Alan chatted to Andy and liked him enough to discuss the
possibility of him building the race car he desired – especially as after that first
foray on to a race track the brakes seized to the extent that the pads had to
be chiseled off. The car was obviously in serious need of some TLC. It already
had a four-point basic Safety Devices cage but all Andy really wanted to know
was whether Alan was serious about wanting a proper race car. Alan’s answer was
an obvious “yes!” and so the project began.
Andy started by stripping the car to a bare body shell and
putting the car on a diet. The four wheel steering had to go and the 1860kg
starting point was gradually whittled away to around 1640kg. The rear steering
arms were replaced with purposebuilt fixed chrome moly items and the 45kg body
wiring harness was dumped.
BMW NZ right side
view
The car initially had three engine computers but these were
replaced with a single aftermarket Autronic unit, which was also mapped to give
another 40hp, so out went the 15kg engine loom. This meant the fly-by-wire
throttle couldn’t be used so Andy stripped the throttle bodies and was then
able to increase them from 50mm to 65mm.
Custom exhaust manifolds with 6-1 collectors were then
fitted to improve flow but their shape also allowed them to stay attached when
removing the engine, which made things a whole lot easier.
Then one day over lunch, gearboxes were discussed – the BMW
item being somewhat on the heavy side. It made way for a Holinger six-speed
sourced from an Australian Touring car. Andy also beefed up the roll-cage and
at this stage, the engine bay had been repainted in green. Then Alan strolled
in with pictures of the original BMW M8 – in red.
What then evolved was eventually what most would call a BMW
M8 tribute car but obviously, getting hold of the genuine BMW race engine
wasn’t possible, so it cannot be truthfully called a replica.
Andy is a master at working from pictures and he scaled then
studied the photographs. Cut and flared guards are bread and butter to him and
he managed to adapt a spoiler from a Mazda RX7 which was grafted on to what is
now a one-piece nose.
The diff was rebuilt and a set of wheels were supplied by
Simmons in Australia with carbon lookalike centres. Currently, the car is
running 9.5-inch rears and 8.5-inch front wheels with 235/40 ZR18 fronts and
295/30 ZR18 rears, but there are plans to move the rear wheels to the front and
fit wider rears for more grip.
Andy is a firm believer in using AP brakes as used on
another well-known German car and has gone for 363mm discs at the front with
six-pot callipers, and 350mm at the rear with four-pot callipers. The pedal box
was fitted with appropriate AP master cylinders and to lower the car, Andy
shifted the shock plates on to the top of the turrets.
The original steering box was a hefty 35kg and as Andy had
done several LHD to RHD conversions on Dodge Vipers, he just happened to have a
Viper V10 unit left over and sitting on a shelf. This is a high ratio rack with
a very direct 1:1. The car was then modified to suit the rack, and the
three-piece crossmember was removed and made into a one-piece item. Andy’s
comment at this point was that it might make the car a little bit twitchy – he
was right but it works well enough!
BMW NZ engine
The remainder of the exhaust had no less than four silencers
or mufflers in the stainless system but was deemed ‘too quiet’. Two were then
removed and the verdict was ‘still too quiet’. It now has no silencers at all
and is still well within the 95db limit required at the nearby Pukekohe track.
As an aside, just to show how this compares to a 635 on open exhausts, a
competitor in the same race as Alan was black flagged for exceeding the noise
limit. There is often an impressive flame on the overrun.
According to the dyno figures – which Alan does not accept
as accurate – the car is producing 400hp and 738lb ft torque though Alan
believes the figure is probably nearer to 430hp and 516lb ft.
Local automotive electrical specialist, South Hampton
Electrical, made up a custom wiring loom for the car. The fuel system was
replaced and the tank fitted with safety foam. However, one of the jobs that
still isn’t quite completed is the side windows. These are now Lexan and Andy
plans to manufacture new frames at some point in the future.
BMW NZ front view
Alan’s acceptance into the faster group of a long running
classic race series that runs handicap races has meant a baptism of fire as a
driver, trying to get used to what is a large, immaculately turned-out,
potentially very fast car and also learning race-craft. His days of starting
from near the front of the pack are already over but as Alan is an audiologist
Mike Eady’s comment is a fitting summary, when asked how his pupil was coming
along: “He is a good listener and has a good empathy with the car.”
So at this stage, Alan accepts that there is more to come
from both car and driver and with Mike Eady’s coaching and Andy’s determination
to follow the project through with assistance from his son Byron, you’d have to
believe it.
