First SpecE46 Race: Barber Motorsports Park

Posted on 2015/08/17 by Chad

The time had finally come to put the Spec E46 race car to the test in wheel to wheel competition. I signed up for the May 2015 BMW CCA Club Racing event at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, AL. I had never driven the track, so there would certainly be a lot to take in.

If you haven’t been to Barber, you should really make a trip to visit it. It has to be the nicest race tracks in North America, with finely landscaped grounds, excellent facilities, and perhaps the greatest motorsports museums for the motorcycle and Lotus car enthusiast.

This event was put on by the BMW Car Club of America, so there were multiple run groups of DE in addition to the race sessions. The schedule called for three races, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. Two other SE46s were in attendance, so at least I would have some company in the class. The majority of the cars were I-prepared, with a smaller mix of Modified, SE36, and KP cars.

The car ran well during practice and qualifying, though I really didn’t have a good grasp of the track or the handling of the car. I had a few mental mistakes at various points, just not remembering where the track was going. Though it’s only 2.38 miles, the course has 15 turns, with a great variety to make things interesting.

Saturday Qualifying
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaxRQwBPFL4

I only ran three laps in qualifying. I had no idea what a good time was, or even really how to operate the lap timer on my MXL, so I figured no point in running more time off the tires. My time was a good bit off Damion Moses’, but enough to qualify second in class and 14/24 overall. BMWCCA club events don’t group cars by class, but by outright qualifying time. So I was sandwiched between a Super Modified and I-Prepared car.

The first race started well enough, the first few turns were without drama and I didn’t lose any positions. Then coming onto the front straight the cars pretty much went single file and relatively slow to make it through the hairpin-like turn 5. Right as I was about to hit the apex I caught a glimpse of something moving very quickly out of my left peripheral. I had nothing but grass and curbing to my left, so I knew something was wrong. It happened too fast to avoid, and I got hit hard in the front left.

The impact spun me off into the outside adjacent gravel trap. The car was still running, so I shut it down. After sitting for a bit, I cranked it again and attempted to get moving, but I was sunk up to the frame in gravel. I also had steam coming out of the engine, so better to just wait. The rest of the pack continued around for about three more laps under a full course caution (turns out another car crashed on the first lap.) They eventually black flagged the race and I was stuck waiting on the roll-back, who was tending to the other wreck. The car that hit me was able to be towed out and continued back to the pits under its own power.

Saturday Race Crash

(note: first perspective is from a car behind me, followed by my in-car)

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7vyRInVU5o

With the EMS personnel on scene, I got out to check over the damage. The hood was buckled, the fender crushed, the bumper knocked off, both headlights destroyed, the wheel cracked in several places, and after trying to turn the steering wheel I discovered that the left tie rod was also sheered.

Eventually we got the car loaded on the roll back and back to the paddock. There I discovered the damage was a bit worse than I initially thought. The engine mount arms were both cracked and separated, the lower control arm was twisted, the steering rack was shattered, the airbox was cracked, the power steering pump pulley cracked, and the core support was twisted. It was certainly nothing that could be repaired in the paddock, even if I had all the parts on hand.

Thankfully I had recently installed a winch on the trailer, so getting the damaged car loaded wasn’t too difficult. I stayed the night rather than driving back home in a bad mood and sore from the impact. The group of racers were all very considerate and sympathetic to my situation. And eventually the driver who hit me came over to apologize. I have to say he was very humble and sincere, and I know that this could have happened to any of us. I was lucky that he hit me where he did, rather then in the door, which could have been much more dangerous and damaging. Unfortunately his car didn’t fare so well. The whole right side was crushed in, pushing the door bars, main hoop, and rocker panel inward.

It was an unfortunate experience, made worse that it was my very first race in a recently completed car, but everyone walked away without any injuries, so I can be thankful for that.

DIY: Homemade Cooling Shirt System

Posted on 2015/07/17 by Chad

Driving a race car usually means driving a car with no air conditioner, no heat insulation in the cockpit, and the windows removed. Obviously this can make for a very toasty operating environment. Radiant heat from the engine, exhaust, and even track surface can quickly add 20-30F to the ambient outside air temperature. Pair this with racing in the southern United States, and just sitting in the car can become a health risk. I’ve had a close call with serious heat exhaustion in the past, driving my M3 at Texas World Speedway when the on track temps were near 110F. I swore that when I had a purpose-built race car that it would have every driver cooling aid I could fit.

The most common and certainly the most effective of these is the cooling shirt. Most folks just refer to them as “cool shirts”, but that’s an actual brand, so I’ll try to avoid calling it that. These systems have been around for sometime and are fairly common to club-level racing in the hot regions. It’s a very simple system, essentially cold water is circulated around tubes sewn into the driver’s shirt. The cold water is held in a cooler mounted in the car and the water is circulated using a 12V pump.

The vast majority of the parts used in the commercially available systems are actually just off the shelf items that anyone can purchase on their own. For example, the pump is just a 12V boat bilge pump. The only piece I didn’t make myself was the shirt itself. Some folks have made their own by simply sewing a length of tube into a plain t-shirt, which certainly helps save even more money. I decided to pick up F.A.S.T. Alpha shirt, which also has moisture wicking properties.

Here’s the parts list of the items I purchased, their retail cost, and supplier.

Qty	Item	Source	Total Cost
1	Weatherproof Low-Voltage DC Connector Kit, 2 Pole, 16-14 AWG 9171T32	McMaster-Carr	$7.71
2	Air and Water Quick-Disconnect Tube Coupling Through-Wall Socket with Valve, 1/4 Coupling, for 3/8″ Tube ID 5012K79*	McMaster-Carr	$39.66
2	Air and Water Quick-Disconnect Tube Coupling Barbed Plug with Valve,1/4 Coupling, for 5/16″Tube ID 5012K712*	McMaster-Carr	$14.68
2	Air and Water Quick-Disconnect Tube Coupling Barbed Socket with Valve,1/4 Coupling, for 5/16″Tube ID 5012K672*	McMaster-Carr	$18.60
1	Masterkleer PVC Tubing 5/16″ Id 7/16″ Od, 1/16″ Wall Thickness, 25 Ft. Length 5233K59	McMaster-Carr	$7.25
1	Single Pinch Stainless Steel Hose & Tube Clamp 13/32″ to 31/64″ Clamp Diameter Range, 9/32″Band Width 5435K28 – 25 pack	McMaster-Carr	$4.97
1	Durable Nylon Tight-Seal Barbed Tube Fitting Reducing Straight for 3/4″x 3/8″ Tube ID, White 5463K648 – 10 pack	McMaster-Carr	$7.40
1	Engel 13 Quart Dry Box Cooler UC 13	Austin Kayak	$43.99
1	3/4″ Clear PVC Hose – 1ft	Lowes	$1.00
1	3/8″ Clear PVC Hose – 1ft	Lowes	$1.00
1	500-600 GPH 12v Bilge Pump	Wal-Mart	$19.99
#	Tubing Neoprene Insulation and Cordura Cover	Hydation Tube Covers	TBD

*Different cooling shirts use different style connectors. Continue reading for more info on which type you need.

You’ll also need a few supplies, such as JB Weld and silicone to seal the fittings, zip ties to secure the hoses, and a setup to mount the cooler in the car. But in total, the homemade cooling shirt cooler cost roughly $175 once shipping is figured in. A much better proposition than the off-the-shelf models go for, using the same (or better) components.

Pump Installation

To start with, let’s mount the pump in the cooler. This is pretty straightforward, as most of these 12V bilge pumps are meant to be mounted directly to the bottom of the hull. The cartridge type I purchased (from Wal-Mart’s boating section) comes apart for mounting. Three simple screws are all that holds it in place. I drilled pilot holes first, then squirted silicone sealant in and around the holes prior to securing the base-plate. Make sure you use a silicone that is rated for submersion (many aren’t.)

Also take care to orient your pump so that the outlet hose is pointed to where you want the fittings to be. If I did this again I would mount the pump slightly closer to center (left of where it is located in the picture above) so that the twist out pump could be more easily removed.

Plumbing the Cooler

Now you must drill holes for the fittings. Part 5012K79 listed above is essentially a bulkhead fitting and barb on one side and a quick disconnect fitting on the other. The wall of the cooler is slightly too thick to allow for installation of the retaining nut on this fitting, so I drilled the hole to be as tight fitting on the barb as possible. I then sealed around it with some JB Plastic Weld (the putty kind.)

One of these fittings is simply a return port, so it can be left as is. The other one (it doesn’t matter which one) will be connected to the pump. The outlet of the pump (fairly standard sizing) is 3/4″, so a reducer is needed to size the hose down. This is where part 5463K648 comes in. It reduces 3/4″ down to 3/8″. I went to Lowes for a foot of 3/4″ and 3/8″ clear PVC hose, which you can find in the plumbing aisle for pretty cheap.

The photos above show the nearly finished product, pretty simple isn’t it? The last remaining step of modifications needed to the cooler are running the power and ground to the pump. The pump I purchased came with a long lead (~3ft), so I didn’t need to extend it at all. Once again, drill as small of a hole as possible to feed the two wires through the cooler’s wall. I drilled my holes up high, as to avoid prolong submersion which may lead to leaks. The wires were sealed off with silicone. ~~Note: I found that all the silicones had a difficult time adhering to the plastic of the cooler, I eventually coated all the holes with JB Weld Kwik Weld.~~

Update 20150722: I learned that the JB Kwik Weld does not like being submerged in water either. It stayed soft and easily peeled off with just a fingernail scrape. So I found some JB Marine Weld, designed to be used under water once cured. You can find this at Advanced Auto Parts stores. Again I’ve found that most adhesives and sealants have a tough time sticking to the plastic of the Engel cooler. I scuffed the area and cleaned it with alcohol. I’ll be sure to update if I find any issues with this product.

Once the wire was through the cooler wall, I secured it to the outside with a cable clamp riveted to the outer plastic skin (not all the way through.) To terminate the wires I used part 9171T32, which is a Weatherpack electrical connector. These connectors are fairly common, work well, and can be assembled with an inexpensive pair of crimpers. You certainly don’t want to permanently wire your cooler to the chassis, as it is much easier to simply take the cooler out for cleaning and filling.

Before I went much further I bench tested the cooler and my shirt by just hooking it up to a spare car battery and temporarily connecting the lines. It worked like a charm, even just pumping room temperature water (I had also let water sit in the cooler to insure there were no leaks.)

Water Tubing

With the cooler operating properly, it’s time to make the lines which will run to and from your cooling shirt. First let me note that different brand shirts use different quick disconnects. The F.A.S.T. brand shirts use the quick disconnects with the metal buttons, which is what I ordered and all the part numbers above are. The CoolShirt brand shirts use the disconnects with the plastic buttons. Make sure you know which type you have before ordering. McMaster-Carr offers both types of disconnects at roughly the same price. You can even make your own simple patch tube, should you have multiple driver’s with different shirt types.

Metal (F.A.S.T.) on left, Plastic (Coolshirt) on right

Decide where you want to place your cooler so that you can determine the length your hoses need to be. The most popular spots are the passenger seat area and the trunk. I placed mine in the spare tire well, as I like the option of being able to run a passenger seat. This should also balance out some of the weight loss effects of removing so many items from the rear of the car.

Once you have that figured out, you can run a tape measure or just temporarily run your uncut water hose to see just how much you need. Remember to leave a bit of slack at the driver’s end to allow for connecting/disconnecting the lines once buckled in. Satisfied with the length of hose and routing the hose would take, I then trimmed the 5/16″ ID PVC tube. Note: Coolshirt brand seems to use 1/4″ tube, while F.A.S.T. uses 5/16″ ID. Just make sure you match your connector barbs and hose size.

Tube Insulation

Before installing the quick disconnects on the tubing, you must install the insulation. At first I planned on using the generic dark gray foam rubber pipe insulation, which is available from McMaster-Carr for cheap. After trying it out, I decided I wanted a cleaner, more finished look, and something less bulky. Unfortunately it was impossible to find the supplier who provides the insulation for the store brand cooling shirt systems, seems you must purchase their $100+ hose to get it. That’s when I contacted Hydration Tube Covers to see what they could do. They were very helpful and had done drink system covers for race cars in the past.

Hydration Tube Covers was able to send me four sections of 4 foot neoprene covers, fitted perfectly to the 7/16″ OD of the tube. These were slid over the PVC tube by hand, working on in a slinky like fashion. Once both lines (supply & return) were covered, a protective Cordura wrap was placed over them using a Velcro seam. The end result is a well insulated and protected set of cold water tube that looks like a true race car part. These covers were custom sized, so price will vary according to your application, but I guarantee you will save a lot of money over the name brand cooling shirt offerings. Contact Brandon at HydrationTubeCovers.com for more details.

Update: HydrationTubeCovers.com has updated their website with a page dedicated to racing applications, check it out here: http://www.hydrationtubecovers.com/pages/race-car-air-and-hydration-insulation

Finally the tubes were terminated using the remaining quick disconnects with male ends on the cooler side and female ends on the shirt side. I used the crimp connectors (part #5435K28) to secure them in place. I wouldn’t recommend using screw clamps, as they can easily cut your hand when trying to connect or disconnect from the car.

So how well does it work? Extremely well, that’s how! I’ve used it at Barber Motorsports Park in May, Carolina Motorsports Park in June and July, and all I have to say is that sitting inside the race car on a blistering asphalt grid was just as comfortable as sitting inside an air conditioned car. The cooling effect is immediate, it almost feels as though cold water were pouring over you. Heck, after a session I didn’t want to get out of the car because I knew I would immediately be hot. The 13qt system was plenty for a sprint race format (~30 mins). I don’t know how much longer it would be good for, but you could always opt for the 19qt Engel dry box for enduros.

Mounting

What about mounting the cooler? Since this is going to be car specific, I left this until the end. As I mentioned previously, I mounted my cooler in the spare tire well. There are off-the-shelf mounting plates available from the well known companies that produce cooling shirt systems, but I wanted something tailored to my setup. I wanted the cooler mounted as close to the front of the spare tire well as possible, as I had to have space for my differential cooler and also reduce the polar moment of having extra weight out back.

I used some plain aluminum right angle stock, riveted to the floor on three sides of the cooler. I cut a slit on the left and right pieces to allow a ratchet strap to pass through, which was also riveted to the floor. To keep the cooler from tipping forward under hard braking I bent a piece of flat stock aluminum into a brace, which was also riveted to the spare tire well and a cushioning strip of silicone was added. A simple ratchet strap (the smallest I could find) is used to secure the entire cooler firmly to the floor.

Note: In the photo above and left, you’ll see that I originally used a cam-lock style strap to secure the cooler. While this strap was easy to tighten and release, it also wasn’t as secure as a ratchet style strap. I found that after a session on track, the cam strap would slightly loosen and the cooler could rock fore and aft. I changed to a ratchet strap, which has been problem free since.

Electrical Control

So what about electrically controlling the pump? The simplest solution is a plain single pole switch to turn it on or off. Some folks have asked about a speed control. First of all, these pumps are not designed for variable speed. Reducing the power will slow the pump, but it wouldn’t take much reduction before it simply stops spinning. You risk damaging the pump and you won’t really achieve the results you are after anyways. If you want to control the amount of cooling, the best method is a timer. A few of the cooling system manufacturers offer these under their own brand, when all they really are is live well aeration timers.

You can find these fairly easily from any fishing or boating supply store, online or brick and mortar. These are simple to wire into your system, with just a 12v supply, output, and ground. When set to minimum time, the pump will run near continuously for maximum cooling. There are several different types, some have set delays, some are infinitely variable. The type I purchased allows you to vary the delay (or off time) from 2 second to 5 minutes and anywhere in between.

I mounted the timer on my switch panel, inline with a standard on/off switch. This way I can find a setting that works well for the day, set it and forget it while using the on/off switch to simply cut it off when not needed.

Spec E46 First Shakedown

Posted on 2015/07/16 by Chad

Before a race car turns a wheel in anger, it really should be put through its paces in a test or shakedown drive. Since this car isn’t street legal and you could never truly test in on public roads, you need to schedule some track time. Fortunately I’m only an hour away from Carolina Motorsports Park (CMP) in Kershaw, SC. They even have their own track day organizer, Turn One, that has multiple events a month, making it fairly easy to get track time.

After alignment, I loaded up the car on the trailer and headed for CMP to see how all my work handled. It was a weekday event, so the track was fairly empty, great for some testing and tuning. Just like any track day event, the car went through a short tech inspection. Normally this wouldn’t be necessary on a race car, but I hadn’t received an annual tech inspection yet.

The first session was just a an exploratory lap, since I had never driven this track before. The tires were also fresh sticker and we were receiving some light rain, so it was a bit slippery but grip gradually came in. That said, CMP is a very slick track, nowhere near as grippy as NOLA, COTA, or Road Atlanta. It reminded me a lot of Motorsports Ranch Cresson, which is very old pavement and very slick in light rain.

Towards the end of my first session I was black flagged, which was odd because I had no off track excursions and there were only 2 other cars on track. I pulled into the pit lane and up to the pit exit marshal who told me several corner stations were hearing a loud metallic screeching sound from my car. He did a quick walk around of the car and noticed a lot of aluminum shavings on the rear left wheel…. great.

I pulled off the pit lane, headed back to the garage to see what had happened. Turns out I picked up a rock, which became jammed between the caliper and wheel. It then worked just like a lathe, cutting a 1mm deep groove around the inside of the wheel. My guess is that I picked it up during the tech inspection, as the tech shed and weigh station is off a gravel road (terrible layout.)

I pulled the wheel and gave it a good inspection, even called the friendly folks at Phil’s Tire Service to see what they had to say. I forwarded them some photos, which they in turn sent on to Apex Wheels. After a close inspection, I determined it was reasonably safe to continue on for the day. I took it a little more carefully, avoiding the curbing as much as I could.

The car continued to run well throughout the remaining sessions. Temps were within safe margins and the engine felt decently strong. I knew the alignment could use a bit more dialing in, and a corner balance was definitely in order. It was certainly nice to finally be in a true race car with a proper race seat and harness, making it much less physically demanding to drive the car while also easier to feel what the chassis was doing under me.

Then towards the end of the fourth and final session I suddenly lost power steering. It was a sudden stoppage, like I had experience in my E36 when it popped a line at Road Atlanta. I pulled back into the paddock to check what happened. A quick glance under the power steering reservoir cap revealed the telltale signs of a ruined pump, as it was sparkling with a metallic sheen. And so ended my test day.

Once back home I pulled the power steering pump to discover the pulley shaft was completely disconnected from the pump and free spinning. No doubt this was a design function, a break-away shaft much like those found on the air turbine starters on jet engines. I further disassembled the pump to discover the vanes which slide in and out of slots where dislodged and had jammed up the pump. My guess is that this was the original pump and at 220k miles it had just had enough.

All in all, not a terrible first run of the car. It showed its weak points, and that is the point of testing after all.

Spec E46 Build Part XI: Data Acquisition

Posted on 2015/07/15 by Chad

Up until this true race car build I have been using my Android smart phone as my source for data acquisition. The Race Chrono app, paired with an external Bluetooth GPS, has been a great tool, especially for the price. However, with a dedicated race car, I wanted a dedicated system.

I had picked up a lightly used AiM MXL Pista dash logger from eBay back when I was gathering parts for the E36 GTS build. At the time I was debating between the AiM and Racepack loggers, ultimately settling on the AiM due to their widespread use at the club racing level of competition. Having a highly adopted system means it’s easier to get data from other drivers for comparison as well as troubleshooting the system.

The MXL is the previous generation of dash loggers, so the prices were reasonable with the new MXL2/MXS/MXG now on the market. It still does nearly everything I could ask of it. It provides a LCD display of all the critical information I choose (temps, pressures, speed, revs, shift lights) and alarms for when user set thresholds are exceeded. It also provides lapping info, including forecasted (or predicted) lap times.

The other nice thing about the MXL paired with a modern CANbus car is that it can pull almost any available information that the car is already reading. So RPM, fuel level, temps, steering angle, TPS, etc are already ready to record. Additional analog inputs allowed me to add standalone sensors for brake pressure, oil temperature, oil pressure, fuel pressure, and differential temperature.

The MXL essentially replaces the stock dash in the Spec E46, so I mounted in directly to the steering column, just behind the steering wheel. I used some scrap carbon fiber sheet to fabricate a simple mount that is secured using the two screws that hold the wiper and lighting stalks. The wiring harness run from the back of the MXL to behind the dash where it splits to the analog sensors, power/ground, and the CANbus. I added a 4-port CAN expansion so that the GPS, Smarty Cam, and a Memory Key could be added.

The other aspect of data acquisition is getting video of your laps. I’ve been using GoPros for this, but it’s a constant hassle. The batteries don’t last long, their WiFi remote is very temperamental, and you don’t have any ability for automatic start and stop. While the video is high quality in resolution and color terms, it’s not very good for the race environment. The rolling shutter sensor means you get a wavy jello effect of objects in the distance (clouds are the most obvious.) The other, perhaps most frustrating, negative of using the GoPro is that to truly use the video for driver improvement means hours of post production editing to actually produce a helpful video.

The solution to this is the AiM SmartyCam HD, a truly purpose built motorsports camera. The price is certainly way above the GoPro, but time and frustrations saved has made it worth it. The camera interfaces with the AiM MXL dash for both additional data (including GPS) but also means its internal battery is charged by the car and it starts and stops automatically. It’s pretty much a set it and forget it driver tool. The raw video is 720p, so not as high def as the GoPros, but the CMOS sensor eliminates the wavy effect and it has light metering functions and stabilization tailored to use in a car. The end result is actually better video than you can get from any GoPro (for the purpose of in car video.)

The other nice thing about the SmartyCam is that it overlays data on the video in real time. Speed, lap times, revs, brake pressure, throttle position, temps and pressures are all automatically displayed on the video. The gauges and graphics are fairly canned when compared to what is possible with RaceRender or Dashware, but it is also much easier to use and saves hours of time. Because everything is automated means you can simply pull the SD card at the end of a session and have instant feedback from viewing on a laptop.

Another form of data acquisition is the on-board transponder that is required by most racing organizers for timing and scoring. MyLaps (formerly AMB) has a solid monopoly on this market, so that’s what I ended up purchasing. It’s a fairly simple system and install. The physical transponder device is mounted near the front of the car and must be less than 2 feet above the road surface. I made a simple aluminum mount out of some scrap sheet, which was then riveted to the right frame horn. Four small rivet nuts then allowed me to bolt the transponder to this mount. The cable from the transponder runs up through an existing hole in the passenger footwell to the center stack of the dash. That’s where the “key” resides and power and ground functions are split off. I integrated the power into the switch panel so the transponder could be switched on and off.

Spec E46 Build Part X: Safety & Interior

Posted on 2015/07/07 by Chad

Much of the safety aspects of this Spec E46 race car build were covered in Part VII Roll Cage, so I’ll just be covering the final touches and refinements. I intended for the car to be legal in both NASA and BMW CCA Club Racing, so a few additions such as a center net system were necessary. For the most part, safety equipment legality is pretty universal as long as you are running approved (FIA or SFI) gear.

For a seat I wanted a head restraint (halo) style bucket. I went with the Racetech 4119 based on the good reviews and the nice addition of a backside cooling air port. It’s also available in tall/wide, nice for my 6’2″ 200lbs frame.

For floor mounts I used VAC Motorsports matrix style aluminum mounts, which are fairly standard among this level of racing. For side mounts I went with Motion Motorsport’s innovate competition seat brackets. These brackets allow for infinitely adjustment and are asymmetrical left and right to allow close mounting to the transmission tunnel.

I opted for Schroth Profi II 6-point HANS belts for my harness. These belts have 2″ lap webbing for better fit and can be set as pull-up or pull-down operation. I tried both ways and decided pull-down was easier to get a tight fit when in the seat.

The window and center (right side) nets are both Teamtech mesh nets, which were easy enough to install. Fortunately my window net doesn’t interfere with seeing the side mirror, and the even if it did, the mesh is certainly easier to see through than grid webbing. The window net is mounted using a Joe’s Ra cing kit, which uses nice billet aluminum parts. The center net is secured to the dash bar, running through a small slit in the dash and held from sliding on the bar by a 1-3/4″ aluminum split collar.

The steering wheel is a MOMO Mod 78 350mm race wheel, mounted using an NRG adapter, NRG short quick release, and NRG 1/2″ spacer. The NRG products are hard to beat for the money, using all aluminum parts and anodized matte black. The quick release uses spring loaded ball bearings in a unique pattern that only allows the wheel to go on one way and has a much tighter fit than I’ve seen with spline style releases.

Shifter action is taken care of by a CAE Ultra Shifter. This is a very impressive piece, made in Germany from quality aluminum and stainless parts. The shifter has a self-centering action and adjustable stops to keep from pushing the shifter further than the transmission forks can go. It also has a lock-out for reverse, making it impossible to accidentally shift into reverse. The shift selector rod is also from CAE and can be adjusted in length and rotation. The setup requires a bit of tuning, but once setup properly it is absolutely the best H-pattern shifting action I have experienced.

The pedals remain stock, though I did remove the rubber covers. For grip I added some textured grip tape to the brake, clutch, and dead pedal. I also replaced the split plastic bushings on the clutch and brake pedals with Delrin units from Rogue Engineering. These bushings fit much tighter, necessitating a little sanding for the right amount of friction. The result is much less side to side play. To keep the clutch from overextending and cut down shift times, a BimmerWorld mini hockey puck clutch stop was installed. The OE stop is very small and the plastic clutch pedal can inadvertently go beyond it.

Finally the fire system was installed. I got lucky and found an unused SPA 4L AFFF system, which just needed re-certified to use. The system is fairly simple, using push on connectors and tubing with an aluminum wall, so bending it shape is very easy. I mounted the bottle behind where the passenger seat would be. Because the cage main hoop foot plate was interfering, I mounted the bottle up on two pieces of 1/2″ square aluminum tubing. The plastic tank cradle is riveted to the square tube, which in turn is riveted through the floor.

The fire suppression system lines run from the tank forward along the transmission tunnel, split between cockpit and engine bay nozzles. There are three nozzles in the cockpit, one on the tunnel facing forward, one pointed at the footwell, and one in the dash pointed at the driver’s torso. The engine bay line splits, one to the left which has a nozzle pointed at the fuel rail and one to the right pointed over the headers towards the front. I will probably add an additional one to point down into the engine towards where the headers are, just as a precaution against an oil fueled fire.

I used two 12′ T-handle pulls for the fire system. The handles terminate at the corners of the dash, so they are easily accessible from either inside or outside the car by a corner worker. They are also located next to the emergency kill switch for easy activation of both in a crash.

Eat, Sleep, Tinker.

No, it's not done yet…

Category Archives: BMW Spec E46

First SpecE46 Race: Barber Motorsports Park