E30 RALLY (for lack of a better title)

[iamsam]

So I rallied my E30 a few weeks back, and FINALLY got these dang pictures..... My buddy Mike (MasterOfPuppets) is driving the Jeep.

All pics and vid credit goes to Ross Odegaard (monkeytaco)


























Here is the rally circuit we raced on, it is approx 2 miles long, and has some awesome elevation change, and a number of 30 degree banked corners, which was awesome.



Specs on my E30:

1991 318is
H&R Race/Bilstien Sport
Full poly bushings, poly IE RSMs
Stock powertrain
Stock exhaust
K&N cone filter
E30 M3 LSD

Yep, my suspension SUCKED on the rally track, I had my car set up for autocross and (paved) track (I have Kosei K1s for that), but decided to try this as a whim. Turned out to be EPIC, so now I want to build a dedicated rally E30. It is also sarcastically cheaper than track driving. As a matter of fact, I just picked up a late 325is that Mike (MasterOfPuppets) and I will build into a stage rally car, and he will compete with it in Rally America. Build thread coming soon(ish).

I also fabbed up a pretty hefty skidplate for my 318is for this rally, costed me about $80 total, and was the single most useful piece on the car that day. Sorry, I didn't take pics of the process, but I can get some pics of my skidplate if people are interested.

SKIDPLATE:

Here is the quick image of the SolidWorks model I tossed together to send to the metal fab company. They just cut me a square sheet and bent it up, I had to drill holes for mounting, and cut out a square hole to clear part of the steering rack. These measurements are rough, I literally crawled under my car with a tape measure to take these measurements. Turned out to work ok, actually. It sat pretty close to the oil pan, but I think that is because I tried un-bending that long 30ish degree bend, because I thought it needed to un-bend a little. Apparently it didn't. Anyway....




VIDEOS

Now, I have no idea how to embed, so here are the links:

First vids are of the rallycross course (read: slow and boring, you can skip these first ones if you want)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAlwiokwi7s

My first run, utterly useless, I couldn't maintain any control of the car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7dxfumMcr4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYzBbAtlWX8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehYS9dHuwSc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCZxpugm2RE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v9ZPpcCH-s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOUIliMLfhg


These vids are from the circuit. (read: awesome)

First one is Mike losing control and biffing off the track. Too bad Ross's camera couldn't seem to focus until the last second, and there isn't really too much to see anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-Hyl8sIjkQ
Same episode, different camera and cameraman (me):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuzyqKNtHvE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gClvXiYJrYk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyAqLymKA0E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dh2S06S7o4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGh3i486eh8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgsclPkKg50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtsXaWZmMT0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vkORP5u1fs
...and my favorite one (of myself, anyway)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY3EQKRbrtk

[JasonC]

Looks like a BLAST!!!!

[Harry's E30]

Thats awesome, ive always thought rally would be fun to try out.

[e30mybaby]

thats awesome dude! i plan on building a e30 rally car someday for rally america!

[freeride53]

Looks like a lot of fun.

[ck_taft325is]

Definitely interested in that skid plate. I've always wanted to build a dirt rat.

[xLegendOZWest]

awesome

[iamsam]

updated 1st post w/ skidplate info

[jasonsnoddy]

so when do you start production on those plates ;)

[HR2L]

Now thats what I call "Ridin' Dirty!" the German General Lee! :p

[iamsam]

so when do you start production on those plates ;)

ha ha !!

I will have to finalize the design first, for rally, honestly, I would want a thicker steel than 11ga, you can hit some stuff pretty hard. This one served me well this time, but has a decent dent pushed into it, and I am not confident enough that if it WAS spaced away from the oilpan, that it would actually absorb an impact with solid ground and not yield all the way to the oil pan.

Don't get me wrong, this plate I made is solid, and super heavy duty, but it's isn't quite strong enough to throw a jack underneath it and jack the car up with it. For that, though, I may need to integrate some bars into the plate.

[ck_taft325is]

ha ha !!

I will have to finalize the design first, for rally, honestly, I would want a thicker steel than 11ga, you can hit some stuff pretty hard. This one served me well this time, but has a decent dent pushed into it, and I am not confident enough that if it WAS spaced away from the oilpan, that it would actually absorb an impact with solid ground and not yield all the way to the oil pan.

Don't get me wrong, this plate I made is solid, and super heavy duty, but it's isn't quite strong enough to throw a jack underneath it and jack the car up with it. For that, though, I may need to integrate some bars into the plate.

That would be amazing.

[jasonsnoddy]

like a combination raceskid/peerless plate. that would be sweet!

[iamsam]

updated fist post with VIDEOS!!

Check out the circuit ones, they are waaay better than the rallycross ones. btw, I am never doing rallycross again, the circuit is soooo much better on so many levels.

Also, I need my E30 to be louder. The stock exhaust doesn't suit it well when hooning around the dirt track. Mike's Jeep is straight piped btw, doesn't sound too bad at high revs imo.

I also need to grow a set and go faster.

[MasterOfPuppets]

I'm glad I at least made one decent pass through that S-turn while Ross was taping. There's no pressure like an ultra-high-def camera staring you in the face!