Bernooo's E92 M3 Clubsport Build

[jmeenach]

When are we getting updates from the ongoing work to the car? The IG posts have been wild! Need to know more!

[tsk94]

Title change required at this point
RACE BUILD

[berns]

Ooooooof, I have been slacking on the updates. I know...

I've enjoyed a long summer break from the track and driving. Once I got the car sorted and ran that Sub-50 lap at Buttonwillow, and had a good showing at Big Willow shortly after that with a 1:24 lap, I decided it was time to reflect on what I'm doing here, what my goals are and if driving/competing in TA is something I wanted to continue. Not that I lost any love for it, but I'm growing up over here, have a 4-year old daughter and my tastes and motivations are definitely evolving.

With that said, I left myself a choice: Sell the E92 or commit to making it ultra-safe. Most of you know I went for the latter. I realized, the odds of me owning, campaigning and modifying a car to this level at any point in the near future is basically zero. I don't have the capacity for a build of this caliber anymore, at lest not without expanding, hiring help, getting a shop space... So, knowing I'd not be this close to owning a full-on track car again, I decided to take the leap and see what it looks like if I go through the door of turning a street car into a race car. That's how much I love this platform. Sure, for business, progression, I could have gotten into a new G87 or something else entirely, but I'm an E9x M3 boy at heart. I love this motor and have never felt more confident in any chassis. If I'm going all out in anything, it's got to be my E92.

THE BIG PLAN
Safety was paramount, but of course, I'm still me... I can't do anything chill. I went for looks, too, and if we are cutting and welding, I wanted the car to be as light as humanly possible (or as light as I could afford) while adhering to NASA/SCCA rules. I've never been one to build a car for any class, but as far as Time Attack goes, this car will be set to compete in GTA Limited and GridLife Track Mod. And if I'm having all this done, I want it done by someone that really cares. Someone that has an eye for aesthetics and art, is full of passion, and has an obsession for the details. This person is none other than Riley Stair of RS Motorsports. We've talked for years, both fans of each others work, and with my decision made, we caught up and finally made a plan, and then I got right to work. Just to mention, the car was already pretty light at 3030lbs with half a tank. I wasn't sure how much we'd chip away but eas eager to dig in.



So, let's start with the fun part. Unbuilding. I pulled the entire interior apart. Dashboard out, HVAC and wiring harness. I wish it was as easy as writing that sentence, but it's a ton of work to do it properly and cleanly. After 2 weeks of wrenching on and off, I had it all clean and empty, and sent my harness out to Martyn at Project Rogue in Germany to be thinned out. It weighed 48lbs upon removal and Martyn and I are thinking we can get it down to about 8-10lbs since I'm not keeping much.









While I was up front under the hood, I replaced my old factory valve covers with NRW units. They are marginally heavier than stock but really beautifully made, came with everything I needed and look OEM. I'm a dealer for them now too, so let me know if you're in the market. Engine looks beautiful from the top, but sure do wish I was pulling those cams out for some 292s... Maybe one day.







I was making good progress on my own but have to give a huge shout out to JP of Omnium Racing. This is just a tiny glimpse of why I love this community. Why I love cars... JP and I have been Instagram friends for less than a year. Not sure how we even found each other but he's in the UK and is a brilliant, BRILLIANT engineer, engine calibrator (for the Gordon Murray T50, no less...) and all around awesome dude. When he flew out west for Monterey Car Week, he reached out and needed some help with the T.50. I connected him with whoever I could, and then proceeded to connect him with other people in the industry who he was eager to meet. Finally he made it down to LA and reached out, and said he would love to lend a hand with the project. Lending a hand turned into two back to back days and nights of wrenching, drinking, eating, pulling the harness, doing the valve covers and hanging out. My wife even made him dinner one night. Safe to say we are buds for life. He really pushed me to the finish line with the hard stuff. Wish I had a picture of the two of us but I'm sure you guys don't need to see two more car dudes.

With the HVAC finally out of the car and all the fluid drained, I found that I'm lucky to have an early 2008 S65 with the correct orientation at the water pump. I ordered a shorter belt now that the AC compressor was gone, threw it on and it fits perfectly. Rerouted one of the lines alongside the motor and the system was done. Here's the new belt, and the link for it. https://www.krcpower.com/ecommerce/part-gdy-4060320.asp



With the car all stripped out, it was time to fit the new doors. I tossed around the idea of carbon doors for a while and agreed that I'd never run them on a car without a cage, for safety reasons. I didn't know if i wanted a full frame door or an OEM-style copy with frameless windows, but ultimately decided to give these doors from Carbon Microsystem a try. It was a pain in the ass to pick them up at cargo from LAX, wish they came DHL to my door, but hey, anything for weight savings. They are light! 7lbs each to be exact, giving us a total of 14lbs total, vs the stock ones at 76lbs each... Yes, that's a savings of 138 lbs.
I'd originally planned to run the stock window motors and stock-shape Lexan windows from P4P, but ultimately have decided this car needs no windows and I'd rather just save the weight. My street-driven race car dreams are unfortunately a thing of the past, as I left the clubsport vibe behind me and made a new goal, and when finding weight is no easy or cheap task, gratuitously adding it back to the car for no real reason is just plain stupid. With that said, the motors and windows DID fit and it would have worked out just fine. For the price, the doors are great and fit well. Just going to need some prep work to paint.





While the car was apart, and having removed my beautiful single-hump dash, I decided it'd be dumb not to at least TRY to find a cool carbon dash for a reasonable price. This was no easy task, or so I thought, but turns out another Latvian company called OCT Composites makes, in my opinion, the cleanest, most beautiful carbon dash for our cars. This is very much not a bolt-in part, or even a 1x1 copy, but it's a sleek design, the price is right, the quality is incredible and they were willing to do it in Matte instead of gloss. Best of all, it made it right to my doorstep in just under 2.5 weeks from the time of ordering. Crazy.



AERO BREAK

I've waited a long, long time to put a real splitter on the car, because I always felt a true chassis-mounted race splitter is for a race car, not a "street" or "clubsport" build. I wanted to accomplish my goals without it, and it wasn't easy, but it worked out. I reached out to the boys at Zebulon and ordered a custom-spec splitter with all the bells and whistles. I'd also been running this Klaus/BW wing for a while, never liked how it mounted to the trunk and truthfully wanted a new look and more performance, so I'll be running Zebulon's first hinge-mounted swan neck setup on the e92. Splitter is 5" and wing is 68" wide. Should be killer. Not the bigggest, most extreme, but a substantial upgrade from what I was running for sure. Will I regret not going for a 6" splitter and a 70" wing? Who knows. Still waiting for the uprights, hinge mounts and end plates, but looking forward to seeing it all together and on the car soon.











Now, back to the journey of getting this car up to Riley up in Sacramento, a solid 400+ miles away from Long Beach.

For this, I enlisted the help of my buddy Vin who has a nice Futura trailer. I couldn't convince him to come with me, but he did help me push the car out of the driveway, into the street and loaded up. Man it felt SO good to get the car out of my tiny garage and out into the open air. I wasn't feeling great as I had some kind of fever/sickness situation that my daughter probably brought home from school, but this was a solo mission and nothing was stopping me. I left my house at 6am, drove there, towed an FL5 back for another of Riley's SoCal customers, and was back in my bed by 9pm. 12 hours and 48 minutes of drive time, averaging 20-22mpg. The Cayenne Diesel is a force!











With the car dropped off and my end of the bargain held up, it was time to take a serious break and clean up my disaster of a garage. I'll dig into the fab and weight reduction in the next post.

[TR3S0R]

Whats the size of the belt?
Thinking about removing the ac on mine too

[berns]

And now, for the fun stuff...

Riley, of RS Motorsport, designed, fabricated and installed a full Docol roll cage. The plan was to keep the car as light as we could, within reason, and of course, to make it safe. Along the way, we'd decided to trim fat here and there, remove the rear shelf, cut up the rear bumper to get the air out and leave room for a diffuser later on as well as small details like recessing a rain light into the rear bumper.

Along with that, I wanted Riley to handle installing the carbon dash from OCT Composites. Once the cage was in the car, he scanned everything and made a plan to slice the dash in 3, using joining brackets to put it all together. Seriously incredible what Riley is capable of. At times, the possibilities seemed endless -- I'd mention an idea, and an hour later Riley had figured it out and had updates. Truly have never before experienced work and communication like this, so if you don't already get it, RS Motorsport is the place to go for this level of work. Whether you need an exhaust fabbed, a full turbo kit made, a rear cage, full cage, next level weight reduction, a full chassis... Riley can turn fabrication dreams to reality. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

















































With the cage work complete, and the dash in place, it was time to tackle the exhaust. My rear bumper had been through years of abuse, and with some recent exhaust tinkering, I melted a bit of it as well. Safe to say, I wasn't all that committed to keeping the stock look, and truthfully, I've always felt the E92 had all its drama up front, but was always so tame from the rear. A big part of this is the tiny rear quarter flares, which I'll probably address next year when we try to go for a more extreme wheel/tire package. Till then, I worked with Riley to decide what we could do and how far we could go. Here's the result.















The exhaust is all Ticon, and paired with my current Ticon / SUB2 x-pipe, the whole system just has these two 12" round mufflers... I'm thinking it's going to be loud! Excited to hear it. Honestly, I HATE being on track around loud cars, mostly GT3's, and not being able to hear my car. I might regret this... Hopefully that's a thing of the past. Full system weight is under 20lbs. Pretty incredible.

And a bit on weight reduction. So, I'd said the car started this phase of its build at 3030lbs. It was light for how much stuff was still left in there. I kept tabs on everything I removed so I had a somewhat accurate estimate of where we'd end up, but I have to say, it's fucking incredible how light this thing is and I cannot wait to experience it with way more aero, way less wait and some better rubber.

At the time of dropping it off at Kings Auto Body in Huntington Beach, it was 2630lbs. 2630!!!!

Don't get too excited. The car needs a glass windshield, rear 1/4 lexan, rear lexan windshield, the lightened wiring harness, the ECU, coolant and the AIM display. It will be light, for sure, and I'm hoping we can make it to 2750 race ready, but we'll see!

Here's the car at Kings during drop off. I love the dudes here, and Ayed is the reason this car went on to continue its life after the Autoclub incident years ago. He's painting the cage, cleaning up the rear bumper and getting the car all fresh for it's track debut.





https://youtube.com/shorts/qLElDm8pN...l1yPdKvJqCW37X

Waiting for the car to be finished at Kings, and then I'll bring it home one last time to reinstall the new harness, put the dash and seat back in, and finally tow it to EAS for final nut/bolt/systems check/dyno just to ensure we're all good. Still waiting on a few things from Zebulon as well, and new coilovers from Nitron... Ok, guess I have a bit to do still! Onwards.

[reidetailing]

Now that is how you make an update on a journal! WOW.

[berns]

Thanks reidetailing , I'm trying to keep this thread alive! Not a whole lot of discussion anymore on here, but if anyone has questions or anything, I'm happy to answer.

I was planning to go see the car today anyway, but got a call from my friend Ayed, who owns King's Auto Body, just out of the blue! "Your car is ready -- it looks insane."

I hung up and stepped on it in the new dad-daily-saloon. A 2012 C63 AMG with the P31 AMG Development Package and factory LSD. Goddamn this thing is cool.



I first saw the car and my jaw literally dropped. To see something I've been dreaming about for so long really starting to come alive and near completion is just such an awesome feeling. I've always had a soft spot for pre-livery, body-in-white race cars and the E92 with it's completely raw, naked white, no-aero look is just so cool.

King's did an incredible job painting the interior, refurbishing and painting a donated front bumper and completely cleaning up the custom rear bumper Riley fabbed up. Just blown away with this thing.

The trunk needs some love but it's carbon and has a lot of holes on top. Filling them with body work would be a fortune and it's just not practical, SO, I will either sell it to someone who runs a trunk mounted wing and buy something else, or just get some vinyl stickers made to cover the 12 or so holes back there. I'm sure it will eat away at my OCD, we'll see how long I can handle it. I am towing the car home tomorrow to get it back in my garage for wiring, dash re-install, seat, harness, AIM display, smarty-cam and secondary air blockoff plates which seem to be a MASSIVE pain in the ass to get onto the back of the motor with the motor in the car. Tips on that? Anyone? Oh, and I'll get the aero on too. Here we go!

[1FastSicilian]

wow.. insane. look so good man!

[Lienrocs]

The block off plates suck. Get and endoscope and someone with small hands. It took two full days for me to do it.

Edit:

The passenger side isn’t that bad. A little fiddly but I disconnected the wiring harness from the ecu and got it out of the way.

The driver side is the pain because of the steering column and some other hard lines in the way.

Also, cleaning the old gasket material is a no go. I tried everything I could but there’s no way to get any leverage on any hand tools capable of cleaning it off. I used a new gasket and called it a day. No issues with several thousand miles and quite a few track days.

[kolosy]

Re: sap delete, I’m following this diy at the moment. https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1891542

I’ve got the steering shaft disconnected because I’m pulling the heater core and hopefully that’ll make the job a little easier. You’re in a similar boat I think.

[RalliartRsX]

So what did it weigh as it sits? Alot of folks guessing on insta but didn't see if anyone came close

[berns]

Originally Posted by RalliartRsX

So what did it weigh as it sits? Alot of folks guessing on insta but didn't see if anyone came close

About 2630. We’ll see where we end up.

[bipp]

Wow, the body in white look is stunning as it sits

[tim3atk]

Not sure if I missed it, but did you replace the VANOS coves?

[berns]

Originally Posted by tim3atk

Not sure if I missed it, but did you replace the VANOS coves?

No I didn't. I looked at them when the valve covers were off and they are fine. I have the SLON covers here from a long time ago, never installed. Not sure I ever will.

[StripclubDJ]

Originally Posted by berns

No I didn't. I looked at them when the valve covers were off and they are fine. I have the SLON covers here from a long time ago, never installed. Not sure I ever will.

oh buddy, me and you are going to have a chit chat when i get back to your house


and this time can you please have more than one cold beer? My mental compass is shakey.... as you know.

[berns]

Where does time go? Where? I've found it incredibly hard to get this build finished, update the build thread, run a business, be a husband and a dad, run a second business and stay healthy. f*^k!

BUT, no complaining here, we're here to build something special and, maybe I'm biased, but I think the goal has been achieved.

Main career work (commercial photography & directing) has been off to a painfully slow start this year. Understandably, there's a lot going on that can impact this stuff, and while I'd love to be on the road shooting a project, I'm trying to be optimistic here and make the best of the quiet. So, I've spent Monday-Friday, for the last few months, working on this car almost every single day. I've never taken a project on like this, and at times, it's been pretty overwhelming.

When you get so far in the build that you think you're almost done, you make a list. So, I made a list. The list was long, but seemed achievable. Then, the craziest thing happens. You cross off everything, and hey, the car doesn't look close to drivable, so you make a new list. And a new list. And one more list. And then you don't have it in you to make a final list, so you just take a break, or threaten your friend Steve at EAS that you're just going to tow the car there and not see it again till it's done. Steve is a friend because for some reason, he believed in me, and told me not to drop the car off with a bunch of issues and unfinished items. He told me I could do it. It worked.

I've made this update really hard on myself because we have to essentially go from a completely torn down, painted, caged, naked car, to something complete. It was tremendous. Lots of thought. Lots of time. Lots of patience. I don't think I'll ever build something like this again, so I'm glad I did it.

It felt amazing to pick the car up at King's Auto Body in Huntington Beach all fresh in white. I towed it back to my house, and to make it easier to get into the garage, since it doesn't run, I somehow backed the Futura trailer straight into my single car-width driveway. It was hilarious, but it worked and was a huge help. My amazing wife, who is now 17 weeks pregnant with our second kiddo, was so happy to help me get the car situated and see it home after all this time. She's the best.





Straight to work getting the newly thinned harness back in the car from Martyn at Project Rogue.




Occasionally, friends would stop by to check in on me and make sure I wasn't actually losing my mind. Here's me not losing my mind.



Antigravity ATX-30HD in a beautiful box from Mele Design Firm.



CarTek Kill Switch all wired up


Lifeline Zero 360 2.25kg electric fire supression. Whole kit only weighs about 6.5lbs. Incredible.


At this point, I plugged in the stock gauge cluster in and connected everything for power. The headlights turned on, the gauges turned on. It was the best feeling! And then, I realized my clutch switch was missing. Poof. Who knows. I wanted to bypass it anyway so I can install a clutch stop at some point, so I reached out to a buddy and he told me the wires to cross. It worked! I then made an aux switch so I can get the car to auxilary key position for fuel pump priming and ECU flashing. It wasn't without its issues... I think two coilpacks weren't plugged in fully, and neither was a throttle actuator, and of course I had already put the whole engine bay together, but who cares, that feeling was untouchable!

Fixed the coil pack connections and the throttle actuator connection, confirmed we were firing on all cylinders and throttle bodies. What a fucking sounds this thing makes. Pretty fun not having a windshield at this stage...

This day really lit a fire under my ass. I was so ecstatic, that I somewhat blindly agreed that I'd cross something off my bucket list this year. I was going to go to COTA for GTA Super Lap Battle. Have some friends going out from Socal Drivers Club.. there's enough of us to be a team and share costs on sending the cars out and they had one spot left for me. Who doesn't love a good deadline? Well, this has become a major stressor for me but I'm committed and I can't wait to drive that track in this car. We must continue.

Time for a feel-good mod... aero! I've been waiting months to put on the Zebulon goodies and they are really gorgeous. Beautifully made. Light. Ryan made a splitter shape just for me on this one and it is KILLER. I opted for a hinge-mounted swan neck wing, which hadn't been done at the time of my ordering but I know there's a few out there now!



I trimmed the bumper, mounted the splitter rods, and added a pretty awesome lip as an air dam solution. Thanks to Alex Goodrich for the recco here. I then sealed the lower portion of the air dam with some foam adhesive to really close any gap between air dam and splitter. Fitment is amazing all around.



And the wing.... ! Looks so, so good. My vision for this car has always been some kind of homage to a factory GT3/GT4 car. Naked in white, pre livery, emphasis on minimalism, function and form becoming one. I chose the small standard endplates for this reason too, as much as I want some of the 2D or 3D ones, I just feel this looks more "factory". Maybe I'll change them in the future.




Ok, moving right along. Like I said, form and function... I don't know that the car needs canards, hell, I don't even know if these will help or interfere with Zebulon's design, BUT, I think they look awesome and I didn't want to run the old GT4-lip style I used to have, that we see on 99% of M3 builds. These are from AJ Hartmann and I'm a fan!




Aero, done. Holy shit. We are getting there. Kind of. Are you still reading? I'm sorry.

Back to the interior. It's time to get covered in carbon dust that'll itch for over a week.
I found that the AIM MXG 1.3 logger display only got certain information when the factory cluster was still plugged in. So, I took the shroud off of it, broke it down a bit, plugged it in and zip tied it behind the dash onto the dash bar. It's not pretty. I don't even know why I'm telling you. Probably because I feel guilty about how ugly it is just sitting there like that with a microfiber stuffed behind it as a vibration softener. But whatever, it works. Racecar. I then spent days measuring, trimming and fitting the MXG, start button, key receptacle, AIM USB, manual clutch switch, kill switch and fire supression buttons to the OCT Composites dash. Not fun, but it came out exactly how I wanted.



Once I put it back in the car for the first and final time, I think I cried. Mostly because of how beautiful and satisfying it was to see it in there, but really because I felt like it was becoming a car again. This meant I could put the seat back in. And the steering wheel. It was all happening!



I even found a use for the Carbon Tech foot tray I bought last year. I really think this thing is kind of junk. It doesn't fit well and the dead pedal is next to useless unless you heavily reinforce it, but even still, it's just too close to the clutch and too close to the driver. Thankfully, Riley made me a real dead pedal, but I missed the carbon down there and wanted a clean, flat surface for my feet. So, I kept trimming and now it fits in there beautifully.



The last step at home was to get some glass and lexan in this thing. At the time I ordered windows from Plastics4Performance, GTA Limited rules still mandated that a glass windshield in place. So, I ordered rear quarter windows, rear windscreen and OEM shape door windows. The door windows were given to Mr. Roastbeef because I got lazy and didn't want to add more weight to the car. No windows for me. Then I had an awesome glass dude come by the house to do the windsheild and rear lexan. I'm in love with how it all came out as we fit some of the piano black trim around the rear quarters.




Wow, we got through a lot. And yet, still, so much more has happened. This thing runs. I took it to the track this weekend for the first time! I drove it on the street 30 miles for its first real shakedown, which was terrifying and wildly stupid of me. I left it with my friends at European Auto Source for two weeks while we did fluids, maintenance, systems check, nut & bolt, etc... and just really did any small last remaining things to get it road worthy. They never let me down and I'm grateful to call them friends. Even you tom @ eas <3 I was down there almost every day working on something too and it just came together.

My god it feels fast. And light...

Up on the lift it goes. Nice to be out of my garage with some breathing room! And it made it there under its own power. What a trip this has been.


The biggest win was having some of the guys from Nitron Suspension pay a visit to me and the car while we were there so we could dial in the new SUB2-spec R3 package together and ensure everything fit up front with this rather massive 18x11 295/30 square setup. We did it, and the dampers are stunningly beautiful. Now this is support. Here's Guy, owner of Nitron, and Curtis, lead engineer, just out here in California from the UK, hanging with us and wrenching on the car together. Unbelievable, truly. Can't speak highly enough about these guys or the product. Interested in running Nitrons on your car? Reach out!







With everything all squared away, for the most part, it was time to get this thing on the scales. I'd kept a long list of weights, estimates and data along the way, but so much has changed and moved that I figured there was no chance I'd even be close anymore. I felt like puking from excitement and nerves. What if it was just a pig after all this work and I was wrong? What if it was actually one of the lightest ever? Sure enough... I think it might be.

2735lbs with a bit more than 1/4 tank of fuel. We have successfully removed around 800lbs from an E92 M3, and it still looks and sounds like an E92 M3! Wild.

On the scales



Outside in the sun looking complete!


ALMOST THERE, GUYS!

I loaded the featherweight E92 M3-TA onto the trailer and headed to Chewerks for a corner balance and alignment. And while I planned to test at Buttonwillow's open test day last week, the weather told me to eat shit. I lost my best friend, Milo, my chocolate lab pit mix of 10 years on Tuesday too, and it's been brutal. Top it off with my wife and daughter having had a trip to Hawaii with her sister and mother this weekend, and I was set to be all alone here just thinking about my dog, so I did what any car idiot would do. I planned a majorly difficult and time consuming weekend for myself that involved towing to alignment on Friday, then towing to Chuckwalla Saturday where I'd expected to sleep in the SUV since no rooms were available. I stuffed the car full of tires, tools and anything I could think of, and decided I'd be doing the first shakedown at a Bimmer Challenge event of all places.



I made it to Chuckwalla and when checking in, I asked if they by any small chance had a cabin available from a cancellation or something. I was in luck! This felt nice... This was a good sign.



I unloaded the car quickly and paid to run the last session of Saturday just to make sure the car worked. I was in. I was on track in my car. It was happening! The ABS light was flashing, the car was doing something weird... I came in right away. I suspect something is up with my clock spring, and could have something to do with me physically ripping out the cruise control stalk. Oops. More on this later, because I'm falling asleep over here and if you're still reading, I'm sure you are too.

I cleared some codes and went out for the final point-by passing free session of the day. No ABS light, yay. I did an out lap and one mild pace cruising lap that was a 1:54. Not a bad start considering my fastest CCW time was back when I ran this configuration in April of 2022 and I put down a 1:56.5 then. Fastest CW time was last year, in full anger, and was a 1:53.2 for reference. After one smooth lap, I decided to give it some more pace. I entered Turn 1 and BOOM, limp mode. I've never even experienced this in my ownership. Lucky, I guess, but I was stuck at 40mph in 3rd gear for an entire lap. It was terrible, but I made it back to the pits without needed a hot tow.

Got a throttle actuator code and cleared it, thought maybe it was a fluke. But who are we kidding.

We had KBBQ by the bonfires and looked the stars and blood moon that night. It was nice to be back with my track community. I missed this. This is the weekend I needed.

Sunday morning arrives and I decide to go out in Green Group instead of Red, because I didn't want to ruin any of the fast morning sessions for anyone like Gabe, Owen and the rest of the Bimmer Challenge, Corvette and Honda guys/girl. I was optimistic. Leaving for the out lap, the ABS light is flashing again. The car is pulling to one side occasionally like the caliper is engaging. I test the brake pedal and instantly lock up and almost go 4-off. I pit in... Restart the car and go back out. No ABS light, let's go for a lap. And... limp mode. OK! Not happening today.

I take the carbon plenum off to find something incredible. A piece of the plenum separated internally and sucked itself through a trumpet into a throttle body on bank one. This explains the throttle actuator code, but if this pieces was a few mm smaller it would have destroyed the motor. Insane. I removed a few things and stuffed the rest of the plenum back on the car enough to run without letting dirt into the engine. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it worked. I had 2 more sessions to drive the car at some kind of speed. BOTH sessions, I had ABS issues on the initial startup and outlap, Both times I had to hot pit, restart and go back out, issue gone... so strange, but really didn't give me a ton of confidence to attack. 130mph down the back straight with no ABS sounds like the worst shakedown ever, so, I took it easy. I felt out the balance of the car, I'd made some adjustments to the Nitrons to improve front-end feel and remove some body roll and was blown away at how good everything was feeling mostly out of the box.

https://youtube.com/shorts/6afvkLWVxdg

THE CAR IS FUCKING GLORIOUS. As if a 27xx lb E92 wouldn't be, but still, it is SO GOOD. I am in love, all over again. I had a chance to run 4 problem-free laps the whole day. No drama, early braking, relaxed cornering speeds. I was on year+ old RE71RS's and just having fun driving again. My first lap was a 1:50.9... The other 3 were 51's within tenths of each other. The car has some serious pace in it! With fresh tires and no worries on braking, there is an easy 3-4 seconds in it. I can't wait to find out.

This weekend wasn't about lap times, though, but somehow, I came away with 3rd place in B1 out of 5-6 people. Nice little cherry on top after weathering the week, the months and some issues. It's good to be back. Here's a lap, and if you don't follow along already, all of the updates happen way closer to real time on Instagram because it's just so much easier for me! So follow along.

Next up, we need to fix the electrical issue and decide if this car is staying NA for COTA or getting a blower... SLB is in less than 30 days so I need to act fast. Kind of feeling like go big or go home...

Thanks to all one/two of you that made it to the end of this novel. Goodnight.
-Alex

[bipp]

Wow... just wow. Really incredible. The Chuckwalla vid is just amazing - the sound and speed and just everything. Your early stage build (pre aero, on the 1WNR, with some lightening) is a bit of current inspiration for where I want to head with my car, but the difference between the car a few years ago and now is stunning.

Best of luck at GTA! I really hope I get to see this for myself in person at a CA track - one day, I'll make it south to BW.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the R3s as they compare to 3WR as well! I'm on the R1 currently and will make it in one direction or the other eventually, but you might be the only one who's tried both.

[omgzirra_exe]

Can’t wait to follow in Alex’s footsteps and build my own Berno replica M3—just kidding, but the same aero vision is definitely there.

My main goal is to get my car down to around 3,000 lbs.

Originally Posted by berns

I take the carbon plenum off to find something incredible. A piece of the plenum separated internally and sucked itself through a trumpet into a throttle body on bank one.

THIS is actually INSANE to me.. there shouldn't be enough vacuum for it to break like that.. failure in the structure overall from turner? or just bad luck...

but overall i'm glad it wasn't the worse case scenario.

i'm so excited for your build and you! hope to see you soon.

[jmeenach]

Seeing the difference from 3 years ago to today is insane. That above post is crazy to me.

[berns]

Well, here we go, another update that will span the course of 2 months, or something... however long it's been since the last one, it feels much, much longer. I. am. spent.

BUT! The story has a happy ending, so read on if you're so inclined and you have some time to kill.

So... where did we leave off? I went to Chuckwalla, drove the car for the first time since all the big, crazy changes, was thrilled with how it felt, but barely got to push it since I clearly had some issues to deal with. Even still, the car was instantly 3+ seconds of its old pace without breaking a sweat, on old tires, so I let that excitement carry me through.

I'm not sure if I told you, I probably did, but I decided to sign up for GTA Super Lap Battle at Circuit of the fucking Americas. I did this before I even got the car running, but figured a couple months was more than enough time to sort out the car, shake it down, line up any sponsor or partners to help me get there, create some content, who knows, and also balance the rest of my life. Turns out this was insanely dumb, naive and ambitious, and I guess that's kind of who I am sometimes, but I wouldn't change a thing. It's always about the juice being worth the squeeze.

Coming back from Chuckwalla, I started to look into the ABS issues I was experiencing. I was almost certain it was related to the fact that I decided to physically rip off the blinker/wiper/cruise control stalks from the steering column/clock spring assembly. So, I bought a used but in good condition one from ebay, slapped it on, went for a few test drives and it seemed all was well. Phew.

I then went out to Buttonwillow CW13, my favorite/least favorite track, with SoCal Drivers Club. I was pumped for this day. Loaded up the family tow rig Cayenne Diesel, again, borrowed another Futura trailer from a friend, brought some brand new wheels and Goodyear Supercar 3R tires with me, for when I was sure the car was feeling good, and I was on the road.

It was early morning and I got myself a garage, because I'm a serious race team of one and I wanted a nice space to work.



Got the car unloaded and myself ready to go and headed out on track. Wow, it has been a year since I've been here... Last time we were there was the time I finally reached my sub-50 goal that I spent years working towards. The car felt familiar, but different. It was more nervous, responsive and lively. And also, I was rusty! I just don't think I was prepared for the reflexes and commitment this new version of the car demanded. Regardless, I had my out-lap and decided to do a moderate pace hot lap. Nothing sketchy, nothing over the edge, just see what the car wanted to do without working it or myself too hard. Turns out that was a 1:49.7!

POV View, sorry, the audio is not sync'd correctly, and yes, my steering wheel is crooked AF from rushing the clock spring swap.

Smarty Cam View:

SUB-50, after a year away, with all the new changes, not knowing if the ABS issue was 100% solved, and just feeling things out. I couldn't believe it. Just a 10th off my PB which was 1000% commitment.

Here's that lap last year just for reference.

I brought the car in right after this, because the weather was glorious and I didn't really want to be driving on these old RE71RS tires anymore. They still had life, but they were beyond their prime, having been the same tires I drove on a year ago at Buttonwillow and Big Willow, and I wasn't going to be running them at COTA, so it just wasn't the best use of resources to continue pounding on them. I swapped on the fresh rubber, 18x11 APEX VS-5RS and 285/30 Goodyear Supercar 3R's. I wish these came in 295/30, but this is as big as they come for 18", so I went for it.



Time to go! I hopped back in the car and as I'm leaving the garage, a CEL comes on. Turns out I left my scanner at home, great, asked a friend and it was just some more evap kind of codes, nothing major, just things we need to program out. I head out for my out-lap, wide eyed, ready to party, and there it is again... the intermittently flashing ABS light. I feel the front left caliper kind of dragging at points, pulling the car to the left, even though I'm coasting. Something is just very wrong with this thing and I'm not going to risk it. I tap the brakes just to double check we are screwed, and yes, we are.. Instant lockup. I bring it in to the garage to scan again, even though I'm sure I know what the code is going to be. Another DSC-module code for voltage or something. And here's where things get bad, and this falls entirely on me.

In an effort to get this car moving again when I was putting it back together, I bypassed the clutch switch, because I couldn't find the OEM piece. I had planned to install a clutch-stop anyway, which would make the clutch switch useless, because it requires the clutch to be fully depressed to start the car. In its place, I added a toggle switch. Up for engaged (engine start), down for auxiliary (fuel pump prime/coding). Also, in my weight reduction frenzy, I said goodbye to my handbrake, because why keep 12lbs with me if I don't absolutely need it? Trust me, I wish I kept it. In a manual car, it's just dumb not to have. You know where this is going, right? I parked the car in gear, and I didn't flip the switch down. So when it was time to scan, the start button was pushed, and the car tried to start itself in 1st gear, and drove itself into a floor-mounted steel table in the Buttonwillow garage, over, and over, and over again. I'm not sure what happened next, but my left arm and both knees were bleeding. I must have run over to help my friend and get the car in neutral. My heart sank.









I have sacrificed a lot to put this thing together. Maybe I'm obsessive. Maybe I'm hiding from the reality that it's been a tough year. Commercial photo & directing work has majorly slowed, aka, non-existent this year, I've got a second baby on the way, which is incredible, but it's been a lot to take in for me, I lost my dog of 10 years just 2 months ago and it broke me pretty bad. Wasn't ready for that. And I committed to going to COTA, something wildly expensive that I didn't need to be doing, but went for it anyway, because I'm me. My amazing wife and daughter, group of friends, family, partners, everyone has helped me when I've reached out. It's been incredible. But at the end of the day, it's mostly just been me, in my home garage, every day, agonizing over details of this dream of mine. I refused to let the car be an ugly race car. I had a vision, and it cost me time I'll never get back. So, to see the car perfect, better than imagined, just 7 days before it was supposed to be loaded up for Texas, drive itself into a fucking wall, destroy the Zebulon splitter, the brand new bumper, and have this difficult electrical issue just really felt like a massive kick to the heart. I went outside, called my wife, slumped against the garage wall, and I cried. I felt like this was the end of the story, and I spent all this time and money just to be here. What's wrong with me! Exhaustion, probably, but I'm a sensitive dude and have no shame in tears.

I pack up and start towing home. It's a long drive. I can either wallow and mope, or I can figure this the fuck out. I call my friend Jerick of JMP Autowerkz, and ask him if I can drop the car at his shop on the way home. He is an electrical wizard. He says yes. I call another friend who does composite work, he says he might be able to have the splitter patched up by Wednesday. Maybe. I post on Instagram... I'm flooded with offers from followers and friends, parts of their own cars, or recommendations of other composite or electrical specialists to reach out to. It seems nobody wants me to give up, so I decide I'm not going to either.

In a frenzy of calls and planning, the right message came my way. It turns out Steve Cook slcook54 had ordered an identical front splitter to me. And, it just so happened that it was shipped out from Zebulon THAT day. By Monday, the package is rerouted, courtesy of Ryan from Zebulon himself, who handled dealing with UPS and Shopify from a race at Sonoma, to get this splitter directed to JMP.

Jerick spends a day with my car, adding some more grounds because he wasn't satisfied with my novice rivnut approach.He also changes my analog toggle clutch switch to a momentary switch, to avoid the car ever being started with just the press of the start button ever again. Simple, smart, and goddamn do I wish I did that. He's convinced the grounds were the issue. The splitter arrives Thursday, and luck would have it, our load-up time for COTA was now moved to Sunday. Yes, me and 5 friends were loading our cars on a big rig and they were all getting sent to Texas. So insane. More luck, Buttonwillow had an open test day on Friday! Fuck it, I'm going. I need to drive this car and I need to know it works before it gets sent across the country.

I go back down south to borrow a trailer Thursday. I load up the SUV with the necessities, and leave for JMP at 5am. I arrive too early. Get gas, poop at a McDonalds and cave in for a McGriddle, because I deserve it. Grab the car at the shop after 100 cars were moved to make it available, and I'm on the road by 8:30am. $360 entry to Buttonwillow. Perfect. I unload, excited, optimistic again... I'm on the new tires still. Let's go set that lap. Oh, wait, it's 1CCW! I don't even know this configuration. Ok, lap record out the window but let's just go make sure the damn car works. I start the out lap and there it is. Instantly. ABS light, calipers engaging, car not happy, Alex miserable. I pit in. I decide there's no safe place to test this car on the street so I might as well spend time troubleshooting at the track. I notice battery voltage seems erratic. Not by a big margin, but just all over the place, up and down from 13.4-14.8. My friend Kyle happened to be there testing his GT3 racecar. He owns a shop in Anaheim called Precision German Performance. They're amazing, and he is a legend. We decide to unplug the regulator on the back of the alternator. I drive around the pits, car seems good. Voltage seems good. I go out on track again, no issue on my out lap, but the session gets black flagged for a hot-tow and I'm out of gas, and energy. I bring the car in and decide to order an alternator. Because, yay, we found the problem!

Steve from EAS orders the part, I send an uber to grab it in Anaheim before they close and deliver it to my wife at her parents house nearby while I'm towing home. I get out the car, take a piss, drink some water, and immediately start pulling the old alternator out as the sun went down, half on the trailer, in front of my house (because getting this thing into my single car-width driveway isn't worth the trouble)
First time for this job.. It didn't want to come off. Not fun. Lots of blood... my finger is fucked. We press on.



The following morning, my best bud Vin comes by. We joke about our past as friends for over 20 years. He's a big Italian boy. Shoulders as wide as my driveway and a chest that looks like it could bench press a mini cooper. Any time I've gotten myself into some kind of mechanical trouble that requires Hercules-level leverage, I just scream for him. Within 3 minutes, he has the alternator out. Gosh I love my friends.

I street drive this thing, because we are out of options. All seems well... I cycle ignition a few times while I'm out, and eventually, I get that ABS flash, along with an over-voltage code in the DSC module, AGAIN. I decide to swap batteries with Vin, who has an identical AG unit in his Evo V. BOOM, car seems perfect! With time against us and the car being less than 10 hours away from load-up, we went out and street drove at night, with no headlights. Vin running support lead in my W204 C63. What a mission. I'd be lying if I said this wasn't fun. We get home, park the car, crack beers open in the street and hang for a few. I'm ready for bed.

I wake up the next morning, wash the car off, scan for codes, drive some more, everything seems perfect. We did it. I have 20 minutes to get the car back on the trailer and brought down south to the new SDC HQ to be loaded for COTA. Holy shit. We are going.





Still reading this novel? Need a break? I should have probably just made a YouTube video telling this story. But magazines were my life for a time, and I guess this is a feature.

Just in time, my new kit from Sparco is ready. I pick it up on Monday as I'm packing. Wow. A long way from checkered vans and Levi's.



I fly to Texas the following Wednesday. We get BBQ immediately, and we head to COTA. I see the sign at the entrance, the flag waving, jesus, what a place. We find our cars unloaded and parked in our garage. This is real life?! I'm blown away.



Thursday comes, we head back to the track, get the garage sorted, unload the tools that I didn't bring at all because I had no time and just figured I'd borrow if I needed. Sorry Gabe dogbone , you told me to bring everything, I was close, but decided I probably wasn't going... and then changed my mind. Great idea. Casually, I drive the car up to the on-site gas station and would you look at that. The light flashed on the way up the hill. You have got to be fucking kidding me. HOW?!

Scan the car -- DSC module, over voltage >18v, along with an alternator communication code. Perfect. I met a friend the night before from Instagram. Him and his girlfriend, maybe wife? I feel bad that I don't know, but they're my heroes. Sean, you are a legend! He ordered me an alternator on Thursday, after calling countless people, and then hand-delivered it to me at the track on Friday. It didn't make sense that my brand new unit was blown, but I was out of options and out of time, so I went for it. I removed mine in the morning, Sean and Mel show up at 12 with the alternator.



Drivers meeting at 12:30. Track is hot at 1 for 3 hours of practice. Bing, bam, boom, it's in the car. Start it up and voltage is just climbing from 13, 14, 15.2.... Just sitting there at 15. This isn't right. I'm not going on the track like this because I know exactly what's going to happen. If you haven't done this before, I don't wish it on you, but unplugging the regulator on the back of the alternator, in the car, is fucking brutal. There is no room. Practice starts. I'm hearing cars fly by. I want to give up and cry again but I'm just trying and letting other people try too.





Eventually, we get it off. I start the car and there it is, 14.1v and steady. I rev it, not change, and having done that single good test lap at Buttonwillow a week prior, I decide I'm just going to see what the car does on track. My first laps at COTA, and I'm looking at the voltage religiously the entire time, not knowing what's going to happen at 8000+rpm or 150mph. I work my way up to speed, and everything feels familiar. I spent A LOT of time on the sim with my SDC team mates and our coach Michael Johnson leading up to this event. I knew where I was, and having even a little confidence, given the circumstances, did wonders for me.





I do 6 laps, building pace, getting temp in the car. Problem free, 2:24.5. Ok! Not bad. Big track. Lots of room to improve. I come in, check pressures, take a breather and go back out. 2:21.5. Found some time, but I feel the lack of power setting in. The track is giant, there is SO much time at WOT, and while it's exciting in the car, I know the speed isn't there. I text my buddy "Man, this place is amazing. Car is great. But it will be hard to sub-20."

https://youtube.com/shorts/BGZrGaNrNfk

I go back out for a 3rd session of laps. 1:19.8. Holy shit. We are moving! To my and Sean (a local and owner of an awesome E92, Cayman GT4 and M4 GTS) said he was the fastest NA M3 to run COTA at a 2:24.4. Things are looking good.



Saturday comes, it's competition day! There are 23 people in limited class. I, by a massive margin, have the lowest HP on the grid and one of the worst power-to-weight ratios, despite the slender 2735lb final number. But whatever, I wasn't there to win, I just wanted to drive the car. Session one, 2:19.5. I spend all 4 sessions pushing, adjusting the SUB2 Nitron R3's, playing with splitter and wing angle, and trying to find time in my line. I want that 18. I get down to a 2:19.2 in session 2, then session 3 I get impeded and I'm feeling tired... Session 4, I decide to scrub in my fresh Sunday set of tires so I was ready in the morning, and decide not to run a hot lap. I've had my fun.



Sunday! It's cool out. No sun. Also, brand new Apex SM-10RE. Killer looking wheel with that deep race pocket and finish!





We spent the night going over data and lap videos, and I am ready to run a 17. Out lap -- tires feel VERY cold. I struggle to get heat in them. Go on the first hot lap and I'm all over the place. They are just not turned on yet. One more heater, and it's better, but still not there. 2:19.1. I do a cool down and go for one more flyer. 2:18.8. Woo!!!!



I come in, ecstatic. I can't believe it. What a thrill. What an event. What a track. What a fucking experience. Oh, and my wife and daughter arrive to cheer me on. All the way from California, just to see daddy live out his dreams. Luckiest guy on earth. The juice is worth the squeeze.



I push HARD the next two sessions, get impeded, it gets hot, I just can't seem to find the time. I do back to back 19.1-.3 over and over again. I have an INSANE lap, where by the time I'm at turn 8, I know it's a 17. I see it on the AIM, and I catch my buddy Jackie Ding in his insane M2 right as I come over the hill down to 11. He moves instantly, because he's awesome, but still, that brief moment where I lose my focus and change my line to avoid him, and I blow my braking into 11. I stay in it. Hammering down the back straight, I make it through 12 beautifully, I blast into the carousel just bombing with confidence. The car is singing, it's happy, it's glorious. As I come out of 19, the infamous sausage curb that needs to be totally hopped, the rear end just says goodbye. I hold a massive drift, keep the car on the track but saw my delta disappear. The data says this lap was a 2:17.4. It will kill me until I get back there.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Q0rHVSet0pY

People start packing it in, saying they did their best, that the track has lost 2-3sec in the heat since the morning. Session 4 is quiet, but I paid to be here, and I'm driving till this thing is out of gas. I go back out, and I send it. The sun is getting lower. I feel like I'm completely alone in this incredible place. A formula one circuit, all to myself, in my garage-built E92 M3, my favorite sports car, ever. Coming out of Turn 1, I stay flat in 3rd, shift to 4th and stay flat to 3. I see spectators on the bridge over the esses, phones out, flags waving. This is just a glimpse at what it must feel like to be a pro. Complete bliss. I'm a long way from Buttonwillow. I send it to 125mph before tapping the brakes in the esses, keep the car together, get through nicely, tuck it in for 6 and let the turn come to me, get back inside to hop the curb at 7 and get that exit up the hill at 8. The tires are hot, low-speed mechanical grip is a struggle right here, but I stay in it. 150mph down the back straight, all is well. We hold it together and bam. 2:18.696, moved from 8th to 7th, out of 23, in a class I have no business being in. The ol' girl did the thing. The car works.

This was the single best driving experience of my life. I've learned a lot. Enjoyed a lot. Hurt a lot. But it's been worth it. To go through all of this and get to drive my E92 on a Formula One circuit, so far from home. To finally get to experience this car and have it blow my expectations out of the water.. To stop worrying about the problems for a minute and instead get to do what I love, which is drive the absolute shit out of it, play with the setup, and see the results in the data... This is what it's about. And most of all, to get to do it with my family and friends. Just unreal. Our SDC Race Team's first outing... All of us ran Friday's practice, all 4 sessions Saturday AND Sunday. Not one of us out of the top 7. A podium in Enthusiast and a podium in Street. Just epic.



Excited to keep it going. Time to hang up the helmet and focus on life for a bit here, but we'll be back for Gridlife Laguna Seca in September. If you read this whole thing, cheers to you. If not, I understand.

[Redd]

Wow. What an amazing update!