David White

even if you dont plan on racing, i would recommend building towards a specific set of rules (like bmwcca club racing prepared class for example)...

building without rules in mind could:
1 - put you in a class you don't really want to be in if you decide to race later
2 - hurt resale value if you try to sell it as a race car later on

Jimax

regardless of the price you paid for it or for the car, you'll tell yourself that it's money well-spent. I'm sure your wife and sons will agree.

David White

a roll bar, race seats and harness...also remove anything hard that your knees/shins could some in contact with

Jimax

Then Eric and I spent another two hours or so removing AC and other miscellaneous stuff.

Jimax

I asked him what class I'd run in if I end up racing, he said that I'd probably run in the same class as he does, GTS3.

But thanks for the advice, those are excellent points about resale and not having an end goal in mind.

Jimax

Why do you say that? Just curious. Roll bar is only good for rolling over and maybe a rear side impact. But front impacts, I'm still relying on the car's safety systems (crumple zones, airbags, etc.). What would I gain, safety wise, if I removed all those things without having a proper cage?

David White

probably has a good bit to do with the car not being balanced (with all the weight off the back)...make sure you get the corner balanced and re-aligned before it hits the track...it will most likely drive pretty wacky in its current state....

weight - my class weight is 2995 with driver...without driver (~200 lbs) and ballast (~100 lbs), my car probably weighs around 2700 lbs (with a full cage and fire system)....this is with all stock body panels, stock glass (minus the door windows and associated hardware), big wing, big splitter, and there is still a little bit of wiring that can come out...your goal should be easily attainable...

stock seats are stupid heavy, sunroof is heavy (pull the motor and "skin" the cassette), door windows + motors and hardware are heavy, sound deadening is heavy...

David White

unless you are going to go all out for gts (big $$$), your car will probably end up being a very uncompetitive bmw mod class car...

currently, IP cars make great cross-over cars for gts-3 (until someone builds a real gts-3 car)...

i would recommend building to a stricter rule set, basically bmw IP unless you have a very large budget, then go nuts and build a mod/gts car...

before you commit, come to some race weekends and see what you think of the different organizations and classes...IP is a very popular class and there are typically a good bit more IP cars at bmw events than there are gts-3 cars at regional nasa events...

David White

in a frontal impact, your body is going to do the same thing if you have a roll bar or full cage...the harnesses (that are attached to the roll bar/main hoop of a cage) limit your torso's forward movement...you shouldnt come in to contact with the steering wheel in either case

also, imo, if you are strapped in to a car with 5/6/7 point harnesses, you should be using some sort of head restraint...

Jimax

I do admit, I don't know much about all the different classes and organizations and such. All excellent advice though, so thanks for sharing.