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Pitchblack Motorsports Rally e30 318i (now with M50) - and some Porsche 924S stuff.

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    Originally posted by irish44j View Post
    Also one of the c-clips for the shift linkage was missing so the rod wasn't secure in the bottom of the shifter....happy that didn't fall out!
    My car has been towed home twice in my ownership.

    This was one of those tows.
    We're in deep now boys
    1988 325i SETA - Daily driver
    1988 340iL - Track car
    My M60 V8 swap thread here
    [oo==OO==oo]

    Comment


      Originally posted by dasmanschaft012 View Post
      My car has been towed home twice in my ownership.

      This was one of those tows.
      needless to say, we carry a couple spares in the race kit now :-?
      Stage rally/rallycross e30 build/competition journal
      Track/street e21 build
      visit Condor Speed Shop
      visit Motorsport Hardware



      [FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"] 1985 318i/M50 Rally Car - 1988 Porsche 924S - 2005 Sequoia tow pig - 2018 GTI

      Comment


        Originally posted by irish44j View Post
        needless to say, we carry a couple spares in the race kit now :-?
        I would reccomend replacing with bolts and locknuts and locktite, just dont tighten too hard
        We're in deep now boys
        1988 325i SETA - Daily driver
        1988 340iL - Track car
        My M60 V8 swap thread here
        [oo==OO==oo]

        Comment


          Ok, guess I'll do some updating.

          Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR). Our first multi-day rally, and one of the major ARA national events with all the top drivers and teams there (Higgins, Pastrana, etc).

          We drove up and spent all day Thursday (~10 hours) driving the stages at 25mph in Steve's 4Runner. A long, boring day and about halfway through everything started looking like we had seen it 10 times already. STPR's stages have some cool features but for the most part are very similar to each other other than the first two Waste Management stages (rough and twisty) and the last one Mine Hole (very fast, 24 miles long, and flowing).

          Our start position for the rally was 33rd, right behind the very quick 318ti that Adam Noyes and Kelsey Stone drive. The rally started on the WM stages, whcih we've run at the Winter Rally twice so we know it a bit. But this time it was mostly dry, faster, and extremely rough. We actually put up some decent times here (compared to other cars that beat us badly on the higher-speed stages), once again proving that my driving and car are better suited to tight/technical stuff more than high-speed stuff. No surprise there.

          After the WM stages was the spectator stages, the Super Special, at the fairgrounds. There are basically a pair of head-to-head rallycrosses. On the first day they let us pick "grudge match" opponents so we and Dan Downey (in his 325i) matched up. As the start was in a deep grassy area, we switched to our Maxsport mud/grass tires on the rear to offset Dan's power advantage. As expected they hooked up well and both runs we beat Dan off the start line. I drove very aggressively and on one run we beat Dan and Kevin handily and on the other run it was a lot closer. So, a bit of bragging rights in front of the crowd - but not really, as you'll see later.

          Finished Day 1 with no damage at all other than some dents in the rear exhaust pipe from the big rocks on WM stages. Day 2 was a much longer day, with about 12 total stages. These stages moved to mostly smooth, high-speed logging roads that almost all had a wall of rocks on one side and a sheer drop 100' down into rivers on the other side. Also full of "no cut" turns and trees right on the edges of the road. Basically no room for error, and I took it pretty easy - intending to finish the event rather than push it too hard and make a big mistake at our first STPR. As the day went on we chugged along with no major mistakes, not setting any records but we were basically faster than cars we were seeded ahead of (for the most part) and slower than cars seeded ahead of us. So we ran about as everyone expected to. Again no damage to the car, though we saw a number of other cars badly damaged, and Noyes/Stone blew a hole in their M42 engine which was sad to see (they had won the first regional rally).
          There was another super special that evening, and in the dark we got matched up against Percy Lopez in his STi. His codriver bet Jim money on the result, which made me laugh (300hp AWD vs. 140hp RWD). But what the hell, we had finished the rally so I went full-out on the super special, throwing the car against berms and ruts harder than I've ever done before. And somehow....we beat them. And by a decent margin no less. So that was a fun way to finish a successful event.

          We had a great time seeing a lot of the "rally family" out there, went out for drinks 3 out of the 4 nights at the local watering holes, and met a lot of new people. While Black River last year was a laid-back event in a small town, STPR is really quite the motorsports "festival" of sorts, with thousands of fans out watching, the national teams there (Subaru with their huge tow rigs and giant pit setups). Our crew (Stephen Nichols, Amanda Pemberton, Mike Seitz, and Justin Roth) did a great job - and assisted Downey and Kevin as well, who didn't ahve a crew with them for this event.

          STPR is two separate regional rallies. For the first (Sherwood Forest Rally) we finished in 23rd place out of 31 regional-level cars that started. Dan Downey and Kevin Brolin drove their e30 to a Production 2WD class win (13th overall) - very impressive - and also went huge over the spectator jump.

          For the second rally (Finger Lakes Rally) we finished 14th out of 27 regional-level cars that actually ran it (many cars that had wrecked or broken the first day didn't start the 2nd rally). Soemthing to be said for not crashing or breaking. Downy once again cleaned up with an 11th place performance and winnning his class again. e30 power!
          Also a shout out to our friends Adam Kimmet and Adam Moore (winning the NA Open 4WD class both days), Jon Kramer and Jason Smith right behind them, and Paul Ferreira and Ozgur Simsek winning the Open 4WD regional on Day 2, among others.
          Also, if You'd like to watch vids of any of this (super special or full stages) here is our team video page!










          Last weekend, we had a 2-day rallycross locally (two separate events). Day 1 I switched fromt he M3 rear springs to soem stock IX springs in order to do some testing. The car was sloppy early as I learned the softer rear end and I lost a bit of time and couldn't quite catch up, finishing 3rd in a 12-car class just over a second out of first. Decent showing, as DC Mod RWD class is getting super-competitive with any of about 8 drivers able to win any given event.

          Second day I was the first car on course, and disaster - missed a gate near the beginning as the pointer cones could not be seen in the tall grass and I missed the gate entirely. Dammit. Down 12 seconds after one run. Previous event winner Stephen Nichols did the same thing at the same gate the next run. So for the rest of the day he and I drove all-out trying to play catch up. By the end of the day both of use had clawed back from the bottom (11th/12th) to 4th and 5th position. But knowing that this would be a "drop" event for me and not wanting to get "slop points" that would bump my start position up for future events, on my last run I crossed the start line, stopped, watied 20 seconds, and then drove the course (intentionally). This bumped me down to 8th place and lowered my total season points, meaning the next event I'll start 5th in class rather than 1st or 2nd. This is important, especialy when there is tall grass on course and/or the water truck is used to reduce dust. We'll see how this strategty works out.
          So....that's about it for that. Haven't done much to the car other than some suspension changes (will talk about those next week), and the East Coast Championships is coming up in 3-4 weeks, hosted here , so taht will be fun.

          I'll fill this post back in with more pics when I get a chance!
          Stage rally/rallycross e30 build/competition journal
          Track/street e21 build
          visit Condor Speed Shop
          visit Motorsport Hardware



          [FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"] 1985 318i/M50 Rally Car - 1988 Porsche 924S - 2005 Sequoia tow pig - 2018 GTI

          Comment


            Congrats on the solid finish at STPR, and that jump pic is great!

            So on day 2 of rally-x did you switch back to M3 springs in the rear?

            ________________________1988 528e Rally-xmobile___________________
            2014 WDCR Rally-X MR Season Champion, 2014 NE Div. Challenge MR Winner

            Comment


              Originally posted by 95maxrider View Post
              Congrats on the solid finish at STPR, and that jump pic is great!

              So on day 2 of rally-x did you switch back to M3 springs in the rear?
              I thought about it, but damn it was hot and didn't want to bother. If you take away my off-course penalty (and the cone I got while being angry about it and driving like a wild man), my total time would have been within a second or so of the class winner (Neil, who beat Sennett by 0.08 seconds on his last run for the win).

              Car felt odd due to the tall/stiff springs up front and the shorter/soft springs in the rear. Phase two of this test will be to change to 200# front springs (replacing the 250# springs on there now) in the front, later this week once they come in. These changes, I'll note, are directly oriented toward stage rally - not rallycross. We had too much rate at STPR in the bumpy sections and I'm trying to see how I can calm the car down. It may (or may not) hurt rallycross performance. It defintely doesn't feel as good on the softer springs, but it may be just as fast. we'll see.

              I also need to pull my rear trailing arms and get some grease into the bushings. They are squeaking something fierce now that it's hot and dusty. That will not be a fun job, and not sure if I can get it done before the next event (mom just had surgery so will need to take the fam down to visit in the next week or two). Also may have a sticking brake caliper so need to pull that off and check it out. Little things that need inspection after a stage rally. Plus the spring swap.

              Also bent a wheel AT THE RALLYCROSS, one of my weaves :( .....as the first car on course, I got to "discover" a rock in the tall grass section we were cutting out, which apparently nobody noticed on walk-through or drive through. That wheel ran 160+ miles of STPR with no issues and then gets bent immediately on my first rallycross run. Figures!

              Did you figure out the engine stand? ;)
              Stage rally/rallycross e30 build/competition journal
              Track/street e21 build
              visit Condor Speed Shop
              visit Motorsport Hardware



              [FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"] 1985 318i/M50 Rally Car - 1988 Porsche 924S - 2005 Sequoia tow pig - 2018 GTI

              Comment


                Also, Downey one-upped all of the 2WD cars (and most of the AWD cars) with his jump. Flatout....major distance and height...

                Stage rally/rallycross e30 build/competition journal
                Track/street e21 build
                visit Condor Speed Shop
                visit Motorsport Hardware



                [FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"] 1985 318i/M50 Rally Car - 1988 Porsche 924S - 2005 Sequoia tow pig - 2018 GTI

                Comment


                  Originally posted by irish44j View Post
                  Also bent a wheel AT THE RALLYCROSS, one of my weaves :( .....as the first car on course, I got to "discover" a rock in the tall grass section we were cutting out, which apparently nobody noticed on walk-through or drive through. That wheel ran 160+ miles of STPR with no issues and then gets bent immediately on my first rallycross run. Figures!

                  Did you figure out the engine stand? ;)
                  Well that sucks! Damn.

                  Yeah, the engine is safely on the stand, just gotta order parts and play the waiting game.

                  So, I take it you probably won't be available come by with your welder to fix up my skid plate u-brace any time soon....

                  ________________________1988 528e Rally-xmobile___________________
                  2014 WDCR Rally-X MR Season Champion, 2014 NE Div. Challenge MR Winner

                  Comment


                    you mean the unfinished welds? I mean, I certainly wouldn't worry about it for rallycross at the farm if that's what you mean. If you were doing stage, that would be another story.
                    Stage rally/rallycross e30 build/competition journal
                    Track/street e21 build
                    visit Condor Speed Shop
                    visit Motorsport Hardware



                    [FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"] 1985 318i/M50 Rally Car - 1988 Porsche 924S - 2005 Sequoia tow pig - 2018 GTI

                    Comment


                      Originally posted by irish44j View Post
                      Also, Downey one-upped all of the 2WD cars (and most of the AWD cars) with his jump. Flatout....major distance and height...
                      That looks like it'd hurt.
                      I wonder if they were designed with doing that in mind? Probably not. But who cares
                      sigpic

                      (clicky on piccy to get to thread)

                      Comment


                        So I guess I'm over due for an update here. Two weeks ago was the SCCA East Coast Championships, run by the national office. I won this event last year by mere tenths of a second over John England in his Miata, at our old gravel venue in Frostburg. Also there, I will note, was Vaughn Micchie, a relative newcomer to rallycross in a stripped-down Porsche 924S, who finished 7th or 8th, as I recall.



                        Fast forward to this year. DC once again hosted the event, but this time at our new venue, the Rally Farm. Rally Farm is not gravel. It has a surface, as you might expect, of a farm field. So far this year it has proven to be a difficult locale for me, as I think higher-powered cars benefit a bit more here vs. frostburg, where the gravel negated traction. Indeed, I haven't won a DC regional event YET this season after winning 5 last year. Not sure if that's the surface, me getting slower, or the other guys just getting faster (most likely).


                        (faye chilcote photo)

                        Anyhow, this event had over 70 entries - including the aforementioned England and Micchie, as well as the large and fast local crew, mostly in e30s, who have been dogging me all season. England, after last year's loss, added a supercharger to his Miata and went on to win the SCCA national championship in 2016. Vaughn continued to develp his car, stripping it of all but the rallycross necessities and getting a ton of practice in up north at Team O'Neill rally school and other venues. Vaughn showed up with his car probably the most-prepped-to-mod-RWD-class car I've ever seen. Bare shell, all glass replaced with lexan (except windshield). No interior, one seat, no bumper, no lights, gutted hood and doors, no accessories, some remote-reservoir dampers, a couple good sets of tires, etc. I'd guesstimate his car is pretty near 2000lbs now, still with the 165hp 944 engine, and a weight distribution that is probably about 52-54% REAR biased. He's really built the truly ultimate rwd rallycross car (no offence to the miata guys).

                        Vaughn


                        So anyhow, our class had 14 cars (largest class there) and it was sure to be a shootout. And it was. We ran first in the morning, in wet grass and some mud and Vaughn put that weight distro and drive wheel traction to good use, jumping out to a several-second lead after the first couple runs. England, meanwhile, was fast but picked up 5 cones on his first run (and would pick up 5 more through the rest of the event). The rest of us spun some tires, slid in some mud, but were low-cone-count and not super fast. By lunch on the first day I was sitting in 6th or 7th behind those two guys and a bunch of e30s....so, the usual for me :/





                        As the day dried out, England and I clawed our way back up - both of us with early deficits and nothing to lose. At the end of the day, Vaughn's lead was down to 3 or 4 seconds, and I was in 2nd, a few tenths ahead of England with a couple local e30s right on my tail.

                        England



                        Chris Nonack in his stage XRatty, killing cones everywhere with boooooost...



                        Josh Sennett, in the hunt



                        I will mention about course design: The first day's course was designed by a former national champion from the midwest. I personally didn't think it flowed well and it had a couple "gotcha" parts that did "get" some people. I don't think many people were a huge fan of it, to be honest. Not that I can say if it made me slower or faster - it just wasn't much fun.

                        e30 croo



                        Jeremy doing something on his e36



                        Day 2 course was designed by local FWD hotshoe and autocrosser Andy Thomas. Andy is all about flow and linking turns, and true to form the Sunday course was a lot of fun and really allowed everyone to get their rhythms on course. We helped Andy a bit with the night setup (ok, we drank beer and hooned around in Eisele's car in a field - not at the same time!)







                        Andy testing the course



                        So we battled. I don't have the times on-hand at the moment, but my recollection was that England put down THE fastest times in the class, but kept picking up cones. With it dried out, Vaughn's advantage was less and we were slowly catching him, albeit by tenths of a second at a time. In the end, not enough runs left and Vaughn won it, with England a couple seconds back and me a second behind England. Local Eric Eisele in his 325i was right behind me, and several more e30s right behind him battling it out to the last run.



                        So that's that....great weather, a good time and I enjoyed seeing everyone out there and competitive. MR class on this half of the country is truly, in my opinion, the deepest field in terms of class parity. And that was without former national champ Evan Arthur and Pete Remner there, as they decided not to trek out from Ohio as they had the previous year.

                        --
                        Spent the next day thinking about little mistakes that cost a few seconds and the win for me - though I'm sure everyone else has siimilar thoughts. Then decided what the hell, let's tow up to Harrisburg for the Susquehanna Region Northeast Divisional event. Never been there before, so why not. Plus, Vaughn stayed local and was signed up before heading back up north home, so another chance against him.

                        To make it more fun, Shawn Roberts (miata) and Jeremy (e36 328i) from DC came up (having gone 1-2 at Easterns in PR class) and decided to run MR class. Add in Bee and Theresa Thao in a supercharged Miata, Katie Orgler co-driving with Shawn, and two guys in a beat-up BMW 2002 and it looked to be a fun field.





                        Another stage car :)



                        So the Harrisburg Farm Show field is fairly hilly. And it's not all that big. So the course started on a wet/grassy uphill and the course was ridiculously tight. I mean....tighter than the smallest autocross parking lot I've ever been to. No place to get any real speed. Even the small cars spent a lot of time wildly spinning the steering wheels to lock to make tight turns, with not enough speed to trail brake/rotate many cars. Must have been hell for the Subaru guys there.



                        But such is life, and we run nonetheless. At least the weather was perfect and hung out with cool people, as usual.

                        MR class







                        From the first run, it was clear Vaughn had it. On the uphill wet start and other uphills, he absolutely annihilated all of the other MR cars, and by lunch break he had a 14 SECOND lead over Shawn, who I generally consider to be one of the best rallycross drivers I know. I think I was in 3rd at the time. After lunch, though, I think we all knew it was a lost cause tryin to catch Vaughn (though he did lose his exhaust on one run), so the rest of the class just started swapping cars on every run since none of us were going for divisional points (Vaughn was).

                        So, I got to drive Jeremy's e36 (working A/C, pretty heavy, awesome traction on new Hoosier Rally Tires, and amazing torque that was never lacking at any speed). And I finally got to drive a Miata on a rallycross course. Shawn and Katie's "unicorn car." First time I'd ever driven a Miata anywhere, ever. And I immediately put down a time pretty much the same as in my own car the run before. Well, that's discouraging. The Miata slides so predictably, and answers every wheel movement. All I had to do was throttle steer half the time. If Shawn actually ahd some decent belts in that car (aluminum seat with stock seatbelt so I was banging around int he car over every bumpy area) I coudl probably have knocked a couple more seconds off....

                        My last run back in my car I pushed and got back 3 second, so I can still drive it faster I guess.....

                        The unicorn


                        Shawn and Jeremy trying out Bee's supercharged Miata



                        Other random cars there



                        So......that covers that. No more rallycross until September, after we get back from Black River Stages. The car held up well to the last two events with no issues, so I'll be tinkering a it but probobaly mostly working on the Porsche and continuing to fix annoying shit that keeps going bad on my 150k WRX.......
                        Last edited by irish44j; 07-17-2017, 06:40 PM.
                        Stage rally/rallycross e30 build/competition journal
                        Track/street e21 build
                        visit Condor Speed Shop
                        visit Motorsport Hardware



                        [FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"] 1985 318i/M50 Rally Car - 1988 Porsche 924S - 2005 Sequoia tow pig - 2018 GTI

                        Comment


                          There is an August 19th Event at Susquehanna I'm thinking of going to. July to September is a long stretch.
                          AWD > RWD

                          Comment


                            Yeah, may or may not roll up there. At this point, time to spend some time on other projects and make sure the car is 100% good to go for BRS!
                            Stage rally/rallycross e30 build/competition journal
                            Track/street e21 build
                            visit Condor Speed Shop
                            visit Motorsport Hardware



                            [FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"] 1985 318i/M50 Rally Car - 1988 Porsche 924S - 2005 Sequoia tow pig - 2018 GTI

                            Comment


                              This one is so awesome to read. Amazing thread! Hat's off to you Sir.
                              What engine is inside that awesome looking e36 with hoosier rally tyres?

                              Comment


                                That car is almost entirely stock, other than the tires and a few other things. Jeremy just picked it up. He was previously driving an e36 318i that more or less rusted into pieces (literally). It even still has working A/C (jealous)....

                                Reminds me I have some updates to make on this thread. We're departing tomorrow for Black River Stages so will do a catch-up after I get back!
                                Stage rally/rallycross e30 build/competition journal
                                Track/street e21 build
                                visit Condor Speed Shop
                                visit Motorsport Hardware



                                [FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"] 1985 318i/M50 Rally Car - 1988 Porsche 924S - 2005 Sequoia tow pig - 2018 GTI

                                Comment

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