e36's (Page 2 of 2)

why don't you tall people just cut a targa top..

this isn't SEMA and you aren't building a car to represent a multi-million dollar company.

We ran and E36 in Houston in October.  It was bone stock--we did not even change the brake fluid that was in the car when we picked it up in the Ghetto.

It ran beautifully.  Of course we started 48 laps down due to BS judging, and we spent some time in the penalty box, but the car performed flawlessly.

IMHO, E36s are going to perform better than 80% percent of the cars in a Lemons race because: 1.  they are newer, on average; and 2. They were performance cars when they were built

Getting into the race, and getting pass BS are the challenges with an E36--compared to almost any other car on the track, the E36 is going to be just as reliable and faster than most.

Troy
Revolutionary Racing

I agree in part and disagree in part. Yes, I'm all for diversity and yes, there are more lemon-y cars out there than an e36. However, car choice for Lemons sometimes becomes, in many instances, a very personal choice for some reason. You're always going to have differing points of view, often within your own team, on what car should ultimately be purchased/raced. But, I think that it shouldn't be all that bad (if you get accepted in the first place) to show up in a BMW/Supra/Miata/5spd Maxima/ZX/Porsche/FoxBody/etc., IF:

- if you aren't there for the "overall win"...
- your car really is a $500 car and isn't made of pure cheatonium...
- your roster isn't made up of SCCA/NASA all-stars...
- you have a decent theme, etc...

Point is, you're still there to have fun and "race" a car that wouldn't have passed even the most basic state inspection 6 months ago...

I agree with both of you. We never would have been able to do our first race in a 1936 Buick or something absurd like that. We were going to do a 62 Stude Lark until the owner/seller got too upset at how we were going to do the car for the race and refused to sell it to us. But having done a couple of these races now, I'd definitely do a more outlandish car. For the first set of races, I totally agree with you guys though.

I've met BMW Troy and I know Pat.

I always find it funny how people say you shouln't be here for the overall win.  Then the cheating bitchfest/whin-o-rama starts.  Suddenly these guys here just to have a good time are offended by the fast moving E30s, Miatas an so on.

I assure you, I am making every effort I can to win.  Especially with the unrelenting Z bashing.  I feel almost a moral obligation to shift the axis of the universe as we know it.

Regarding an E36 BMW, I had one and wish I still had it.  It's the first car I took to the track.  I kept my 3rd gen Maxima instead.  There is NO comparison between a front drive Maxima and an E36 or even a Miata.  The 6 cylinder E36 is a born bad ass.  The 318 may look similar but it's missing more than 2 cylinders.  The 325 has great grip and balance right out of the box.  Sure, the M3 is better but all around a great package.  It's pretty easy to drive which makes it a great car for beginners. 

Unfortunately, they are hard to find in the $500 range.  One the positive side, their drive train holds up better than their interior.  They drop in value cause the door panels are falling apart and cosmetically the cars need a face lift.  The foam on all sorts of stuff under the dash is turning to dust and getting in everything inside the dash.  It looked like a black dust bomb went off inside the dash of my car.

I followed the gold 325 a bit during practice and it was hard to catch.  My 240Z is no where close to stock and the gold 325 was damn near an even match.

So while odd cars are very interesting, I prefer cars with performance potential.  Both get into races but a 50's piece of American/Fresh/Russian/Japanese history may have an easier acceptance than a E30. 

I try to do what I can with what I've got.  That said, I pail in comparison to the motorcycle powered cars.  That's a whole different stratosphere.

I feel like teams should pick whatever they are comfortable and makes them happy.  Come have a good time.  It you feel the need to complain about the BMWs, maybe you should have picked one yourself.  No one forced your car selection on you.

We come to have a good time with strong hopes of winning.  Maybe we should try a BMW instead of a Z to improve the odds of winning.

Wow!  The famous Troy has christened me with a new name; 'BMW Troy'.  Thanks Troy!

ironically, we were pretty pleased to get our 48 BS laps because we knew that took us out of contention and that was back in the day when the People's Curse was a real threat.  We figured if we were way down on the lap sheet, no one would want to destroy our car.  Funny to think how much the change in the voting at that race has changed the dynamic of the peoples Curse. 

I doubt people in the last few races spend as much time worrying about being crushed as we did before Houston. 

BTW, we were not cheating (at least not much), but we knew people would perceive the E36 as a cheater so we were worried that if we had been in the top 10 or so people may have been looking to crush us.

We knew we were completely out of contention for the overall win, but we were not arrogant enough to think we had a chance in our first race given our inexperience with both a car and drivers who had never been on a track, so our 48 BS lap lashing was not so bad.

____________________________________________
BMW Troy
Revolutionary Racing

The February race in Houston will be the first race with my own car and my own team, which is both exciting and scary. (My first race was in a car that someone else prepared ... it's actually done 3 races without a single mechanical failure.)  All we need to do now is keep the car from overheating long enough to see what else needs to be fixed.

In Northern California it is surprising how many cheap BMW's are available. You really can find one for $500.

There was an E36 at Thunderhill.......

But if they are so cheater-ific why do I recall PASSING it many times?

I have a 'free' '83 320i. It's my wife's car.
We'll be replacing it with a 'free' Jeep in February.

The Bimmer would be fun, but it just had all the body and paint work done in a trade.
Really nice car.

Probably too nice...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topi … e-bmw.html

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/101-proj … oring.html

KT

KT
Thats too nice...I wouldn't do it