Liam's Z4C race car project
- Thread starter Liam22
- Start date
Yeah, that's Bombhole!enuff_zed said:
So after a successful setup day we're ready to go racing. My season starts on Saturday with CSCC New Millennium at Thruxton. 27 entries but only 2 in my class, which is what I was afraid of with this series. Seems like every other car is an M3.
My main series is likely to be 750MC Roadsports but the first round isn't until August. So I've given 750MC preference on series sponsor stickers.
Now it really *is* looking like a race car 8) (even the dog's impressed)
Attachments
Good luck on Saturday. Hope it goes well. I'll be there on Sunday in the Swinging Sixties.
Liam22 said:
Looks so, so good! And that's a proper dog
Which weight/power class will you end up in? B - GT?
Yeah, class B in Roadsports. Only problem is, I'll be 50bhp under the class limit.Darkangelv2 said:
Current power-to-weight ratio is 205bhp/ton. Class B allows 240bhp/ton.
Over the winter I'll try to recover the missing 10+bhp and go on the hunt for some serious weight loss. But even if I can get back to 260bhp and save another 25kg I'll only get to 218bhp/ton. If I'm not competitive in Roadsports then class A in MSV SuperCup looks interesting, but their control tyres are expensive.
Always the way with these things unless you’re going into a model specific class. So tricky to find the weight/power sweet spot.
Have you considered de-tuning?.....
Have you considered de-tuning?.....
One last thing!
I never disabled the steering lock. Required for racing. I did have a half-hearted attempt before putting the dash back in, but it seemed non-trivial and required more research.
I found a guide for the E46 but after removing the lock mechanism I realised the Z4 is slightly different.
Decided to do it properly and found anotherguide. I had nuts welded onto the shear bolts by the roll cage fitter so it wasn't too difficult. The most difficult part was removing the circlip. Why do they hate me so?!
Tipped the steering lock parts out and put it all back together. Saved a few grams, too
I never disabled the steering lock. Required for racing. I did have a half-hearted attempt before putting the dash back in, but it seemed non-trivial and required more research.
I found a guide for the E46 but after removing the lock mechanism I realised the Z4 is slightly different.
Decided to do it properly and found anotherguide. I had nuts welded onto the shear bolts by the roll cage fitter so it wasn't too difficult. The most difficult part was removing the circlip. Why do they hate me so?!
Tipped the steering lock parts out and put it all back together. Saved a few grams, too
Took me a whole week to get to this!
We survived the first race outing First time at Thruxton for 10 years...
Strange vibe in the paddock with not many people, face masks, and no scrutineering/sign-on procedures. Race day had been forecast to be wet all week so I put the wet tyres on the day before. Much better to swap wets for drys in the sunshine than swap dry-for-wet in the rain. As the qualifying session approached, the skies were grey but no rain so off came the Uniroyal Rainsports and on went the Nangkang AR-1s.
Tried to get on it straight away but tried to go flat into Goodwood corner on lap 2 and quickly found myself running out of road and a gentle trip across the grass. I gave that corner more respect thereafter. Then it started spitting with rain, but never actually got wet. Unfortunately, I underestimated the fuel consumption and got fuel starvation on the last few laps. Frustrating, as it probably cost me one or two grid positions.
Qualified 13th of 21 cars. Grid included 6 M3s, 2 Ginetta G50s and a couple of Seat Leon TCRs.
And then it rained. All afternoon. Not much to do but wait... and pick the grass out of the front splitter/grill (see photo)
I put the wet tyres back on during a brief break in the weather. But as the race before mine set off I had to make a decision. The weather radar changed at the last minute to suggest we would miss the next band of rain so I took a chance and put the dry tyres back on! What a palava...
Turned out to be the right call. The track never dried, but there was a damp/dry line that would have killed regular road tyres. The car felt pretty good on the green flag lap - more grip than I expected. As the red lights went out the car ahead of me stalled and I had nowhere to go but watch my mirrors and hope I didn't get shunted. After surviving that I set off plum last. But everyone else seemed to be over-cautious and I just drove around the outside of people, and had regained my grid position after the first lap.
Kept chipping away, adjusting my lines to the changing conditions, and after 40 minutes ended up 6th overall (winning my class). Beat half of the M3s and both Ginettas.
Unfortunately my camera only captured the last 2 laps (very sad not to have it all).
[youtube]H8ttdHOvW2w[/youtube]
18 months in the making - I couldn't have hoped for a better first outing. Thanks for all the advice and pointers along the way
We survived the first race outing
First time at Thruxton for 10 years...Strange vibe in the paddock with not many people, face masks, and no scrutineering/sign-on procedures. Race day had been forecast to be wet all week so I put the wet tyres on the day before. Much better to swap wets for drys in the sunshine than swap dry-for-wet in the rain. As the qualifying session approached, the skies were grey but no rain so off came the Uniroyal Rainsports and on went the Nangkang AR-1s.
Tried to get on it straight away but tried to go flat into Goodwood corner on lap 2 and quickly found myself running out of road and a gentle trip across the grass. I gave that corner more respect thereafter. Then it started spitting with rain, but never actually got wet. Unfortunately, I underestimated the fuel consumption and got fuel starvation on the last few laps. Frustrating, as it probably cost me one or two grid positions.
Qualified 13th of 21 cars. Grid included 6 M3s, 2 Ginetta G50s and a couple of Seat Leon TCRs.
And then it rained. All afternoon. Not much to do but wait... and pick the grass out of the front splitter/grill (see photo)
I put the wet tyres back on during a brief break in the weather. But as the race before mine set off I had to make a decision. The weather radar changed at the last minute to suggest we would miss the next band of rain so I took a chance and put the dry tyres back on! What a palava...
Turned out to be the right call. The track never dried, but there was a damp/dry line that would have killed regular road tyres. The car felt pretty good on the green flag lap - more grip than I expected. As the red lights went out the car ahead of me stalled and I had nowhere to go but watch my mirrors and hope I didn't get shunted. After surviving that I set off plum last. But everyone else seemed to be over-cautious and I just drove around the outside of people, and had regained my grid position after the first lap.
Kept chipping away, adjusting my lines to the changing conditions, and after 40 minutes ended up 6th overall (winning my class). Beat half of the M3s and both Ginettas.
Unfortunately my camera only captured the last 2 laps (very sad not to have it all).
[youtube]H8ttdHOvW2w[/youtube]
18 months in the making - I couldn't have hoped for a better first outing. Thanks for all the advice and pointers along the way
Fantastic - looked great fun and you were doing a great job!
Thoroughly enjoyed your build thread and great to see a result like this
Thoroughly enjoyed your build thread and great to see a result like this
Well that looks fantastic, great first result too!
JamieZ4C said:Fantastic! What an excellent video, short but sweet
This thread has been one of the highlights of the Z4 Forum in 2020, thanks for sharing Liam
+1
Only thread I have subscribed to, excellent work indeed.
Fine, fine work. Congratulations on a successful race one and a great result, car looks great.
Whens the next race meet? Hoping to go see some live racing at some point!
Whens the next race meet? Hoping to go see some live racing at some point!
