Chump car

[XvillainousX]

Any type of motorsport racing cost a lot of $$$ Even specE30. What makes chump affordable is that you can have a share of cost with a few buddies that includes upgrades. Spread your upgrade across the build. My team had a moto that every event we did we upgraded something. So should your team.

It also helped that my team was made of a bunch of e30 racers (SpecE30 & time trials & Nasa officials). Parts that werent spece30 legal on cars that we purchased automatically get donated to the team car. In the end we had so much stuff it was funny. We actually enjoyed our team car more than our spec cars. Make your car as light as possible!! Example: remove a heater core. Why? if your window is fogging up you're not going fast enough. If fogging is still a serious issue, run a tube from the outside the car and point towards the window. Lightness is your friend. Weight is your enemy. Gut your doors, hood, trunk, remove sound dampen stuff everywhere (inside cab & engine compartment & trunk) and remove all non essential brackets. We ran without a stock dash, make a simple dash to hold the gauges, wiper controls, and lights.

Also dont run M3 sway tabs or RX7 calipers. If someone crashes into your car and damages your strut, you'll spend half a day at the track converting her back to stock cause nobody has those parts as spares.

This was my e30.. here are some specs of it before we sold her..
In the picture below we were running in first before the motor blew.


She morphed into what you see below.

1988 325 SuperETA 2.7i 7k redline
2275 lbs without driver
M3 front bumper with home made dive planes
17x7.5 wheels running 235s
lighten flywheel
long tube headers
home made urethane motor & tranny mounts
home made solid mount shifter
dual front sway bars.
Bilstein sport front
Koni adjustable rear
450 / 550 springs
3.73 & 4.10 diffs

Multi 10 finishes
consistant top 20 finisher
last event (24hrs Lemons) blew a fuel pump & still came in 22nd.. out of 150 cars

[ballarde30]

We ran our e30 chump car this weekend at The Ridge and ended up in 6th out of 66 cars registered. The car is bone stock with the exception of Bilstein Shocks. No chip and stock exhaust manifolds. Chump Car can and will check your ECU to see if you have a chip if you place high enough. I believe John and James are running a m30 in their car. The most important thing is to make sure you have a low enough AIV and document it well for tech inspection. The only time we ran into the engine running hot was during red flag situations but you can run an auxiliary electric fan to keep it cool.

[603Racing]

It's fun, e30's are usually a biggest competitor (when we stay running). We run the Dark Shark Racing e24. It's easy to tell which e30's are no longer stock when they pass me on the straights. ;)

It's not as "cheap" as you'd think, but it is cheaper per amount of track time than most other racing groups.

Here's a link to an info site on our car. We have our AIV down to $403, took over a year to get it that low. We've used it to upgrade to sport springs and add fixed camber plates.

http://www.autowerksofamerica.com/article/sponsorships/dark-shark-racing.htm

[Nygdup]

You might find this thread relevant to your interests.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=228425

[XvillainousX]

If you arent cheating you arent trying hard enough..
That said you can easily modify and e30 without getting caught.

example: 2.7i stroker, lighten flywheel, chip, port polish, modified throttlebody, cam..

[eurotrash]

I wanted to go this weekend to check it out but im getting married. Dont think the boss would be happy if i skipped it for a chump car race.

Also just to make sure ive got it right. If i show up with my 10 documented cl adds for say under 350 that will give me $150 to use toward "performance" using there predetermaned price list. Right?

[eurotrash]

I wanted to go this weekend to check it out but im getting married. Dont think the boss would be happy if i skipped it for a chump car race.

[djjerme]

Talk to James C. He and John P campaign an eta here in the NW. In fact he'll be at the Ridge Chumpcar race this weekend. There is actually 3-4 E30's running this weekend..

The only issues I have heard that can become a real problem is heat and warping of the head. Because it's an inline 6, and due to the nature of long enduro's there can be a lot of heat buildup, and if anything fails in the cooling system, it could be disastrous. But then again, what engine doesn't like heat (we killed our RX7 in our first Chumpcar by overheating it.)

If you have the option, go with an Eta, less chance of breaking something stupid like a rocker arm since everyone will be shifting at 4500!

[NigelStu]

E30s make great chump cars. Reasonably competitive right out the box. If you want to go the stock-approved car route, make sure that the car is 100% stock. You'll have fun out there and have plenty of people to race. Don't expect to win, but expect to do well (top 25% of the field). Although, for the first few races, the potential of the car doesn't matter that much since you will still be figuring out pit strategy and finding all the weak points on your particular car (I'm still weeding out a few issues....) - it takes a few events to get a reliable car and figure out the best strategy for your team.


It is NOT difficult to get the AIV for an E30 down far enough to make some changes. It took some time and a lot of craigslist searching, but the AIV on my car is $396 right now - looking for a few more ads under $350.

Once you get the car, make sure everything is working right and conduct basic maintenance: timing belt, water pump, hoses, ignition tune up, brake caliper rebuilds and fresh oil/lube (all of these are non-value added items). Add safety equipment, strip everything you dont need off the car, put some good racing brake pads in, throw some good tires on (Cobalt Friction and Dunlop Star Specs are our choice), align the car and go race. For the 2nd race, go for making some improvements.


To help with handling, I cut the springs (calculated to be close to H&R sport), increased front camber and put some better dampers on. Only $ added item are some bilstein sports - added $60 to AIV.



Chump Car is a hell of a lot of fun - best racing value I've found. Now go find a car and build it!

[eurotrash]

I saw the e30 is on the list of pre approved chumpcars. Looking to possibly build a car for mext year. Anyone have experience running an e30 and what can i look forward to as far as dealing with tech and not getting penilized. Do i have to show up with a 100% stock e30?

Any tips for someone who is walking into this 100% new would be apreaciated.