Ever get in one of those moods?

Okay, so this makes for the third non VW-oriented post in a row, but I'm a still a little inspired by the BMW Art cars. So inspired I went back again today and took more pictures. Even inspired enough to look for 320i cars for sale on eBay. Crazy right? Right. I mean what would I do with a 30 year old BMW? Not so many of those around either, it would appear, but there were a few E30 M3's for sale. One salvage title, one mint condition low mile example, and one with what might best be described as a grammar-impaired owner car, which may as well be a salvage title. Hmm. If only I could travel back in time...
So I decided to do a little digging and post up what might be one of the better DTM clips I've seen on the youtube. The E30 M3 is on my short-list of cars to own as soon as I have more cash, right behind (or is it in front?) of a 964 Carrera C2. At any rate, these things were nuts. Great fun, and always on the edge. Enjoy!

_WRS

R8 GT3 proves to be a contender

The legendary Hans-Joachim Stuck joined Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro for the racing debut of the awesome Audi R8 LMS. As handsome of a racer as there ever has been, the car qualified 3rd out of 171 vehicles. During the race the R8 didn't fare as well due to some fueling issues, but the valuable track time should prove to be quite valuable in the coming months. I'm not sure if Audi plans on contesting Le Mans this year, or perhaps the Nurburgring 24 hours, but as with anything Audi does, the effort won't be half-arsed. As much as I love the R8 / R10 / R15 prototypes, seeing a car which is based on an actual production vehicle (albeit one I will likely never afford) is cool. I've always been jealous of Porsche and their lucky fans because of the success of their GT3R / RSR models. Thanks to oneighturbo.com for the info!

_WRS

BMW Art Cars at Grand Central Terminal

I really wasn't sure what to expect when I went to see the BMW art cars at Grand Central Terminal. I knew they were BMWs. I knew they were handed over to famous artists for the design / paint / etc, but didn't know much else. I was surprised, pleasantly, that BMW would basically hand over brand new race cars for the purpose. And then they raced them. At Le Mans! The whole thing started back in 1975, and since then BMW has commissioned 16 more. Not all are racers, but a number of them are.

I was really happy to get a chance to see these up close and in person on their North American tour. These are not the sort of thing that come around every year, and NYC is one of only two stops inside the USA. They are not only priceless works of art, but they also have racing provenance. Amazing. Not one but three cars which raced at Le Mans in the 70's were close enough to touch, and in the middle of Grand Central Terminal in New York City.
My favorite by far is the Group 5 320 by Roy Lichtenstein. The car is my style...obviously based around a street car, but fully built up for competition use in the loosely defined Group 5 class. The little 2000cc turbo 4-cylinder made up to 600 horsepower and topped out at 160mph+, so obviously it didn't have anything on the all-conquering Porsche 935s of the era, but it managed 2nd in class and 9th overall in the 1977 event. There are atmospheric versions making upwards of 300hp, but it wasn't clear which this was, and inside info is a bit spotty. The display signs said 300hp turbo, but then they also said 1st in class at LeMans, which is incorrect, so it's either one or the other, and if it came in second behind a monster 935 I'm guessing it has the 600hp turbo unit under the bonnet.

Sadly they are being packed up tomorrow to head to Mexico City, but I took a decent number of pictures. You can check out all of them in my Flickr set. I'll be heading back tomorrow for a second look, and to take a few snaps that I may have missed.

_WRS

G60 powah

As alluded to earlier, the Rallye Golf had some problems. One was the engine. The G60 engine never made enough power, and even when it was making power, it probably wasn't making it for long. There are a few problems with the G-lader from a technical standpoint, but I am neither an engineer nor an expert on the finer points of what is "wrong" with the design per say. The key issues tended to be the following...

1. Manufacturing tolerances - The G-lader is a very efficient blower design, and unique in the world of super chargers. The problem with it had nothing to do with efficiency, but of manufacturing tolerances. It's tight in there, and there are a lot of surfaces that need to be perfect. One seal out of place, one tiny piece of the delicate magnesium displacer not in alignment, and you'll be on the side of a stage before you know it. Forget about the charger timing belt breaking, jumping a tooth, or a bearing developing even the slightest bit of play...

As you can see below, there is a lot going on within the housing, with the 60mm scrolls rotating pulling air in through the hole on the lower left, and being expelled through the outlet in the center.

and then...

2. Heat - All those sealing surfaces make for a lot of friction. Friction creates heat, heat causes problems. Multiply that by the fact that the VW works team was significantly overdriving their chargers for competition use, and it becomes another weak link.

A broken charger is not pretty...here's a closer look at the internals. The balance shaft is easily visible here.

3. Limited boost - Compared to other superchargers, the G60 works out to be a pretty solid unit with regards to power output. It doesn't suffer the "lag" and lack of bottom end torque that a centrifical blower tends to have. What it didn't have was the ability to be a turbo. At a time when everyone was running a turbo, VW decided to run a charger. There was just no way it would be effective against the turbo'd cars from Lancia and the far-east. Like bringing a knife to a gunfight as they say.

So there's a little more on the G60. The next installment will deal with Syncro, and we will finally be done with the embarrassing Golf Rallye (in competition terms) and move on to at least 50% of the reason I started this blog in the first place...the Golf A59....

_WRS

The real cost of racing from SSL

The real cost of jumping behind the wheel in a real race car is something I'm not personally familiar with. I know it's a lot, and I know that friends of mine who have worked in that world for a while want nothing to do with it because of it, but how much is it really? oneighturbo.com posted up this on twitter...an outstanding article from Speed Sport Life: Avoidable Contact #25: Exploring the pyramid of speed — the real costs and stories behind entry-level sedan racing.

Sort of makes auto crossing seem like driving to the store for some milk and cookies.

I've got to head out of town this weekend for a story, so I may not be able to continue on my often delayed Rallye Golf finale post, but it'll get there sometime.

_WRS

Speaking of Audi: R15 wins Sebring, as if you didn't know

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Audi's new Pièce de résistance, the R15 TDI, won it's racing debut at this year's 12 hours of Sebring. Considered by pretty much everyone with a heartbeat and a brain between their ears considers this race to be the most important of the year for the run up to the LeMans 24 hours, this win is extremely important. If Audi wants to win at LeMans this year, they've got their work cut out, as the Peugeot 908 HDi seemed to have the ability to outpace the R15 when needed.



Still, a win is a win, and chances are with the Audi engineers fully aware of what the 908 can still do (it was quicker than the old R10 was, but in 2008 LeMans still went to the Germans) they will up the ante a bit over the coming months. The 2009 Sebring race was a bit of a disappointment other than the battle between the R15 and 908. The Acuras were hopelessly left behind in the LMP1 class, and the overall field was as thin as a middle-level AIG executive's hairline. 28 cars. Ouch.

A lap onboard with the R15. Sure these diesels are fast and "clean" but am I the only one who finds them a bit boring?


Luckily, we have the big dance to look forward to which can perhaps salvage this season for us. Hopefully the 2009 LeMans will sport a slightly better field, with a higher number of cars in Europe able to make the trek over there, compared to the air-freight nightmare than Sebring must be for a European team.

The thin field didn't mean a lack of close racing. As we can see in this clip, the drivers were not afraid to put it all on the line, so the racing was at least exciting, if not constant. May LeMans 2009 be at least as interesting.

Until next time, _WRS

Truth in 24: Audi and LeMans

Download this NOW! iTunes is currently offering the amazing Truth in 24 documentary for free, that's zero dollars and zero cents. Yes, a free download...You can't get a better deal, and you cannot wait another second. Download this and watch it, work be damned! It's so good, even people who don't care about sportscar racing enjoy it. Maybe this can be the long-lost link between your and your sweetheart for her (or him) to finally understand why you stay up for nearly a full day to watch "some car race" every June...

_WRS