Irish Compact

[BMWIRE]

Thanks for the comments.

Now for an update.

Decided to tackthe the Exhaust - remove the back box - to have a complete straight thru system.
(Unlike MSA we do not have to mot our rally cars and we are not subjected to a noise test at scrutiny)

[BMWIRE]

We also fitted the new rear arms and a fresher e30 diff. Also had to change the hub from the e30 4 stud to the e30 5 stud.

[BMWIRE]

Got a four wheel alinement and set off to the Circuit on Munster on a rare sunny weekend.
Hand no problems with the set up- car felt very surefooted.
Spent a small bit of time in a ditch after an ambituous attempt at a square right.
Finished 27th Overall and 2nd in Class.
Happy Bunnies

[BMWIRE]

Now this is where the wheels come off the wagon - (so to speak)
The next event was the Sligo Stages in July.
Now when we switched to the BMW - We thought that it was not enough of an upheaval - so for the first time we wrote and used our own pacenotes. This after 10 years of rallying and using notes supplied by Pattersons. All the rallies in the BMW were on own notes and we felt that maybe this was an area to improve.
The regular co-driver had other committments so we asked, nicely, a multiple Irish National Champion Co-driver and he agreed to join us for this event (rumours of kidnapping and other shoddy tactics that surfaced at this juncture are completly untrue - but we are happy to report that the Bunny was returned without harm after the event).
A lot was learned with Paul McLoughlin on the recee but however the event did not go smoothly.
The first stage was good and two cars were caught. However on the second stage a rear brake pipe bust - so a slow drive to the end of the stage. The pipe bust was unusual in that it was not near a joint or bulkhead or anything that would cause it - just a failure.
At the end of the stage the pipe was squeezed off and stage 3 was tackled. However on this stage we got a front wheel puncture and had to stop and change it.
Got to service after ss3 and got the brake pipe replaced and the car back to normal.
Tackled ss4 (repeat of ss1) and again had a good time and caught 2 cars.
On stage 5 the car landed badly after a jump and broke the right rear arm - which pushed the wheel into the wheelarch - and we could not continue. First non finish for the BMW.
Rather than be stuck on the stage for hours we used fencing wire and rocks to keep the arm up to allow us to drive slowly out of the stage and to meet our service crew.

[BMWIRE]

Upon closer inspection of the threaded piece that broke in Sligo - we found that maybe the material was not strong enough.
We also inspected the other arm and found that the same piece was bent.
So new pieces were ordered and up-specked for strength.
The pieces were replaced and again the wheels aligned for the next event.

[BMWIRE]

Galway Summer Rally was held at the end of August - However summer it was not.
It started raining as we left HQ and got progressively heavier during the day - it was also cold.
This caught us out - and we started the first loop of stages on the wrong tyres. We had no grip and for the first time ever the car started to understeer along with locking wheels moments. All in all time was lost - more importantly confidence was lost. After the first loop we were back in the eighities. We changed to more suitable tyres at 1st service - but these were still not correct - so changed to even softer for final stages. We eventually used tyres that we would normally use in February / March!!!!. It took a while to get back into it but we eventually finished 41st overall and 4th Class.

[BMWIRE]

Thanks to Sean Hassett for the various photos.
Well thats all the rallies completed for this year. We will do a few local sprints to tide us over but nothing major.
Dispite the last two events not going according to plan we still have secured 3rd in class in the National Championship.

For the winter we hope to look into / improve the following:
- Better brakes for the front - something along the lines of a 4 pot or 6 pot = on dry events we found that the brakes could be better.
- Rosejointing the front end if we can source the parts.
- Motorsport diff - we are using a standard e30 diff and only have found out that they are only a 25% diff and we have found that as we get used to the car that we get one drive wheel spinning under certain conditions.
- General check over, but as wee see it car is ready to go.

We probably will not fit the wide arch kit as this will require a respray and we would rather put the money to other uses and besides do not have a problem with the wheels rubbing the arches. (It would look good though - so we won't write it off yet)

Also try to look into getting a set up to make the car work better in the wet.

Other than that we would like to thank everyone who contributes to this forum for the info that we have gleemed to make this project happen and thanks for the comments.

We hope to keep you posted on any developments over the next few months.

[alan1272]

fantastic update, well done on some great results

[bruvs1]

nice update can't help thinking that rear arm will cause you more grief, just looks weak at the same point?!!