1st track day = nearly totalled ///M

[Feelgood MD]

after a few years of autoX i decided to kick it up a notch and drive at a track day at www.roadatlanta.com this past weekend and unfortunately ended up getting into a wall. now my '98 ///M Roadster is pretty badly damaged but excluded from insurance b/c it was on a track. repair estimates range from expensive to extremely expensive/totalled.

pretty much the whole front end is jacked. but otherwise the car is in mint condition with only 44k miles, the motor was unaffected, the wheels are in great shape, brand new rear tires, the interior is essentially perfect, new rear rotors/pads, all electronics work appropriately, garage-kept, non-smoker, etc. again, the engine still turns over and the car can slowly creep along (onto and off of tow trucks and parking spaces).

so my question is: if repair ends up out of the question, how would i go about selling a wrecked car (here vs autotrader vs local shop)? anyone interested in the car or know someone who may be?

thx,
patrick

p.s. i'll be happy to post a pic with the hood up but it'll have to wait til after i get back in town after thxgiving.

[The ZED]

Whoops, looks like a wet track too so I guess it really wasn't a very good track day to begin with. Glad to see your alright. It could have been much worse. Which corner did you go off at?

[spear///Mint]

That sucks man. I am scared of that exact thing. I cought my coupe with the plan to track it but every time that I step on the track I get chills down my spine from just thinking about crashing it into the wall.

How did you send it into a wall? what happened?

[IslandS62]

Ouch! Sorry to hear that man. What a terrible thing to happen on your first track outing.

Before parting or anything I would explore legal avenues with your insurance. Was it a timed track day? Or can you somehow show it was a "driver education" school? This is the reason why BMWCCA schools are run in a very specific way.

[luciano136]

So sorry to hear that I would check:

a) how much a salvage yard would pay for it
b) how much the repair would be.

I can't remember what that saying is but it basically says if you can't afford to lose, don't track it.

[Feelgood MD]

turn 7 is essentially a hairpin turn to the right; it was rainy and i went it with too much power (apparently), so i oversteered then somehow hooked up and crossed over the track and hit the inside wall.

progressive insurance specifically says they don't cover "anything occuring at a permantant or temporary racetrack or raceway". so the untimed thing won't fly, i'm afraid.

[CaliAgents]

=( Sorry to see/hear man. Weather definitely wasn't in your favor either, especially for your first track outing.

Was ASC on when you lost it? Doubt it could do much in a situation like that either way, but curious if it was on.

[328 Power 04]

ugh, and i know how much those hoods are... that's about $7000-$8000 worth of damage total, maybe less if the radiator support is ok, but i've seen a similar wreck and it was a lot.

[Randy Forbes]

=( Sorry to see/hear man. Weather definitely wasn't in your favor either, especially for your first track outing.

Was ASC on when you lost it? Doubt it could do much in a situation like that either way, but curious if it was on.

'98s were prior to ASC.

Sorry to see this, as it's what has kept me from doing full on track days; I'm suspicious of my self-control...

I just can't resign myself to being able to walk away from a car after I've balled it up.

[luciano136]

ugh, and i know how much those hoods are... that's about $7000-$8000 worth of damage total

For that amount of money, he should probably just sell it to a salvage yard and buy another one. Even when fixed, it will be a PITA trying to sell that car.

[JWin]

Part it out. Seems to be the way with these things, sadly.

[luciano136]

Part it out. Seems to be the way with these things, sadly.

Since it's stock, I'd probably try to sell the engine and call it day.

[tincan96]

OUCH!!! That's enuff to make a grown man cry.

How's the under carraige? Or is just cosmetic damage - fenders, hood, bumper, etc?

The reason I ask is my daughter wrecked he car ( not a Z3 /M tho ) about the same way. Her boyfriend and I drove it to a local junk yard and just exchanged parts. Took about 4 weekends to do it. She then had it painted.

If the damage is too much to do that and you can wait for your money, then you can "part" it out by adverising in Craigs list or Ebay. You should be able to get a lot more money for it then selling it whole.

[fritzintn]

It's not too bad from the looks of it and if you take your time sourcing parts you could repair it for under $2k i bet.

Or
a) buy an e30 and bribe locals with beer to help with the swap.
b) Zionsville has had a Z3M rolling chassis on ebay for a while now for $3,500: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2000-...item3356f147d5

[luciano136]

Dibs on the rear plastic window

[KBH22102]

Sorry to hear. Glad you're okay. Doesn't even look like the airbag went off

[CaliAgents]

'98s were prior to ASC.

Sorry to see this, as it's what has kept me from doing full on track days; I'm suspicious of my self-control...

I just can't resign myself to being able to walk away from a car after I've balled it up.

Oh yeah, duhh

[DutchZ3]

Wow sorry to hear!
I'm always nervous when I take a car to the Ring (Nurburgring), but that's also a part of the kick. Never tracked the Z3, only my Peugeot 106 GTI, I think I'd drive like a grandpa in my Z3 on the Ring, to scared to crash it :-P

[2002Z3]

It's not too bad from the looks of it and if you take your time sourcing parts you could repair it for under $2k i bet.

+1. I think this is mostly cosmetic. The air bags didn't go off. Unless the unibody frame is super tweaked, it's just a bumper, fenders, lights, and a hood. That hood could pop back pretty easily. A good body shop and pull almost anything out. It won't come out 100% perfect, but so what. That best part for you and the worst part for a buyer is you will still have a clean car fax! I've seen worse repaired. Now $2K is a little low, unless you do a lot of the work yourself as fritzintn says. A shop would charge you a lot more.

[einzlr]

turn 7 is essentially a hairpin turn to the right; it was rainy and i went it with too much power (apparently), so i oversteered then somehow hooked up and crossed over the track and hit the inside wall.

that bites. My very first track day was rainy, too, and there was a lot of water on the track. I was afraid of doing exactly that and ended up driving really on the cautious side, which also has its drawbacks. Did your instructor tell you to slow down before the turn?

[SamGrant951]

Part it, make some money back.

You can buy DE insurance that covers this sort of thing. My insurance carrier covers DE's although I doubt they would after the first "incident" haha

You can learn a lot with a wet track..sucks that it was your first outing though. I take it REAL easy in the rain, no fun in not driving home.

[joey v]

yikes. That sucks.

Glad you're ok.

[Car54]

Oh boy...this sucks.

I really feel for you, I'm so sorry.

Here are my thoughts...

Sounds like you dropped two (outside) wheels and tried to steer it back (or kept the wheel locked in position) on the track and it slung across the track backwards, and continued to spin until it hit something.

Were you having fun prior? Would you do it (HPDE) again? Rebuild it as much as you have to so that you get it safe and continue to track it. Look at your front rails and see how bad they're bent. Either way, I'd get a quote for the heck of it from a shop.

Rain is a great tool to hone car control, not so much to learn it from scratch. Guys, don't fear rain...it's god's gift to track days. I just wish somehow it only rained on track and not in the paddock. You get all the thrill, even more, with less speed and less wear on your consumables.

Good luck getting it straighten out.

[luciano136]

Or snow, probably even easier to learn car control

[ragnarok2late]

Wow, this really sucks, on your very first track day. Glad you're ok. Looks like the same lesson I learned: Track day + rain = nevermind, go home. There's always another track day...

As for the damage, I say, if there's no underlying frame damage, then repair it, learn from this experience, and roll on!