Class C was 0-1600cc, class B was up to 2000cc and class A was 2000 and over, including hybrids ( as long as they were Ford powered, eg. Cosworth engined Mk2 Escort) I am going to suggest we could run a similar series in NZ, with class C being the E30 series (until numbers grow to a sustainable level) class B could be cars to say 2.8 litre, which would include E36's and E30's, and class A could be 2800 and over, including Hybrids,Group A's, Supertourers, 2002 Turbos etc. This would allow all of the existing BMW race cars somewhere to play, (rather than having to run your M3 group A in the Super GT class and getting your ass kicked) as well as giving scope to build an E36 or whatever (thinking of myself here too of course!) There are a lot of issues with a structure like this, as certain classes will always favour certain combinations of cars/engines,and this is by no means a definitive set of rules, but a starting point anyway.A limit has to be placed on the number of classes, otherwise the classes become too diluted. What do you guys think of this? :confused:

Not sure whether I will go centrelock or not. Probably drill 5 holes in each wheel and bolt them on. Definitely not as cool looking, but a lot less hassle to change wheels, and much cheaper to do. Believe it or not I am trying to be sensible on what I spend on building this, and these wheels were a bargain! Not sure about spoilers yet, might try to find an M3 front bumper and take a mould off the whole bumper/spoiler so I can make a lightweight one out of carbon, and rear I dunno yet.

and another......

E30 Supertourer look?

Just got my wheels today, nothing like a few spares!..........

water pipes to the two front radiators, and the blue cap is an air bleed.

Might have a large case LSD diff in an E36 subframe (E36 M3) for sale if you need one. Someone has dibs on it at the moment, but not sure that he will take it. Love the "Judge!"

The last of the Diet Coke cars were this spec, isn't that what Dennis has? Only made them for one year like this, was designed in a big rush by Mclaren instead of BMW Motorsport, but really effective.Quite radical compared with earlier versions.

We were waiting for you to buy the trademe one, and show us the way!......

go on, do it, you know you want to! :thumb: