Sunny winter

The new year has just started and winter was supposed to be in full swing, but it seems that spring is the right term for this weather. This may be sad for skiers but I'm quite happy as I can work outside on my car (I don't have a garage).

As I was waiting for the roll cage to be manufactured in Italy, my friends were up to "no good"... Below you can see and E30 with a 2.8 M52 engine swap and a few other mods.

After a few runs in the city we made our way to the mountain and the guys proceeded to lay some rubber.

I love the sound of my DIY exhaust I made for my E30. This E30 belongs to one of my good friend's and runs a 2.5 M50 engine with my exhaust on...

With the weather so nice it was an open invitation to work on my car and so I begun to strip a perfectly good stock E36.

As I removed the parts I weighed them and in the end I removed over 100 KG of interior trim.

As usual the sound deadening was a pain to remove, but with a heat gun I finally did it.

3 bottles of brake cleaner later I finally was able to remove all the gunk left behind by the sound deadening. I actually got high on brake cleaner...

The dash went out for the....

roll cage to be fitted in.

Next is the roll cage making its way in my car...

The darkest hour is just before dawn

As the new year is beginning so is my story, the past year was a year of both good and bad fortune, I was side swiped while going at highway speeds by a "fellow" motorist so the car spun and I hit a traffic barrier that cut the car like a can opener

Had I done anything to recover the spin the traffic barrier would have hit the drivers door and the consequences would have been...tragic

So I began parting out the car, because I didn't want to build an other E30 as the parts are getting harder and harder to find and the chassis dynamics are less than perfect...

The right car for my requirements, about which I'll write later on, is E30's newer cousin the E36, so I went on and bought an unregistered one brought from Germany. A no frills, no options (not even a sunroof) bone stock 320i just a year younger that my E30. I especially wanted a clean rust free, unmolested car.

Then I promptly put on some winter tires and went out drifting...

Afterwards I took the E36 to it's first competition an autocross, but it was rather boring because I couldn't drift the car.

I came up third (I'm the first to the left and one of my good friends came second in his E30)

And now the E36 requirements.... I wanted a street car that I could drift and rally semi professionally and the E36 is simply the best car in my mind for this. So with that goal firmly in my sight I went on and bought a few parts needed for a race car, mostly race safety things and a nice set of wheels that came by cheap.

Here you see a set of BBS RC 040 wheels, a Sabelt race seat, a Momo steering wheel, a FIA 6 point safety harness, a Wilwood hydro brake, a master switch and 4 pot Porsche calipers.

The rollcage has been ordered and will arrive soon enough. The are happy times ahead... I Hope

Romanian drift championship round 6

With winter almost upon us the Romanian drift championship comes to an end. The final round is set at the Prejmer circuit, a karting track by design but it suits drifting well.

A beautiful late autumn day filled with the sound and smoke of drift cars.

One of the best sounding cars of the field courtesy of a V12 had plenty of angle going in turn one.

Easy power... Just add two turbos to a V8

Battle of the worlds, Germany vs Japan, BMW vs Nissan, almost the entire field runs a vehicle of these two car makers.

The Nissans come second to none when it come to smoke.

When the dust settles the can be only one winner but this time and most of the time is this one, 

Calin Ciortan. This the second championship in a row he has won, who will end his domination? Only time will tell...

And with one final doughnut the 2013 championship come to an end.

Hill Climb Rasnov 2013

As autumn reaches full strength the Hill climb championship returns to the outskirts of Brasov. As the leaves gently fall, Rasnov a town 20 Km away from Brasov is host to the 4 Km long stage. In spite of the cold the spectators were in full strength lining the narrow twisty road.

As with any hill climb event in Romania perhaps the best thing about is the sheer variety of machines.

From single seaters to hatchbacks they are all flying millimeters away from the bushes.

Where else can you see a bike powered single seater being followed by a Ferrari 458?

Even the vintage iron try their best to keep up with the modern machinery.

Although many years have passed since its heyday the Mini is still legendary fast.

The stage may be short but the drivers are pushing it and sometimes the car just gives up...

This is what happens when one of your con-rods takes a walk, oil, oil everywhere. Here the rally support crew is trying to wash it off as this is one of the fast and tricky corners.

But what people come to see are the hill climb monsters. With the anti-lag popping one of the fastest 4WD cars is attacking a sharp bend.

Rather unsurprisingly the fastest RWD car was this Ferrari 458.

And a mere 9 seconds away was a FWD golf.

A clean car may not make a fast car but it is a wonderful thing to photograph. 

As autumn nears its climax the racing season comes to a close.

What a great year this was!

402m Drag Racing Brasov 2013

In the late days of August Brasov is host to a drag race, it is organised on the city streets as there aren't any dedicated drag tracks in the country. A new excuse to spend some time with friends. Who can conquer the 402m?

Two boosted BMWs go head to head, only one can win.

The king of the hill, a 800HP Porche that recorded a 10.7

Subaru scooping some air

The diesel class is a very crowded and the VW is king.

The bandit

Loose security rules lead to a lot of fun.