'Ring Weapon of Choice?

[Mr. Tasty]

Curious what you ended up with?

A huge black dildo.

[Eric]

Curious what you ended up with?

[Hooffenstein HD]

Personally I would keep it simple. E46 325ci. Common and cheap, no exotic parts to break. With a few cheap mods like suspension and tyres it should be blast.

Example. http://www.ebay.de/itm/BMW-325-Ci-Kl...item51b2c0fd5b

[MikeLenoch5]

]Don't care if you ship a car back or not... for purely driving on the ring, a newer car would be a better choice than an old one. However you cited shipping costs being to much, yet the cost of racing is not? As a student too??? Unless your doing a year of understudy with the retired Michael as your tutor and financier, I don't see how you can consider w2w racing cheaper than RORO shipping.
[/B]


Actually.

In 2010 I was working on my DMSB licensee to co-drive an E30 in one of the 6 hour VLN races but unfortunetly a deployment to Afghanistan derailed that opportunity.

Part of the "gentleman agreement" I had with the car owner was that if I ball the car up, it was on me to repair or replace it. If somebody were to smash into me, I would have to pay for the repair/replacement as well. This was a minimum 5000€ possible cost. Approx 450€ for the license, 800€ for racing suit/shoes/underwear/helmet. $800 for HANS device (required by wife) 400€ entrance fee's and another 500€ in fuel/tires/brakes and other consumables.

With the personal experience I had in the journey to become a "gentleman driver," I'm sure you can now understand how ludicrous it is to me to think that shipping a car is too expensive, but pay to play racing isn't. Plus this was in a crap can E30! I'd assume those 128's are 30,000€ cars. RSR doesn't fool around with prepping their cars, and I'd guess that my cost estimate is low.



You are taking a huge risk thinking that you will NOT damage the car during a race. I wish you the best, but that could be an expensive mistake.



Sometimes the truth is crisp.



318 tourings are M40's unless the motor has been swapped.

I am fortunate enough that my grandfather has saved enough to send me to college. Thus, the money I saved for the past couple of years, made from selling my S54 and earned this summer mean that I can afford to race wheel-to-wheel in VLN, buy a car and track it on the 'Ring.

I have already bought all the necessary driving equipment. And I didn't buy all of it just so I can tool around in a VLN car I have no idea how to drive. I do NASA HPDE 4 and have completed a Skip Barber 3-day Racing School. And I realize this does not at all mean I am the best driver in the world, or on any track, anywhere. However, this does mean I am not absolutely clueless behind the wheel. In addition, I will seek out instruction for driving on the 'Ring.

Dale told me directly all I DO need to participate in a VLN race is an American International C license.

OK and just to show you that I can listen, what modern rear-wheel-drive car would you recommend?

[Eric]

Not shipping a car back. I said that.

Don't care if you ship a car back or not... for purely driving on the ring, a newer car would be a better choice than an old one. However you cited shipping costs being to much, yet the cost of racing is not? As a student too??? Unless your doing a year of understudy with the retired Michael as your tutor and financier, I don't see how you can consider w2w racing cheaper than RORO shipping.

I'm guessing this is the first time you've heard of "gentleman drivers" who -- pay a great deal of money, and despite their lack of skill -- keep race teams afloat. I will not be a full 'Ring noob by the time I race in LATE 2014. I will get instruction and make many, many trips to do Touristenfahrentage before I set foot in a race car for VLN.

Actually.

In 2010 I was working on my DMSB licensee to co-drive an E30 in one of the 6 hour VLN races but unfortunetly a deployment to Afghanistan derailed that opportunity.

Part of the "gentleman agreement" I had with the car owner was that if I ball the car up, it was on me to repair or replace it. If somebody were to smash into me, I would have to pay for the repair/replacement as well. This was a minimum 5000€ possible cost. Approx 450€ for the license, 800€ for racing suit/shoes/underwear/helmet. $800 for HANS device (required by wife) 400€ entrance fee's and another 500€ in fuel/tires/brakes and other consumables.

With the personal experience I had in the journey to become a "gentleman driver," I'm sure you can now understand how ludicrous it is to me to think that shipping a car is too expensive, but pay to play racing isn't. Plus this was in a crap can E30! I'd assume those 128's are 30,000€ cars. RSR doesn't fool around with prepping their cars, and I'd guess that my cost estimate is low.

And the teams don't care about experience so long as you pay them and don't wreck the car. I spoke to Dale Lomas already and we talked about pricing for a seat for one race and it's rather reasonable.

You are taking a huge risk thinking that you will NOT damage the car during a race. I wish you the best, but that could be an expensive mistake.

Thanks for your wealth of encouragement.

Sometimes the truth is crisp.

I'm looking at a 318i touring. M42s are reliable though?

318 tourings are M40's unless the motor has been swapped.

[E30_Pare]

Theres a guy out here that shipped his 100k mini over just to track all over Europe hit the ring of course.

early 316s are carb'd m10s

[MikeLenoch5]

From what I remember the m40 is a terrible engine. Can't remember if the 316 is an m10 or an m40.

I'm looking at a 318i touring. M42s are reliable though?

[MikeLenoch5]

Well - even if you're not going to ship it back, I think it would be fun to daily something we don't get in the states. How many other opportunities will you get to do so?

Yes, but I'd rather save my money for something like a G-Series 911 down the road. I could always buy Mike Solo's Peugeot 205 GTI, which he's selling in the 'States as well.

[MikeLenoch5]

This makes no sense on so many levels...

-It's too expensive to ship a car ($1500) yet your going to be racing?
-your a complete ring noob, yet you'll be racing for a company that rents its cars to hundreds of people a year that have much much more experience than you. I'm sure their pool of possible drivers is a line out the door if they asked.
-You dont want a BMW even though tons of people said it's a very good choice, then you decide on getting the absolute worse E30 possible?


This thread is nearly as much of a waste of time as those "I'm going to germany, what should I bring back from junk yards" threads.:hitler:

Not shipping a car back. I said that.

I'm guessing this is the first time you've heard of "gentleman drivers" who -- pay a great deal of money, and despite their lack of skill -- keep race teams afloat. I will not be a full 'Ring noob by the time I race in LATE 2014. I will get instruction and make many, many trips to do Touristenfahrentage before I set foot in a race car for VLN.

And the teams don't care about experience so long as you pay them and don't wreck the car. I spoke to Dale Lomas already and we talked about pricing for a seat for one race and it's rather reasonable.

Thanks for your wealth of encouragement.

[Eric]

This makes no sense on so many levels...

-It's too expensive to ship a car ($1500) yet your going to be racing?
-your a complete ring noob, yet you'll be racing for a company that rents its cars to hundreds of people a year that have much much more experience than you. I'm sure their pool of possible drivers is a line out the door if they asked.
-You dont want a BMW even though tons of people said it's a very good choice, then you decide on getting the absolute worse E30 possible?


This thread is nearly as much of a waste of time as those "I'm going to germany, what should I bring back from junk yards" threads.:hitler:

[word is bond]

Well - even if you're not going to ship it back, I think it would be fun to daily something we don't get in the states. How many other opportunities will you get to do so?

[Wh33lhop]

From what I remember the m40 is a terrible engine. Can't remember if the 316 is an m10 or an m40.

[MikeLenoch5]

There's been a slight change of plans.

Now that I've found out about the cost to ship a car back to the 'States (a.k.a. too much), I think I'm going to have to unfortunately ditch the Peugeot 205 GTI idea.

Also, (and forgive me if it sounds pretentious, but it's true) the team owner of the Rent4Ring VLN race team, Dale Lomas (who you may know as Nürburgring Dale) from whom I plan to buy a seat next year recommended I get a RWD car to train for the team's 128i when I race for them.

With that being said, the plan is to get something that is not necessarily Euro-spec, as I will sell it before I go home.

The requirements (from most important to least) now are:

1. Rear-wheel drive
2. manual transmission
3. Very reliable
4. 2,700 Euro or less
5. large enough cargo capacity for spare track four wheels and tires
6. good handling and fun-to-drive
7. fuel-efficient
8. the smaller the better
9. low-power (for safety purposes as I am a complete 'Ring noob)


I was considering an NA Miata, and I'm all for that (apart from its shifter, which I'm not a fan of), yet it doesn't have enough cargo space. I'm looking at a 316i E30 with 96k miles, which I am considering as well, but I am unfamiliar with how reliable the 316i is.

Any other recommendations?

[MikeLenoch5]

I like this advice, and seems logical.

I would go a different route. I wouldn't purchase a car especially a used one to take on the ring, unless I was bringing it home afterwards.

See: James Crivellone with his E30 Touring.

That is what I'm planning.

Looking into Peugeot 205 GTIs now. Anyone know if the 1.6 is a major no-no?

I've found one for about half the price of a 1.9 with relatively low kilometers. The issue is that it's 1.3 seconds slower to 60 and about 25kg heavier -- but considering I'm going to be on the most dangerous course in the world, I don't think crashing into my fiery demise any faster than I need to sounds like such a bad thing.

So that leaves out reliability -- does anyone know if the 1.6s are any less reliable than 1.9s? I'll ask on the Pug forums as well in case no one here knows, which I'm fully anticipating.

[MikeLenoch5]

Bro, do you even nordschleife?


And for op.. They make things called airplanes, ever heard of them?

Whatever could this "flying" thing you speak of be?!

"I have no idea how I got here..."