318ti Club Sport in ITA

[nlevine]

Just wondering what the consensus thought is on the competitiveness of the 318ti in ITA. Anybody running one?

I currently run an older, outclassed Honda in A and am thinking about moving to a RWD platform (and one that can be run in both SCCA and BMW CCA club racing), but not sure I'm ready for an ITS-level investment... I would think that the ti is lighter than the E36 318is, but I'm not sure how BMW wrote the spec line.

Any thoughts would be appreciated from the collective BMW knowledge base.

-noam

[JoelG]

For BMW CCA Club Racing it's in L class with a prepared weight of 2635. If the SCCA weight is close to that it might be competetive in ITA.

I can't say that I've ever seen one in either SCCA or BMW CCA club racing.

joel

[GKR_17]

Originally posted by nlevine:
Just wondering what the consensus thought is on the competitiveness of the 318ti in ITA. Anybody running one?
-noam

I could be mistaken, but I don't believe the Ti is classified in IT.

Grafton

[ed325its]

Noam -

How are you.
I honestly expect the 318ti would be very competitive in ITA and considered building such a car. I know the Honda's and Acura's are getting well developed, but the ti should still do well. If you decide to go in that direction let me know. I would be happy to help you with car development.

Ed
#22 325its

[nlevine]

Originally posted by GKR_17:
I could be mistaken, but I don't believe the Ti is classified in IT.

Grafton

Grafton - It's a little confusing on the spec line, but at least in the on-line search of car classifications, it says 1995 Ti Club Sport.

Ed - Thanks for the offer of help, I'll let you know if I decide to pull the trigger on this idea (not sure if I want to be the first kid on the block with this car). The trick now is finding a car cheap enough to make the build possible (even though I've told myself that I don't want to build another race car - I often ignore my own advice )...

[ed325its]

Noam -

Want me to start looking? I made a lot of contacts in New England when I was searching for my '95 325is last winter.

Ed Tisdale
#22 325its

[GKR_17]

Originally posted by nlevine:
It's a little confusing on the spec line, but at least in the on-line search of car classifications, it says 1995 Ti Club Sport.

According to the spec line you can only run a 1992-1994 318. The Ti is probably a good fit for ITA, but it is not currently legal. You need to ask the club to classify it, or choose another car. Any online data is irrelevant at the track.

Grafton

[nlevine]

Originally posted by GKR_17:
According to the spec line you can only run a 1992-1994 318. The Ti is probably a good fit for ITA, but it is not currently legal. You need to ask the club to classify it, or choose another car. Any online data is irrelevant at the track.

Grafton

My mistake in reading the spec line on-line. It's got the '95 ti listed for SSB for this year, not IT (boy is it a confusing matrix).

I think I'll send a quick note to the comp board, though, asking about an IT classification. Couldn't hurt...

[nlevine]

Originally posted by ed325its:
Noam -

How are you.
I honestly expect the 318ti would be very competitive in ITA and considered building such a car. I know the Honda's and Acura's are getting well developed, but the ti should still do well. If you decide to go in that direction let me know. I would be happy to help you with car development.

Ed
#22 325its

Well, I sent a note in to the Comp Board and just got word that the classification for the 318ti should appear in the March FasTrack.

Ed - send me an email at [email protected]. Would like to discuss set-up. I'm thinking this could be a reasonable dual-use SCCA IT and BMW CCA Club Racing platform (and is a little more "modern" than some E30 platforms I was considering).

-noam


[This message has been edited by nlevine (edited January 14, 2004).]

[mlytle]

i guess the operative word there is "little", as the e36 318ti uses the same rear suspension pieces as the e30's do...
front half of a ti is e36, rear half is e30.

glad it is going to get classified. will be great to start to see some bmw's in ita. hmmm, maybe i should build one too, i could reuse half my spares!

marshall
e30 (its)

[Fastfred92]

I have a perfect 93 318is just waiting to be built as a IT car but man has the comp board screwed the weight up on that car. They have it listed at the about the same weight BMW list as its street weight ??? I would love to see how a Ti would run. Any BMW club guys know how the Ti and 318is compare over in the BMW club races?

[JoelG]

speaking of ITA, does anyone know of anyone that has seriously tried to develop a 325e for ITA? Based on the lap times Carter Hunt has run with his (underdeveloped by IT standards) spec e30 car it seems like it could be a winner.

[nlevine]

Anybody know if there's a VIN difference between a non-sport ti and a sport? If suspension, final drive, wheels, and likely paint on the side moldings are going to be changed to make the thing an IT car anyway, does the starting platform really matter (sport vs. non-sport)?

[bmw318ti]

Check out the BMW318ti Yahoo group for help and achives. A wealth of info on setup questions, but just not for IT yet as the car is new to group. I run a 96 sport in autocross and won my region in the car. About 5 years ago the car was rated as one of the best handling cars in the world by Car and Driver.

It too am looking to get into IT and can't decide to convert my Ti or get a E30 or E36 car built.

Can't help on the VIN # question, but the sport does have better springs/struts. Everything else is cosmetic,(air dam, side mouldings, sport seats). So depending on what you can change in IT, it probably won't matter since the drive train is the same for all Ti's. Let me know if I can help.

Ted