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Category Archives: Time Attack / HPDE / HSAX

Event coverage from Time Attack, High Speed AutoX, or HPDE. Big Track Stuff!

#Gridlife – The Time Attack at Gingerman Raceway.

Haven’t heard of GridLife?  Don’t worry we didn’t either.  GRIDLIFE Festival is part track day / part car show / part music festival, bringing all aspects of car culture to a single venue for a one of a kind celebration of automotive enthusiasm.

Visit their website here: http://gridlife.co/index.html

2014 was the inaugural year for GridLife.  We were very impressed with their organization and presentation for the very first year.  We also liked the no alcohol served until AFTER the track closes.  I’m sure some people did bring their own booze but it seemed the general crowd was sober still at 3pm.  We, along with some extra friends, will be back next year for sure!

So, we loaded up the Evo, the 350Z, and the STi and left early Saturday morning from Stevens Point, made a quick stop near Milwaukee to pickup our good friend Paul of Boosted Films.  We arrived at Gingerman Raceway around 2pm.  Unloaded the cars and trailer, walked around, talked with others, and watched some people attempt to drift (I say this in a nice way).  Overall it was a welcoming atmosphere with a very diverse car crowd.  Everything from show cars (stance), drifters, and real track junkies.   So after a few hours of spectating, we found a nice place for lunch, then went back to the hotel.

Sunday morning- Early breakfast and head to the track.  Tech, driver’s meeting, then 1st practice session.  This all happened pretty smoothly and we were on track.   They ran the Time Attack with 2 practice sessions, 1 qualifying session, then 2 timed sessions.  This proved to be a nice format as it didn’t put pressure on you to get that fast lap in on the first or second session (your car is always faster early morning).

Throughout the day we kept at it.  Made few adjustments here and there.  Softened sway bar, adjusted tire pressures, just trying to squeeze every last bit out of the cars.  Coming into the time sessions, we were about to put the fast tires on the Evo only to have some lug nut issues.  After asking around and a trip into AutoZone, we got us some cheap spline drive tuner lug nuts that were close ended (I have extended studs).  Being in 2nd place overall and about a second needed, we forced them on and went back out.  Sure the studs may need to be replaced, but sometimes you got to do whatever it takes.  This made a pretty big difference in lap times and was enough to clinch the FTD.

In the end, we took home the overall fastest time, and 2 1st place wins in class.

Big thanks to our supporters out there!  Grimmspeed for the generous contingencies, Ron at RS Motors for assistance and advice, Kurt at Sign Pro, Paul of BoostedFilms, and lots of other family and friends.

BoostedFilm VLOG:

Boosted Films video of the entire event:

Few pictures:

Chumpdate Part 2, Reinstalling the powerplant, making it work, then testing.

The last update we left off with us screwing around in the garage pretending to drive a formula 1 car powered by our e30 drivetrain. We’ve come a long ways since then.

The motor is all back in, and to our surprise it started up on the first try with no drama at all. Well except that we didn’t have any exhaust and we woke the entire neighborhood. If you follow our Facebook page, you maybe have seen some of the video uploads of the car shooting flames from its 3inch header collectors. After the motor/trans was re bolted in, the rest was a slow process of tinkering and ordering parts. New throttle cable and gas pedal bushing thingers, power steering parts, brake booster check valve, seat brackets, exhaust components, and a plethora of other nonsense items. If you’ve ever done a project like this, you may understand what we mean. It’s the countless 1-2 hour night of working on the car, finding out you need something, order the part, wait a few days, then install it. This process repeats itself a few times before the car is drivable.

Well fast-forward a few weeks. Exhaust is 80% complete (straight pipes), seat all installed, floor replaced with some new metal, plus 99 other problems fixed. We take the car out for the first time, and it seems to run just great. We drive it around town and get about 20 miles on it. Our plan was to take it ice racing with a nearby club (about 40miles away). We got to about mile 20 and the car just shuts off and won’t start. EF! But to our relief, we had the S2k with us to tow the e30 all the way back home.

So that night we were determined to find the problem. We went out to the garage, turned the key to start it, and she fired right up. WTF! It seemed to run perfect again, no problems after a dozen restarts. We started to check it all over and replace a few ignition components just to be safe.

After an hour of scratching our heads, we decided to just drive it around until it would act up again. With the car being a bit on the loud side, we had to head out of town and drive it up to our test track about 20 miles away. (We took the S2000 just in case we needed to tow it back again.) We arrived at our test track right as the BMW decided to die on us. PERFECT! After hours of banging, hot-wiring, and circles, we found some loose wires in the tangled up mess underneath the dash. It was a glorious moment for the team. We drove the car home without a hiccup.

The next day, more testing on the ice. We put almost 100 miles on the car and it took it like a champ (or should I say chump). Here is where this video takes place:

The following weekend we hit the ice again.  We setup a half mile track and kept the car going until it ran out of gas.  5 laps per person, driver change, then another 5 laps.  This continued on for hours.  Not a single problem (except for Mike hitting a snow bank which removed our front valance).

We are extremely pleased with the car and our work thus far. Car drives great, we have regained full compression on EVERY cylinder, doesn’t burn oil or coolant, and it fires up every single time even in -20*F weather.

The car isn’t complete yet. We still have a ways to go before the car is ready for chump racing. Cage, fire system, new race seat and mounting brackets, battery cutoff, brakes, and the list goes on.

Thanks for reading, and stick around for more updates.

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