MikeWhitney wrote:
BMWCCA IP
Plenty of good cheap used cars out there, well known package to get them under 2:10s consistently. Just check out any VIR race results -- here's one with the top 5 or so finishers all running 2:07. And as was mentioned, Denis' car does 2:06's
http://www.bmwccaclubracing.com/_Upload ... evised.pdfThere's not a lot of heavy work done to these cars to get them this fast. Bottom ends are stock but as Dustin mentioned there's work on the engine management, and cams, to get the wHP numbers up there.
I'd imagine that a sorted IP car is going to get better mpg and might be more reliable than a Vette.
Joining this thread late (thanks Mike for pointing me to it), but wanted to add a few points.
Yes, both James and I have done 2:06's in my IP car and Randy M even did back to back 2:05's. But, contrary to popular belief, there's a decent amount of work to a) prep your car to the max of the rule book - there's much more than wrenching on some off the shelf bolt-ons, b) more importantly, dial it in to run fast at different tracks and in different conditions - i.e like yesterday's water deluge and c) even more importantly, get your skill level up to being capable to drive that fast. There are only four IP cars in the country that are capable of and have turned sub 2:07's at VIR.
In terms of running an IP car in the 13 hr - it's a VERY BAD idea. A top IP car, per BMW GCR's, is going to be developed as a sprint car to run in 30-60-90 minute races. The engines are tweaked to the max of the rules and are high strung to say the least. Running an IP built engine for 13 hrs is just asking for a big and expensive engine repair bill. Not to mention all the other wear and tear from racing that long.
Now, if you throw the BMW CCA Club Racing rules out the window and developed an E36 to ITE rules, you'd have a lot more flexibility in how you could develop the car for endurance specific racing (i.e. big fuel cell, cockpit adjustable sway bars, etc.).
Look at the results from Bimmerworld's White Lightening over the past two years for the answer - a low strung, low maintenance, but purposefully built for long endurance racing E36 platform race car.
If the OP is seriously interested in building a BMW endurance racer, contact James Clay at Bimmerworld and he'll set you up with all you need to know on how to do it properly.
Hope this helps.
-Denis