The official site for our racing progress.
You know how it is, when you are young the girls want to be nurses or teachers (or in these days, wags), the boys want to be fighter pilots, footballers, or racing car drivers. I wanted to be the racing car driver.
This site is following my journey to become a racing car driver, from getting my competition licence to building the car, then racing in the kumho championship (www.bmwrdc.com), and hopefully finishing a couple of races.
UPDATE: I have entered for my third year in the championship, so there should be some updates on the site shortly, mainly do I fit plastic windows or not and maybe even a colour change. Whilst this coming year looks to be a bumper one for class ‘D’ as there are over 10 drivers that will defiantly be registering, and another 6 or more that are building cars, with a hope to having near to 20 class ‘D’ drivers.
UPDATE: We sold the e36 shell and are presently building a e46 M3 to compete in class A.
THE CARS
The car is a BMW 1998 model 318is
- Colour : Alpine White
- CC : 1900
- Brakes : EBC yellow stuff pads and goodridge hoses
- Cage : Custom cage T45, FIA approved
- Suspension : Black Art Design custom full coilovers
- Wheels : Compromotive MO’s 8×15 et 25 or Team Dynamics Race 2’s 7×15 et 20
After the Rockingham 2011 weekend, the car changed to be as follows.
- Colour : Matt lime green wrap
- CC : 2800
- Brakes : E46 330 Motorsport front disks, E46 325 rear disks, with associated callipers
- Cage : Custom cage T45, FIA approved
- Suspension : Black Art Design custom full coilovers
- Wheels : 8.5×17 BBS RK003’s fitted with 225x45x17 Kumho tyres, or Apex Arc-8 concave 9×17’s.
The car is a BMW 2003 model M3
- Colour : Alpine White
- CC : 3200 (CSL engine)
- Brakes : AP Racing 6pot front and 4 pot rear.
- Cage : Butler motorsport T45, FIA approved
- Suspension : Nitron R3 full coilovers
- Wheels : Apex EC-7’s 10×18 rear, 9×18 front with Kumho tyres
KUMHO BMW CHAMPIONSHIP – www.bmwrdc.com
The KUMHO BMW CHAMPIONSHIP is open to any production BMW sold in Europe. It provides close competition in 4 classes, split by power to weight ratio.
The aim of the championship is to provide a closely competitive series for drivers, having a low cost entry cost and performance accommodating the latest vehicles.
Street legal control tyres are supplied for purchase by KUMHO, and with only 1 compound and pattern available, costs are kept to a minimum. A minimum weight of 1050kg and chassis lightening prohibited, the cars are strong, fast and reliable and cost effective to run.
The championship has existed since 1987, and has proven to be an attractive proposition for those wanting to race rear wheel drive cars on a limited budget. The series is established as the fastest road tyre championship in the country, but it is not necessary to use the latest models, or to run at the front to be competitive. Previous seasons have seen Class C cars provide the overall Champions, using cars from the 80’s.
Classes
- A, 220 bhp per tonne, with min weight restriction on BMW models
- B, 195 bhp per tonne, with min weight restriction on BMW models
- C, 175 bhp per tonne, with min weight restriction on BMW models
- D, 318is, with min weight restriction on BMW models
Uniquely, the championship has its own driving standards policed by the competitors own BMW Racing Drivers Club Driving Standards Advisors. This is an attempt to eliminate the damage caused by modern tactics of blocking, weaving and tapping (or as it used to be known, driving into one another!) Do not however think that this makes for a gentle series. Racing is getting ever closer as drivers become confident that these undesirable tactics are removed from the sport, allowing competitors to trust one another to not take out the opposition.
The championship is organised by the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC: www.barc.net).
HISTORY of the BMW Racing Drivers Club
The BMW Car Club Championship was started in 1987 by a husband and wife team. The championship was an essentially amateur club series, for the BMW owners who wanted to race their BMW’s at the national circuits in the UK.
The championship continued under BMW Car Club banner until late 1999, where the Championship changed its name to BMW Racing Drivers Club. The championship became the “Drivers Club” where the drivers all had a say in how the club / championship was run.
In 1997, KUMHO tyres became the clubs’ title sponsor and has carried on supporting the championship since then. The 2010 season will be their 14th season of supporting the championship.