The Z3 is dead, what next...

So I took the Z3 to a local body/frame shop and they told me not to bother with it, but get another. Now I've been looking online and havn't found many good replacement Z3's. Besides, it's too tail happy to be a good race chassis on our tracks. So these are some of the options I'm considering and some good and bad points to each:

Miata 1.8l: Good, cheap to buy plenty out there, lots of parts avalible. Downsides, it's still a short wheel base chassis, I'd have to buy all the parts to make it race ready.

Camero v6: Good, also cheap plenty out there, parts are avalible, it's a longer wheel base car so should be more stable. Downsides, the motor gain is a huge unknown, I'd also have to buy all the parts to make it race ready.

e-36 328: Good, I can use some of the Z3 suspension and motor parts, it's a stable chassis that's good on our tracks. Downside, well it'll cost more to buy than the others and the least avalible of the options I'm considering.

e-46 328: Good, it's probably better than the e-36 aero and chassis wise, and more plentiful than the e-36. Downside, it's more expensive than anything else and I'll have to buy mostly new parts to make it race ready.

I know that I should probably do a cost/benefit analysis. I may wind up selling the street Z3 to fund this and get CFO buy in. Untill then I think I'm going to store the Z3 racer untill it's ready for vintage, then I'll pull out the chassis and reassemble it. Any thoughts??

Unless the local frame/body shop has experience with race cars (and maybe even then) I'd get a 2nd opinion before starting a new project.

James, I know you're passionate about Z3s. I really think that yours was just not set up right. Mine is not tail-happy at all. It's really fun to drive too.

I wouldn't give up on your car, or on Z3s in general, so quickly.

James,

I noticed you have Mac's in your signature-Kevin knows his stuff and is a better driver than 95+% of the racers I have ever raced against. I'd weigh his opinion pretty heavily. P-car, 2002, WSR get out and have a blast with VARA. I guarantee you, you will find plenty of very fast competition and a great atmosphere.

Hey Paul,

This shop has rebuilt my friend's 911 after its hit hard at the inside of the exit to turn nine at Laguna Seca, so they do know how to fix race cars. Lets just say he thought the cost of $10k for a replacement Z3 would be cheap compared to repairing the current chassis. Partswise, the finder, door, front quarter, hood, windshield frame, sub-frame and trailing arms along with the labor to get it closer to straight would be well above the $10k replacement. All this and the car will never be straight as it was.

Josh,

I really enjoyed racing this car, and driving my street Z3. But I don't see much more potential in the chassis, it's really nervous at the limit, and once it's lost, it's lost. Maybe the coupes extra roof and glass adds a lot to the moment of inertia. I had also taken out the 30lbs of Tuned Mass Dampers out from under the bumpers, as extra weight on a race car is evil and to try to keep up with the really modified ITE cars. So I think it's time to switch to a different chassis. I really think it's a shame becasue I've always enjoyed the cars, but the lack of adjustability has hobbled it in auto-crosses where it's nervous nature is less of a hadicap.

James

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James,

I noticed you have Mac's in your signature-Kevin knows his stuff and is a better driver than 95+% of the racers I have ever raced against. I'd weigh his opinion pretty heavily. P-car, 2002, WSR get out and have a blast with VARA. I guarantee you, you will find plenty of very fast competition and a great atmosphere.
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Hey Daryl,

Are you having fun at the Big-Bore bash this weekend? I talked to Kevin this afternoon, he's got his '02 back togeather and was running this weekend. Maybe I'll swing by tomorrow.

James

Maybe you need a different setup? Ricky Thompson's Z3 seems quite fast at the tracks I've seen it on. Jeff Young has driven it and didn't say it was tail happy when I spoke to him about it. Times for the car are good and right up there with the fastest ITR cars in the SE.

If anything, it (the 2.8 Z3) was the opposite. We had trouble getting the nose to turn. Rear grip seemed great. Post in the BMW forums asking for Rick Thompson or p.m. him (I think his screen name is Hotshoe) -- I'm sure he'd be glad to discuss this with you.

Just for the record, all 'short' wheelbase cars are not created equal. The Miata platform is one of the most predictable chassis you will ever drive.

I think you need to decide what your racing goals are. I see a bit of a shotgun approach in your comments...ITA? ITS? VARA?

If ITA, the Miatas I have driven have been absolutely telepathic. I hear they respond to IT trim setup changes very well. And Mazdaspeed support is the best, bar none. (Other than a full factory sponsorship, LOL)

If ITS, E36s can be had cheaply as base cars, and the build is a formula now. No need to invent the wheel. E46? More $, less formula. And the E36 can run both ITS and ITR. And the RX7 can't be forgotten in ITS either, with all the Madza benefits. (long engine life, low costs)

But, again, decide on the bigger picture first, and the car will present itself.

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Are you having fun at the Big-Bore bash this weekend? I talked to Kevin this afternoon, he's got his '02 back togeather and was running this weekend. Maybe I'll swing by tomorrow.[/b]

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James,

"my" car is, but I'm not. I was looking for a vintage Super Vee for awhile and sold 'my' car to the Madrid's. Both my daughter's play club volleyball, in the 07 season five of their 22 tournaments fell on VARA's race weekends. The 08' season looks much better, the club season and the VARA season only have one conflicting weekend!! I am building a FProd car now, getting ready for 08! '07 is the first season since '90 that I missed...so I guess I can't complain too loudly. Having the FP project in the garage satifies a tiny bit of the racing bug.

Just about any class you choose at VARA will give you more competition than you are going to find anywhere else around here....if that is what you are after. If I lived in 400 miles north of here, it'd be another story--I'd still have my FF or a SM and be racing with SFRegion.

Here's an example of how tail happy the chassis was:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...rside11_06.jpg

This is a my third lap in a qualifying session, and I'm just starting to build speed as the tires warm up. So this is the first lap where I am trying to go fast. To be fair, the last Cal-Club race was this configuation and I saw a SM doing this exact same slide in the race. When I stop I'm a fair ways down the run off road with the Zoro turn well behind me. I realize it was lost even as I correct the first time. It turned in great in the slow and mid speed corners but high speed it's just too nervous.

I suspose Jake, your right. I have to know what I want before I decide what to do next. The real problem is the financial aspect. That I have very little control over it at this point. I guess I'm leaning toward the e-36 328 because it shares the most go fast parts and I could run ITR/DP, with a little bit of an inclination to the V-6 Camero because of the avalibility of spares around here. Just for grins I did an autotrader search for both a Z3 and 328 below $10k with a 500 mile radius. In that area I came up with two possible Z3's just below $10k and about 20 328's starting about $4k less. Now a Camero would be about $2k less than the 328, but I'd need to replace all the coil-overs/shocks, which I should be able to just swap over to the 328, with GM springs and shocks.

James

That's a familiar scene........

R