Dear Friends,
As some of you know, I have been campaigning an E36 M3 in SCCA Solo events all summer, with mixed success. With the engine and suspension modifications that I have done, the car is far from stock, and competes in the "Street Prepared" category. The SCCA didn't know where to put the car ( in its stock form, it is in " A stock," where Bob and Patty Tunnell have met with great success), so they put it in "C Street Prepared," with the Hondas and RX-7's from Hell! On a tight autocross course, the M3 has its work cut out for it, outweighing its competitors by well over 1000 pounds. Moreover, most Street Prepared cars are trailored, as they are pure race cars, not legal or suitable for the road.
Our car (my wife Julianne also races it. She even won the Seattle National Tour event! No competition in her class--I know of very few CSP lady drivers, I don't know why--but she showed huge guts by even entering such a big event) is VERY streetable, and has, although it is "firm," retained its original BMW luxury feel. In fact, I have put over 35,000 miles on it, driving it to events all over the West. It is fun to pull into a big meet, and park our car and its little tire trailor right between the big motorhomes and transports, slap the magnetic numbers on the sides, mount up the R1's, and go racing.
At the Seattle Tour in July, I ran up against some extremely fast competition, and was happy to have placed 3rd on one day, 7th another. The courses were tight, and I was no match for the little screamers.
This past week, I hauled all my stuff over to Denver for the Denver National Tour, and placed 5th overall, but ran a very close 3rd on Saturday, surprizing myself and everyone else by beating many of the top shoes in AS, SS, ASP, etc. It was starting to look like the CSP BMW might actually have a chance!
Well, it's day came this week. The SCCA put on the first-ever National Championships Solo Trials, which is a SPEED event, run in either huge lots, or on a proper race track. The skills are a mixture of autocross and road racing, with a little "big cajones" thrown in. Speeds are more in the 60 to 95 range. At last, a venue where there is enough room for a big car like the M3 to have a chance.
The first day was a .8 mile course set in a huge airport parking lot, featuring long straightaways, big sweepers, and hard braking zones. The M3 was ready, and won the first leg of the Championships by a large margin. The next day was set on the Stapleton Road Course, and suddenly, we were seeing sustained track speeds that would give the M3 a chance to be really competitive against its former intimadators. It performed flawlessly, and won the second day of Solo Trials by an even larger margin. At last, a National Championship for a C Street Prepared M3!
If any of you have been wanting to start racing your M3's, but want to go faster than autocross speeds, don't miss a chance to enter an SCCA Solo Time Trials. Road racing requires a roll cage (making the car totally unstreetable), and autocrossing , generally speaking, a smaller car (once again, the Tunnells have proven everyone wrong by being ultra tough in AS). Finally, there is a forum where the M3 is THE car to have. In stock form, the M3's handling on a road style course is widely know. In Street Prepared form, it is utterly awsome!
Well, tomorrow I go back to Denver to complete the 10-Day-long "Autocross 'till You Puke" event being put on by the Rocky Mountain Division ( I flew home only for one day--out of underwear!). The Pro Solo is definitely the province of the "Hondas from Hell," so I expect to get my Teutonic butt kicked. But I wanted to share with you BMW fans our *shared* victory. I say "shared" because without the help and encouragement of many of you, the car project could not have been successful. Here on the Net, we have shared many ideas and theories, and I knew that you would want to know that they worked!
Sincerely,
Carl
Carl Buckland
1000 Boston Bldg
Nine Exchange Place
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
801-531-6686
Fax 531-6690
E Mail buckland@alinc.com