The road-going racing car - Sam McKee's BMW E36 328i

[Craikeybaby]

I spotted this in the wild on Saturday - I was behind you in the red 120i at the Shell station in Wellesbourne.

[McSam]

Craikeybaby said:

I spotted this in the wild on Saturday - I was behind you in the red 120i at the Shell station in Wellesbourne.

Ah, you should have said hello! I was on my way up to Donington for the BMW Car Club Racing Series. I live in Wellesbourne and found the car with absolutely no fuel, which is the only time I ever pay the outrageous prices at that station

I must apologise for failing to keep this thread up to date. I've been writing race reports for my website, http://mckeemotorsport.com, and between that and keeping social media going it's hard to find time to get back here. But I will endeavour to do so into the 2019 season, I'd like to give a few tales back to PH, because reading these pages throughout my "formative" motoring years is partly responsible for me ending up with this car at all.

So how did we do in 2018? I shan't replicate everything here, rather link you to the stories, which come complete with onboard footage. We competed in 750 Motor Club's Roadsports series. I drove the car to and from every event, with all the tools and parts used to race it stored inside. The biggest problem this caused throughout the whole season was having to replace brake pads after one race.. incredible.

I was partnered with long-time friend Adam Mealand, in his first season of racing, for Roadsports' format of 45-minute races with a mandatory one-minute pitstop.

17th March 2018 – Donington Park GP
Non-starter. Not the car, the race. We managed to get out to qualify, with a track temperature of -2°C but then snow stopped play and the whole meeting was abandoned.
http://mckeemotorsport.com/race-six-donington-park



21st April 2018 – Brands Hatch Indy
More encouraging! A very good qualifying result, unexpectedly 2nd of 15 in class, but we were wrongly held at the end of the pitlane for a full lap under safety car and then had fuel starvation issues that cost us a lot of time. A finish, but not what you'd call a result.
http://mckeemotorsport.com/race-six-brands-hatch



9th June 2018 – Rockingham International Super Sportscar Long
This was more like it. A great battle. I joined the circuit mid-race after the pitstop to find our chief competition directly on my tail, and had my work cut out to try and keep him there.. Split screen footage included!
http://mckeemotorsport.com/race-seven-rockingham



28th July 2018 – Cadwell Park
Man do I love this circuit. I had an awesome race, fighting hard with cars that should have been far faster all the way through, really racing the thing and it felt fantastic. Adam brought the car home third despite worsening rain and running out of brakes, scoring our first podium in Class C. Incredibly satisfying.
http://mckeemotorsport.com/race-eight-cadwell-park



2nd September 2018 – Donington National (BMW Car Club Racing Series)
Guest-starring in a sprint series, a double-header of 15min and 20min races. The first one was a little quiet, but the second took real focus - I started up the grid from my main competition, and had to build as big a gap as I could before his faster car got through traffic and caught me. He caught me on the last corner of the last lap. But he didn't get it done class win in Non-M Invitational
http://mckeemotorsport.com/races-9-10-donington-pa...


https://youtu.be/rXVhpoI7pGQ?t=1386



6th and 7th October 2018 – Snetterton 300
If you only click one link, make it this one, much video content embedded: http://mckeemotorsport.com/endurance-debut

Our season finale, we didn't do things by half.. we entered the usual 45min Roadsports race on the Saturday, and then the two-hour Club Enduro event on Sunday. Roadsports was drenched, the attrition rate was insane, but the car was kept mostly on the black stuff and intact by the end.



Sunday dawned dry, for the most ambitious undertaking this car has ever seen. Two hours at Snetterton - I was on high alert feeling the brakes, the tyres, the suspension and listening for any telltale whine or knock or rattle that told me we were in trouble and I’d need to back off.. but it never came, she was just as good at the end as in the opening lap where I passed nine of the 50 cars in the field. Incredible. Our goal was to try Club Enduro ahead of entering the championship in 2019, and find out whether we and the car were going to be able to do it competitively. The answer was a resounding “Yes!”



Now she sits on the driveway resting, at least until Rockingham's last-ever track day on 8th December, for which she's been hired by a group of friends. 2019 will bring a full campaign in the Club Enduro Championship, with a winter of tweaks and upgrades to come first..