GHB

Congrats!

Where does the BMW fit in? I was worried you had stoped.racing the Evo.

DaveK

iTrader: (21)

We can run a whole season of hillclimbs locally for what it would cost to run one rally in the Evo, factoring in turbos killed by antilag, fresh tires at every service, and brakes for every race. Rallies are simply expensive. In addition, I don't like the idea of paying to make the car slower, as in rally we'd need to fit a 34mm restrictor to the turbo, limiting us to 300hp. Hillclimbs are great because I don't feel the pressure to put fresh tires on or run anti-lag...we just put a bigger turbo on and try to make up time on the straights. The cool thing is we've always got good battles going on, and that's what really makes the racing fun for me.

The goal for 2011 was to run the Evo in the Global RallyCross events and at PPIHC and run the BMW in two of the MaxAttack! rounds of Rally America. We couldn't secure funding to pull off doing the GRC series - knowing that cars can get totaled fairly easily, I wanted to have enough money to be able to fix and/or replace a chassis quickly so we'd be able to make all the rounds. When I couldn't get that figured out, I decided it probably wasn't worth the risk, so we just focused on PPIHC instead.

The tough thing about trying to run the CHCA series and PPIHC in the Evo is now that Pikes Peak is paved, there's even more parts that need to be swapped. Factor in the possibility of a crash, and we've decided that if our focus is PPIHC, that's the first race we'll do with it each year. If the car survives we'll probably run some more dirt events next year.

Back to the BMW, I just ran out of time to get the car put together in time for the West qualifier so I've just been taking my time getting it ready. My job has me crazy busy from November - May, and I work weekends at a driving school in Steamboat Springs from December to early March, so I'm not left with much time to wrench. The nice thing about taking our time with the build is that I've got lots of testing sessions in and am learning more about the car each time out. Unfortunately the motor dropped a valve a few weeks back. We're going to be heading to SEMA in November, and there's a rally the day after SEMA wraps up, so if all goes well, that'll be the first race for the car. Lots still to do though.

Dave

DaveK

iTrader: (21)

Yeah, lack of power is low on the list of issues with the car right now. I was tempted to run a foot-box camera so you could see how much left-foot-braking it takes to try and manage the wheelspin and keep the car going the right direction, but I really wanted that rear wing mounted camera for those couple spots where we're buzzing the trees & drop-offs.

Dave

jerdeitzel

iTrader: (9)

So, your a driving instructor at the winter drving course in Steamboat? I took that about 20 years ago when i lived there. I remember some good ol fun back in those days.

DaveK

iTrader: (21)

Yep, this will be my 5th season with the school. www.winterdrive.com

Its moved to a much better location so we now have either 2 or 3 courses set in rolling farmland. Gives new meaning to 3-D skating rink and combine that with 'no studs allowed' and its so much fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CcZ7dyIdVo

Dave