It’s not often that a race shop like Bimmerworld opens their doors for the public to come and enjoy everything that they have to offer, certainly not during the season of such a highly competitive racing series like the Continental Tire Sports Car Series. James Clay and his crew did just that! Bimmerworld provided delicious food, tech sessions and of course free stuff during the event on Saturday July 30th!
IMG_6597 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 1 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
BimmerWorld-FinalPost by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Smiling faces and the smell of smoked BBQ in the air greeted us on the morning of the open house. Once we were parked we quickly realized this open house wasn’t just open… it was wide open! We could wander around and make ourselves at home. I decided to head over and check out the new building that Bimmerworld has built that doubles as a shop and a warehouse for stocking parts. Inside we were greeted with all of Bimmerworld’s current year racecars and a wonderful BMW E36 Touring that just happens to be turbocharged and has Motons installed on it. Pressing further past the cars it became apparent why Bimmerworld added this on. They want to have stock for their customers. Rows and rows of bushings, splitters, wings, brakes, exhausts and more, all waiting to be shipped out or installed on customer vehicles. I don’t think Powerflex makes anything more than what Bimmerworld has in stock… there is a lot of urethane on those shelves!
IMG_6461 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
IMG_6514 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 8 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 10 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Connected to this is their new dyno as well. Pulls were available all day as well as tuning on the spot. Multiple E46 M3s made their way through the event and it was a wonderful noise to enjoy during the day. It is a nice add-on as the dyno is completely separate from the rest of the building and shop. It has its own ventilation, fans and door for entry which is nice for those working inside the dyno or those trying to work on the outside!
Bimmerworld Open House 2 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 7 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
IMG_6511 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Moving back over to the main building it is not hard to see that the shop means business. Everything is clean, neat and labeled. Multiple lifts are available to be used for maintenance and installs. Further space is available for storage and the main office building is attached directly to the shop. On display was Bimmerworld’s newest race exhaust. It is a beautiful piece that you need to see in person. Goodies were given away throughout the event and many items were raffled off. I am still trying to get a winning ticket for a race fender… 0 for 3 at this point! Inside the shop Dan from Diffsonline was setup with a tech display where he would answer all your questions and even had a custom diff dissembled so he could show you firsthand how everything inside that diff was working.
IMG_6484 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
IMG_6535 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 9 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
After the crowds had enjoyed the BBQ, Darrick Dong from Performance Friction Brakes put on a tech session that was enlightening. He explained how brakes work, what they can and cannot do and answered questions as we went along. Being one that has tracked my cars, it was definitely a worthwhile tech talk and I, and everyone else, appreciated him taking the time to come out and discuss brakes. I think switching to Performance Friction pads might be in order for the next event!
IMG_6497 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 13 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 12 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
As the event was winding down we were ushered inside the main shop for a little display. Expecting more in depth tech everyone was surprised to see a little magic show put on by an employee. Some card tricks were done(still have no idea how any of this is done) and the crowds were rewarded with more raffles. A successful event was had and the roads around Bimmerworld were alive with the sounds of the BMW Inline 6! Once everything died down a bit we were able to take some photos of the Bimmerworld racecars and ask James Clay, Owner and Driver, of Bimmerworld a few questions:
Bimmerworld Open House 19 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 16 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 18 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 21 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 20 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
MSM - James, First off thank you for hosting the open house for the general public. It is rare that a shop racing in such a competitive series would open the doors like this and I know your fans are going to be happy to see the coverage. How did the day go for you?
James Clay – The open house was wildly busy for me and the rest of our employees. Still in the middle of our race season and having just returned from the Round 9 New Jersey round early in the week made putting everything together a real challenge. But overall, it was great to see so many friends. I was impressed with the number of people that made the drive from longer distances and appreciate the community we have built with our customers.
MSM – The new facility expansion is impressive in person. How does BimmerWorld use the extra capacity for the race team and to service customers?
James Clay – Thanks – we are proud of it! From a customer perspective, the expansion has allowed us to double our inventory in the past few months so we can service our customers even faster directly from our location. We strive to ship same-day and having thousands of square feet of warehouse space allows us to control of the products and process in-house rather than relying on a supplier to meet our exacting demands for customer service. The new dyno facility gives us on-site tuning ability for our customer’s street cars and the racecars we build here, as well as giving us an edge in pro car development. On the race side, the new expansion gives us indoor storage for our transporters as well.
MSM - For those that might be new to Bimmerworld, you run in the Continental Tire Sports Car Racing Series. Can you give us a quick rundown of the rules of this series?
James Clay - The Conti Series is really cool in that the cars aren’t incredibly far away from the stock versions of the car. They are certainly well-prepared racecars with hundreds of hours poured in and lots of development time spent to make them better, but at the end of the process, the parts we develop and knowledge we gain is very relevant for the typical state of tune of our customers’ cars that benefit from the effort with expanded sales team knowledge and parts offerings.
MSM - Bimmerworld has gone from a 2 car team to a 4 car team this season. This is also your first year running the BMW M3. What has been the most difficult in this transition?
James Clay - Development of the M3 against other teams that have had the car in the series for a year or two has certainly been an obstacle, but we are gaining ground. The biggest challenge is the sheer mass of the operation. Doubling the car count takes more than double the number of people to keep it all running smoothly. Luckily, we are surrounded by some great guys on the crew that have all worked hard to make this transition as smooth as possible.
MSM - 2011 has been a tough season going into the last race. What have you learned this year that will help in 2012?
James Clay - Through this season we have put our management structure in place and at this point, the weekends are going quite smoothly. The M3s are gaining pace and once we have time to implement our off-season work, we will be on par with the rest of the field – I am very proud of that accomplishment. We have had a lot of lost opportunities in the ST cars this year but I feel confident that we are very due with these cars.
MSM - Seeing as there is one race left and the season will be over... What does James Clay and Bimmerworld do between the season ending and the January Roar Before the 24?
James Clay - I wish the answer was “relax and enjoy the downtime”, but that is far from the truth. Through a race season, we create a long worklist of items we want to implement but take more time to complete – this is the offseason work. Additionally every car has to be taken down to a bare chassis and gone over thoroughly as it is rebuilt to make sure it is fresh and ready for the coming season – no small task. I go to several trade shows in the off season to look for new products and take advantage of the break in the action to create the specialized parts we make or design here. Not a lot of rest, but we accomplish a lot in those few months!
MSM - Thanks again! We'll see you soon!
IMG_6570 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
IMG_6581 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Check-Out all Bimmerworld has to offer at their site - www.bimmerworld.com
If you like motorsports and are looking for more photos, videos, shop tours and in depth motorsport coverage give a 'like' on our fan page!
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IMG_6597 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 1 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
BimmerWorld-FinalPost by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Smiling faces and the smell of smoked BBQ in the air greeted us on the morning of the open house. Once we were parked we quickly realized this open house wasn’t just open… it was wide open! We could wander around and make ourselves at home. I decided to head over and check out the new building that Bimmerworld has built that doubles as a shop and a warehouse for stocking parts. Inside we were greeted with all of Bimmerworld’s current year racecars and a wonderful BMW E36 Touring that just happens to be turbocharged and has Motons installed on it. Pressing further past the cars it became apparent why Bimmerworld added this on. They want to have stock for their customers. Rows and rows of bushings, splitters, wings, brakes, exhausts and more, all waiting to be shipped out or installed on customer vehicles. I don’t think Powerflex makes anything more than what Bimmerworld has in stock… there is a lot of urethane on those shelves!
IMG_6461 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
IMG_6514 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 8 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 10 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Connected to this is their new dyno as well. Pulls were available all day as well as tuning on the spot. Multiple E46 M3s made their way through the event and it was a wonderful noise to enjoy during the day. It is a nice add-on as the dyno is completely separate from the rest of the building and shop. It has its own ventilation, fans and door for entry which is nice for those working inside the dyno or those trying to work on the outside!
Bimmerworld Open House 2 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 7 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
IMG_6511 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Moving back over to the main building it is not hard to see that the shop means business. Everything is clean, neat and labeled. Multiple lifts are available to be used for maintenance and installs. Further space is available for storage and the main office building is attached directly to the shop. On display was Bimmerworld’s newest race exhaust. It is a beautiful piece that you need to see in person. Goodies were given away throughout the event and many items were raffled off. I am still trying to get a winning ticket for a race fender… 0 for 3 at this point! Inside the shop Dan from Diffsonline was setup with a tech display where he would answer all your questions and even had a custom diff dissembled so he could show you firsthand how everything inside that diff was working.
IMG_6484 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
IMG_6535 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 9 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
After the crowds had enjoyed the BBQ, Darrick Dong from Performance Friction Brakes put on a tech session that was enlightening. He explained how brakes work, what they can and cannot do and answered questions as we went along. Being one that has tracked my cars, it was definitely a worthwhile tech talk and I, and everyone else, appreciated him taking the time to come out and discuss brakes. I think switching to Performance Friction pads might be in order for the next event!
IMG_6497 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 13 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 12 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
As the event was winding down we were ushered inside the main shop for a little display. Expecting more in depth tech everyone was surprised to see a little magic show put on by an employee. Some card tricks were done(still have no idea how any of this is done) and the crowds were rewarded with more raffles. A successful event was had and the roads around Bimmerworld were alive with the sounds of the BMW Inline 6! Once everything died down a bit we were able to take some photos of the Bimmerworld racecars and ask James Clay, Owner and Driver, of Bimmerworld a few questions:
Bimmerworld Open House 19 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 16 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 18 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 21 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Bimmerworld Open House 20 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
MSM - James, First off thank you for hosting the open house for the general public. It is rare that a shop racing in such a competitive series would open the doors like this and I know your fans are going to be happy to see the coverage. How did the day go for you?
James Clay – The open house was wildly busy for me and the rest of our employees. Still in the middle of our race season and having just returned from the Round 9 New Jersey round early in the week made putting everything together a real challenge. But overall, it was great to see so many friends. I was impressed with the number of people that made the drive from longer distances and appreciate the community we have built with our customers.
MSM – The new facility expansion is impressive in person. How does BimmerWorld use the extra capacity for the race team and to service customers?
James Clay – Thanks – we are proud of it! From a customer perspective, the expansion has allowed us to double our inventory in the past few months so we can service our customers even faster directly from our location. We strive to ship same-day and having thousands of square feet of warehouse space allows us to control of the products and process in-house rather than relying on a supplier to meet our exacting demands for customer service. The new dyno facility gives us on-site tuning ability for our customer’s street cars and the racecars we build here, as well as giving us an edge in pro car development. On the race side, the new expansion gives us indoor storage for our transporters as well.
MSM - For those that might be new to Bimmerworld, you run in the Continental Tire Sports Car Racing Series. Can you give us a quick rundown of the rules of this series?
James Clay - The Conti Series is really cool in that the cars aren’t incredibly far away from the stock versions of the car. They are certainly well-prepared racecars with hundreds of hours poured in and lots of development time spent to make them better, but at the end of the process, the parts we develop and knowledge we gain is very relevant for the typical state of tune of our customers’ cars that benefit from the effort with expanded sales team knowledge and parts offerings.
MSM - Bimmerworld has gone from a 2 car team to a 4 car team this season. This is also your first year running the BMW M3. What has been the most difficult in this transition?
James Clay - Development of the M3 against other teams that have had the car in the series for a year or two has certainly been an obstacle, but we are gaining ground. The biggest challenge is the sheer mass of the operation. Doubling the car count takes more than double the number of people to keep it all running smoothly. Luckily, we are surrounded by some great guys on the crew that have all worked hard to make this transition as smooth as possible.
MSM - 2011 has been a tough season going into the last race. What have you learned this year that will help in 2012?
James Clay - Through this season we have put our management structure in place and at this point, the weekends are going quite smoothly. The M3s are gaining pace and once we have time to implement our off-season work, we will be on par with the rest of the field – I am very proud of that accomplishment. We have had a lot of lost opportunities in the ST cars this year but I feel confident that we are very due with these cars.
MSM - Seeing as there is one race left and the season will be over... What does James Clay and Bimmerworld do between the season ending and the January Roar Before the 24?
James Clay - I wish the answer was “relax and enjoy the downtime”, but that is far from the truth. Through a race season, we create a long worklist of items we want to implement but take more time to complete – this is the offseason work. Additionally every car has to be taken down to a bare chassis and gone over thoroughly as it is rebuilt to make sure it is fresh and ready for the coming season – no small task. I go to several trade shows in the off season to look for new products and take advantage of the break in the action to create the specialized parts we make or design here. Not a lot of rest, but we accomplish a lot in those few months!
MSM - Thanks again! We'll see you soon!
IMG_6570 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
IMG_6581 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr
Check-Out all Bimmerworld has to offer at their site - www.bimmerworld.com
If you like motorsports and are looking for more photos, videos, shop tours and in depth motorsport coverage give a 'like' on our fan page!
MotorSportMedia Facebook Fan Page
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