Introduction
Hi all, my name is Simon, and I am a racing addict. I wanted to share with you all my build which is an E90 BMW (325I) that we are preparing for club racing here in the U.S.
Before I begin, I wanted to briefly go over my resume. My racing background stretches back to karts, autocross, track days, and then club racing. I ran SCCA in numerous classes including T4, H Production, ITA, T3, IT7, and probably a few others. My biggest break came when I began racing in the FIA sanctioned 24H Series in a BMW M240I Racing Cup car before moving into GT4 in the 24H Series where we started the season finishing second in the Dubai 24 Hours on the final lap, which motivated us to chase the championship. We won the international title (in a BMW M4 GT4) which was a lot of fun. Lately, I have been racing at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in the NLS Series (formally VLN) once again in a BMW. I am also racing with the same team out of Germany that I began racing with in the 24H Series.
The plan for the E90 is to race endurance races with the World Racing League where I have raced many times before for another team. While I’ll still be racing overseas and other pro-am type events, the WRL series and other smaller endurance races offer me the chance to get seat time and have fun. It would be really cool to get some of my European teammates over here eventually to possibly do a race together on my side of the ocean. I’ll also be doing other club races with the car. All in the name of seat time.
The car:
I bought the car for $1,600 (6 speed manual) with a clean title. The car was a younger girl’s daily, but it had some issues, and her family just didn’t want to go down the BMW rabbit hole. The issue was simply an ELV malfunction (anti-theft steering lock system) and a very dead battery. Voltage issues and BMWs don’t get along. So, I plugged the laptop in, got juice, reset everything, and it fired up beautifully!
The goal here is to keep is very lightly modified in the engine department. Really just a better intake element and exhaust is what I am going for right now. We want to keep the car in the GP3 class where it could be a competitor. I’m also trying to stay on a strict budget.
Starting out, we did what we do best, rip stuff out:
We have the safety gear on hand and ready to go in thanks to RaceQuip. We will be using their FIA seat and FIA harness. This is the best bang for your buck FIA rated seat on the market. I refused to go with anything without a halo (the head protection) and this stole the show. We are also using their window net, right side net, and tow straps.
We also will be installing a Lifeline fire system which I recommend for any car that sees a race track. It’s far more effective than a handheld unit and most series require a real system these days. It’s a cheap price to pay for a peace of mind.
The first goal is to get the car track worthy to start developing it by running it on track. The E90 platform is of course a widely used race car especially in Europe so information is plentiful but since the purpose of this build is seat time, then what better way to develop it than being at the track.
Stages of the Build:
Stage 1: Gutting and preparing
Stage 2: Safety equipment (minus roll cage)
Stage 3: Suspension and Engine
Stage 4: Roll cage
Stage 5: Event Prep