BMW E30 325is RACE CAR

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Fully developed, complete road-course BMW. Built as a replica of German / European touring cars of the early 80's. Built with many aerospace spec parts, materials, and methods.

SUSPENSION
Bilstein shocks (stiff) and German H&R non-coil-over type Group G full racing (very stiff) springs. Eibach swaybars, fully adjustable both front and rear. Aluminum E30 M3 front control arms with hard offset bushings. The usual hard bushings and adjustable camber/caster plates as well. Suspension is same as a track-modified E30 M3... meaning this car corners incredibly fast.

TIRES AND WHEELS
Ronal 15-inch and ATS 17-inch lightalloy wheels with infrared emitter black finish (helps keep brakes, tires, and wheelbearings cool). Tires = 225-50-15 and 225-45-17.

BODY / CHASSIS
Completely stripped. Formula-car type single element rear wing is fully-adjustable. Aircraft Vortex Generators ("Laminar Fences") on the roof clean up laminar flow for the wing... a fully engineered system that works as well for this car as for aircraft intended to land on aircraft carriers with a low stall speed (see pix). Full 6-point rollcage TIG welded to body... custom engineered hybrid of conventional rollcage design still used in the US and Euro-touring-car type design of the 80's... VERY stiff and safe.

ENGINE
Inline 2.5 liter BMW M20 six. Custom chipped (Conforti). Low restriction intake and exhaust. Trick Audi oil-to-coolant intercooler. Various and assorted other tweaks.

TRANSMISSION / DIFFERENTIAL
Differential is E30 M3 with limited slip. 4.10:1 ratio provides about 10% more torque than the 325is stock ratio. Gearbox is 5-speed manual, unmodified. Redline oils in both.

INTERIOR
Prototype / DTM hybrid custom aluminum instrument panel. Based on large, central Porsche 911 tachometer with all the critical VDO metric gauges "orbiting" it (oilpressure, coolant temp, oil temp, dual gearbox and diff temp). Aircraft circuit breakers for fuel pump(s). See pix. Cobra seat and Schroth 5-point harnessbelt. Nets follow Euro touring car convention of early 80's: Two head restraint nets (one on both sides of seat headrest) plus a third (large Schroth window net). Cobra driver seat.

BRAKES
Slotted front discs (ATE Powerdiscs) and German Pagid racing pads. Braided stainless steel lines, upgraded different-size master cylinder for better pedal feel. Ducts. With ATE Super Blue Racing brakefluid, pedal stayed firm all day long with as much brakes as the tires could handle at Roebling on a 90-degree July day. ABS still there, but can be switched off.