Apparently the E36 325 is not fast enough and needs more cam. So there is a Group N cam out there available from Europe. I have seen it in a few other cars and know it is on the market. You can pick them up for about $3-4k for a set (not cheap!) and get the car tuned for them for maybe 10 more Hp max. They were never delivered into a car in the US or any other market, so they are definitely not legal. But I am not sure SCCA will be able to figure out if we use them. They have more duration, but only a Cam Dr. will be able to tell.

So we have two choices:
1)Use the illegal cam that people are starting to use. We will make more power (so will they), spend more money, and generally give an already gifted car even more of an advantage. The end result - the BMW goes over the top, I mean enough to make SCCA change the whole fundamental basis of the IT system, and we are all poorer and in the end slower or certainly no faster for our effort. Now it takes $50 or 60k to race an E36 and make it fast enough to hang with the field because the baseline was a car with cheater parts. Or worse, ITS dies because budgets keep creeping to cover all the expensive trick parts required to win.

2)Figure out exactly how to tell this cam apart from the legal US stock part and work to enforce the rule.

I am going for #2. I am 100% satisfied that our engines make absolutely the most power that can be legally put out of a BMW M50. I am not saying anyone can't match us, but you aren't going to make enough more to make an obvious difference on the straight. If anyone would like to install the Group N cams, feel free. I have a set on order and will be sending them to be profiled or even for SCCA to hold (we are working out the details). If any BMW pulls us significantly on a long straight, say VIR in May or at the ARRC at RA, I will protest them and put up the required bond (not the BS $8k number that is wildly out of the ballpark - I received $0 for proving I had a legal motor at the ARRC). I will also protest a couple of other suspect parts in the driveline.

I don't think this is arrogant - I know we have put in the development to build the best and I have compared with a couple of other similar BMW cars that have come up with the same final result for power from other shops.

Am I way off on this? I think IT has got to be self policing. I don't know every trick in an RX-7 or 240, but I am willing to help keep the cars I know legal. Thoughts?

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James Clay
http://www.bimmerworld.com
Engineered BMW Performance
World Challenge/SCCA/BMWCCA Racecar Rental
Genuine OEM and Used BMW Parts
(540) 639-9648
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