My car in the wrong class

My car in the wrong class

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dome30

Original Poster:

7 posts

184 months

Tuesday 20th January 2009
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Hello to all!

I'm taking up sprint racing this year and I have now bought my car, it's a BMW, 325i on a 86 plate. Yes it's old but, with a complete engine re-build last March & all the track upgrades you can think of I thought it was perfect for the job. It's not!!!

The upgrades have put it in to a modified class which it will have no chance of competing in. I would like to run it in production class but it has the following:

1 rolecage fia spec 2, OMP bucket seat fia spec 3, 4 point harness 4, Yokohama 1b tyers 5, fully stripped 6, spax ajustable nitro shocks on rear. 7, uprated suspension all round. 8,Uprated disks all round. 9, green pads. 10, ajustable role bar 11, strut bracess back and front.

I don't want to lose these upgrades becuase there the reason i bought the car in the first place!!!
So Please can anyone help me? If I stay in a modified class how can I compete with the sort of mad cars in this type of class?

Any advice will be great!!!!!!!!!
yours dom

Graham

16,368 posts

285 months

Tuesday 20th January 2009
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Getting hold of a copy of the class regs might be a start... That will tell you what you can and can't do in the production class.


failing that you could always race it on the circuits...

deviant

4,316 posts

211 months

Wednesday 21st January 2009
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Find a series you like the look of, read the rules and regs and then buy a car.

Sorry...not very helpfull I know. I guess the only way you can compete in your chosen class is to un-modify the car to meet the regs or find another series that you will be more competative in. If you dont care for trophies just run 'as is' and compete against your own times and trying to improve yourself.

chris_w

2,564 posts

260 months

Wednesday 21st January 2009
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Off the top off my head I would imagine upgrading to slicks would be the best value for money upgrade if you want to run in modified.

What will you be up against? Sometimes the on paper specs don't add up to better performance (and driver is probably still the biggest variable).

I wouldn't worry too much about being underspec for your class, makes giant-killing all the more satisfying!

ad_p

125 posts

228 months

Wednesday 21st January 2009
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I think I am right in saying that if you put the interior back in (you can cut bits to allow for the cage) and put it on list 1A tyres, you can compete in the road going modified over 2 litre class.

onomatopoeia

3,471 posts

218 months

Wednesday 21st January 2009
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dome30 said:
1 rolecage fia spec 2, OMP bucket seat fia spec 3, 4 point harness 4, Yokohama 1b tyers 5, fully stripped 6, spax ajustable nitro shocks on rear. 7, uprated suspension all round. 8,Uprated disks all round. 9, green pads. 10, ajustable role bar 11, strut bracess back and front.
What you can and can't do in roadgoing is up to the event organisers, who will normally follow what the major championship attending the event allows.

Without having an eligibility scrutineer look at the car with a copy of the regs for your event / championship for the definitive answer, my estimate is that in my region (south west, ASWMC), you would be allowed 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,11. You would not be allowed 5 (stripping the interior). This assumes your suspension mounting points are unchanged by the upgrades.

In a lot of other regions / championships you would be forced onto list 1A tyres to remain in roadgoing.

SClarke

546 posts

192 months

Wednesday 21st January 2009
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Yeah I would say stick the interior back in, including rear seats, trims, and headlining. I think the windows have to work in the doors too, and you should get into road going class. Watch out though as down here in Devon Hillclimbs the modified times are slower than the road going in some of the classes.

P.S. Your tyres would be okay down here but elsewhere in the country you would probably need list 1a



Edited by SClarke on Wednesday 21st January 16:43

dome30

Original Poster:

7 posts

184 months

Wednesday 21st January 2009
quotequote all
Hello to all

thanks loads for the advise!!!!! I think I will just race the car against my own times and keep it as it is, if i do better than some of the big boys it will be that bit more special!!!

thanks again for your advise

yours dom

JonnyW

867 posts

243 months

Wednesday 21st January 2009
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Dom,

The car sounds virtually fully prepared, why not get your pace up on some track days, get a full MSA licence, then you can do the cheap testing days and join a series that has a class to suite.

The BMW Drivers Club have a Kuhmo Series that is Nat B, so you can run around with your cross on the boot and class C is max 175 bhp per tonne at the wheels.

Entry looks cheap and you can go from there?

I think I've seen another series that is similar, maybe the same one, at Brands at the Motorsport Day last November.

There has to be a SEMSEC or BARC saloon series with a matching group also?

Sprinting is great fun and cheap but if the car is fully prepared then the cost for final fettling, and new boots, shouldn't be too massive!

Cheers

Jonny

jellison

12,803 posts

278 months

Thursday 22nd January 2009
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Yep race it.

Sprinting is ALOT of standing around allday for the very occasional lap (with no one else on the track!).