Hey all,

Well, I have finally gone through the pictures and more or less mentally downloaded from the awesome day we had yesterday at CEC's EuroTunerFest ("ETF").

For those of you that do not know that ETF is (or I guess was at this point ) you can check out their website to see more. Basically we were there for the Tuner Time Trial event. This is a track session where tuners were able to run their cars against each other and the clock to see what was fact and what was fiction!

Simon (AKA Mr. Vanos) ran our CLK43K (K=Kleemann compressor) and I ran our C32 (Vadim's car for those that follow the C32 forum). Simon will talk about his experience, so I will leave all the clk stuff to him.

The day started with great weather. In very atypical Willow Springs fashion, the weather was really perfect. The sun was out and the air was cold. Perfect to keep the track hot for grip and the cars cool for power.

We pulled the cars out of the trailer and went about putting the track tires on the two MB's. I had brought up some Hoosiers for the C32 and I was really excited to see how our modifications to the car would alter it since I last drove it on track (when the car was completely 100% stock).

So, we mount up for the 1st session. I was ready to go! We proceeded to get on track and everything went great, except the car was pulling to the left a bit. I did not think much of it as the Hoosiers were not new (they had been raced on one of our BMW Club Racers) and they often acted 'weird' when cold. First couple of laps was great. The CLK and C32 were bumper to bumper, already putting up some great times. However, beginning of the forth lap, I felt the car did not want to turn right. The car felt like the left front tire was corded (when the rubber is completely worn away and all you see are the metal, or fiberglass in Hoosiers, core to the tire). Sure enough 2 turns later and I knew it was gone! I slowly came in and found that the tire had been cut down by something on track. Damn! That was my 1st session ruined. However, I was not too mad as I was able to get into the mid 1:38's as I recall (times are not posted yet and I am not 100% sure on where in the 38's). This is a great time for a MB! In my BMW e30 M3 Racer, we only do 1:36's. So although we lost our tires, I was confident we had much more time in the car! The only real negative was that Willow Springs is VERY hard on the left front tire if you don't have the right alignment and especially if you don't have enough camber.

Here is us in the first session (I am pulling over for Simon as I have a flat):



First tangible from the weekend - we need to make a camber kit for the C32!

Well, killing the Hoosiers put a small kink in the plan. But, I was not out. You can see from some of the pics, that we have a few 360 Challenge cars in our booth. Fact is, we run a driving school and personally coach a bunch of Challenge car owners. We went over to our school garage at the track and pulled out 4 well used slicks from the Ferrari! Awesome - we have tires again!

We mount the tires up and are feeling great. So great that I go out and nail a 1:37.3 in the 2nd session. I was VERY excited. I knew that we could get a 1:36. We just needed to play with the pressures and get the car dialed for the last session. For comparison sake, a top 15 SCCA Speed World Challenge BMW only does a 1:34 on the same track. In addition, RENNtech also had their C32 there and in this session I was able to real in the car and pass it! Woohoo! After the session I found out that resident 'track pro' Danny McKeever was RENNtech's hired 'shoe' for the event and I was even more fired up that we were able to get by him as he still holds some track records there and has more time then probably anybody on that track!

Here we are ready to go for session #2:



We were extremely happy with the evosport tuned and driven C32 at that point! We got ready for the last session and were expecting a 1:36. I found that the stock shocks were really not up to the task though. The springs and sway felt great, but we were under-dampened and the car was porpoising because of it. We also totally underestimated the lack of camber and the effect on the tires.

Second tangible from the weekend - call H&R and get the newly released Coil-Overs on the car ASAP.

I went out in the last session and low and behold McKeever was right behind me! So I laid it down. He stayed on my bumper! Damn! So I let him by and then I followed him and stayed right on his bumper! OK. But the car was getting worse and worse. I was having a hell of a time making the 4 VERY critical right handers. I cam into the pits and had my crew take air out of the left front thinking that I was just a bit over-inflated. However the problem was much more severe. We had killed another set of tires. We had corded the tires for about 4 inches in on the tire! WOW. I was happy that I did not get into real trouble out there. That session McKeever put in a flyer and edged me out on time - yes, he got me. That is ok though as this was our first time on track with the C32 and he is an awesome driver. We WILL get him next time. He and I had a great laugh at how much fun we had. He also told me that he thought he was faster due to the BIG brakes on the RENNtech car. He stated that the brakes were a HUGE improvement!

Third tangible from the weekend - we WILL be installing a 14" Brembo/evosport Brake kit.

BTW, did I tell you that McKeever, myself and Simon passed ALL of the other tuner cars save Cort Wagner (2000 Porsche Cup Champion) in a TechArt 996 Twin Turbo and Pablo M in our European Car Project BMW e36 M3 Turbo. We did get by the AC Schnitzer M5, a couple of TechArt 996's and a number of other machines!

So all in all, we had a great day. We learned that the sway bars were awesome. The pulleys worked wonderfully. Our Inter cooler upgrade was awesome - the car never ran hot all day.

Thanks go to Vadim, Ben, Bob, Kali, Simon and CEC for having us.

You can see pics at: evosport ETF 2002 Gallery

If any of you want to see what you can do in your benzo or just want to learn how to drive a bit better, we do have a school coming up on 10/8. You can see info at: Oct. 8 Track Event Thread

Thanks

Brad

 

Hey Brad,

Great commentary there, I've been waiting and waiting to get some REAL world track data on the MBs.

It was a pleasure meeting all of you in the Evosport crew. However, I've got so send some specific thanks to Simon and Ben.

Simon certainly made it easy for me to get bitten by the race bug, gave me some needed tips, and was an overall nice guy. Ben went waaaaay out of his way to show me how well evosport can turn out the 430, heheh.

Much props guys, and I'll see you all on the track again soon. I've got lots to think about now...hope you don't mind the barrage of questions that I'll probably have for you.

 

It was a pleasure meeting you at the track. I hope you'll make it out to some of our driving events in the future. Send me an email when you get a chance, I have some answers for you that I didn't have there.

 

How much horsepower did Evosport bring to the track...?

-Bruce

 

Great write-up Brad! Looked like it was a lot of fun, too bad I live in Florida .

I have one question, what is the red box near the front bumper on the C32? I assume it is a transponder.

Bruce, I am going to make a wild guess and say 2700hp.

 

Thanks! I know we did not talk, but Ben told me how much fun you guys had!

Glad to see another Benzo up there!

b.

 

Too much to guess! The benzos alone were 660 at the wheels! Plus 600 from the 2 bmw's at the wheels, then add the Ferrari's (~850) and the Porcshe and the Truck (hell yea, that duellie is a monster!), we had about 3000HP between the cars!

Thanks

Brad

 

It is a transponder - good guess.

I just found out that the RENNtech C32 had a bunch more power then ours too. That makes me feel even better about our performance! The suspension tweeks really made the difference!

Thanks

Brad

 

benz 0wnz j000

btw.. does evosport do g class's? cuz that would r0x0r!

 

Yes, just waiting for a customer who wants to dial one in! We have done some mail-order stuff (wheels, kits, etc.) but we are waiting for the customer who wants a Kleemann!

b.

 

The G55 AMG's will be coming to North America late in the 2003 model year, however they will be packing the 350hp AMG V8 opposed to the 493hp V8 from the SL55. Huge disapointment, but this means the tuners will be thriving with G55 owners .

Brad, what racing series do you and Evosport compete in? SCCA?

 

I agree! I cannot wait to Kleemann one!

Well, we compete avidly in the BMW Club Racing series. In fact, I am the marketing rep for the SoCal region BMW CR series. We also help out most of the BMW's in SCCA Speed World Challenge Touring division and a few Grand Am Cup cars. We also coach some 360 Challenge drivers. We will have our own Speed World Challenge team soon!

Thanks

Brad

 

Wow! Let us know when you guys will be on the Speed Channel .

 

We have cars on every touring race! I have video of every rae wher you can see our name! Very cool!

First race, I was like "wow, that's my company!"

I was so fired up!

b.

 

That's crazy ! Kleemann a G-class would be badass.

-Bruce

 

Brembo just released a 15" 8-piston upgrade for the G Class! Imagine a G Class slamming on the brakes watching you fly past them!

 

otoupalik:

I might have missed it in the original post, but what weels are those on the C32?

 

VroomVroom, they are the SSR GT3 three piece wheels.

 

Actually, IN the pics they are the Voxx 18" track wheels.

Thanks

Brad

 

Thanks for the info. I found both:

http://www.voxxwheel.com/wheelForza.html

and

http://www.wheelenhancement.com/SSRGT3.htm

 

You can see them here as well:





We sell a lot of the SSR's - they are great wheels!

Thanks

Brad

 

All the guys at evosport are lucky i live in florida or else i would be begging for a job at evosport everyday. the things u guys do there always look like fun.

 

Still waiting for Simons writeup...