It's definitely been a while since my last post, sorry! Quite a lot has happened in the last few months so racing my BMW has been put on a temporary pause. I just completed the move to Colorado from Seattle and am just now finally getting settled into a normal routine. I planned to enter …
Event 1 of 2018 had finally arrived! It was a beautiful dry day (though fairly cloudy) and my BMW E36 was running perfectly. My car has received a lot of upgrades and weight reduction over the winter, as seen in my previous posts, so this was the day to prove that it was all worth it. …
My two young sons recently informed me that in order for a car to be a "race car" it needs to have a rear wing. Apparently fast run times at events don't matter to six year olds. I guess that's not too surprising and rear wings do naturally make cars more cool, so on to …
The first chance to get my BMW E36 on track in 2018 has arrived! It's time to see how all the weight reductions, steering component changes and general winter repairs/upgrades will affect my runs. As usual, the first practice of the season will be held in the rain. That's just what Seattle in February provides... …
I determined towards the end of 2017 that I wanted to turn my BMW E36 into as close as a street legal race car as possible in order to turn up the fun factor even more! To me, no race car should have an interior or any sound deadening. That means it shouldn't have five …
Continue reading Turning my BMW E36 into more of a dedicated race car!
With Winter now here, it's time yet again to move the BMW E36 race car into the garage, put it up on jack stands, and attack a few areas that need attention. Areas of focus are converting to a manual steering rack, upgrading the bottom of the engine, control arm replacement and changing gaskets.
Novice School day had arrived and now it was time to learn what I'd been doing wrong and what I needed to do to get better. This event had professional instructors, who were also regional autocross champions, ride shotgun with novices such as myself. I was able to use their expertise to understand some solid fundamentals …
Now that I've run the BMW E36 at the first event, I thought it would be good to address some viewer questions and comments that I've received so far. First, I apparently need to clear something up that I didn't think even needed to be addressed. I'm not autocrossing the BMW Formula 1 car seen behind …
Continue reading Viewer questions. No, I’m not a Formula 1 driver…
Getting a car's power to the ground effectively through tight corners is one of the greatest challenges in SCCA Solo autocross (or even racing in general). SCCA rules restricting treadwear ratings and tire widths means that you have to make the most of what's available in mechanical grip. One of the best ways to effectively transmit torque to …
Continue reading Get the power down! Swapping in an E36 M3 LSD.
So now that I had decided to go racing, what car would be a great budget entry but still be competitive? After a good bit of research, I determined that it would actually be a car model that I had previously owned nearly 10 years ago, a BMW E36 chassis 3-series. They're highly competitive in …
Brent Ford Racing 