Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[mike.bmw]

BMW CCA National Capital Chapter Summit Point Shenandoah HPDE

This past weekend I attended BMW CCA NCC's Shenandoah HPDE. It was a 2 day HPDE with 8 ~25 minute track sessions and a mix of skidpad and classroom time. Summit Point's Shenandoah circuit is one of my favorite tracks. It takes me back to 2007 and my first experience in a BMW: spending a day continuously lapping the Nurburgring in a race-prepped 1995 318ti. Summit Point's Shenandoah circuit has a smaller scale replica of the Nurburgring's famous Karussel. Every time I run through the Karussel in my m42 powered 318is I recall the day at the Nurburgring in that M42 powered 318ti.

The weekend went really well. I had a great instructor, the weather was perfect, I learned a ton, and I had an extraordinary amount of fun. My friend Garret attended with his over-the-top 2016 Chevy SS so it was fun hanging out with him.

Since my last 2 day HPDE at Shenandoah last fall, I've made a few improvements to the car. New wheels with better tires, complete suspension overhaul, and a new exhaust. The changes to the car were a huge improvement on the track. The new tires were obviously leaps and bounds better than the all-seasons I ran last year. Despite the new suspension increasing the ride height, the new springs and shocks pair well together to give a firmer ride and increase my confidence in the car's abilities. The brakes held up really well until the end of the last session when they showed some signs of fading. I'll be changing the fluid and pads in the coming weeks (#VintagePrep2020).

My 318is was the least powerful car in the group by a good margin, so I spent most of the weekend giving point-bys in the designated passing zones. However, on the last session of the last day I did manage to finally receive a point-by. I spent a number of laps reeling in a 340i GT. Here's a video of the culmination of that exchange:

After I got home Sunday night the car was filthy from nearly 180 miles of track time and the time of the wet skid pad. My daughter, Avery, was excited to hear all about the weekend so we talked about it while washing the car and unpacking all the gear. Later in the evening I showed her some more videos of the various sessions. One of my favorite sessions was a "passing" track exercise. I was paired with the 2nd least powerful car in the group and we had to trade as many passes in the designated passing zones as possible throughout the 25 minutes on the track. This lead to a lot of chasing and being chased in the non-passing zones which was a TON of fun. I'll post a video of that at some point.

I could probably write about this for days, but I'll just post up some photos instead:

Update: More photos can be seen here.

Paddock by mike.bevels, on Flickr

KarusselConessions by mike.bevels, on Flickr

SkidPadM3_2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Traffic by mike.bevels, on Flickr

ImportVsDomestic2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

E36M3 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

SkidPadM3_1 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

JacksonAllen135is by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Karussel by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Skidpad318is by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0534 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0535 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0539 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0547 copy1 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0491 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0562 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[Albie325]

Sweet! Glad it worked out Mike

[mike.bmw]

I knocked out a few e30 related things today.

1. Let it be known that Albie325 is an awesome individual. I've really enjoyed following his thread here. He hooked me up with some OEM grill foam, which I received earlier this week in the mail. Today I removed the old stuff, cleaned the adhesion surface, and cut/installed the new foam.

Old foam coming off:



New happy foam installed:



Thanks Albie! You rock!

2. HPDE Tech Inspection and Alignment performed by RRT!



As I've said a number of times, RRT is great. They perform free tech inspections for BMW CCA NCC HPDEs, of which I'm attending in a few weeks. My car passed.

While I was there I had them perform an alignment. Results:



While I was there I saw my first M1 in person. I was floored. Never thought I'd see one of these in real life. I chatted with the owner for a minute and watched it drive away. Apparently it's 1 of only 4 in that color. Super cool.

[ATL_E30]

Vintage is going to be May 15th-17th I believe. I went to my first one this past year and I’m already excited for next years! Vintage prep starts now! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Albie325]

What are the dates for the Vintage? Can't seem to find it online and want to request off of work now so I don't miss another one.

Also, very jealous of your C&C's, I wish we had something like that around the Raleigh area. I haven't been able to come across much on the local interwebs.

[fresh_TD]

Where is vintage again? Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Asheville, NC Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[jeenyus]

Where is vintage again? Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[columbo_01]

Nice pics Mike. As always, very clean e30.

[mike.bmw]

The Vintage 2020

I booked my room at the Clarion! I'll be bringing my wife. My kids will have 3 spoiled/pampered days at Grandma's house. Very excited to attend my first Vintage!

HPDE Prep

I'm registered for the 2 day BMW CCA NCC HPDE next month. I'll be taking my car to RRT for the required tech inspection (RRT does this for free) and an alignment (because I still haven't done this).

What's that smell?

I've been tracking down an intermittent fuel smell. I tightened down all the hose clamps in the engine bay. I inspected under the rear seat. Everything looks good and the smell hasn't come back. Very clean under the rear seat!



Dash Protection

After swapping in a crack free dash nearly 2 years ago, I've become very dash-crack conscious. I apply 303 on a regular basis. I always use a sunshade when parked. I picked up a Dashmat (limited version from Covercraft). The fitment is so-so. It does a good job of keeping the dash cool while driving on long trips in direct sun. It rolls up and stored easily when not in use. For $35 shipped from Advance Auto Parts, it's not a bad deal.



Garage Organization

I've found some time to thoroughly go through my garage and organize it. Things are binned by type (paints, lubricants, new car parts, old car parts, and so on). I moved a few things around based on frequency of access. It's always nice to work in a clean, organized garage.



Fresh_TD snapped this when I was leaving C&C the other day.



And I got this one parked near his super clean E21.

[dmanb2b]

Looks great Mike!

[mike.bmw]

Haha nice! Better safe than sorry. Jealous of your “correct” 318is Natur perforated sport seats and beautiful shape. My sport seats (though saved my life in my old car’s wreck) are ugly Pearl beige.

Thanks! The seats are in pretty good condition, except the driver's side bolster next to the door. The vinyl is cracking and needs to be replaced. I may just replace that section if I can find something that matches. I think the Pearl Beige looks good too!

Nice work with the extinguisher, been thinking about installing one and this is one of the nicer, cleaner setups I've seen

Thanks! The mount has been solid and rattle free. The only change I've made is I've rotated the extinguisher so the handle would face the floor. It's pretty much out of sight, but still easy to access. The only modification I had to make to the bracket was cutting off the ends of the U shaped brackets. Ideally I'd make new brackets that would fit/reach UNDER the sliders so that the bracket wouldn't prevent full forward movement. Either mounting option, the extinguisher would be in the way so the seat can never go fully forward.

[Albie325]

Nice work with the extinguisher, been thinking about installing one and this is one of the nicer, cleaner setups I've seen

[freeride53]

Haha nice! Better safe than sorry. Jealous of your “correct” 318is Natur perforated sport seats and beautiful shape. My sport seats (though saved my life in my old car’s wreck) are ugly Pearl beige.

[jeenyus]

Thanks, all!







Respectfully disagree. ;D



This is exactly how I want my car to sit. I spent a significant amount of time researching springs, shocks, mounts, etc and refurbished most of the suspension. If I did go the coilover route, I'd raise the car to it's current height, pick dampening settings similar to the Bilsteins on the car, and choose a spring rate similar to the H&R OE Sport Springs. :)



I don't disagree that a lowered E30 looks great, but it's just not something I want to do with this car.

I can respect that.

I have a super low car and I don't like it, but I do like the performance it yeilds in certain driving conditions. To find the sweet spot between those two is what I'm referring to I guess. For example my e91 is on stock suspension and the height is perfect, but definitely needs some stiffer springs and that's hard to get without dropping the car a little. Coilovers I feel could encompass both ideas in one without much compromise between the two.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[getouth]

Mike you have a pm