• Registered: 2022-05-31
  • Posts: 3

Topic: Not Another Boring BMW (but please hear me out first)

I participated in my first Lemons race last weekend at Thunderhill and I unfortunately had such a great time that I got hooked like a junkie. Not only was my team incredibly supportive and helpful, but everyone in the entire race was beyond awesome. I've never experienced anything like it in my life (and I participate in some unusual two-wheeled motorsports of my own).
I was driving with team Valiant Effort (#42). I apologize to the Judge I woke up at 5:30am on Sunday as I was pounding in new axle seals with a BFH - sorry it had to be done in the name of Lemons.

Anyway, I plan on driving with this team as often as I can, but, me being me, I can't sit back and not also take a stab at eventually fielding my own car. I'm not in any rush but I did want to get some feedback before I spent any money prepping a car.
For better or worse, the only Lemons option currently in my fleet is a 1984 318i which is exceptionally ratty and disgusting, salvage titled and slow, but it is still an E30 which I know is generally frowned upon. I honest-to-God picked it up for $10 (along with the privilege of getting it out of the gal's yard) and I definitely overpaid. I'll pay more in doctor bills after I cure whatever diseases I pick up from it.

My plan would be to pretty much leave it alone (aside from safety obviously) including leaving the little 1.8L M10 in it. I imagine any cheaty thing you can do to an E30, the judges have seen it before so I won't even try.
I am planning on a ridiculous theme which will involve a degree of self-humiliation. I know I'll need it if I field an E30.

Do you think I should move forward with the 318i or would I be wasting my time? Assuming some other human being sees value in it, I could also trade it for something more Lemons-worthy. I'm not wanting to drive an E30 at Lemons because I think I can win or anything, I truly just want to have a great time with some great people. I just happen to have this car at my disposal which should have probably gone to the junkyard.

Thank you for any advice you can give me as I stupidly jump into this crazy Lemons world. (Full disclosure, I was adequately warned so this is all on me).

Thanks,
Steve

  • From: Seacoast NH
  • Registered: 2013-01-01
  • Posts: 472

Re: Not Another Boring BMW (but please hear me out first)

Use the e30.  When I spectated my first Lemons race 10+ years ago.  *Everyone*  said "get an e30" as they spend more time on track than off.  I had no idea what an e30 was and was afraid to ask.  Thanks for educating me google!  wink     Unless you want to spend your time and $ fixing things all weekend.   It's a great platform that you will love to drive.  The 1.8 is slower but it sips fuel.  Make it light and have fun.  Welcome to the madness

"We Got Screwed" NHMS 2017, 4th NHMS 2020,  4th NJMP 2021,
"Judges Choice" NHMS 2021,10th NJMP 2022, 3rd Thompson 2022
#847 Batmobile  aka-"Beulah"  search Squidrope Racing on Facebook
  • From: Chicago-ish
  • Registered: 2010-04-19
  • Posts: 3,502

Re: Not Another Boring BMW (but please hear me out first)

For all its legendary MYSTIQUE as the 2002 powerplant and the basis for BMW's piss-on-the-blocks F1 engine, the M10 makes an E30 roughly the same as base-spec 1997 Civic.

That shouldn't stop you from an epic theme, though, and it sounds like you have one planned.

Eric Rood
Everything Bagel, 24 Hours of Lemons
eric@24hoursoflemons.com

therood's Website

  • Registered: 2013-11-15
  • Posts: 671

Re: Not Another Boring BMW (but please hear me out first)

Lemons is what you make of it. If you think you will have fun in an M10 E30 do it. There is a lot of wisdom in how to race them and keep them on track. When the M10 gets boring, plenty of engine swaps you can do.

It's also not the cheat mobile it used to be. Plenty of E36/E46s getting raced now.

Team whatever_racecar #745 Volvo wagon
  • Registered: 2016-12-12
  • Posts: 8

Re: Not Another Boring BMW (but please hear me out first)

Wow, we really got you hooked quick!  Must of been all the slant six goodness.. smile  Looking forward to running with you again at Sonoma and maybe, possibly, another race.  If your still willing to do the towing and Chris can get the time off work we can start going a little farther..

  • From: Fort Bragg, NC
  • Registered: 2017-02-01
  • Posts: 303

Re: Not Another Boring BMW (but please hear me out first)

blown340 wrote:

Must of been all the slant six goodness.. smile

Yep! Gits 'em every time!! :-)

Off-Kilter Racing
'62 Plymouth Valiant "ToadRacer" - Organizer's Choice, IOE...
'86 Toyota MR2 (needs engine)
  • Registered: 2022-05-31
  • Posts: 3

Re: Not Another Boring BMW (but please hear me out first)

Thank you all for the replies and advice! I think I'll start diving in to the E30 in between prepping and racing the Valiant. Like I said, I'm in no rush. Aside from the theme, keep it pretty simple at first.

blown340 wrote:

Wow, we really got you hooked quick!  Must of been all the slant six goodness.. smile  Looking forward to running with you again at Sonoma and maybe, possibly, another race.  If your still willing to do the towing and Chris can get the time off work we can start going a little farther..

You have no idea, Jon! You were the one that warned me about the risk of a Lemons addition, or infection, depending on how you look at it. The only medically proven cure I'm told is to race more Lemons.
The slant 6 awesomeness was one of the best parts, but, to be honest, what really hooked me was hanging out with you and the awesome team you've assembled. Mark and I had more than a few hours to get to know one another over the course of the weekend and, by the end, we were wrenching together like we've been friends for decades. You guys and everyone in the entire race were amazing. I'm not giving up endurance moto racing just yet, but I have to say, the vibe at Lemons is like no other race (two or four wheels) I've been a part of.

I'm looking forward to helping prep the Valiant for Sonoma - or better yet, how about Buttonwillow?!? Always happy to tow. We should note to the group that our efforts to earn the Heroic Fix award didn't end with the Valiant - I had two separate tire belt failures on the tow rig! Who knew I should have brought two spares for the truck that weekend...

  • From: Camarillo, CA
  • Registered: 2021-03-26
  • Posts: 385

Re: Not Another Boring BMW (but please hear me out first)

PureAdrenochrome wrote:

I participated in my first Lemons race last weekend at Thunderhill and I unfortunately had such a great time that I got hooked like a junkie. Not only was my team incredibly supportive and helpful, but everyone in the entire race was beyond awesome. I've never experienced anything like it in my life (and I participate in some unusual two-wheeled motorsports of my own).
I was driving with team Valiant Effort (#42). I apologize to the Judge I woke up at 5:30am on Sunday as I was pounding in new axle seals with a BFH - sorry it had to be done in the name of Lemons.

Anyway, I plan on driving with this team as often as I can, but, me being me, I can't sit back and not also take a stab at eventually fielding my own car. I'm not in any rush but I did want to get some feedback before I spent any money prepping a car.
For better or worse, the only Lemons option currently in my fleet is a 1984 318i which is exceptionally ratty and disgusting, salvage titled and slow, but it is still an E30 which I know is generally frowned upon. I honest-to-God picked it up for $10 (along with the privilege of getting it out of the gal's yard) and I definitely overpaid. I'll pay more in doctor bills after I cure whatever diseases I pick up from it.

My plan would be to pretty much leave it alone (aside from safety obviously) including leaving the little 1.8L M10 in it. I imagine any cheaty thing you can do to an E30, the judges have seen it before so I won't even try.
I am planning on a ridiculous theme which will involve a degree of self-humiliation. I know I'll need it if I field an E30.

Do you think I should move forward with the 318i or would I be wasting my time? Assuming some other human being sees value in it, I could also trade it for something more Lemons-worthy. I'm not wanting to drive an E30 at Lemons because I think I can win or anything, I truly just want to have a great time with some great people. I just happen to have this car at my disposal which should have probably gone to the junkyard.

Thank you for any advice you can give me as I stupidly jump into this crazy Lemons world. (Full disclosure, I was adequately warned so this is all on me).

Thanks,
Steve

Do you want to build your own car, or start your own team? We purchased a retired champ car and made it into a Lemons car... even with all that, it was a lot of work and it's hard to find a team of people willing to sacrifice dozens of weekends to build a car with you. I 100% stand by our decision to buy retired and finish/make it your own, rather than start from scratch. I was on another team that started from scratch and they/we spent more time, over $7k, and ended up with a crappier car. I started my own team, spend under $2k, had a better car, and had time/$  to drive/shake down/fine tune the car. If you really really want to take on a big project of starting from scratch, absolutely do it. If it were me, I'd take that e30, clean it up a bit, flip it, and use that money to purchase a pre-built/retired car. We flipped a couple cars/sold spare parts to help with the startup costs of our team.

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

9 Reply by SwarlesInCharge (edited by SwarlesInCharge 2022-06-04 08:17 AM)

  • Registered: 2013-07-24
  • Posts: 112

Re: Not Another Boring BMW (but please hear me out first)

It took us a year to build our rolling parts car e30 and had competition car building experience (SAE Baja). Buying a turn-key would be smart to start, especially given roll cage rules and everything else. But e30s make good Lemons because a lot of the stuff is overbuilt and fairly robust. But as said above, they won't hold a candle to e36/e46 in terms of speed but that's ok. Our eta (85 325e) also sips on fuel and really nice to only buy 4-5 gph vs. some teams with double or triple that with these gas prices.

FYI. For rear springs, we cut (1) e39 non-sport rear spring in half and gave us perfect rate and height, in a linear spring. I think I still have one lying around if you wanted it. For front, we just cut a coil off the factory springs. We flipped the strut mounts cross-car ways and offset holes in the towers to give free negative camber. M3-style weld-on endlink tabs and E34 (?) long swaybar endlinks in front help (for cheap). Along with the stiffness of the roll cage, it is a pretty good handler with cheap 205/50-15 tires (the other series has people run 225 or 245s but who cares - not worth it to us to finish 40th instead of 42nd).

If you want to buy a built car, old Volvos do great. Also (in the Midwest at least) 1st gen Ford Focus seem to dominate Class B.

-Robert, Party Sheep Racing
The Jerry Lundegaard GMAC Financing Award, Joliet 2013 [Cutlass Ciera w/ Iron Duke]
Eta E30: IL Fall '15, MI Spring '16, IL Summer '16, MI Spring '17, KY '17, MI Summer '21, KY '21, MI Summer '21, MI Fall '22