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We'll be adding more Race Reports from Al.

Tuesday, February 15, 2000
Race Report

Hello Race Fans

Not much to report, I took the Bav to Charlotte for a Porsche Club School. After the guy in the garage next to me claimed to be going 130 into Nascar turn 3, I promptly went out and smoked him... after I said my top speed was maybe 115. He didn't have much to say the rest of the weekend. My worn out compression bushings were very evident under braking for turn 1, a 100 to 45 mph exercise. Completely rebuilt subframes with adjustable rear control arm bushings and rear vented disc brakes are scheduled for march.

Both the races I planned to enter this spring have been cancelled. I will do some autocrosses and drivers schools but my first race may be the HSR Lime Rock Vintage Fall Festival. I will be leaving for Europe April 12th and will be gone 3 months so unfortunately I will miss the Pittsburgh GP. I will run the BMW Club race at Mid Ohio and a vintage event either in Atlanta or Savannah this fall.

Further plans for the Bav include removing another 100lbs from the car, I am cutting all the metal from inside the trunk and hood and having them dipped. I am also having a diff rebuilt with 75% lockup for when I do the subframes. While in Europe I will attend some vintage and BMW club events, I will try to report on any Bavs I see in competition over there. If I can find anywhere to run the car before I leave I will post it on the digest. That's all for now.

Al Taylor

Hello Bav Nuts

I raced the Bav a few times recently and will start with a report on the most recent, the SVRA race at Virginia International. I am in Group 8, which is early Porsche 911s, 914/6s, Datsun 240zs, 2002s, Alfa GTVs, and the dreaded 510 Datsuns. There are usually 45 cars in this group, so it is always fun. Oh yea, we also have the straight axle Corvettes in our group which are the least fun to pass (fast on straight, dreadful in corners).

I started out first session Friday AM with a massive spin in the 90mph Hog Pen Sweeper, the result of a 2002 blown engine in front of me. 10 cars spun at the same time but amazingly none touched! My times were in the 2.30 range which I thought odd as I had been running 2.25's and had added a welded diff which I thought should be worth 2 seconds.

My times were good for 27th but I had a hard time getting a clean lap as the Corvettes were in my way...

Saturday I took a lesson from David Tilson and lined up early for practice to start ahead of the Vettes and got my laps down to 2.26 good for 17th on the grid. I was running short sessions as my motor is tired, it is a 100k plus street motor that was in the car when I bought it and I have added at least 50 hours of track time to it. For the qualifying race Saturday afternoon I was gridded 27th as they threw out my best session due to timer malfunction. I was pissed as I would have to battle my way past the Vettes so I drove very aggressively and moved up to 9th by 5 laps. I then took it easy as I was saving the motor for Sunday's feature races.

I added a new fuel pressure regulator and different tires and brakes for Sunday's warm up and everything felt fine. I was gridded 23rd for the race but there were a few cars that failed to start due to mechanical failure so I was more like 17th. I gained 5 or 6 spots the first lap and continued to move up until the last couple of laps where I felt I had a safe margin over the cars behind me and I soft peddled it to the finish. I ended up 5th OA in Group 8, 3rd in class.

In front of me were 2 national champions, one in a Super Seven the other in a 911. I felt pretty good about the result. The car was running strong despite blowing a quart of oil per session. I took note of my competitors cars and have a long list of modifications to make before the next race, which will be the HSR Savannah races the first weekend of November.

Many people were surprised to see a Bav running and the 2002 guys were amazed at how stock the car is. I beat 7 out of 8 '02s there so I am sure that will make William happy. Most of the 02s were running the same brake area as me but have 600 lb. less weight... that is one area I have to work on.

All for now,
Al Taylor

Hello

I thought I would give y'all an update on the Bav.

I am replacing the motor with an '89 Motronic motor. I have talked to Pete S. and Paul Cain and hopefully it will be a smooth switch (thanks Pete).

I reinforced the front subframe as I will be installing M compression bushings and all the subframes I looked at had cracks developing on the front where the tow hooks are welded.

I am debating which transmission to use. I have been running a 4 speed with a 3.25 diff. I have a CR 5 speed and an OD 5 speed. One consideration is weight. The 4 speed is the lightest by far, and with a basically stock engine it pulls pretty good in all gears. Using the OD would mean I would have to go way up on the rear gear to even make 5th usable. The CR is a saleable commodity and I would hate to tear it up on the track.

I also bought an Accusump that I will have to plumb in, I will be using an E28 radiator so I have an "almost new" 3 row factory radiator for sale.

I may leave the exhaust alone. I have 3 cylinders emptying out each side right in front of the rear wheels, I may use a '76 530 system where the 2 'Y' headers into one large pipe all the way to the back of the car.

I will be running 16x7.5 and 16x8 BBS with 245/45.16 tires. (Jerry, are you reading this? Please contact me.).

All for now,
Al Taylor

Hello

I have the Bavaria pretty much torn apart. It is getting an 89 735 motor with Motronics, coil overs in the front, big ass aluminum calipers all around and about 200 lbs taken out of the body. My goal is top 5 finishes in the slow group (non M) of BMW CCA racing and in SVRA Group 8 and HSR group 3.

I ran the car at Charlotte last December. It felt like it was coming apart. I have kinda band-aided it the last 2 years so I figured it was time to really take it down. The subframe in the front is being replaced with a reinforced one. I am finally putting some hard bushings in the front end. All the sound deadening is coming out courtesy of Bill Gau's buddy Big Henry.

I have some 16x8.5 and 16x7.5 BBS for a more serious foot print. I can't believe I used to run 195/60/14s on this car. Now it will be 245/45/16s. I am seam welding and gusseting the engine bay this weekend.

I am changing the rear control arms again, making custom brackets for rod end sway bar links, modifing the backing plates for ducting.

My first race will be the first weekend of May at Virginia International Raceway, a BMW CCA combined weekend with VSCCA. I hate that it is the same weekend as the Bav meet at Greg's. He is sure to put on a great event.

Will supply details of brake kit when all the details are worked out...

AL

Hello

The wekend at Virginia International Raceway was almost a complete disaster, as everything was changed on the car we had a lot of teething problems...I did finish the race on Sunday, which was the goal, but the motor exploded right after I crossed the finish line. To add further insult, I was beaten by 3 FEET by an '02!

The motor was a nice big valve 3.5 with only 40k miles on it, I am sure some of my tinkering is to blame, I swear I blue loctited the oil pump pulley...time for an autopsy.

Thank You

Al Taylor