New SCCA SM happenings...........

[DSP74]

Wanted to let everyone know that a recent Fastrack in SCCA has a proposed allowance to enable 275 width and under tired cars to weigh 200lbs less than cars OVER 275.

Our advantage as E30's is a lower weight than an E36. A 2.5L turbo charged E30 on 275/35/15's has a minimum weight of 2380 under this allowance......Whether or not we can get to that I don't know, BUT we can damn sure get closer than an E36. I would even venture to say that you could get REALLY close.

The catch is that this proposal is open to member comment. Without that it will just be figured there is no member interest. DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE THINKING THERE WILL BE TONS OF LETTERS OR THAT YOURS WILL NOT MATTER, AND/OR GET SKIPPED OVER.

Letters of support can be forwarded to seb@scca.com. Save your letter to resend if you do not get a confirmation in a day or two.

[DSP74]

Another thing, not posted in a Fastrack yet, but SHOULD be is combining chassis series together.
For instance in street prepared the E36 M3, and 325/328 are in seperate classes. As are the E30 318 and 325.
Other cases similar chassis cars will even be in the same class but with different lines. For example C4 Corvettes are in BSP along with C4 chassis ZR1's. Yet these are two seperate lines. In ESP 3rd gen F-bodies and 89 turbo trans am are in the same class different line.

By adding ALL chassis groups together for SM only this would enable the use of the best possible chassis and engine combination, and actually help to lower costs, and ease the build up process of a top tier car.

For us specifically we could dump some of the options ala entry level 318.

[DSP74]

The grouping of chassis groups was discussed some on sccaforums.com. I'm having log in trouble but I'll start drumming up interest over there soon. There are several SEB and advisory committe members who frequent their boards.

[E30 Racer]

In the case of an E30, I'm not sure this proposal really matters.

An E30 will have a very difficult time being nationally competitive in SM no matter how light you can legally make it. For the average local competitor, the proposal matters even less since it is unlikely the driver will have maximized the potential of their cars.

Seems to me like the proposal is intended to help the ricers...

[DSP74]

Actually I'm convinced a well driven E30 certainly can be. Consider you guys are just as fast as ESP. And yet put AT LEAST 150 less hp to the wheels. How much faster would a DSP car with 150 more HP be? Certainly faster than ESP. By how much? Not sure. Then remove a solid 200 or more lbs from the car and where are you at? This is before some of the other allowances.

You can have equal power to Sias car if not more, with a better power ban with F/I, and without question be lighter. The only thing you give up is rear suspension geometry. But there are band aid fixes that should work REALLY well, if not fix most issues.

[DSP74]

I venture to say even, that if you could obtain minimum weight at 2380, with 300plus HP to the rear wheels, and 275's all around, you would have a nationally competitive car for SURE.

[ed94r]

The E30 will never be Nationally competitive in Street Mod. Never.

It's a local car, or possible regional car, but your wasting your time throwing money at that chassis for SM Nationally. Even with the 275's.

These cars have been built for SM in the past. A guy named Frank (I forgot his last name) had a Supercharged S50 sedan with Moton's (or some other hi buk) a few years back and Terry Baker built an E30/S50 for Nationals in/around 2002 (a no compromise SOLO2 Car) and I believe he trophied, but SM was still soft at the time. That car had a full Z3M rear end, Built S50, custom AD's, and it was liiiight. Besides FI, you will not be able to build a better SM car than these guys did. Tire sizing has changed some, but so has the playing field.

I mean this in the nicest way...you can daydream all you want, but a state of the art E30 SM won't even trophy with Tunnell, Sias, or Shields driving it. If an E30 could be built to trophy and/or win SM, the grid would be full of them.

Ed

[DSP74]

I don't see any reason why they wouldn't.

What size tires did these cars have.....You know way back then the 325's couldn't compete with the Fiat in DSP. Things change, cars develop, TIRE SIZES BECOME AVAILABLE, and what do you know. BMW owns DSP.

Frankly the examples given are very, very poor indeed. Those weren't Tunnell or Sias. And they didn't have big tires I know that as they weren't available.

[DSP74]

FWIW the M/S50/52 is completely the wrong direction in an E30.

[ed94r]

The issue is that not much has changed for the E30 since then.

What was state of the art for the E30 in 2002ish (besides tires) hasn't been improved on. Shocks have improved, but those improvements get spread across the board and cannot be enjoyed only by the E30 chassis. Just about everything available for the E30 chassis now was available/bulidable then. If the top guys saw an opportunity to cherry pick a class with a ringer E30, it would have already been done.

18's or 275-15's are not going to change the game for the E30 in SM.

That's how I see it. I could be wrong...but that's how I see it.

Ed

[Jean]

FWIW the M/S50/52 is completely the wrong direction in an E30.

Why ?

[DSP74]

Why ?

Because you are going to need 300-350hp to the rear wheels. And a N/A engine isn't going to get it done unless you are using either a euro engine, or S54.
And since you are going to have to go F/I you may as well skip the added weight of the swapped in engine. On top of keeping things WAY,WAY more simple in the engine compartment.

Now if I were building a drag car and needed much more HP than that, then yes I would swap out the M20 for either an M30 or M/S50/52

[E30 Racer]

FWIW the M/S50/52 is completely the wrong direction in an E30.

I disagree. Even a US-spec S52 is a huge step in the right, if not misguided, direction. Throw on a small ball bearing turbo and powerwise you'd be good to go with near factory reliability (and *that* is super important).

That said, it think the harsh reality is that even an uber-E30 will never be able to keep up with properly sorted Evo.

[DSP74]

A turbocharged S52 powered car needs to weigh 2719. The advantage to the E30 is going to be less weight. And 2719 negates that advantage entirely.
The US spec S engines simply can't produce enough N/A power. And since they weigh more, than an M20 and are a larger displacement, and require F/I to make the power needed they simply aren't the right choice.

Possibly a de-stroked version would be an option, but your still starting with a heavier engine......Adding a turbocharger is going to be heavy enough.

The same proposal's mentioned changing the displacement modifyer for AWD cars. Making them need to weigh 3100lbs. No way in hell I'd worry about an AWD car that weighed almost 800lbs more.

[PiercedE30]

Damn, turbo S52 requires 2719? Shit, I'm at 2675 with full interior and a spare.