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Here is some video of the circuit - mostly BMW 02s
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Articles about racing that involves BMW 2002 and New Klasse cars. Post your stories or read other's adventures.
Enjoy.
Here is some video of the circuit - mostly BMW 02s
The featured marque for this year’s race was Nissan/Datsun so the paddock was full of 510’s and Z cars. My 2002 was the token German in our paddock, which was also home to the cars of John Morton, the Grand Marshal for the event, and Adam Carolla.
Our weekend began on Thursday with the red-eye flight from Portland to Atlanta. With only 4 hours of troubled sleep our next challenge was morning rush hour traffic up I-85 through the heart of Atlanta. YUK!
We had been invited to visit the BMWCCA Foundation Museum which is located across the street from BMW’s mega-plant outside Greenville, SC. The museum is preparing to open their new exhibit called “The Icon,” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the 2002.
My car was invited to participate in the exhibit. I had shipped it back to SC a month or so ago and was excited to break it out for the weekend to go racing. I found a local race-prep shop, Vintage Racing Co., to transport the car from the museum to the track and to do a race prep on the car. The owner, Michael Eberhardt, was incredibly helpful and competent.
Our visit to the museum was great. We met the curator, Michael Mitchell, who is responsible for putting the exhibit together, as well as Scott Dishman, the Director of the Foundation, and Jackie Bechek, who is on the Board of the Foundation.
We toured the facility and saw how the exhibit is coming together. There are 24 other significant 2002’s being readied and set in place for the exhibit. Around the outside are photo’s, paintings, dealer signs, and a wide array of memorabilia associated with the development, manufacture, and introduction of the 2002. The exhibit is scheduled to open on May 18, 2018.
Following the tour we were taken across the street to have lunch at the Performance Driving Center. Our lunch included a quick tour of the school and a ride around the track in a M2 with Mike Renner.
It was time to head back down to the track and get registered for the weekend and find our car in the Road Atlanta paddock. Because of the huge number of entries HSR was utilizing both paddock areas at the track. The Racecraft truck was located in the Pro paddock on the inside of the Start/Finish straight.
Thursday morning began at 7:20 AM with a quick driver’s meeting. Since I have never driven Road Atlanta I had signed up for the Track Orientation Program. This program, run by Jim Davis, started with a van tour of the track. Jim talked us through car placement, turn-in points, landmarks, and a host of other helpful information. Following the van ride the TOP group had their own test session on track.
Jim’s tour was very helpful, but there is nothing like logging laps in your own car to learn a new circuit. Road Atlanta has several blind turns, most notably Turn 11. You approach the turn from one side of a steep hill, and then crest the hill and turn while passing under a bridge. The back side drops steeply while still turning down to the very fast Turn 12.
On my first lap I followed another BMW that drove straight off the track his first time through Turn 11. I almost followed him, but was going slowly enough to turn and stay on track. Believe me, television does not show how steeply the track drops as you plunge down to Turn 12.
On Friday our group had 2 practice sessions. My lap times got better each session as I gained confidence and familiarity with the track. My best lap in the first session was a 1:50.7, and 1:48.8 for the second session.
In the afternoon they put several groups together for a sprint race sponsored by Sasco Sports. It was a large group of over 50 cars, and I started 31st. The race was only 8 laps and with that many cars on track it was very hectic the entire race. I managed to pass a few cars and finish 28th with a best lap of 1:47.9.
I will say that the racing is more aggressive than we have on the west coast. I had a Porsche dive bomb me turning into turn 3 several times, as well as a few cars that blocked as I was trying to pass them, even on the straights.
On Saturday we had one Qualifying session in the morning and a sprint race in the afternoon. I was able to get my lap time down to 1:47.0 in the morning session which put me 32nd on the grid out of 44 cars. I was happy that my times were still improving, but not so happy to be buried so deeply in our group.
The race went better than I thought. I passed 6 cars in the first couple of laps, but got blocked by a lapper on the last lap and finished 28th with a best lap of 1:46.8. Considering the higher afternoon temperatures and some grease on the track from all the cars running, I was pretty happy with that.
We only had our feature race on Sunday. Several cars in our group either broke or left early so we had 21 cars take the green flag. I started 13th and again passed several cars in the opening laps. After 4 laps I found myself right behind Jim Froula in his 240Z and was able to stay with him until the checkered flag for a 9th place finish, and a best lap of 1:45.6.
Both Mary and I really enjoyed the weekend and our time in the Atlanta area. The people were warm and friendly, the weather was perfect, and the BBQ was spectacular. Road Atlanta has been on my list of tracks that I wanted to drive. It is fast, technical, and intimidating. It rewards lots of laps and familiarity.
The best part of the weekend was the fact that #34 worked flawlessly all weekend, and was driven onto the truck on Sunday night with no issues. He will get a well deserved rest in the BMWCCA museum until next January.
I want to thank Scott Dishman and Michael Mitchell at the BMWCCA Foundation Museum; Michael Eberhardt from Vintage Racing Co.; and Jim and Austin from Racecraft.
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The Car had a new engine for this season. It was built by Ivey Engines in Portland. The Tinney engine we had in the car for the last 4 seasons was due for a refresh so it has been shipped back to Terry.
The performance of the two engines seemed pretty similar. The only thing I noticed was the Ivey engine had a flatter torque curve, and a little bit wider power band.
As this was my first outing with the M3 I took my time getting to know the car. It ran well all weekend, and I finished 5th behind 3 "P" GT3 Cup cars (vintage?), and a 1990 Olds GTO car. My best lap was a 1:40.
The Koepchen car ran in Group 4 along with about 16 assorted Alfas, Porsches, MGs, a 510 Datsun, and Dennis Racine's wickedly fast Mini. It started raining as we sat on pre-grid for our qualifying race on Saturday. I was gridded 4th behind the Mini, and I expected him to sail off into the distance on the wet track. Instead the Datsun got out to a lead. He was the only car on rain tires. The Mini slotted in 2nd, and I was 3rd. I chased the Mini hard and got a run on him a couple of times but he made the car pretty wide and kept me back.
Finally on the last lap I got inside him coming off Turn 11, found traction there I hadn't expected and out dragged him to the finish.
For our feature race on Sunday it was sunny and warm. I started outside the first row. The 510 and I had a drag race down to Turn 2 and I was able to out brake him and get along side him going through the turn. As we came off Turn 2 I got a bit of a jump and pulled into the lead. He chased me hard down to Turn 5 where he downshifted to 3rd but got 1st. OUCH! He slithered sideways a couple fo times and I opened a gap that I never gave up.
Best lap for Sunday was a 1:49.7. The best I have ever done at Laguna Seca. I'll have the video up in a few days.
It was a great weekend, and the K2002 really performed well. Thank you Jim & terry @ Racecraft!!
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