3 weeks after the IRL demo in St. Petersburg FL, We loaded up the bimmer once again. This time we were headed to the D1 Grand Prix Season opener in Anaheim, California.
The drive out went fairly well. Minus the extremely quick fuel stops due to half our trip being 10 miles or less from the capitol of swine flu.
When we arrived, it was time to take the m3 off the trailer. Ahh! It had been infected! Seemed to be misfiring. Later on a compression test showed 190-190-190-190-190-55. Not knowing why the compression was down I decided that I was already in CA and that I needed to drive.
The car was down on power BIG TIME. It felt like less then 280hp with a super laggy turbo due to the misfiring and low compression.
Look at that steering angle tho!
It was time to qualify for top 30. My first run very clean and conservative. 2nd had a lot more speed and angle. Then in the 3rd run I went 110%. All 3 runs had great line, angle and excitement, but I had trouble making the Dunlop 275-35-18’s spin with my lowered power.
I was worried when they started to announce the top 5 qualifiers. Then in the 4th place spot, My name was called!
After qualifying we contemplated pulling the head off to see if we could fix the problem before top 16 the next morning. But since the car was "kind of" running, I decided to just continue driving the Volvo 5cyl...
Saturday morning came along with top 16 qualifying. I drove 110% of the car, made 3 clean and aggressive runs. But the other drivers were stepping up their game, so I ended up 7 th.
It was time for tandem battles. I was paired up with Texas local Tyler Cox. His 480whp 240sx stretched away quickly into the 1 st turn, But the big bad bimmer and its sticky dunlops quickly hunted Tyler down and latched onto his bumper for the 2 nd half of the track. We switched positions and I led a solid run that would advance me to the next round.
My next match up was the Japanese driver T. Ueno in his 600hp Toyota Soarer. I led the first run, Pedal to the floor I charged the entry but on the second turn I made a mistake and spun.
Then Ueno led. He stretched me by nearly 8 car lengths before the 1 st turn! I dive-bombed super fast in the second turn and caught him. As I transitioned on his bumper I downshifted to second, but when the clutch was released there was no 2 nd gear so I straightened and rolled off track. Shift linkage issue!
600hp says bye to 5cyl!
But dunlops and a heavy foot say HELLO!
I ended up 8 th overall which I am very happy about considering the circumstances.
When I got home and did a leakdown and found it was exhaust valve issues. The next morning I loaded the car onto the trailer and headed to The Racers Market in Atlanta. They immediately tore down the motor and found 8 bent exhaust valves that the previous engine builder had installed wrong! Bret called me 2 days later and the car was READY FOR THE DYNO! Hopefully Bret or Jordan can chime in on this thread for more details.
More Pictures!
Another really cool E30 that was there
The drive out went fairly well. Minus the extremely quick fuel stops due to half our trip being 10 miles or less from the capitol of swine flu.
When we arrived, it was time to take the m3 off the trailer. Ahh! It had been infected! Seemed to be misfiring. Later on a compression test showed 190-190-190-190-190-55. Not knowing why the compression was down I decided that I was already in CA and that I needed to drive.
The car was down on power BIG TIME. It felt like less then 280hp with a super laggy turbo due to the misfiring and low compression.
Look at that steering angle tho!
It was time to qualify for top 30. My first run very clean and conservative. 2nd had a lot more speed and angle. Then in the 3rd run I went 110%. All 3 runs had great line, angle and excitement, but I had trouble making the Dunlop 275-35-18’s spin with my lowered power.
I was worried when they started to announce the top 5 qualifiers. Then in the 4th place spot, My name was called!
After qualifying we contemplated pulling the head off to see if we could fix the problem before top 16 the next morning. But since the car was "kind of" running, I decided to just continue driving the Volvo 5cyl...
Saturday morning came along with top 16 qualifying. I drove 110% of the car, made 3 clean and aggressive runs. But the other drivers were stepping up their game, so I ended up 7 th.
It was time for tandem battles. I was paired up with Texas local Tyler Cox. His 480whp 240sx stretched away quickly into the 1 st turn, But the big bad bimmer and its sticky dunlops quickly hunted Tyler down and latched onto his bumper for the 2 nd half of the track. We switched positions and I led a solid run that would advance me to the next round.
My next match up was the Japanese driver T. Ueno in his 600hp Toyota Soarer. I led the first run, Pedal to the floor I charged the entry but on the second turn I made a mistake and spun.
Then Ueno led. He stretched me by nearly 8 car lengths before the 1 st turn! I dive-bombed super fast in the second turn and caught him. As I transitioned on his bumper I downshifted to second, but when the clutch was released there was no 2 nd gear so I straightened and rolled off track. Shift linkage issue!
600hp says bye to 5cyl!
But dunlops and a heavy foot say HELLO!
I ended up 8 th overall which I am very happy about considering the circumstances.
When I got home and did a leakdown and found it was exhaust valve issues. The next morning I loaded the car onto the trailer and headed to The Racers Market in Atlanta. They immediately tore down the motor and found 8 bent exhaust valves that the previous engine builder had installed wrong! Bret called me 2 days later and the car was READY FOR THE DYNO! Hopefully Bret or Jordan can chime in on this thread for more details.
More Pictures!
Another really cool E30 that was there
