production champ a good start?

[Scrotty]

ive wanted to get into motorsport for a while now, cost and time always stopping me barring some autograss (glorified non contact banger racing)

with the 2008 season in mind, (giving me plenty of time for research prep and development), is the bmw production champ a good start?sounds it with no F.I or 2.7's etc allowed...any others i should consider?like the look of it as all cars are equal, plenty of meets and on the decent circuits not fields

also (no arguements please!) in your opinions, M40 or M20?
i would be using it on the road a fair bit i imagen, unless money gets better (which it dosnt, life usaly ends up costing more), then it would be used for about 6k a year on road.i do like the smoothness of the 6pot and sound but what seems to be best for the series?

[JimmyC]

Hi Scrotty, Its a top series with a very social atmosphere to it!

Your competitors soon become your mates and we're not shy of a beer or 2 after a race ;)

Always lots of novices joining so a great start point, and with such a mixed ability field and even cars theres always someone for you to race against.

It is a super entry level series cash wise, cars can be prepped for under £3k or you can go to town and hit the bigger bucks, but at the end of the day its the driver skill that will win

Why not come along to brands on 22nd April for the opening round?? If you do and want to come down to the paddock and have a poke around some cars and a chat PM me and i'll send you my mob

As for engines, i'd say M40, have only seen one pop. Where as 320s go bang regularly, I did 3 last year and 2 of those were very expensive fully rebuilt engines!! Last years champion had a 318 so goes to prove that theres more than power

[Scrotty]

id love to come down, got a few things going on atm with my mum recently passing away...but thats whats giving me a kick in the bum to get on with things in life...including getting into motorsport
can 100% say ill be poking about at silverstone in june, not too far from me...are the pbmw's there on sat and sunday or just one day?
luckily my gf loves cars as much as i doo and would rather go to brands than watch any film/go for meal lol soo unless its really important, we'l be there

i guess the 318's are lighter and there is coolant issues with the M20(from what i read in 07 regs standard fan is to be used, no electric replacement)...need to make a choice soon as the car ill use ill be getting withing next month,as theres only 11months till next season...for first season that isnt as long as it sounds (ill eat my hat if i dont have teething problems)

as for the car...i want to get suspension/brakes sorted as soon as poss, to get a few track days this year and really get to know the car, (as we're all going to be equal and down to driver skill)...are the rules likley to change much? i know saftey will change somhow so leaving the purchase of approved seat/harness/cage etc till 08 reg's are issued, but want to get use to the car and performance in the form shel be at the meets (surprised to see even bmw LSD's are prohibited)

from what i read your a friendly bunch who are mad about proper cars like myself, with fun (and i suppose saftey) top priority, not money and winning.cant wait to get involved

[JimmyC]

Drop me a PM when your planning on coming along and i'll sort you and your misses some tickets

Biggest problems with 320s are oil surge, and number 6 bigend going, and over heating as you say

Before you buy anything, speak to us or look on the seloc site as we get a number of excellent deals on suspension, cages, seats, brakes, harnesses etc- you will save a bucket!!

Cage, suspension and seats are not likely to change or '08, so I wouldn't worry about that too much, again post up on the seloc forum before you buy anything if your worried

Sorry to hear about your mum, been there myself 5 years ago, things get easier with time, but you never forget or stop missing them.

[iguana]

Prob a crime to mention it here, but as well as the bimmers another race series that should be even more budget than them is the prodution mk2 golf series starting this yr, for both 8v & 16v cars in dif classes, similar limited mods posible to the bimmers series cars, ok gay wheel drive hatches, which may not be your bag, but if it is, should be do able on a tighter budget than the bimmers.


Jimmy, is the engine thang also an issue on 325i to your knowledge? Oh ref PM yip sent one 29 March it in my sent folder- email better?)

[320Touring]

iguana- iirc, its 2.0 and 1.8 only.

I'm looking at this a s apossible plan- can I PM you JimmyC?

ta

Neil

[iguana]

iguana- iirc, its 2.0 and 1.8 only.

[little Britain on]
Yeh I know
[Off]


Its Golfs that are for both 8v & 16v (both 1.8s)

[oldroydsr4]

The golf cup looks very good, looking to possibly build a valver for 2008, but not sure if i can be arsed with the motorsport bullsh*t politics again.

and if i ever finish the turbo touring.

[M3GTR]

The golf cup looks very good, looking to possibly build a valver for 2008, but not sure if i can be arsed with the motorsport bullsh*t politics again.

and if i ever finish the turbo touring.

Which series were you in for "motorsport politics bullsh*t" ???

I've heard some series can be like that (usually the most expensive ones!) but haven't really seen it myself.

[Scrotty]

Drop me a PM when your planning on coming along and i'll sort you and your misses some tickets

Sorry to hear about your mum, been there myself 5 years ago, things get easier with time, but you never forget or stop missing them.

pretty much def attending first round now, funds permitting lol

and getting that impression as time goes on...initial shock goes and the memorys and past sets in


out of question...would it be worth buying somones ex car...even if its seen a couple of seasons? get myself a 2nd hand block, rebuild over winter/sensibly rag current one then swap, rebuild original next year as spare?concentrate more on the car and its setup and not stripping out/causing myself problems?or big no no

[oldroydsr4]

Your right it is mainly in expensive series. iv found it in super 1 , super 4 Karting , radical biduro etc

However did a round of the mr2 challenge (very cheap) and every one was sound

When your dealing with big money your normally dealing with big tw*ts

[Scrotty]

so how many other types of 'cheap' motorsport is thier at half decent venues?think e30 must be one of the best, hardly any cars like them anyway, small rwd and soo old skool lol golf could never match imo of cause they are legends in thier own rights

[iguana]

Scrotty- at the lower price level there is a nice fella (Brian) (I chatted to him at Brands & have emailed about other stuff & he seems a top chap) selling a silver seloc race prepped 318 in the pistonheads race cars classifieds, seems a sound decent car, 1/3rd of the price of the really front running ones, which seem to have £5.5- £6k pricetags when for sale, but might be worth a look for a newbie?


http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/148302.htm

[Scrotty]

thats spot on want im after getting a nice rebate in april to fund things with (including moving... ) but somthing like that is spot on and well within my price range....mot'd too
already in april soo shouldnt be long now.....how long do cars like that hang about?

[Taffy]

The E30 is the perfect car to learn in, not huge costs involved (in motorsport terms), easy to maintain and cheap to repair, also handle superbly well and above all are great fun, having owned and rebuilt a class winning Kumho E30, i'd say it's definitely cheaper to buy a ready prepped car, a better base to start with if you are new to it, but you have to be careful, there are alot of people selling crap so buy a car that people know. M3GTR has 2 very good clean and above all competitive cars for sale, if I was you i'd drop him a bell

[Rizzo]

I also looked at the production series to get into racing but decided that I would start off with simple track days and local sprints/hillclimbs. Doing the odd local track day, spring or hillclimb is cheap, your car doesn't have to be super competetive as you are just learning and are unlikely to win so it's all about fun. If you have never driven in a race prepared car it can take some getting used to. The noise levels are completely different and it makes the driving experience very different to a road car. Just my 2p.

Having said all that if you have £5-£10K spare the production series looks like a great place to get started.

[m-dtech]

iguana- iirc, its 2.0 and 1.8 only.

I'm looking at this a s apossible plan- can I PM you JimmyC?

ta

Neil

you need a car that works first lol

[JimmyC]

everyone who said they sent me a PM, none seem to have arrived

email me on jimmyc@pbmc.co.uk

[Brian28]

thats spot on want im after getting a nice rebate in april to fund things with (including moving... ) but somthing like that is spot on and well within my price range....mot'd too
already in april soo shouldnt be long now.....how long do cars like that hang about?

Not long enough. Or too long, depending on whether you are buying or selling

The chap that bought it only intends to use it until his own car is ready, so it may be for sale again later on in the summer.

Cheers
Brian
(The nice fella referred to above )

[hawkwind]

Yep as above, one of our customers has bought it to use to get some signatures on his license. then upgrade it to a international when his other car is done...will make a post if it comes up for sale again..