as.racing Britcar Production Cup - BMW Z3 1.9L Build

as.racing Britcar Production Cup - BMW Z3 1.9L Build

Author
Discussion

ScotchAndy25

Original Poster:

8 posts

133 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Evening all,

Thought I'd re-write this properly as full build thread...

This is the project I'm currently working on, I'm about a year in now and finally have some decent progress worth sharing.

I'm building a car to compete in the 2013/14 UK Britcar Production Cup and try to keep the project updated fairly regularly here: http://www.asracingblog.com (there's also a lot more detail in the write-ups regarding the engineering side of the project - if you're into that kind of thing!)

Oh yeah, just had the second weigh in: the car was 1,190kg and is now 868kg. Over 320kg lost and more to go- I haven't even started with the composites yet.

Cheers,

Andy

Some highlights of the build so far.....

Car at the start of the build:


Standard 1.9L engine dyno'd before any changes. Might need to raise the limiter!:


The big strip!




Roll Cage going in:




CAD model finished:




CFD analysis of standard car:

Open Top vs. Hard Top Analysis (Open Top adds 20% more drag!!)




Rear wing design:


FEA of aero loads on rear wing pylons:


Standard car suspension analysis on a 4-post shaker rig:


Can't seem to link the youtube videos here, can I do this? They're on the blog though...

All comments welcome

lindrup119

1,228 posts

142 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Wow, looks like a lot of thought has gone into that! Anymore updates or is that it for now? wink


Will look awesome when complete I think, any colour ideas or sticking with the silver and red? Think the splitters will look great.

clubracing

329 posts

205 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
I'm sorry to be critical of what looks like could be a great project but it seems as though you've not fully thought it out.

In the latest Production Cup draft regs for 2013, the Z3 is not listed as an eligble model. It says on your blog that you intend to enter class 3 but the aero pacakge you've done some CAD models for is also not permitted. It doesn't allow underbody aero parts between the front and rear axle centrelines and the maximum fore and aft extension of any aero parts beyond the standard body is only 50mm. Is that going to be worth the additional 10 seconds mandatory pit stop time?
The roll cage you've used appears to be too tall to allow a hardtop to be installed and they're not mentionaed as being allowed in the regulations either.

I also don't see how doing rig testing of the standard suspenion is going to be of any benefit? The spring and damping rates of any race setup are going to be signicantly greater and the ride height and geometry will be completely different too.

The work you've done is certainly very impressive but I defintely think you need to look again at what you intend to do with the car.

Edited by clubracing on Wednesday 13th February 22:59

tbc

3,017 posts

174 months

Thursday 14th February 2013
quotequote all
clubracing said:
I'm sorry to be critical of what looks like could be a great project but it seems as though you've not fully thought it out.

In the latest Production Cup draft regs for 2013, the Z3 is not listed as an eligble model. It says on your blog that you intend to enter class 3 but the aero pacakge you've done some CAD models for is also not permitted. It doesn't allow underbody aero parts between the front and rear axle centrelines and the maximum fore and aft extension of any aero parts beyond the standard body is only 50mm. Is that going to be worth the additional 10 seconds mandatory pit stop time?
The roll cage you've used appears to be too tall to allow a hardtop to be installed and they're not mentionaed as being allowed in the regulations either.

I also don't see how doing rig testing of the standard suspenion is going to be of any benefit? The spring and damping rates of any race setup are going to be signicantly greater and the ride height and geometry will be completely different too.

The work you've done is certainly very impressive but I defintely think you need to look again at what you intend to do with the car.

Edited by clubracing on Wednesday 13th February 22:59
looks a great project

even if clubracing has just st in your nest

ScotchAndy25

Original Poster:

8 posts

133 months

Thursday 14th February 2013
quotequote all
Evening, am about to head out so apologies for the short comments - don't worry I haven't got the hump!

Clubracing;

- Contacted Britcar before even purchasing the car, it's been approved.

- The new regs for next season have caught me out a bit on my aero plans which I did about a year ago. Have to compromise on this, so plans have changed but will still be running in what's now class 4.

- Correct, roll cage will cause issues with the hardtop. Don't see why it wouldn't be allowed however?

- Correct, rig test of standard car is of no benefit. I've got an MSc student on board who's project will be the design, simulation and analysis of a completely new race set-up (damper rates, spring rates, ARB & control arms etc). This was just the baseline so we can quantify the effects of the changes, same with getting the standard engine on the dyno - this is an engineering study after all! Plan to have the car rolling again and properly set up on the rig again by the end of the summer.


Lindrup119;

- When(/if!) I eventually get to paint I'll be going with a classic BMW livery, so expect a mostly white car with plenty of M colours - like the old school E30 DTM cars. I want to create a works-esque looking car.

Will catch up later when I've got more time.

CHeers,

Andy

ScotchAndy25

Original Poster:

8 posts

133 months

Tuesday 15th April 2014
quotequote all
No good news to update unfortunately.... Due to a change in personal circumstances & work load, the car's unfortunately gone up for sale and the project cut short frown

PM me if you're interested, advert link below:
http://www.racecarsdirect.com/listing/53701/abando...

The only other interesting work done since the last update was using the baseline info to chose our desired race spring rates and then analyse the dampers (GAZ Adjustables) on a damper dyno which allows us to tune them to suit later.







It's a real shame to end the project here, but hopefully it will make a great base for someone to use as a race/track car etc.

Cheers,

Andy

Stuart Thompson

581 posts

162 months

Wednesday 16th April 2014
quotequote all
Shame you had to abandon, there was a Z3 race in the BRITCAR at silverstone I thought it may have been this one, obviously not.

Stuart Thompson

581 posts

162 months

Thursday 17th April 2014
quotequote all
Stuart Thompson said:
Shame you had to abandon, there was a Z3 race in the BRITCAR at silverstone I thought it may have been this one, obviously not.
Just seen the photos from silverstone and that one was a breadvan.