Thanks to all of you I've gotten my acceptance letter for the UTCC. 

Looks like I'll be making the long haul to VIR in late July :-) 

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Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated my information (see orginal page below).  Much has changed since I posted the original page for the 2007 Ultimate Track Car Challenge.  I did manage to take home 3rd position in the independent study JV class at that event.  Not as good as I wanted, but it was my first time running that VIR configuration.  I improved my times over the course of the day but not enough to beat the home-track boys.  This year I'm back and the car has been extensively modified from the 2007 version.

For 2008 I decided to go wheel-to-wheel racing and was that ever a good decision, I'm hooked!  I ran my first race at Barber with PBOC and won my class (R4).  I also raced with PCA (GT4S) and NASA (GTS3) in 2008.  I ran 12 races, finished on the podium 9 times (4 1st places, 4 2nd places, and 1 3rd place) and had 3 DNF's due to mechanical issues.  The 2008 season ended with a NASA 8-hr enduro at Road Atlanta.  My co-drivers and I managed to win the E0 class, even after breaking the header 3-hrs into the race forcing two long pitstops to put it back together.

Here's a photo of the champagne celebration immediately after coming off track.  My co-drivers were Joe and RL to my left, and "the boy" Josh on my right helped with pitstops.

I was very late in getting my car ready for the first race of 2008. I needed to do some body work and paint, but was only one week away from race day.  So, at the urging of my 8-yr-old stepdaughter, I did a quick home paint job and turned the car into Lightning McQueen :-o

Lightning had many adventures in 2008.  At a NASA Road Atlanta race I lost the radiator hose going into T1 and luckily there was a photographer there to catch the action.  There was no damage but it did put me out of the race.

 

 

Race video can be found at:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=914794460834126067

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2120857476922641460

 

For 2009 Lightning went back into my garage for upgrades and body work.  I went with 968 brakes all around on bigger rotors.  This required upgrading to late offest hubs and spindles.  I needed to go bigger with wheels and tires as well, so I got rid of the 15's and went with 17's.  With 275's mounted, there was no way to get them under the body work so on went the fiberglass.  To do this I had to strip if back to bare metal :- o

This year I let a pro do the painting!  I went back to the original color, guards red.  I think the car came out great!

 

I just returned from the ma iden race for 2009, a 3-hr endur o at Road Atlanta with NASA.  We had a great field of more than 30 cars.  I managed a 3rd overall and a 2nd in class.  The car ran well but the back end was loose on high-speed turns.  There was no way I was going to take a pit stop to deal with the suspension, so I drove a very tail-happy car for 3 hrs and a total of 95 laps.   I'm thinking that a wing may be needed to balance the new air dam and splitter.

 

Here's a pic of coming out of the kink at Barber Motorsports Park during the first test and tune after this winters rebuild.  I'd say that I'm using all of the track!!!!

I'm looking forward to the 2009 race season and hope to be voted into the the 2009 Ultimate Track Car Challenge, where I plan on taking 1st in Independent Study - JV.

 

Update (3/31/09): I had a fantastic weekend of racing with PBOC at Barber Motorsports last weekend.  Managed to place first in class in the enduro and in both sprint races!!!!  I also instructed during the weekend, which made things a bit hectic.  It was especially rough climbing out of the car after the 90 minute enduro and getting directly into my student's mini cooper S for a 30 minute session.

 

Update (4/18/09):   A test wing has been added and I will evaluate it at the track on Monday.  I plan on collecting GPS data with and without the wing; which is how I will decide if it stays or goes.  Supports are welded on the interior and the wing can support my full weight as it is now.

 

 

 

Update (4/21/09):   Couldn't have asked for better weather at yesterday's test and tune at Talledaga Grandprix (http://www.tgprace.com/).  I tested the wing in may configs with dramatic changes to the cars handling; now I need to find the time to download the data and determine sector times to see what worked and what didn't.  Here's a pic from yesterday.

 

 

 

See below for the original build story posted in 2007.

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Independent Study - JV

My first track day was at Road Atlanta in my '03 M3 on March 19th, 2004. I knew after the first run session that I had started down a long and slippery slope with no return. After what was a fantastic weekend with the Peachtree BMWCCA group, I decided that I needed a dedicated track car since I did not want to crash my beloved M3. So the search began, but what to buy. I narrowed it down to either a 944 or an E30 325IS. As luck had it, I found a very low mileage 924S (38,0000 miles) in St. Louis - the car was a garage queen!

My second event was again at Road Atlanta (June 19, 2004), this time with NASA and driving my new (to me) 924S. I was amazed at how neutral the car was and once again had a fantastic time. Since that time I've put in well over 50 days at a number of tracks including Barber, Carolina Motorsports Track, Roebling Road, and VIR. I passed the instructor training course at Road Atlanta (Peachtree BMWCCA) in October of 2005 and since then have instructed for Peachtree and HOD BMWCCA, PBOC, Al SCCA, VW, and Chin Motorsports. My first Time Trial was just a few weeks ago at CMP, where I won TTB and set a track record for that class :-) (Of course it helps that no record existed for TTB at CMP before this event :-0 )

 

WAIT - What's a 924S doing in TTB? Well, here's the problem, I just couldn't leave that little mint condition car alone :-o

The first modification was the suspension - Leda coilovers all around, man what a difference those made.

Now that it cornered better, I needed to drop some weight so that the 2.5L engine could get me around the track a bit quicker.

Although the car was a blast do drive, and very quick in the corners, I was sick of getting a pointby at the beginning of the straights only to have them "out drag" me and not let me pass . What to do? I thought about a V8, but that would keep me from ever racing with PCA, so I stayed true to the brand and dropped in a 3.0L 968 engine that I found on Ebay! The 968 engine is one of the largest production inline 4's ever produced.

 

Out with the old, in with the new!

While I was in there, I added a Spec Stage II clutch

And a 951 transmission with LSD and cooling

To me the most amazing thing about this is that I did all the work myself! Prior to tackling the transformation, I had never really worked on the car, other than maybe changing the oil. All of my friends told me I was crazy to attempt the swap and that half-way through it, I would screw up and have to take it to a professional. Well, with resources on the internet (such as Rennlist) I was able to pull it off in 2 months time. In fact most of the build is documeted on this rennlist thread .

 

One of my first runs on the new engine was at Little Talladega. I was really impressed with the new power but quickly learned that the stock brakes were underpowered, as I burned through a brand new set of brake pads and screwed up a front caliper :-0

So, I had to upgrade to 4-piston calipers :-)

And quickly learned that I also needed to add a brake cooling system :-0

 

Current weight is ~ 2,450 lbs which includes an 8-point custom Kirk cage.

The car dynoed at about 200rwhp, so I added an RSbarn header and stage II chip and got it up to just shy of 220rwhp

 

How does the car do at the track, see for yourself.

Am I done with the car - heck no! In fact, I hope by the end of the year that the car is no longer a "Wolf in Sheep's clothing" but instead will be a good replica of a 924 Carrera GTR

I've already managed to score a set of fiberglass fenders! Once finished the car should weigh less that 2,200 lbs :-) Will that be enough, I hope so, but I'm also dreaming of a supercharger :-0

 

So, that's my story and I'm sticking with it. Hopefully I'll be picked for the Challenge, if not, oh well, you'll still find me at a track having a good time. Come on over and say "Hi" to the bald professor from B'ham!