I dont know how to say this

[turbodan]

So I'm just going to say it.

I went to my first autocross tonight, and I whipped everybody's ass.

I had the second best time behind a specifically prepared Nissan Silvia S14, who had me by about two tenths of a second. I was a good two seconds ahead of a turbo Miata, four seconds ahead of the one Porsche that was running. There was a guy in a shifter cart running two seconds ahead of us, but he wasn't really driving it well.

I like the way the journal bearing T4 works for autocross. It doesnt come on so hard that you just destroy the tires. They do spin, but the car keeps up pretty well. The old ball bearing turbo would have been a disadvantage.

I need to get the car out on a road course and see if I can put it on some e36 M3's. It seems so rediculous. This is on 250k mile original 528e suspension. The only upgrade is e32 thrust arm bushings, and all of the control arms have been replaced, as well as the subframe mounts and dogbones in the rear. I was amazed how well the car actually turned with the stock shocks, springs and swaybars. Who gives a shit about body roll when the thing hooks up like that. I have to credit the BF Goodrich G-Force Sports too. 225/60 15's seem to be enough to make the car really hook.

I knew turning was fun, but its been a while since I've done anything like that. Hooray autocross.

[griffith]

Hell yes! I'd love to see some pics of that, M20e28 up on three braking hard into a corner....

Jason

[altus22]

Isn't it fun? One of the most experienced drivers at my first autoX was impressed that I was drifting the TD around the hairpin! Have fun!

[Wildstoats]

Hell yes! I'd love to see some pics of that, M20e28 up on three braking hard into a corner....

Jason

Depending on the quality of his suspension parts it probably looked something like this:


My suspension was stock and beat when I ran that Auto-X.

Glad to hear you were putting the smack down on people though! Show those whipper snapper cars what the old 5er can do

[bimmerboy]

Now yous Balllinnn'

[turbodan]

I think I'll be swapping over the Bilstein stuff from my parts car this weekend. I forgot I had front and rear shocks and springs in the thing, just sitting there.

Bonus.

[Brad D.]

Haha Dan, thats awesome. It sounds like the car is a blast to drive. I can't wait to take my car to the autox this season. There is something very special about a 20+ year old 4 door car whooping up on everything.

[turbodan]

It seems to help when you have a ton of power, regardless of what everyone says.

[Tammer in Philly]

I predict you'll be hooked when you turn a wheel on a road course. Complement your straight-line pull with some on-limit cornering, and apply that power coming out of the corner ... you're gonna love it. BMWs are total-package cars.

I had no trouble with most E36 M3s even in my stockish 535is, so you'll be destroying much faster hardware. After a session with a set up E46 M3 (cams, carbon intake, coilovers, big brakes) and a couple of well-prepped E36s, I had three drivers coming over to see what turbo I was running. I had to pop the hood and show them my 250k-mile M30 to prove that it wasn't a power advantage, it was corner speed (on my huge, sticky 225 street tires! ;-). They were quicker, but they couldn't lose me in a 25-minute session.

Have fun.

-tammer

[Tammer in Philly]

It seems to help when you have a ton of power, regardless of what everyone says.

Of course. I wish I had more. You don't need power to have fun or be fast, but it certainly helps (at least with the "fast" part).

-tammer

[turbodan]

I usually get my kicks running around new housing developments, where the streets are paved but they haven't built any houses yet. I like the idea of a legal, legitimate road course without curbs or dirty pavement. What a concept...

I'm definitely in for the next track day.

[Tammer in Philly]

I usually get my kicks running around new housing developments, where the streets are paved but they haven't built any houses yet. I like the idea of a legal, legitimate road course without curbs or dirty pavement. What a concept...

I'm definitely in for the next track day.

Dan, PM me an e-mail addy.

-tammer

[johnnye23]

Dan, save the racing for the track . Glad you did well.

[Shawn D.]

I went to my first autocross tonight...

Hehehe... I suspected you were an autocross virgin* when you said "Autocross is hard on tires, not your engine. I try to keep revs down so I have room to rev. I dont know anybody that runs around a course within 500 rpm of the revlimiter." Do you care to change those statements now?

*I had made a snide comment to that effect, but since I had no proof, I deleted it from my response.

[turbodan]

Who says you have to run a legitimate autocross to know what its like to drive the hell out of your car? This was a unique experience running around a course designed to keep you in first gear. Your average freshly paved neighborhood road course allows second and third gear, but I still have to stand by my previous statement. I wasn't running around pegging the rev limiter, though I did hit it rather quickly when the boost came on. Given the room to choose a gear and carry some speed, I'd try to keep the motor around 3500 for some usable roll on torque. I'll get back to you after some laps around the road course though.

[cwl4m5]

hey griffith how's my baby?

[Maddog]

You will enjoy track events, but you are going to want to do something with your brakes if you have not yet upgraded.

I track my 533i and love it. I would love to see more E28s out at Road Atlanta and the other local tracks.

[turbodan]

I'm running a set of e34 535i front brakes at the moment. So far so good.