The car ran cool, and cornered WAY flatter than the last time I was at Thill. That fact is doubly amazing considering that this time I ran on my V710s – which is essentially like cheating since they are so damned sticky. The car was inspiring.

I also ran a lap timer for the first time; by the end of the day I was pretty consistently in the 2:13:xx area, which makes me happy. I figure the car is tubby, but the tires almost make up for it, so the time seems pretty legit.

I shot some in car video during the time trial – note the extremely fast Evo that I nearly cut off when I got a point on my third lap. Also note the ridiculous line I was tryng through Turn 11. I have a tendency to early apex that turn, so I was making a concerted effort to wait longer than I needed to to try and change my ways. That is definitely NOT a line I actually thought would be faster.

Time Trial, NCRC, first 3 laps

You will also note the silence that is my car. All you hear is wind noise. Hard to shift. I plan to fix that soon…

I beleive I had the fastest time in my class (AAA) with a 58.050, and of course, as soon as I lent the car to a friend, he promptly showed me what it could REALLY do, and he got a 57.3xx. Thanks a lot Russ… (Actually, I was so impressed with his driving I invited him to be a co-driver for the season. So much for trying to win AAA!)

The in-car video action worked flawlessly, except that yours truly forgot to record my last (and fastest) run. Red mist clouded my brain and I couldn’t keep it together. Lame.

In any case, have a look!

Run five, BMW CCA Autocross at Marina – March 26, 2006

I need to lower the car to dial out some of the lean (see pics below) and attach my front sway bar to the struts rather than the control arms. After that, I need to settle in to the far-less-violent driving style that I think E36s require relative to E30s. My time behind the wheel of various E30s means I have grown used to really pitching the car around, and the extra weight of the E36 means that it doesn’t respond as well to that kind of behaivior; I could stand to chill out a bit and let the car settle. We will see.

Pics are all thanks to Mark Dadgar, BMW CCA GGC driving events coordinator and head cheese at www.justracing.com. You can see the car leaning a lot, and you can see the look on my face as I watch Russ drive the wheels off my car while I announce. I am stupefied. Heh.

The camera is a super tiny still camera, but it has a movie mode, and I thought it might work for in-car or on-bike footage. I just completed an around the block test drive with the clamp attached to the topmost “ear” of my cheap momo seat (just over my right shoulder) and I am totally impressed.

Check it! (Right-click and save as please!) My first avi file.

Check back regularly for serious autocross and track footage! Oh boy!

Note the custom seat brackets. I made them myself with my new welder. Thanks, Mom and Dad! Those are wire-feed welds, and I have to say, for my first project, they look pretty damned okay. I can’t wait to get more practice.

Light light light, and apparently these are four of the last twelve new Kosei K1 wheels in America. Old school. The pirctures are the same style wheels, but shod with 255/40/17 Toyo Proxes RA-1s. These pics were taken before I got to smashing the fenders with a small bar clamp and a jack handle. You can see that the tires have a small band of silver all around the outside where they were contacting the topmost edge of the bumper cover at the wheel well. A little tinsnip action took care of that, and I was able to run a whole day at Sears with no interference issues.

Thansk to Ramon LeFrancois for the use of the tires that day. What a blast! The car was killer on the track, and I probably drove as well as I ever have. Of course, that didn’t prevent Ramon himself from passing me, in the rain, in his ’91 318is. Sigh. He is just plain quick.

Chris

Slowly, over the course of at least three or four days, that responsibility transformed from a badge of pride to a yoke of obligation. I was teetering on the precipice edge: one tiny misstep, one missed oil change, and my once calm life would come crashing down. The wheels might very literally fall off, and I would be once again left with unreliable cars. The proverbial other shoe was hanging just out of sight, ready to drop at any moment.

I couldn’t wait for destiny. I had to intervene.

I killed it. I gutted the 328i while it was still warm. Out came the comfortable yet sporty springs and shocks, the resilient but quiet rubber bushings front and rear, the silent but powerful brakes, the economy-enhancing differential, the luxurious electronically adjustable leather seats, the selfless airbag and leather-wrapped steering wheel, all of it gone and spread on the floor of the workshop like wasted giblets from a fat holiday bird.

And there it sat, propped on the lift, parts all a-dangle. I shut off the torch, and inhaled a deep breath of burning bushings. I smeared the grease and dirt from my forehead with a sweaty forearm and surveyed the carnage.

The 328i, sport sedan. A car barely alive. Gentlemen, I would rebuild it. I had the technology. I had the capability to build my third ridiculously uncomfortable car. The 328i will be that car. More uncomfortable than it was before. More uncomfortable, stronger, faster.

In went the ground control “springs” (so stiff they could hardly be called springs) and Konis. In went plates to adjust camber and caster so as to wear my tires to the cords at least twice a day. In went bushings hewn apparently from pure diamond and marble. In went a new 3.15 limited slip differential. In went brakes loud and squeally enough to shame a train. In went a small, dished Momo steering wheel and torturous fixed-back lightweight Momo seats.

The car is incredible. The limits have been raised exponentially. As has road noise, vibration, harshness, and general crappiness. With one day’s work, I flung the yoke of obligation from my shoulders and once again roam free: a gearhead idiot on the prowl for more perfectly good cars to ruin in the name of speed.

Lock your garages. I am mad.