E36 328 Kumho Race Car - Pre Season Mods

Well first race weekend is out the way, so I thought a final car update is needed.

Not massive progress: stainless steel brake and clutch line with CDV removal. New brake fluid, I alternate ATE super blue and ATE type 200 (the same fluid but one blue one amber) nice and easy to see when you've replaced all the fluid.

New pads all over, I use brembo sport/fast road type pad not a 'racing' pad but works well for me, i've got plenty of brake cooling though, I do get through them but they don't kill the discs and they're cheap enough to replace.

Fitted M50 manifold

Had the car TerraCleaned

Did a bolt check on all the suspension & brake components.

Also made an iphone mount out of a eBay holder and exhaust clamp and some bent ally



Mounted by the rear view mirror off the role cage bar



Downloaded a video & speed capture app for about 69p


Car is all ready to go now, Donington Park is the venue for the first 2 rounds of the Kumho BMW Championship.









Off we go!



On to the racing then!

I'll start by saying I've never driven Donington before, and I've never raced a car before, I've never built or had a car scruteneered before so this will be a big learning curve for me!

My goal for the weekend is to finish the quallifying and both races with no car damage.

Saturday morning, passed scruteneering, but had a couple of points. Tape up & cover the positive terminal on the battery and mark the negative with green & yellow tape. For the next race weekend change the standard steel towing eyes for fabric straps

Quafified 34 out of 36 entrants (the 2 behind me had issues!) 3rd in class C out of 3.

1st race, a rolling start, I had a class A m3 along side me that was running really rough and 318's around me in class D.

On the run down to the 1st corner i pulled up on a few of the 318's and the unhealthy M3, I came across to the inside hoping it would be safer for the 1st corner.

In to the 1st corner on a tighter line with cold tires and an eager right foot I got on the power nice and early (ready to overtake more unsuspecting drivers.... or so I hoped) what actually happened is I lost the back end over corrected, spun and ended up in the gravel on the 1st corner of the 1st lap of my 1st race! :lol:

The positives, no contact from other cars, and I managed to keep the car moving and got it out of the gravel.

Back down through craner curves the steering wheel was shaking and vibrating, I suspected I'd bent/broken something! I pulled into the pits at the end of the 1st lap. My Dad who didn't see the spin was suprised to see me to say the least. He checked everything over all seemed fine. Last years class C champion was in the pits, he poped his head in the car and suggested gravel pick up causing the vibrations. I went back out and after a few laps handling was back to normal. I carried on and finished about 4 laps behind the lead car in last place (31st) a few other cars didn't finish.

So race 2, i was a little more conservative at the start! :oops: a few fast M3's started behind me, and were well gone by the time the 1st corner approached. I held position and just waited to see how it played out! Mid pack between corner 1 and 2 there was a spin, unfortunatly there was a few other cars involved / collected which bought out the saftey car.

A few laps begind the saftey car and the race restarted, on the re-start I had one car behind me, a 318 at the bottom of class D. a pack of 4-6 class D guys were infront battling for the lead in that class. The guys infront quickly pulled away and I was left defending from the guy behind. As i settled down into a good rythm I started to pull away from the chap behind, and catch the class D pack infront.

For the last 2 laps I was right on the tail of that battle and could have purhaps taken a few of them.

I didn't though, I just kept tucked on the the bumper of the car infront. It was furious racing from the class D guys a lot of locking and kerb running. A bit of self preservation kept me from sending one down the inside or trying a few passes also it would have made no difference to my position in my class.

I finished 29 out of 30 finishers, and 2nd in class C one of the class C guys didn't finish btw!

The photos are in no order and I don't know if they are from race 1 2 or qually











And a brucy bonus from motors TV while the commentators commentated on my bad fortune......or bad driving, one of the 2!



Couple of vids to follow aswell (one of which is the spin that my Mrs shot from the 1st corner.) Unfortunatly my cheapo app was recording on a high quality and filled my memory on the iphone and defaulted to clear the apps memory midway through race 2. So unfortunatly no onboard footage.
 
Video's

Some brilliant commentary from the Mrs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Gfjr-2Ikk

And a drive by clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84vqJxBMqQs
 
Absolutely brilliant - sounds like you had exactly the right attitude for the first race as well. :thumbsup:

Would be interested to hear how much of your the deficit to the 1st place Class C bloke you attribute to the car itself and how much to your cautious driving. Are you right on the limit of the regs now or can you get more baseline performance out of the car?
 
www.bmwrdc.com there is also a link to it on my website (shameless plug!) www.AlanThompsonRacing.co.uk

Timings wise my 1st couple of laps were 1:38, then down to 1:32 by the end of race 1 and down to 1:30.187 by race 2. I found myself getting alot more comfortable and racey by the end of the second race.

The front runner in my class set a fastest lap of a 1:23. I broke down the time difference, at a guess:

Lack of track knowledge leading to cautiousness and general nerviousness: 5sec

Driver talent: 1-1.5 sec

Car: 0.5-1 sec

As far as regs wise i'm still driving a lardy car with regards to weight, power wise theres not alot more I can get with out throwing big / bigger money at it.

The classic hmm I'm off the pace I need to make my car faster is not what I'm going for. I know I'm the weak link with regards to laptimes so I'm trying to focus on that.

My next outing is Snetterton, there is a open test day the day before the race meeting so I'm going to book in a pm session and get some seat time in learning the track and the lines and maybe tweaking the set up a little, and also learning the car some more.

Unfortunatly I can't afford to do that for every race meet, but I think that will bring the greatest benifits in reducing laptimes.
 
Well done buddy like whats been said already your in the right head space. As we discussed at y place. First ever drive on that track first ever drive in a race so what you spun! All part of that steep learning curve your on at the moment. And there was no damage done and its a valuable lesson and you finished the race.

I will pop over soon. Make sure you keep us all up to date on this
 
Rounds 3 and 4 at Snetterton

On the friday before the races I did a pm test session on track, only an hour on track very useful to learn the track but bloody expensive (it works out a £3 a min for track time!)

So qually, went pretty well 3rd in class C and 25th out of 31. Felt alot more confident with the car after adding a bit more rear camber, cured the oversteering.

Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiOZR58B7TM

Race 1, my first ever standing start, it went ok, I needed to make the 2nd corner to improve from Donington :oops: i focused on heating the tyres more in the warm up lap and just settled for the first lap, my self preservation outdid my racing instinct! after I settled i started to push abit and was happy with my progress untill I pushed a bit to hard, stupid mistake really but an other one to learn from. Ended up finishing 24th, 3rd in class C

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlKqwe3mMag
Racing starts at about 9 mins

Race 2, I've never done a trackday in the wet let alone a race. So nervious was an understatement, I switched to 'wet tyres' which are exactly the same as my dry tyres just with more tread, softened my dampers, and said a quiet prayer!



I started 24th on the grid and on the warm up lap it was visibly evident a car from a previous race had dropped oil all over the track especially at the Montreal hairpin and Nelson just after the bridge. The start was caucious from every one as was the first lap as we all tried to find grip, I forgot to start the camera till 1.5 laps in!

Slippy was an understatement, but as i settled in I found myself racing with another class C competitor (I usually end up racing with the 318 class D boys!) I was properly excited at actually being able to race with someone in the same car as me. I pushed as hard as I dared and sent one down the inside on Montreal hairpin, the move stuck for about a lap or 2 till i ran wide at Riches alowing him to put the same move on me down the inside at Montreal, I tried to stick it out round the ouside. No chance it was really slippy and I got a poor exit on to the straight.

The grip levels started to decrease as the race went on, and some Class A & B cars backed off abit enabling me to pass them. Still intent on overtaking again for that second place in class C, I kept pushing as hard as I dared, desprate to catch him. My opertunity came when he spun as I followed him out of Montreal.

I got over excited and had to just tell myself to calmly make it to the finish. I backed off by a couple of seconds a lap knowing there wasn't many laps left and i was unlikely he was going to be able to catch me. I ended up bringing it home in 19th and 2nd in Class C i was chuffed :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KEMmKuzHjc
 
Great write up and vids :) thanks! Was debating trying something like this earlier in the year... decided to save for the z4 instead :P
 
Rounds 7 & 8 at Thruxton (i skipped rounds 5 & 6 as is was 5 days before Thruxton and I couldn't afford 2 race meets in 1 week!)

Quallifying.

Went well, qualified 26th 2nd in class C, the first time I had out quallified someone in my class. He started right behind me though!

Fastest lap time: 1:36.3

Race 1
Bit of a nervy start, always tends to be, the first half lap always seems to be crazy, so I tend to drive very conservativly then start pushing once the 1st lap is out the way. Not the best racing tacktic but it so far has insured no contact. Had a good battle with the white E46 M3 and silver E46 compact (class competitor) this was going well and was having a good time untill the back end starting skiping/jumping round a sweeping right hander, and I lost the back end :headbang: went into the grass a fair way and narrowly missed the marshals post, pics of that to follow!

Ended up finishing 3rd in class in 26th overall

Fastest lap time: 1:36.0

Positives: my fastest lap was quicker than the 2nd place in my class, the E46 compact. No damage to car or driver.

Race 2
Upon advice, softened the front dampers, as that could have been the reason for the skipping / jumping. Bit of a poor start this time, didn't really get my act together till a couple of laps in. Had a good battle chasing down the E46 M3 again, he's got so much more power in the straights though. Really injoyed chasing him :D

Finished 3rd in class C 25th overall.

Fastest lap time: 1:34.7

Positives: For those who know Thruxton, I managed to get through Church corner without breaking, only lifting and carried much more speed onto the straights (100-105) exit speed. That knocked 1.3 off my fastest lap. My fastest lap was again faster than 2nd place in class C.

Learning points: When following cars focus on myown line and don't follow theirs, improve consistantcy on laptimes.

Pics to follow

Race 1 vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHl-JQT0vLs

Race 2 vid: (dunno why the camera split it in 2 parts)
1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsX5I7dGJw4
2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Kk1kd6JEQ
 
Great work buddy i would have come but i don't seem to have any spare time at the moment.

Seems like you are constantly improving. And above all else its fun.
 
Massively fun, and yea hopefully improving race by race

Some pics from the weekend

Start finish straight





My skid marks, trust me there were ones inside the car aswell!



How much my rear tyre missed the marshals post by :o



Remains of a formula Renult that rolled 5 times, driver was ok.



Truck racing







What happens when a truck crashed into the pit wall, they had to rebuild it before the next race!

 
Rounds 9 & 10 at Croft

I was testing the Friday before the Raceing on the Sat & Sun. It was very hot! On track sessions the Kumho's shared with the Porsche cup cars 6-7 bmws 5-6 porsches, plenty of space on track then :-)

Never driven the circuit before and I'd put an extra 0.5 deg of camber on the front to try to eliminate understeer. So session one was a sighting session. Out of the pits 1/2 lap done - RED FLAG, a car had broken down on track. 5 mins sat in the pits in a sweltering car. out we go again. 3.5 laps later - RED FLAG This time more serious a GT3 had tried to go round the outside of a M3 aproaching the braking zone at the end of the second straight. they had a coming together at about 105-115 mph which send the M3 into the barrier. The passengerside front quater of the M3 was mashed, driver fine, HANS device did its job, he recons he hit the barrier at 80!

The next 3 sessions passed with out incodent, steadily built up speed and confidence with the car and track finished the day doing a 1:43 and really please with how the car is handling.

24hrs later Qually:

The smashed M3 was worked on through the night and was out running in qually although the driver said is was handling like a pig!

From my perspective it was a rubish session, when I had a clear track I couldn't put a good lap together when I was on a good lap I hit traffic! best time 1:46.83 and 23rd out of 24 :x

Race 1.

Good clean start, there was a spinner 5/6 cars infront in the first corner, avoiding action spread the back of the pack out with me in about 21st. Held place for 2 laps untill I found my groove and really started to push. I was about mid pack of the Class D 1.8s lap by lap slowly started picking off them off closing up through the fast Jim Clarke Esses and using my extra power down the start finish straight. The D guys tend to be a bit quicker than me through the corners being lighter and more experienced. half way through the race I was up behind the Class D lead battle. 4 cars nose to tail absolutly going for it! Needed to get past them but didn't want to ruin the class battle or pick up any damage!

So I got involved, I don't really know each move as it was all to hectic, had a bit of contact with someone in the back in a braking zone but no worries. a break came when 1st & 2nd in Class D came together resulting in a spin for 1st place guy (a visit to the clarke of the course to 2nd place guy and a 10sec penalty) whist we were being lapped and whilst I was trying to get past! this just left the second place guy now in the lead and a gap behind me. Got past him and carried on pushed till the end.

Finished 15th 1st in Class C infront of all the Class D cars (a first for me in that respect) with a fastest lap of 1:42.54

Unfortunatly the onboard footage was lost but I'm hoping to get some clips from family in the grand stand, so will update when I can.

Race 2.

Starting mid pack was a bit of a first for me, kept it close and clean into the first corner with the M3's in class B ahead of me before they pulled away.

I wasn't in the groove yet and the cars behind we starting to catch me, a mistake ran me wide and left the door open for some side by side racing through the Jim Clark Esses, takes some balls to try an overtake through there and personal saftey overcame racing instinct and I didn't fight the move to hard, I lost 2 places!

Right, time to up my game and get those places back! pushed hard tried a few moves round the outside through corners, wasn't working, so just lined them up for a pass down the straight.

There was a few clashes through the feild and an M3's engine gave up so finished 13th 1st in Class C with a fastest time of 1:41.92

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeTUdARERBo

Pics, non onboard footage and car updates to follow
 
Looks like you managed to stay clear of the argy-bargy between my mate in his class D car and a certain class A car (at about 19:30 on the video below).

[youtube]g4zIpMfwOdo[/youtube]

947212_10201654921719479_370156293_n.jpg
 
mmm-five said:
Looks like you managed to stay clear of the argy-bargy between my mate in his class D car and a certain class A car (at about 19:30 on the video below)
Click to expand...

It was a bit of a mad weekend with regards to car on car contact, I was next to them in the paddock and they didn't have a good weekend for car preservation. There was a few slapped wrists in the clerk of the courses office!

How is there car coming together I know they were going for a new door rather than repair it?

I had a little nudge in the back on race 1 no damage and a clip in race 2 whilst being lapped, which annoyed me a bit 17:40 in the vid, I can't move over any more and I left the inside line open so I'm not holding him up on the apex. and he still manages to clip me FFS! Fortunatly no damage though
 
Rockingham:

Managed to get some testing in on the friday before the race meeting, its a good spectators circuit, from the top of the grandstand you can see the whole track.

Quallified well, 25th out of 34 and 2nd in class and only 0.3 off pole in my class with a 1:40.18.

Race 1
Average start off the line M3s infront 318's behind 1st corner big open banking was fine, it all started to go wrong when turn 2 a hairpin into the infeild section apporoached, I hugged the white line on the inside (covering any moves i thought) and just prepared to follow the car infront round avoiding any contact. A class D car came up the inside of me and ito the car infronts rear quarter, so had to take avoiding action which slowed me right down as every one swept around the outside, I lost 8 places! A couple of laps in more contact infront between a black and a red class D guys, I took one at the yellow class D at the incodent the black class D at the hairpin exit and the red class D up the inside into the chicane..... or so I thought, I out braked myself an had to straight line the grass and gravel to avoid the sausage kerb! The red car pitted due to damage and the black car breifly overtook until the extra power down the straight took over.

The yellow class D car stayed on my tail for a while and eventually got past, towards the end of the race i caught up with 2nd & 3rd in class D (blue car & purple/yellow car) and got past them as my tyres were on their last legs hence understeering onto the grass in turn 3, the lack of grip kept 2nd & 3rd in class D close to me until the finish.

Finished 21st, 3rd in class with a fastest time of 1:39.19

Overall an average race, learning points, get a better start and be more aggressive in the first few laps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhYwMCPNbuM

Race 2 (I put my set of wet tyres on that i took with me incase of rain, cuz the dry set were fairly shot. The tyres are the same, the wets just have less use and more tread)
Much better start this time, although got swamped by M3's that started at the back of the grid when approaching the hairpin, i had to avoid the orange one that swung in so it was my turn to charge up the inside, the inevitable happened as I tried to slow the car, contact. No damage though, press on, better few laps, got into a good rythm nice and quick, a saftey car period followed and was restarted behind a purple & yellow class D car, a good battle followed until I had a mad 30 seconds running wide onto the grass then trying one up the inside with dirty tyres into the hairpin, couldn't get the car stopped or turned in and hammered the sausage kerb, buckled the alloy but it held pressure and finished the race on it.

Finished 19th 2nd in class C with a fastest lap of 1:39.13 Happy with my race this time, learning points bigger balls for turn 1, to take it flat out rather than balancing the throttle!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmP_xoKOBfA

The weekend had everything, grass, gravel, front & rear contact, other car incodents, saftey car, kerb bashing, over taking. and a burnt foot, I forgot to refit the heat sheild by the manifold when I took the down pipes off. Serious hot foot!

To do list: straighten alloy wheel, new engine mounts (picked up in scruteneering) change power steering fluid (race 2 through long left handers powersteering was intermitent, probably due to seriously grey old fluid) refit heat shild, clean off other people paint! and a general maintenace, brake bleed, spanner check etc.

2 rounds to go, Brands & Pembrey, and oh yea I'm leading class C by 2 points in the championship! :D
 
Right then Brands Hatch,

Absolutly quality weekend some really good close racing.

Qualified 22nd 3rd in Class C with a 57.64, it was a really hectic session that was Red flagged after about 3 laps (car in the gravel at paddock hill) after the red flag it was difficult to get a clean lap in but i was pretty pleased with my position & time

Race 1 finished 16th 2nd in Class C with a 57.34 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dUQ-SAliLg

Had a great start for once usually I struggle for the 1st lap, some really good side by side racing hence my lines might seem a bit weird in places, I should get a rear view camera aswell. Had a good bit of luck when being lapped by the white E46 M3, 2nd place in Class C (blue 328 with green stripes) got offline to let the faster car through which gave me a good run at him coming out of Graham Hill bend.

Race 2 finished 18th 3rd in Class C with a 57.51 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA6T_NoekOY

Brilliant start this time, up to 11th by the second corner, on a lap time basis the cars behind me are quicker, so had to battle hard to keep them behind be. Of which I ultimatly failed to do! But it was great fun trying to defend and again some great racing side by side with people. only damage from hitting the white M3 is a bent wing and lost indicator! The 2 saftey cars didn't play to my advantage they helped the faster cars that started at the back of the grid or had a poor start to catch up with me.

There is 1 point in it for the Championship lead in Class C and 3rd place is still very much in it aswell! The final races in Pembray should be good ones :D
 
Race report from the tripple header, season finale at Pembrey:

Qualifying
Unfortunately I’d never driven Pembrey before, so I had to learn the lines and breaking points during qualifying, on a soaking wet track. So obviously my fastest time wasn’t great, 3rd in class out of 4 and 23rd overall with a time of 1:15.67

Race 1
Got a really good start off the line, overtook an M3 and a class rival on the outside then went up the inside of an other M3 under breaking and was right behind the class C leader.

The track was really greasy with every one driving as fast as they dare, I evidently wasn’t going fast enough, as I lost 2nd in class about half way round the lap.

I reclaimed 2nd round the outside of the first corner hairpin. On lap 3 there was a red flag due to a crashed car on the pit straight.

The raced restarted in the original grid positions minus the class C car that started 2nd, he had spun off not long after I had over taken him, and unfortunately he dropped his coolant and overheated whilst waiting for the red flag incident to clear.

A good re-start, went down the outside this time into turn one, and dipped a wheel on the mud as the car in front oversteered. After the first few laps settled down, the field spread out a bit and a dry line was appearing. The track had dried a lot with the sun and wind whilst we were waiting for 15mins to restart and I was struggling a bit with the car being on a soft setup for the wet track. About half way through the race 3rd place was starting to catch me, I was going as fast as I dare bearing in mind finishing was very important for my championship points, and the 3rd place car that was now all over me was my closest points rival.

I tried to use the lapping cars to my advantage but it didn’t help, although he couldn’t find a way past me, he was right on my bumper. A close call with 2 spinning class A cars in front of me didn’t help my nerves. With a few laps to go I was handed a chance for the win when 1st place in class C had spun and was on the grass at the turn 1 hairpin. I managed to keep 2nd place at bay and we crossed the line 0.7 sec apart.

Finished 1st in class C and 18th overall, fastest Lap 1:11.22

I’ve been playing a bit with some really simple video editing software and I’ve only had time to do Race one so apologies for that.

This video also might seem a bit weird with the choice of line I was taking but I was trying to keep the car behind at bay! Really need to get a rear view cam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaQsNIly7B0

Race 2
An ok start a bit too much wheel spin in 1st and 2nd, made a few places round the outside of turn one which meant I had an M3 and a few slower D cars between me and the chasing class C cars. I managed to stretch out a big enough lead so that by the time they were through the traffic they couldn’t catch me. With a few laps to go I backed it off a bit with mechanical sympathy in mind knowing that a 1st place finish would secure the class championship win.

Finished 1st in class C and 19 overall fastest lap 1:11.05

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sRaX4nrxFE

Race 3
A good start followed by an awful first corner! Got my breaking wrong and went sailing down the outside and deep into the hairpin loosing my wing mirror in the process! I rejoined just along side 2nd in my class and me in 3rd. I stuck it out round the outside of turn 2 which would become the inside for turn 3 and I was up into 2nd.

It was a dry track, I had a dry setup on the car and the championship sewn up, so I went all out trying to catch 1st place to secure the hat-trick. A look up the inside into the old hairpin of the Class C leader (blue e36 with lime green stripes) didn’t pay off. I got a better exit onto the start finish straight as he was off the racing line looking up the inside of a car in front of him. I carried the speed down the straight and was up into 1st place I took an class D car on the inside of the hairpin and kept pushing hard picking off the class D front runner (yellow compact) although he made me work for it and we had some good side by side racing.

I kept my foot down hard until the last lap when I backed off just to bring the car home, it’s a cracking circuit in the dry some really fast fun corners.

Finished 1st in class C 16th overall with a fastest lap of 1:08.17

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ4YCSe-L3I

The hat-trick of wins wrapped up the season and I won the 2013 Kumho BMW Class C Championship

I’ve got lots planned for the car over the winter but I’ll get onto that in due course.

2013 Kumho BMW Champion: Garry Whittaker
2013 Kumho BMW Class A Champion: Garry Whittaker
2013 Kumho BMW Class B Champion: Matt Feilding
2013 Kumho BMW Class C Champion: Alan Thompson
2013 Kumho BMW Class D Champion: Ian Joberns

AB22-5EC88B1E7781-359-0000006500D98931_zps2ae210f2.jpg
 
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