E36 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb race car build

[ZimDoc]

Lowering the car won't gain you that much camber static/dynamic and it will effect your toe a huge amount unless you have proper roll correction done.

Build looks great so far and can't wait to see it finished racing!

[IDBracing]

A few updates, got the bodywork back from paint today and got it fitted up...I decided that I think I WILL go with the rear bumper cover after all, as I initially intended. Makes the car look 'complete'. I'm also concerned about the Pikes Peak rulebook only allowing 932 square inches of additional vertical panels for the Time Attack 1 class, and running the rear 'open' with a huge diffuser as I initially intended is going to blow WAY past the allotted aerodynamic real estate. I'll have it over to paint on Friday, and hopefully have it back early next week. My buddy Nick from Nick's Custom Detailing out of Dallas is coming down next week to do some crazy cool paint cleanup / refreshing / restoration to make the dull, old Cosmos Schwarz look new and shiny like the newly painted stuff! He's done this sort of work on several cars for us in the past, and it's INSANE what someone with the right knowledge and skills combined with proper equipment can do to dull, old paint! Our graphics should be in by then, so as soon as Nick is finished makin' it shiny, we'll get it all stickered up!


In the meantime, the 'main' part of the cage is finished, and we've finished most of the seam welding spare a few spots on the front of the cabin; when I say 'main' part, I mean the 'basic cage that we need per the rule book to pass tech.' We've still got to add a fuel cell, so I'm holding off on finishing all the additional rear supports and such on the cage until we have the fuel cell in, to make sure that'll fit snugly. We should have the seam welding finished this week, then we've got to clean/prep/prime/paint the inside of the car (going to just go with black). I'll pop some of those photos up as they become available




For now, here's a few quick snaps of the bodywork - still needs some adjusting, and I'm going to have to go a bit lower and wider on the front splitter...but, for the most part, I think it's coming along nicely!

[stealthbeam]

nice, looks much better

[IDBracing]

Bit more progress today, got the diffuser built and mounted up, and got the bodywork all fitted up and clearanced for the tires. I'm dropping the rear bumper off at paint tomorrow, so hopefully it'll be done in the next few days. I've still gotta make finishing panels for the rear bumper, so pardon the haggardness at the moment - waiting until the bumper is painted to fit them on. Also was able to get the hood cut and get the GT500 scoop mounted, and got the front clip all fastened and tightened and such - it's set up so that it vents from the space between the radiator and the engine, and with the ducting we're building tomorrow it should route just enough air through the main lower opening of the bumper, up through the radiator, and then out of the vent in the hood. Hopefully it works!

[bimerok]

Very nice build.

Interested to see more details on the hood vent and ducting.

[IDBracing]

Couplea updated photos...got the lexan in and some decals on!




















It's finally back to being 'nice' outside, so we should have the rear bumper back in the next few days...spoiler should be in sometime next week, too!

[samuraidan]

This is nicest looking build I've found on the forums so far. The wide body looks amazing.. I look forward to seeing it in action!

[vitiokas95]

Very neat. Could you tell me who sells these mirrors you have?

[IDBracing]

I honestly do not remember, I've had these 2 or 3 years, I think I found them on Amazon but I don't remember. They're just generic F1-style mirrors with E36 adapter plates

[IDBracing]

Busted ass the last few days to get the car done, had to get up at 5am for a photo shoot with some magazine photogs! Didn't get any photos of the last bits of the assembly process; but here she is!
























We've got a few more odds and ends to patch up and get taken care of...but, for the most part, I'm pretty happy with how she came out


Stay tuned for video footage of our upcoming on-track shakedown runs!

- - - Updated - - -

A few more photos of the Brooks Motorsport wing

[bimerok]

Do you have any pictures of the welded spare tire well? Do you think it saved some weight or was it done purely for aerodynamic purposes?

[IDBracing]

Do you have any pictures of the welded spare tire well? Do you think it saved some weight or was it done purely for aerodynamic purposes?

I don't have any photos, but I can get some in the near future. I'm positive it saved weight, that spare tire well was HEAVY; however the primary reason for removing it was to be able to fit the diffuser/underbody aero

[flink]

Could you explain how the exhaust will be routed around the diffuser?

Thanks.

[IDBracing]

Could you explain how the exhaust will be routed around the diffuser?

Thanks.

It won't, the exhaust dumps out under the car on the passenger side

[IDBracing]

MOAR PICS!!!!!

[cdmbmw]

damn.. shoulda brought an extra pair of shorts to work today.. thanks alot!

lol that thing is epic!

[lowside67]

First of all, that's an awesome looking build! I was hoping to get my V8 powered E36 to Pikes, that's actually why I was originally building it, but unfortunately had to sell it before the project was done - I'm going to live vicariously through you!

A few things that jump out at me... #1 is ride height. As you probably know, the effectiveness of all of your underbody aero, specifically the splitter and diffuser is highly dependant on ride height and while I am definitely not an aerodynamic engineer, from some conversations I had with one, I think you might be robbing yourself of almost all of the effectiveness of your aero, especially the front splitter. The E36 is a challenging car to develop much aero on the front end with since it's such a squared off design with not much room for splitter unless you go straight out the front.

The Plasa E36 is probably the most well developed E36 on the planet and fortunately also happens to be focused towards hill climb so if there is a car to model aero off of, that would be it. It's worth keeping in mind though that the top speeds on the european circuits are not as high as Pikes so the amount of downforce his car develops might actually be too much to be ideal for Pikes.

This is the early (smaller) version of his front E36 bumper:



This is the later version:



Splitter height at rest:



It would probably improve things a good amount to try and lower the car overall and then your splitter as well to maximize their effectiveness. Does your rear cutout clear when you remove the spring and jack the tire all the way to bottoming out on the shock?

Edit - also, don't base any assumptions on ride height by looking at Plasa's fenders, those fenders are modelled off the original PTG ones which are actually quite a bit higher on the body than the Mashaw style reproductions - you can see that the top of the fender arch is actually in line with the hood itself.

Good luck and awesome car. Did I miss it btw or what are you doing for power plant in this car?

Cheers

[E34nication]

Looks mean.

[dirtdiggler]

Cool to see something different and I like everything so far but if it was me two things I would change. And not that I am any pro or anything but its safety related so just looking out.

Change seat to a halo seat asap
and get wheels with the offset you need so you can ditch the spacers

[RoccinStrybs]

Does your diffuser connect in with a full flat bottom? Or is it effective enough as a stand alone part on the E36?

[IDBracing]

First of all, that's an awesome looking build! I was hoping to get my V8 powered E36 to Pikes, that's actually why I was originally building it, but unfortunately had to sell it before the project was done - I'm going to live vicariously through you!

A few things that jump out at me... #1 is ride height. As you probably know, the effectiveness of all of your underbody aero, specifically the splitter and diffuser is highly dependant on ride height and while I am definitely not an aerodynamic engineer, from some conversations I had with one, I think you might be robbing yourself of almost all of the effectiveness of your aero, especially the front splitter. The E36 is a challenging car to develop much aero on the front end with since it's such a squared off design with not much room for splitter unless you go straight out the front.

The Plasa E36 is probably the most well developed E36 on the planet and fortunately also happens to be focused towards hill climb so if there is a car to model aero off of, that would be it. It's worth keeping in mind though that the top speeds on the european circuits are not as high as Pikes so the amount of downforce his car develops might actually be too much to be ideal for Pikes.

This is the early (smaller) version of his front E36 bumper:


This is the later version:


Splitter height at rest:

It would probably improve things a good amount to try and lower the car overall and then your splitter as well to maximize their effectiveness. Does your rear cutout clear when you remove the spring and jack the tire all the way to bottoming out on the shock?

Edit - also, don't base any assumptions on ride height by looking at Plasa's fenders, those fenders are modelled off the original PTG ones which are actually quite a bit higher on the body than the Mashaw style reproductions - you can see that the top of the fender arch is actually in line with the hood itself.

Good luck and awesome car. Did I miss it btw or what are you doing for power plant in this car?

Cheers

All valid points! We are most likely going to end up with a lower ride height once we get a few other odds and ends lined out. I may not end up running a front splitter at all, on the road course yesterday we were running with no front splitter and no rear wing at all, and despite the rear being a bit tail happy we didn't have any issues whatsoever out of the front (other than it being a bit oversteer-ey); this year I'm running with a mostly stock US-market S52, so we're not gonna have a whole heck of a lot of power...because of that, I'm trying to keep the aero to a minimum. I've got some more weight that's getting put over the rear axle, so ideally I won't require very much out of the wing. We'll see how it works out though

Does your diffuser connect in with a full flat bottom? Or is it effective enough as a stand alone part on the E36?

It connects with the underbody aero panels, yes.

Cool to see something different and I like everything so far but if it was me two things I would change. And not that I am any pro or anything but its safety related so just looking out.

Change seat to a halo seat asap
and get wheels with the offset you need so you can ditch the spacers

I've been over the spacer issue already in this thread - there's no difference in load on the bearing between crazy offset wheels and spacers. Halo seat, possibly down the road.

[airbag22]

I've been following this thread since the beginning and I must say that I love the car. I'm out at Pikes Peak every year for the hill climb to support my good friend Dave and his Rally Ready Evo and I look forward to seeing this car at the start line. Awesome work and good luck!

[jacobm3]

Op since this is not a mustang I recommend you get some proper width wheels to run your 275s on. A 275 should be on at least a 10 inch wheel. Your really ballooning the tires on and hindering performance. A 9 inch wheel should have a 255mm tire max! The car looks great btw!

[mountain man]

Very excited to see this run this year. Especially being a native Texan and e36 M3 owner. I'll try to stop by with a six pack of delicious Colorado microbrew.

[airbag22]

I didn't get any photos at the race since I was crewing for a friend, but here are a couple shots I got from fan fest. Awesome job man. What an accomplishment. Hopefully see you back in 2015.