In reply to Taylor Johnson :
Thanks buddy. And thanks for the prompt to post my post-race from this past weekend!
In reply to Taylor Johnson :
Thanks buddy. And thanks for the prompt to post my post-race from this past weekend!
So this past weekend was a NASA MA race weekend at Summit Point. With jh36's Camaro out of commission with a cracked block, we entered as a two-driver team. I drove on Saturday and he drove on Sunday. Saturday went well apart from some extreme grid confusion before qualifying. Had an absolutely fantastic race with Alex Wieland that afternoon. The back and forth really starts at about 4:50 and there's a quite interesting part at 10:27. Really, really happy that this class is providing this close racing, even if we aren't at the top of field... yet. I'm coming for you Taylor. One of these days. 
. Anyway, enjoy, feel inspired, and go build a Spec3 car.
Unfortunately Alex's bid for a last-ditch pass was thwarted by Hondas. One of the Honda Challenge guys gave him a little shove before the last turn and he ended up going wide in the grass.
On Sunday jh36 went out and matched my qualifying time from the previous day in the Beast of the East Race. He was gridded up next to Alex for the race, all keyed up for another good battle. But unfortunately on the first lap a wire on the back of my kill switch came loose. He came in, it took us 8 laps to find and fix it, and then he went back out. So it was a last-place finish, but he still got some good laps in. This is the second time this year a wire has come loose back there. I'm about to send some screws through the connectors.
Overall a very nice weekend. Nothing significant broke. Great BBQ was eaten. We even got to witness some Honda Challenge rookie hazing.
That stinks about the battery cutoff switch, but sounds like you both took it in stride.
I coasted into the paddock and went in the bus to get a water and take my Nomex off...I saw Ed run by so I strolled back to car, still in Nomex but sans race shoes...Ed pops out of the cockpit yelling "PUT YOUR SHOES ON!" and just like that, we were back at it.
All in all, a really fun weekend. Looking forward to Pitt.
Hahah I love this video，eems like an awesome and one-of-a-kind project.
It appears that you are turning in a little early most of the time. It will cause you to run wide and lose momentum coming out of the turns. Turn 10 onto the straight is really critical as you lose a lot of speed if you are running out of track and scrubbing around trying not to lose it.
In reply to Don49 (Forum Supporter) :
That's some good feedback and I think you may be right. I definitely felt like I wasn't holding momentum where I should have been. And watching the video I definitely was turning into 3 earlier than I used to. I'll try to keep this in mind.
This build has me wanting to turn my e36 into a track car more and more every time it pops up. Just need to get the other project done so I can have a daily driver while I transform it from 'daily' to 'streetable track' to eventual 'dedicated track'
In reply to DjGreggieP :
Let's go! Do it do it
DjGreggieP said:This build has me wanting to turn my e36 into a track car more and more every time it pops up. Just need to get the other project done so I can have a daily driver while I transform it from 'daily' to 'streetable track' to eventual 'dedicated track'
Do it!! I have been having a ton of fun in Spec3 as well. Spec racing gets me going way more than an openish class like what I raced in the past five years.
It's downside is it was swapped for a small-block chevy earlier in it's life(purchased that way), and I don't think locally there is enough for a spec3 classing. But the dream / goal is to swap either back to a BMW engine or a K series. But I could build to a Spec3 criteria and just enjoy the car on track and slowly get experience.
I have to admit to feeling inspired by the great Spec3 stories I'm reading here as well.
Unfortunately I think my current E36 is far enough outside class regs that it would be more economical and expedient to buy a known, classed car. Super extra bonus if the sale includes a trailer.
My local track is NJMP so if the schedule has upcoming events there I'll try to come out and see the action and learn from some of the participants.
There are quite a few people looking for built cars. I think all the known built Spec3 cars have been scooped up. A good compromise is finding a good caged E36 race/track car and swapping in the required parts. I think I've seen a couple of those floating around.
Ed, that was a great race! I lost count of the number of times you two swapped positions.
trumant said:I have to admit to feeling inspired by the great Spec3 stories I'm reading here as well.
Unfortunately I think my current E36 is far enough outside class regs that it would be more economical and expedient to buy a known, classed car. Super extra bonus if the sale includes a trailer.
My local track is NJMP so if the schedule has upcoming events there I'll try to come out and see the action and learn from some of the participants.
It seems like the series is growing somewhat quickly in NASA Northeast - and we do have people also ramping up builds or pre-built cars in Southeast and elsewhere. Somebody's even bought one in Utah.
Full disclosure (I could/should start my own thread, whatever) - I considered a built Spec E46 when buying my Spec3, and the price delta for the two turn-key, needs-nothing cars was over $20,000. I love the SE46 and how they drive but they are not $20k more fun. Spec Miata front-runners are doing $7k built engines every season or two.
Spec3 is cheap to build and run, and our attitude so far is a bit more ragtag - i.e. junkyard motors, not built and blueprinted - and if it stays that way the vibe in the series will continue to be relaxed, competitive, and fun all at once.
In reply to Brake_L8 (Forum Supporter) :
Totally agree! I'm on a relatively low budget and Spec3 has really delivered a lot of fun for that investment. And it should only get better as the class grows.
trumant said:My local track is NJMP so if the schedule has upcoming events there I'll try to come out and see the action and learn from some of the participants.
A few of us are planning on running the NJMP race on August 26-27. Come hang out for a bit! As of now I think we have 4 or 5 planning on making it.
In reply to jimgood :
Thank you! Most fun race I've had in a while.
PunchyWrench - Ed Higginbotham said:trumant said:My local track is NJMP so if the schedule has upcoming events there I'll try to come out and see the action and learn from some of the participants.
A few of us are planning on running the NJMP race on August 26-27. Come hang out for a bit! As of now I think we have 4 or 5 planning on making it.
Appreciate it! I may just. If anything I'll get an appreciation for what the licensing path and time commitment is and once done what it's like to compete in the class.
A couple fun photos from the last race at Summit Point. Next is Pitt Race on July 23-24!
And one of Taylor (green) and Brake_L8 (pink) who pop in here from time to time.
Last night I installed my oil cooler kit. Oil temps were getting up over 220 degrees during the last couple races. Did not feel nice. I am using a modified cap to extract the oil from the filter housing. The flow of oil goes from outside the filter, through it, out the cap, to the cooler, and back through the center section of the filter housing. Note that for this cap a filter from a 328i needs to be used so the oil does not bypass the filter.
I also added an inline thermostat for quicker warmup.
To mount the cooler itself, jh36 and I made a bracket. It holds the cooler as high as possible while still allowing enough room to route right angle fittings and hoses. Added large holes to allow as much air flow through to the radiator as possible.
Oh and of course I measured, cut and assembled the AN fittings and hoses.
Linked everything together and viola!
Oh and the cooler itself is a 19-row Mocal HD unit.
I plan to replace the top fittings on the thermostat with 90 degree fittings to straighten out the hose routing a little, but the straight ones were what I had on hand so that's what I'm running with for the time being.
I'm getting ready to add an oil cooler to my E28 and have an idea for mounting it in my head, you mentioned mounting as high as possible, is there a reason for that?
In reply to adam525i :
I was trying to place it somewhere that would get as much air flow as possible. That means either behind the kidney grills or in the large bottom opening. I didn't want to mount it down low in the bottom opening just because it felt more at risk of getting tagged in some kind of off-track excursion. (I've had my fair share trying to learn this car!).
So I opted for behind the kidney grills and tried to lift it as high as possible to get as much fresh air as possible. I also positioned the cooler to the passenger's side since the hot hose into the radiator feeds into the top driver's side. I wanted to impede air to that specific area as little as possible. Not sure how much it helps, but it surely can't hurt.
You'll need to log in to post.
