A Shark conquers Sonoma...

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billy bee
Posts: 63
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2018 6:46 pm
Location: Arroyo Grande, CA

A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by billy bee »

Well, maybe "conquer" is the wrong term. It's hard to know if we were conquerors or the conquered. Anyway, I have mentioned in other posts some details of our LeMons build. Well, we finally got the car to the track. Wanted to share a little about the effort.

The short story...we did it. We got The Shark ready, passed tech (easily) at Sonoma, and ran the entire Arse-freeze-a-palooza. The weekend was not without its problems, but the car ran the entire 14 1/2 hours, proved to be pretty (but not blisteringly) fast, and was really fun to drive. Bottom line—we were just thrilled with the car and the race experience.

Some photographic evidence...
Just about done with our prep a day before leaving for Sonoma (from San Luis Obispo County):
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Karl started the race. Here he is on the grid:
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The dorsal fin did not last, but it was good to run our first stint with it semi-attached:
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The backstory...
The build took a more than a year. There were many gaps in our production, a big push, of course, at the end, and many details left undone, not the least of which was our dream of an over-the-top Shark Theme and paint job. But we slowly chipped away at the many necessary details for a Lemons build—get the car running and driving, strip out the interior and miles of wiring, run some shake-down autocrosses, accumulate parts for the car, build a cage, install some gauges, sneak some cheater parts onto the car, load the trailer, and tow to the race. That process represents hundreds of man- and woman-hours of work. Hundreds.

Here are a few pictures of the process...
Just after buying the $500 1981 633CSi:
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Y U Rune?:
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After stripping out the interior. Yours truly at the "wheel:"
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Rachael at one of the autocrosses:
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Main hoop being test fitted:
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Cage is in and Karl's in the race seat after the new wheel was installed:
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Honestly, it was a daunting endeavor. The undertaking requires some naïveté about the undertaking. I have prepped SCCA Showroon Stock cars before and helped with chunks of another Lemons build. Showroom Stock is a walk in the park compared to what we accomplished to get The Shark track-worthy.

Further, I would have thought getting the car to the track would have been a just reward for all of that work. Wrong. Hey, racing the car was big fun. But the best parts of it were at the shop. Several key contributors, unsteadily led by me and Karl, at the shop just thrashing on the car. We felt like we knew what we were doing. We often did. No single contribution, however minor, could have been omitted and yielded the same result. It took every ounce of effort to get as far as we did. The success came in getting the car ready. Icing on the cake was finishing the race.

Overall, the race went really well. We had a fuel leak at the sending unit and an oil leak from the rear main seal. We fixed the fuel leak with some sweet Lemons engineering. The oil leak will get addressed over Christmas.

We have several races planned for 2020--Lemons, Lucky Dog, and PCA autocrosses. I'll post some information from those races from time to time.

Really appreciate the information I got on this and the FirstFives forums. Learned a lot about the car from all of you. Thanks for the support.

--bb
Pasocb
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2017 11:14 am
Location: Paso Robles CA

Re: A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by Pasocb »

Such ambition! Really appreciate your efforts representing us in the "citrus" tour circuit. Great result for an initial run! This is a fantastic write-up and I look forward to updates on the car and future events.
cb
1981 635 Hennarot
1980 635 Polaris (Project)
billy bee
Posts: 63
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2018 6:46 pm
Location: Arroyo Grande, CA

Re: A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by billy bee »

Just a quick addition: I mentioned the many hours we wasted, I mean, um, spent, prepping the car. We also drank cases upon cases of flavored soda water (pamplemousse, sil vous plait?), ate countless pizzas, and devoured sandwiches by the score. I figured you'd want photographic evidence of that, too...
Image

Also, a friend brought his barely broken in McLaren 570s to the PCA autocross. The Shark was faster than the McLaren.
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And here are the results to prove it:
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As you can see, I finished 37th overall of 65 cars. Steve's McLaren was 45th overall. Karl was a tick behind Steve. Our mid-pack finish at the November autocross was representative of our Lemons finish...mid-pack.

--bb
Pod
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Re: A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by Pod »

Looks like you had a great time. Well done!
billy bee
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Re: A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by billy bee »

Well, we are prepping for our second race at Buttonwillow on February 1 - 2. We have replaced the rear main seal and water pump. Both were leaking. Good thing we did. The clutch disc looked good, but the flywheel and pressure plate had deep grooves in them. So, flywheel has be resurfaced and a new clutch is going in. While we have the exhaust down, we might as well get some racy Shark exhaust going. And upgrade the rear anti-roll bar. And...

So, we have been steadily nibbling away at the list. Yesterday was a big day at the Taj-ma-garage (or Garage-mahal, if you prefer). We got some other E24 guys involved. Craig, Leonard, and Luke are all E24 owners and took an interest in our ruining a perfectly good Shark Car. So, yesterday, we had four E24's at the shop, all early cars. We also had a 1985 524td and a 2006 M3 vert, but nobody seemed particularly interested in them...

The crew at work:
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Two Sharks in the shop:
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Next update will be post-race.

--bb
baders
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Re: A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by baders »

Good luck for the race bb, looks like a lot of fun !
1986 635csi LOCUTUS / Arktis Blau Metallic / Pearl Beige / S38B36/ Close ratio dogleg 5sp
2002 E46 M3 / Topaz Blau Metallic / Black Nappa / 6 speed SMG software tuned / Bilstein PSS10 Coilovers / CMP RACP reinforcement
Pasocb
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2017 11:14 am
Location: Paso Robles CA

Re: A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by Pasocb »

My visit on Saturday was a brief one due to previous commitments, but I do want to report that this is a fantastic group of guys with an intoxicating passion for high performance BMWs!
I believe we are well represented with this team.
cb
1981 635 Hennarot
1980 635 Polaris (Project)
billy bee
Posts: 63
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2018 6:46 pm
Location: Arroyo Grande, CA

Re: A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by billy bee »

Well, we did it again. This time we ran the Lucky Dog endurance racing series at Buttonwillow. It was a 13 hour race over two days. The Shark ran like a champ. We are continuing to sort the car but having a blast driving it.

The things that still need to be addressed before our next race in May:
  • We still have a small oil leak where the pan meets the rear main seal plate
  • Burning some oil, too...may need some valve seals (or guides)
  • The right rear control arm bushings are thunking
  • On the last lap of the race, the shifter broke (we zip tied it up to get the car into reverse)
  • We need more negative camber in the front
  • We are also getting a lot of wheel spin with our Torsen diff (may need to swap for a clutch type diff)
  • The oil pressure drops to about 45 psi in hard right-hand turns, which may be fine
  • There is a minor exhaust leak from the manifold flange
  • There is some ticking in the valves, probably just need a good adjustment
Overall, we had a blast. They car is super fun to drive. The M30B32 pulls really well. We were joined by a few other E24 guys who were great help in the pits and paddock. Thanks Luke and Leonard.

Photographic evidence:
Image

Image
billy bee
Posts: 63
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2018 6:46 pm
Location: Arroyo Grande, CA

Re: A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by billy bee »

Thought I'd add one more photo. This paints a better picture of the race. We averaged 2:25 lap times around Buttonwillow, but the races are won/lost in the stops. I am fueling the car, and Aaron is my fireman. BTW, we finished mid-pack in our second race with the car. But we are getting faster and learning a lot about the car.

Image
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Caff
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Re: A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by Caff »

Badass.

LeMons racing is a fine art indeed! I alwyas like the idea of a big six powered LeMons racer as they are pretty durable motors!
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BillDe
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Re: A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by BillDe »

Great write up, great job! =D> I really liked the bumper sticker on the back of the car when you picked it up, LOL.
billy bee
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Location: Arroyo Grande, CA

Re: A Shark conquers Sonoma...

Post by billy bee »

BillDe wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 6:56 pmI really liked the bumper sticker...
We had those printed and distributed them at Lemons races. We have a two other: "Follow me to certain death," and "Safety Third."
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