When I was younger and didn't have the finances to race real cars, I raced radio controlled cars instead. Specifically, I raced electric 1/10th-scale touring cars on outdoor asphalt with rubber tires (they were also raced indoors on carpet with foam tires). The cars were highly adjustable, even down...
GridLife is a national automotive festival tour that embraces a wide range of car culture. Festival events include on-track sessions for HPDE, time attack, wheel to wheel racing, endurance racing, and drifting exhibitions.
Say the letters "PTG," and any E36 fan will immediately have a mental image. Prototype Technology Group campaigned their BMW-contracted E36 M3 program to great success in the mid-late 1990s. The GT3 class cars featured distinct bodywork, impressive development, and legendary drivers (Bill Auberlen and Boris Said, amongst others). It's...
What is an OEM-style shifter? On most manual transmission BMWs, the shifter linkage consists of a sub-assembly that includes it's own "carrier", selector rod, and shift lever. In addition, there are some bushings and shims involved to keep things tight. The pivot "cup" and shims are made of hard plastics,...
Last week I took part in a conference call about the future of R3VLimited. For those that aren't familiar, R3VLimited is one of the oldest and largest E30 forums left on the internet. As with most forums, it has been dying a slow death, and I for one hate to...
SpecE30 is dead. Long live SpecE30. Alright, so not completely dead, yet. But it's headed that way. Let's discuss why. Availability For the better part of two decades, donor cars were $500-1,000. Not anymore. Clapped out rollers can command $2,500+. Decent running cars seem to start at $4,...
As detailed in my recent post about Tire Parity in NASA Racing, there are new rules for NASA's power to weight racing classes (ST and TT) intended to create better parity between the bevy of tire choices. Thankfully these new rules are not based on manufacturer's claimed treadwear or sizing...
Over the years, my track experience has mostly been relegated to the E30 chassis; up until recently, the only other platforms I had driven hard were an E36 on track and a GR WRX at autocross. While the E36 featured some very notable improvements in suspension design and chassis dynamics...
I recently read a great article by the inimitable Ross Bentley, which highlighted some of the shortcomings of HPDE instruction. As a seasoned instructor and driving coach, Ross included many excellent ideas for better ways to coach and train new drivers. Train the Trainer: Monkeys, Late Apexes & Classroom SessionsWhy do...
Sorry for the dramatized title. However, that is exactly what we'll be doing today. Recently, at Roebling Road Raceway, Carlos Mendez and I got to drive the same car, on the same track, in the same conditions. I had the distinct advantage of being the owner of the car and...
It's nice to be back after taking August off from RE. Some work was done on the #73 E30 (which is for sale!), but I mainly focused on prepping the E90 for test days and GLTC next year. Sure, the car came to me basically in race-ready condition, but who...
Frequently I will come across a vague setup advice question along the lines of: My E36 understeers. How much front camber should I run? A question like this is needlessly restrictive (why camber?) and hard to answer accurately. There are so many missing variables, such as:
Last week's GridLife 2024 announcement marked the 52nd post here on RE. It was the completion of my commitment to do 1 year of weekly posts. I'm ready to keep pushing forward with the site, but before doing so, I want to see if I am on the right path,...
Today marks the one-year anniversary of RE, and we're thrilled to share some exciting news about the upcoming race season. Carlos Mendez and TJ Lathrop are taking a couple of BMWs racing in GridLife Touring Cup.
