Team Orange gets the Blues!



The e12 stayed in the shed this weekend awaiting it's new brake package, so it was off to Eastern Creek with Bel's e21. We'd spent quite some effort in tidying the e21 up since last time out. It had a new tail-shaft, centre bearing, rear wheel bearings, lower front springs, adjustable camber plates, new steering tie-rod, plus a re-upholstered rear seat top and rear parcel shelf. All up, she was looking pretty good.

The first turn however was a complete shock! With the lower front and 3 degrees of camber, the turn in was amazing. The rear however had gone to the dogs! There was absolutely no grip at the back and it spun up the inside wheel with the slightest application of throttle. It had plenty of straight line speed, but she was so slow out of the corners the terminal velocity was lower than the 4 cylinder e12!

Some fiddling of the tyre pressures helped a bit and familiarity helped work out the best way around the corners. My times improved from 2:18 in the first session (where I think I was in shock!) to 2:10 in the afternoon session. While not all that quick (5 seconds slower than the e12) it was an absolute hoot once I got used to it. The quickest way was to keep as much speed as possible into the corner and let the front end drag it around. Once past the apex, I could get some gently throttle on and start accelerating. The "fast in" method lead to some interesting lift-off oversteer moments when I'd over done it. Going past the turn two apex sideways was probably not my fastest lap.

Some lower springs for the back are definitely on the cards before Wakefield.

Team Orange Road Trip

Team Orange headed to Winton in Victoria for the 4th round of the Supersprint Championship contested with the BMWCCV. It was a cold Winton that greeted Bel on Saturday when she headed out for the driver training sessions. There were some good runs with continuous improvement all day. I got a few rides with other drivers and then a sneaky drive in the last session which gave me a good idea of what I was in for on Sunday.

Sunday was slightly warmer, but still cold. Luckily, the rain held off and the sun came out. The e12 was going wonderfully and the times fell from 1:57 to 1:55 to 1:54. Some tweaking of the tyre pressures got rid of some slight understeer and a quick bleed of the brakes brought them back nicely. Sadly, the pads cried "enough" after the first afternoon session and I tore the rubber rushing to get the new ones in. We missed the last sessions, but it was still a wonderful weekend away. It was unfortunate that there were no other cars in class B, but a win is a win either way!

New Tyres - Different Class

The e12 headed to Eastern Creek to meet up with its new R spec Toyo Poxes R888 race tyres. An amazing difference it was too. Although it had been 2 years since the e12 did a proper time at Eastern Creek, it was 11 seconds faster! The new tyres probably accounted for 4 of these seconds.

Another first in class for the e12 and we ended up ahead of some much faster machinery (an e46 M3 for one!).

The Proper Battle Commences!

A depleted Team Orange headed to Wakefield Park for the 2nd round of the BMW Drivers Club NSW Supersprint Championship on the weekend. There was no e21 as Bel had other things to do that couldn't be put aside, so there was just Dad and myself there to fly the flag.

The track was newly surfaced and promised some very interesting times. It was hot (as expected) which didn't bode well for getting any top times though.

The morning sessions went well with an unofficial 1:20.00 being recorded which would have been a personal best. Bleeding the brakes the previous day had brought them back stronger than ever and I had an enormous amount of confidence into the corners. Unfortunately, there was a very slight vibration under braking in the afternoon timed sessions which ruined my confidence and added 2 seconds to the lap time. Investigation revealed nothing wrong with the brakes and what appeared to be a flat spot on the front left tyre, so I headed back out determined to push on.

It was well worth it as the vibration started to fade away and the lap times dropped. I got down to a 1:20.3 then 1:19.6 then a 1:19.0. A wonderful result and fantastic to be in the "teens" with some of the seriously quick guys.

It was a win in class A cementing the e12 at the top of the table after 2 rounds. It was good to see a 5 person turn-out for class A and the competition was inspiring. With some new tyres on the way for next time, there should be some more speed at Eastern Creek.

Good Run For Team Orange

We've had a good run in the last couple of months. February saw a return to the track for the e12 at Oran Park and also the BMW Drivers Club NSW annual presentation dinner.












Oran Park loomed as wet and nasty as Saturday dawned. Luckily, the rain had stopped before we got anywhere near the track and there was only the smallest of sprinkles all day. It was the first proper hit-out at Oran Park for me and the e12 as last time the extractors were hitting the steering box which brought the day to a premature end. We started conservatively and slowly built up a bit of speed. A best of 1:36 doesn't sound great, but I was very happy. There's probably another second in tweaking the car and at least two more seconds in the driver!

The presentation dinner was a wonderful event put on by the BMWDCNSW. We walked away with 2nd in class for the e12 and 3rd for the e21. Belinda also picked up the club encouragement award. Very happy.

Bring on Wakefield Park and the rest of the Championship!

Hot Day at Wakefield









A hot day greeted the BMWDCNSW drivers at the last round of the Supersprint Championship. The recent rain had made a bit of a mess of the track, so times weren't great. Team Orange had success though with the fastest time in class giving us overall second place in class for the Championship!

Once again, we couldn't have done it without the help of our ever patient pit crew, Dad and Hak. Thanks guys.

More trouble for Team Orange!





The Eastern Creek round of the supersprint series started well for the e12, with the new rear coilovers appearing to provide much improved grip in both tight and long corners. The car was hooking up so well that we (Hak) got best time in our class in morning practice. I maintain that I could have gone as quick, but had to pull in as there was a repeat of the extractors vibrating against the steering box and I had a sticky throttle!

The afternoon session only lasted 1 lap before there was a very strange noise from the exhaust. Expert opinion named it as a collapsed muffler! While I cruised around to record a notional time, all chance of the win was gone and we packed up early. The drive home was excruciating, especially with the development of a large amount of backlash in the drive train.

Bel's e21 ran like a train all day and performed excellently. Hak did discover a missing bolt in the rear subframe mount after arriving home, but it didn't slow her down.

Next outing for the e21 will be Wakefield Park, but it's rest time for the e12. We'll need to save up some budget to get the exhaust fixed and the new 5 speed gearbox in.

Show-n-Shine

It was a lovely day for the BMW Drivers Club NSW annual Show-n-Shine. There was a healthy turn out, although less than last year. The old e12 shined up nicely and came in a respectable 2nd in the pre-1976 category. Sadly, she was the only e12 there, although there was a really nice e28 M5 on show.

Oran Park Trouble

It started off wet at Oran Park and just went down hill from there. A strange vibration turned out to the be the new extractors rubbing on the steering box. The engine mount appears to have collapsed over time, and the new extractors have closed up the tolerances so much that they now rub.

We ended up not being able to turn right and accelerate at the same time, so were 10 seconds off the pace.

Once it dried up, Bel's e21 was getting along nicely and she dropped 12 seconds off her time.

New Extractors!







Picked up the e12 with its new extractors yesterday. Very happy with the look and the resulting power increase. There seems to be an improvement up high in the rev range. Will only really tell once I get it back on the track. There's a little touching up to do with the spark plug leads, but nothing that didn't need doing already.

Success for Team Orange!

A very successful weekend for Team Orange. We had 4 drivers out in three cars with Denis joining us for his first track day. It was a close fought battle in the e12 between myself and Hak for class A honours, but I just got him at the end by 0.09 seconds!






Bel had a fantastic weekend in her e21 shaving an incredible 7 seconds from her personal best. Amazing stuff considering there were absolutely no modifications to the car.









Denis also had a great start to his track day career. Not only did he come in at a very respectable time, but he was also lucky enough to get a ride in a Lancer Evo 9 set up for Targa Tasmania!

Huge thanks to Dad for looking after us all day, swapping number and transponders and generally keeping everyone on track.

Trying Times for Team Orange

What a shocker of a weekend! e12 was missing cylinders on the way down, then started making a horrible grinding noise from the rear. The e12 refused to start in the morning, then the e21 refused to start at the track and had to be pushed started all the time. Luckily, Bel and Hak both took some good seconds off the best times so the weekend turned out OK. Can't wait for the next one and put this weekend behind us.

Lots of Preparation

It's been a pretty long road getting the two cars ready for the Wakefield Park Supersprint. I was totally unprepared for the amount of effort required to get two cars ready. Especially as we have no "work shop" and I either need to work on the cars in the communal garage, or take it to a professional.

It's been a long list of work, and here are the main ones:

e21 323i

• Bendix Ultimate pads
• Bushes - rear subframe, front caster, steering rack
• Engine mounts
• Tailshaft centre bearing
• K&N Air filter
• Front wheel bearings
• Rust removed from boot and under rear windows
• Spark plugs
• Tuning - advance timing and correct mixture
• Oil change
• Rebuild alternator

e12 520i

• Oil change
• Removed insulation from floor behind seats and respray
• Remove seat belts
• Fabricated front struts with adjustable spring mounts
• Lower rear springs
• Bilstein shocks all round

Successful Wakefield Outing

We had a great day out at Wakefield last weekend. The slight modifications to the suspension, the new LSD and probably some driver training made a dramatic improvement. Lap time since I last drove there came down from 1:29 to 1:23, and our overall best for the car came down from 1:26. A three second improvement was very pleasing.

Bel also took the e12 out for a run. She was a bit tentative, but put in some respectable laps. Some more experience and some "brave pills" will see her right on the pace soon.

The car ran flawlessly all day, with nothing broken to report. It rained mid afternoon, so we called it a day rather than take a risk. Overall, a fantastic start to our 2007 campaign. Next stop is Oran Park, where we'll be back to learning new tracks again.

Another "new" Addition

We've added another member to our growing BMW family. Bel's now the proud owner of 1979 e21 323i. It's going to need a little work, but it's a lovely car with lots of potential. Here's our two together.


Picked up the e12 last night after it gots it's new diff (LSD), adjustable camber plates and a better tune on the timing. I couldn't stop smiling all the way home!

Getting Ready for Wakefield



Been doing a few upgrades in preparation for the Wakefield Park Supersprint. Main one is the new fibreglass bootlid. Who would have thought that the bootlid would weigh 13kg! New one only weighs 2 kg! The photo is pre-paint (obviously).



Had an LSD fitted with 4.44 gears rather than 3.91. Hoping for much better drive out of the "Bus stop" corner. Going to make driving on the freeway a bit of a problem though! Also had adjustable camber plates fitted at the front. Some negative camber is much needed.

Cooling System Mods

We removed the radiator fan last weekend. It's one of those direct drive units, so it always runs at the same speed as the motor. Dad believes it draws as much as 3 kW. In the world of e12 520i's, that is a big number! Off came the fan and in went an electric thermo fan. Lots of mucking around, especially with the assumption that the wire colours on the fan and relay would match up (they were from the same manufacturer after all), but no, black connected to blue and blue to black. How obvious!
Test runs seemed positive. I could feel a little more urge up above 5000 rpm, so could be useful at the next track day.

Wakefield Park


A stinking hot day at Wakefield Park for the BMW Drivers Club Skills Day. We had Bel out in the Laser and Hak piloting the e12. Both cars ran faultlessly and both drivers did superbly. Highlight of the day was the two of them trying to overtake a 318is at the same time!

Big Problem!




Had a big problem recently. At some point in the past, someone had stripped the thread off the bleed nipple on my passenger side rear drum brake cylinder. Instead of replacing the cylinder, they justed used a larger nipple and forced it into the cylinder. Of course, when i went to bleed the brakes, the cylinder casting cracked. Bingo! One useless brake system. BMW quoted $206 for a replacement. Luckily, good old Dad found someone who could do one for $60. At least it was better happening now than at the track.

Back on Track!
Team Orange were back at the track on the weekend. The old E12 went well apart from a slightly soft brake pedal at the end of the day and a tiny oil leak from the 'box.

Had a great day out with plenty of dicing with Wolffie in the Swedish brick.

Special thanks to Dad for all his help in getting the car up and running.