S54 powered E30 track car

[MkII]

Ooh looks nice! Keeping with the slow theme of my build I'm about to rebuild my stock brakes! Haha. I love everything you do!

[grt]

Ooh looks nice! Keeping with the slow theme of my build I'm about to rebuild my stock brakes! Haha. I love everything you do!

Thanks mate!

If you need any pointers with where and what to buy let me know. I have build 3 E30s so I know where to buy the good stuff from ;)

[grt]

Time for an update!

Last weekend was round 4 of the Queensland Touring Car Championship (QTCC) at Lakeside raceway. I had to borrow some 15x8 inch wheels for a friend so I could fit my new rubber.

I was a little nervous as it was suppose to rain all weekend and I had green un-scrubbed tyres. Friday was general practice so if it was dry I planned on cutting a few laps to get my eye in and scrub in the tyres.

Come Friday and the track was wet in the morning but dried in the afternoon. I got about 20 laps in. Unfortunately I felt like the car wasn't making good power in the mid range. A problem that would make itself known later on the weekend.

Come Saturday and it was 15 minutes of qualifying followed by two 10 lap races. Another problem that made itself known was my go-pro decided it wouldn't turn on! So I have no footage of Saturday :(

I jumped in for qualifying and did two 95% flying laps then came back into the pits to do adjust my tyre pressures then gave it hell! I ended up with a 59.95 which was good enough for 4th! That time was 1.3 seconds quicker than my previous PB. Also getting under the minute around Lakeside Raceway is no mean feet so I felt really pumped!

I also managed to flat spot a rim in qualifying when I hit a big hole over a curb. You can see in the photo below how far the left hand wheel was pushed up into the guard.

Time for race 1. I got a great jump in the rolling start but the car in front did not so I got swamped! I could not get into the rhythm and lost about 3-4 places. Then we got the dreaded call over the radio 'Red Flag, Red Flag, Car into the wall at turn 6!' Turn 6 is the final corner coming onto the straight. I take it close to flat in 4th gear. It is a very fast corner. Rolling back around and into the pits it was the green E46 M3 4 door (E46 318i with M3 running gear). The car is owned and driven by the dad of the guy in the while E30, he is a close friend. Was his second time out in the car and it was a write-off. Heart breaking to see. Good news is he was 100% ok and has already stripped the shell and got another one.

So we had a complete re-start so I returned to my original position in 4th. Only this time it started to rain. I decided to change to wet tyres (soft compound Yokohama A050s). I was the only one on the grid that changed so I was hoping the rain would continue. At the start I got a great jump and moved into third. I managed to get a good gap back to 4th. Another E30 was in 5th behind the 4th place V8 Holden. He was on slicks. The rain stopped and it started to dry. The 5th place BMW got into 4th on lap 6 and started to hunt me down. Coming across the line on the last lap he was right behind me. Around the second last corner he went around the outside of me. My tyres were over heated. I made sure it wasn't easy for him and gave him a touch up on the way past.

Race 2 was pretty straight forward. I started from 4th again. Got a great jump and moved into 3rd. I was on slicks this time and didn't let anyone past! I was so pumped to be on the podium!

After the racing had finished my engine tuner took a snap shot of my data and took it home to review. It turns out my engine was running very rich in the mid range thus shutting down the oxygen sensor and making it run lean in the top end. So he took some fuel out of it to make it safe.

Race 3 was a lot like my first race on Saturday. I got another great jump but lost 3rd place on the run down the back as the car wasn't making the same power. I lost another 2 places. I was now behind the white E30 and it was on! I tried my hardest a few times and came close to getting the position back. I also set a new PB of 59.1 chasing him! I finished in 5th and had a absolute ball!

Race 4 was by far the most exciting. The starting grid was BMW E30s 3rd, 4th and 5th. The whole race was very close until I tried to go around the outside of 4th place and went onto the grass! I was pretty pissed, but that's racing.

Overall I was a great weekend and I can't wait for the next round when I car should be better than ever! The car is on the dyno at the moment getting a re-tune. I also finished off my RX-7 4 piston callipers. I just need to get a set of rotors and pads. My new wheels should arrive in the next few weeks as well.

I hope you guys enjoyed my write-up. I will be doing one when I finish my brakes and before next round. Stay safe people!

On with the pics and videos!

Ready to race! New stickers



This is where I buckled the left hand rear wheel.




The reason for the red flag :(






This is just before we had a rub in Race 1 and result




'BMW Motorsport' callipers



Random photos on the track




Race 4 battle



The grid for Race 3

[grt]

[getouth]

I will be in Brisbane on Monday for work are any race going on during the week? I 'll be gone on friday. What's a good club to find some ladies??

[grt]

I will be in Brisbane on Monday for work are any race going on during the week? I 'll be gone on friday. What's a good club to find some ladies??

Nothing on this week. Nothing really on in August at all.

X&Y, Birdees and Mustang bar in Fortitude Valley ;) if you don't pick up from them I can't help you lol

[grt]

Pre-update!

Ok so a few things have been happening since last time. Finally my new rims arrived! Also found a set of MiM 1900s for sale cheap locally so I snapped them up. I test fitted them on the car and decided they weren't for me. Sure they look awesome but they should be on a nice street car, not a track hack!

Also my new brake discs arrived for the big brake upgrade. I will get a new set of wheel bearings and studs to go on then do a full write-up.

I have a lot of track prep to do this before this weekend which is the next round of racing. Stay tuned for an update closer to the weekend.

MiM 1900s 15x7 et13



I love boxes!



Konig Wideopen 15x8 et20 in Matte black



VW Corrado front brakes

[e30guydownunder]

how big are the corrado discs? You may struggle to get the MIM's over them as they have a small barrel (very strong wheel however),

[grt]

how big are the corrado discs? You may struggle to get the MIM's over them as they have a small barrel (very strong wheel however),

280mm. I am selling the MiMs. Haven't you seen the ads?

[e30guydownunder]

Yeah I have seen the adds.......I missed the bit about deciding they weren't for you :P

They probably wouldn't have fitted anyway. I have 284 discs with a sliding caliper (generally more compact than the fixed RX7) and the MIM's touched slightly.

[Beej '86 325es]

Wow - I really enjoyed those videos. A very closely matched group!

[JCarp90]

Holy shit. That last video where you nearly went off the track, I think I shit my pants. Nice driving!

[jhaurimn]

Very nice driving sir!

[grt]

Wow - I really enjoyed those videos. A very closely matched group!

Holy shit. That last video where you nearly went off the track, I think I shit my pants. Nice driving!

Very nice driving sir!

Thanks guys. I am just out to have a blast and give the over lads a hurry up!

Interesting we all have similar power and weight from different engine packages.

The red car has an ITB M20.
The white car has a M52 3.0L (or something like that)
My car has a S14.

All around 1050kg and 220rwhp/ish

Makes for great racing!

[Reap3r]

Looking good man, What are those brakes off though? I'll be keen to see the new wheels too!