E30 Zone

I'm just back from a 'ring trip.

We had 3 x E30s.
-Me with std E30 318iS engine, Bilstein suspension, Z3 rack and shift, otherwise std
-E30 318is with cam swap and mega squirt ECU, not sure what else
-E30 318is bored and stroked to 2.1, megasquirt, not sure what else

I also passengered a few laps in a 325i that was std apart from coil over suspension.

The 2.1 car was noticeably quicker in acceleration. The two 1.8s were near identical.
We managed lap times around 10min 30s, but that includes lost time pulling off line for faster cars and slow bits where they were recovering vehicles. We did some convoy laps and the two 1.8s were near identical.
I reckon we could do just over a 10 minute lap at the current knowledge level, maybe 10min 10s.
Peak speeds were around 110mph down the straight towards Schwedenkreuz, down the hill at Fuchsrohre and into Pflantzgarten.

The 325 <edit>not</edit> sport did a 9min 20 when I was passenger.

I fitted Brembo £18 discs from GSF and Textar pads before I went. These worked amazingly.

I was dissappointed with my tyres. They're Kuhmo Ecsta Sports. They gripped reasonably well, but were "drama queens" with squealing. Not as good as the Goodyear Eagle F1s that I normally use. The 325 had Ecsta MX tyres, they didn't squeal, maybe worth looking into.
In the wet (standing water) the tyres were pretty good. I got some 12minute laps in those conditions.

There were several other E30s there, including a very tidy M3, some stripped out.

My engine is chucking oil smoke out. Not surprising with 210K on the clock and running foot to the floor in 3rd gear at 6000rpm up the main hill. On the plus side our full time photographer said he could always hear me coming. So I'm considering engine options: rebuild an M42, fit a low mileage M44, or find something newer that will drop in. The dark-side is to buy another car.

I've got loads of video and photos, it'll take me a few days to sort it all out.

Great write up. Cheers tom.

I also run an iS with uprated suspension and megasquirt (with a little smoke too )

Interesting to see such a large time difference between the sport and the iS

Yes it was.... (6 pots rule!)

Is the car a dedicated track toy, weekend toy or is it everyday transport, I think the answer to that will help you decide what to do with it?

If it was me and the car is everyday transport as well as track day fodder I'd find a lower milage M42 to plonk in there, and rebuild the current one slowly over time to how you want it (or sell in parts to recoup costs).

Sounds like you need to buy a 325 !

325i wasn't a sport.
Track time was due to: dedicated suspension set up (coil overs, with spring rates selected by copying the H&R "Nurburgring" spec), better tyres, driver had done 33 laps in a day, obviously new the track really well, clear track.
I don't see any reason why with better tyres and a lot more laps the 318iS couldn't get down below 10 minutes. That's one reason why I don't want to seek more power - there's loads more to come from knowing the track better.

Just to clarify , the turd with the boat anchor was over a minute a lap quicker !

Hi tom, thanks for the mention
It's not a sport, just a 325iSE with the suspension upgrades detailed HERE and uprated brake pads.
The rear seats, boot lining and spare wheel were also removed for the trip.

The 9:27 with you in the car probably had more to do with the 200 laps I did last year than any vehicular advantage

Jochen caught me a few times, this one's at Eiskurve:



After dropping the tyre pressures on Tuesday, (I hadn't checked them, they were at 2.5 bar!) the car felt a lot more secure, especially at the back...



More to come, this year's target is sub-9 minutes

behave pete!
glad to see everyone's back in one piece, roll on next ring trip! Just have to fix all the stuff I broke on the car now...

Imagine the shame of the 4 potters, shut down by a 4 door fridge with inferior weight distribution and 567 kg of pig iron up front !

tim_s wrote:Just have to fix all the stuff I broke on the car now...

Two failed gearbox mounts, one stretched engine mount, downpipe-to-centre section join misaligned, holes in backbox where the rust has fallen out , brake fluid (new DoT 5.1 last week) tired, propshaft guibo cracked, inlet leaks..........


4-door fridge

tomstickland wrote:We managed lap times around 10min 30

Hmm. I did that is a four door 320i with bullet hard Firestones and a 3.64 open diff........

325i streaks away - same old, same old............

tomstickland wrote:I'm just back from a 'ring trip'
We managed lap times around 10min 30s, but that includes lost time pulling off line for faster cars

Would they be 325's ?

handpaper wrote:

tim_s wrote:Just have to fix all the stuff I broke on the car now...

Two failed gearbox mounts, one stretched engine mount, downpipe-to-centre section join misaligned, holes in backbox where the rust has fallen out , brake fluid (new DoT 5.1 last week) tired, propshaft guibo cracked, inlet leaks..........


4-door fridge

ok ok you win! My list is rear wheel bearing or diff, tappets (!!!) or change to mech cams, and at some pt down the line front suspension, but it was on it's way anyway. Tom's was quite impressive, for a car that's done that many miles it still goes and sounds great! Not sure whether anything at all broke on it either! When are you going next? I'm already missing the place!

Sounds like you guys had an awesome time.

When we were on the Zone Roam up in scotland a few of us talked about road tripping to oktoberfest but stopping off at the ring en-route - maybe you guys would be up for that also.

It's all well and good being a keyboard ring warrior, but when you're 500 miles from home in your daily driver and you've done around 20 laps you tend to treat the ring with respect. I expect to dip below 10 minutes. We were achieving 10min 30s including slowing to let cars past and go past recovery vehicles etc.

tomstickland wrote:
The 325 sport did a 9min 20

Did initially state that it was...

tomstickland wrote:
325i wasn't a sport.

Great write up though

good job lads, get some pics up

I've got 1.5 Gig of pictures and video. I expect to make a 10 minute video out of it all.
Should start sorting tonight.

Nice write up, let's see some pics.
I live in Brussels and saw 2 english 318is's (white and grey) and a red vx220, all with "Ring" stickers. Was it you on your way back?

Yes, that was us.

Regarding times, I'm confident I can get below 10 minutes with more laps. I'll go through the videos and see how much was lost on a full lap with slowing to let things past. It's definitely an advantage to have a clear track (behind and in front). I've got the article where one was pulling 9minutes odd with only tyre and suspension changes.
I've been here before with internet forums; I've made no attempt to embellish the results between doing it and writing about it. It's rather like peak power - someone claims 160BHP and it's all well and good until it's put into a drag race against another car with "only" 140BHP.

The 325 has an advantage up the hill from Adenue - I was foot to floor all the way up the hill, 3rd gear, 6000rpm. The 325 would pull a few seconds under those conditions. The 318iS would have to make up the difference by attacking the corners a bit harder.

Ha great, I was sure you were on the Zone.
Both great looking cars! The white one was Tim_S's? If I may ask: what were you doing in central brussels? Having a nice trappist beer I hope!

max318i wrote:Ha great, I was sure you were on the Zone.
Both great looking cars! The white one was Tim_S's? If I may ask: what were you doing in central brussels? Having a nice trappist beer I hope!

White car was Simon Batty's. Tim went home earlier in the week.

We took a detour through Brussels so we could take a different autoroute to Calais. We heard that there were major hold ups on the obvious route. I've never been in Brussels before, amazing looking place.

Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92961862@N ... 845812516/

tomstickland wrote:The 325 has an advantage up the hill from Adenue - I was foot to floor all the way up the hill, 3rd gear, 6000rpm. The 325 would pull a few seconds under those conditions. The 318iS would have to make up the difference by attacking the corners a bit harder.

The time difference up Kesselchen comes out to about 15-20 seconds.
The top of 3rd in a standard iS is 75 mph; I'm at the top of 4th - and my final drive is higher, too. Even on 195/50/15 tyres I'm doing a real 105 mph (speedo reading 115).

Don't write the iS off completely though - a VLN-spec car (stripped, caged, proper suspension and brakes) is capable of 8:30-8:40 BtG

Oh I'm not writing the iS off - I believe it's capable of mid 9s on road tyres. After around 45 laps over 2 trips I'm still a ring novice, albeit I now know where all the corners are. The next bit is to work out the best line and nudge the speeds up.
I'm putting F1s on it for the next trip. I also want to beef up the anti roll bars.

Whereabouts on frozenspeed were those photos?

I don't know if you saw THIS, but even the humble 320i can surprise a few people.
Anti-roll bars? Look no further

The photos from Touristenfahrten that weekend and after aren't up yet; I bought two from Jochen in the Pistenklaus on Tuesday evening. Ann and George probably have far more of you anyway.

talking about times is just dick waving. Just drive round it and enjoy it. When you pushing for times round there is when it all goes Pete tong.

Can't wait i'm off next week

So my old wagon is still going strong Tom?

Tom what pressures where you running on the tyres?

Simon13 wrote:talking about times is just dick waving. Just drive round it and enjoy it. When you pushing for times round there is when it all goes Pete tong.

Can't wait i'm off next week

So my old wagon is still going strong Tom?

Tom what pressures where you running on the tyres?

Holy sh1t ! this turd is still running , that's luck !

well you fixed it Pete all those years ago!

Car is still running! Engine is consuming quite a lot of oil now. Over the last year I have replaced:
-gearbox (with 90K box)
-read diff (LSD)
-suspension and all bushes, Bilstein lowering kit, several poly bushes
-wheel bearings
-engine mounts and subframe
-steering rack (Z3)
-gear linkage (Z3)
So it's quite a lot of new car underneath.
Bonnet is quite rusty now, as are the wings. I'm considering having a cheap respray.

Engine is next on list of things though, I think an M44 is the way to go.