Budget car for the ring in German Budget cramps for the ring. In order to participate in track days, you can use any car. But sooner or later, the pilot's capabilities will begin
Budget car for the ring in German
Budget cramps for the ring. In order to participate in track days, you can use any car. But sooner or later, the capabilities of the pilot will begin to exceed the capabilities of his track car. Of course, you can transfer to a faster car, and from that, as a rule, more expensive. There is another option. With the help of changing some factory parts to the aftermarket, lose a few precious seconds from your best time.
The beginning of time
We will start our test by buying the coolest garbage can for the smallest amount and with the help of our friends we will transform it into a track toy. With a few upgrades in place, we'll measure how much we can drop against the time the stock car puts in… if they add anything at all.
To be honest, our BMW 325si was far from ideal. At first, it seemed that nothing could make him faster. And in general, there was a desire to quickly get out of here, because the “beamer” for $2.3k looks pretty funny against the backdrop of various Porsches, Ferraris and Lotus. In general, cars of this level are included in the Monticello Motor Club, on the track of which our small experiment will be carried out.
To level the influence of the pilot's skill on the lap time, a person who has clocked a lot of laps on the local track – Michael Marshall, will sit behind the wheel. So do not say that the impact of some goodies is negligible, since the real improvement came at the expense of rolling in the pilot.
Without a doubt, our dump was even cheaper than the golf carts used by the track workers. However, we are happy to report that by the end of the day, not only CTS-Vs were left behind, but also rare Lotus and even 911 GT3s.
The incredible improvement in lap times we got was the result of the right choice of mods and the good platform on which they were applied. Despite its age, the 325is is still a crazy balanced car and a great starting point for building a cheap track day machine.
Long way
We didn't get to the garage right away. The Bavarian boiled a few tens of kilometers to the destination. So the first step was to replace the cooling system, for which a thermostat, water pump and radiator were ordered.
I had to climb into the suspension. Most of the silent blocks were worn out, so their replacement also had to be included in the mandatory preparation for the track.
1, Stock, such a stock
Before installing tuning parts, it is necessary to set a better time on a standard car – the time from which we will build on. In the first laps, Michael got used to the car, so he didn’t tumble much. Moreover, he had not driven the E36 before, and, as far as we know, it is not difficult to make a mistake with the choice of gear on it, which can result in engine torsion and bent valves … pah-pah-pah.This is still not enough for us.
The Monticello Motor Club lap is 6.5 km long, resulting in a tedious three-minute wait for our BMW to show up again.
The attack of time continues circle after circle. Michael already feels comfortable behind the wheel and time slowly begins to creep down, but, unfortunately, the effectiveness of the brakes and rubber creeps there too.
Circle time.
The best time was shown on the second lap – 3:14.986, after which the brakes, tires and suspension overheated.
Michael's comment.
Although the brakes began to vanish after the first lap, the non-flue tires were getting more and more, which led to huge understeer. In general, I'm surprised how predictable the 325si handles and how much fun you can have with a standard car.
2. Brakes.
Remember – the brakes were invented not by cowards, but by those who know how to drive fast! This will be our first modification. Not only burnt brake fluid and pads went to the scrap, but also disks with hoses. Their place was taken by components from TMS (brake discs and reinforced hoses), Cobalt (pads) and ATE (brake fluid). All this will allow not only to lengthen the time spent on the track, but also to move the braking points, which will help us improve the record.
Time has been improved.
With the brakes, Michael has already driven eight laps, and improved the time to 3:13.558 (-1.43 sec). Of course, the brakes overheated, but 5 laps later. True, all-season tires finally died. Worn to the cord, she made the most terrible sounds, and the understeer was even more than when she was simply overheated.
Michael's comment.
Definitely. This is where you need to start. True, the rubber quickly gave up, and the abs began to come into operation too early. So the next mod is wheels!
3. Wheels and tires.
The choice was simple. Undoubtedly, Privat Rivale alloy wheels look great on our car. Plus, they also weigh a little less than standard wheels, and they are wider (8”), which allows you to pull wide rubber on it and avoid sidewall cracking.
Rubber was chosen back in 2009 in our test of sports tires – this is 225/45 R17 Continental ExtremeContact DW.
Time has been improved.
It turned out to win back 6.5 seconds at once (the best time was 3:06.954). Impressive! Finally managed to fully implement the previous mod.
Michael's comment.
Crazy, these tires have such a margin of toe that it’s even hard to imagine. Now you can not only slide where you want, and it happens predictably, but you can tumble into turns faster, as the reluctance to turn is almost gone!
4. Suspension.
The choice of coilovers on the BMW E36 is gigantic. But we will put Bilstein PSS9 on our car. They didn’t lower the car much – 45 mm in front, about 25 mm in the back. Since the shock absorbers have a combined compression / rebound adjustment, it makes sense to check how much time we will win on “soft” and “hard” settings.
But that is not all. New anti-roll bars from the same company TMS were introduced into the suspension.The 30mm and 24mm front and rear stubs, respectively, should take away the understeer our rider Michael complains about.
Time has been improved.
And here we are again on the track. Well, again a new personal record. Won not as much as when changing wheels, but still impressive. On “soft” settings, we managed to drop 3.3 seconds, and twisting the rebound / compression knob gave another 2 “tens”. And you know what's the hardest thing? Finally, Michael can overtake the GT3 RS and even sit on the tail of the frenzied Lotus Exige. We begin to earn respect, so to speak …
Michael's comment.
It turned out to win back time not so much due to the installation of a rigid suspension, but due to the fact that now I can move the weight, thereby finding a few fractions of a second in each turn. Management has become more understandable, and the void in the near-zero zone has disappeared.
5. Engine.
Our next step is to add power to our two and a half liter M50, which has been carrying a BMW for 307,000 km. I would like to conduct a test with each component separately, but, alas, we do not have such an amount of time. So UUC corsa cutback, aFe cold inlet and TMS chip are screwed on at the same time.
Time has been improved.
When Michael walked a couple of laps, our jaws were on the floor. What? Another 5.5 seconds? This is phenomenal considering that the engine should have been thrown into the trash a few years ago. How does it sound…
Michael's comment.
Accelerating at the exit of the turn is faster, but the gain in time was due to the higher maximum speed – now it is 8 km / h higher!
Outcome.
The $2,300 supermarket trolley we bought for $5,000 turned it into a real track fighter. We just wanted to prove that you don't have to own a GT3RS to get driving beach. Anyone can buy a '92 325si and modify it little by little. We have not done anything incredible, every detail can be found in the free sale. True, it is worth considering the driving skills of our pilot, but over time anyone can reach the same level. The main thing is practice and desire.
1992 BMW 325is.
When the car first appeared, the price tag in the showroom was in the region of $31k. Now such a coupe with a differential lock and red color can be bought ten times cheaper. We were lucky, we bought a live version: the body is not a bit, without rot. I had to change only the rubber bands in the suspension and something in the cooling system.