BMW 318is BTCC 1992 history?

[dprs]

Hi!

Does anyone have some more detailed information about the 7? BMW 318is's raced in the 92' BTCC season?

How many of them that still exists?
Where they are located now?
Some detailed pics of the interior, cage etc.

Any other info or direction of where I can find some info regarding these car's would be very helpful!

Kind regards
Daniel

[E36ST]

The Tim Harvey championship-winning car is presently undergoing restoration in NZ.

http://www.evolutionmotorsport.co.nz/projects.html

[dprs]

Hi!

Thank's for the info!

You don't happend to have more pictures of the restoration?

How about the other cars? Some infos about them as well?

Kind regards
Daniel

[KA]

As you say, 7 cars appeared in the 1992 BTCC- 3 for VLM- Tim Harvey, Ray Bellm & Steve Soper- and 3 for Prodrive- Tim Sugden, Alain Menu (who dropped out with an injury mid-season and was replaced by Kris Nissen) and a one-off for Colin McRae at Knockhill.
The seventh was Matt Neal/Rimstock Racing in the final round at Silverstone- IIRC this was the ex-McRae Prodrive car from Knockhill

There's a bit more on them in this thread- there's at least one in Australia, as well as the ex-Harvey championship winner in NZ
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...ighlight=318IS

[dprs]

Hi!

Thank's for that info!

Anyone has some more detailed information about these cars? Where they as advanced as the supertouring cars? Detailed photos would be really nice.

Kind regards
Daniel

[KA]

I can't remember detailed specs for these, but from memory they were less advanced than the later Supertouring cars in many respects- the early 2-litre cars would have been much closer to 2-litre engined versions of the Group A cars they replaced, if you think of the number of E30 M3s seen in the first couple of 2-litre years. For example, when did sequential gearboxes come into use on touring cars? Was everyone still using conventional 'h-pattern' shifts in '92
On the other hand, IIRC, they may have had some things that might not have been allowed on later Supertouring cars- from vague memory, didn't the E36 Coupes in the BTCC run ABS in 1992?

[John Elwin]

If you haven't already got it, I suggest you get hold of a copy of 'Touring Car 1992', the season's annual produced by Martin Nott as it has a 4-page feature on the build of the BMW 318. There are currently a couple of copies on ebay.

Autosport also produced a BTCC end-of-season review supplement in which Tiff Needell track-tested three cars, including the BMW.

Hope that helps!

[brown dog]

Originally Posted by KA

For example, when did sequential gearboxes come into use on touring cars? Was everyone still using conventional 'h-pattern' shifts in '92
On the other hand, IIRC, they may have had some things that might not have been allowed on later Supertouring cars- from vague memory, didn't the E36 Coupes in the BTCC run ABS in 1992?

The VLM cars all ran an XTrac "H" pattern gearbox in 1992, I don't think sequential boxes were seen until 93 or 94.
1992 was the only year that the 2 door model was allowed, after then all cars built had to be 4 doors, with a grandfather clause given to the exisiting cars to allow them to run.
And yes they ran "electronic ABS" in the BTCC in 1992. After then it was banned, which led to BMW developing the "pendulum"- a form of mechanical ABS system which operated on the front wheels only

[dprs]

Hi!

Thank's for you inputs!

I have watched the Tiff Needell review about 10 times now, really nice

I will try to get a hold of a copy of that book, no question!

I have found some info about the car, but detailed photos etc. would be even nicer. Just let it flow folks!

Regards,

Daniel

[brown dog]

Originally Posted by dprs

Hi!

Thank's for you inputs!

I have watched the Tiff Needell review about 10 times now, really nice

I will try to get a hold of a copy of that book, no question!

I have found some info about the car, but detailed photos etc. would be even nicer. Just let it flow folks!

Regards,

Daniel

Why the interest? I see in another thread you have a Gp.N E36. Did you sell that car?

Conrad

[dprs]

Hi!

Nope, I still have it. I would of course trade it for one of the 7 btcc cars at any time

Why the interest? Well,since I own one of the 23 built chassis from which the 7 btcc chassis derived from I just wanted to know the diffrences and maybe use some of the mods on my own car. The other reason is because I think the 1992 btcc season and in particular the 318is is the coolest car ever

I bought the 1992 touring car book, fascinating! As I understand they used a modified S14 not the s42, is this correct? Or was it a hybrid?

Regards,

Daniel

[E36ST]

That's correct, the S42 didn't come out until the 1995 season, although it was trialled during the 1994 season.

As I understand it, the 2L S14 was essentially a 'sleeved back' version of the 2.5L S14 that ran in the Group A M3.

[E36ST]

Actually there's quite a good write-up in the November 1992 Issue#104 of 'Fastlane' magazine, titled 'We Drive Soper's winning BMW'.

I've scanned & posted it on photobucket here:

http://s711.photobucket.com/albums/w...CC%2092%20BMW/

[Nortad]

Originally Posted by E36ST

That's correct, the S42 didn't come out until the 1995 season, although it was trialled during the 1994 season.

As I understand it, the 2L S14 was essentially a 'sleeved back' version of the 2.5L S14 that ran in the Group A M3.

It was the S14B20 from the Italian/Portuguese E30 320is.

[dprs]

Hi!

Really interesting reading! Thank's! Really funny to read 20 year old articles telling you that the bosch abs system and the PI dash is a multi billion invention, not intended for the masses

Well, anyway. It seems like, as you said before, that they used a detuned S14 2,5L engine, runned by a zytek? standalone system. But, when looking at the airbox it almost looks like the ones from the S42 engine?

Regarding suspension. I read that they used some sort of reinforcement between the front rear control arm pickup points and the front of the car? A triangulated tube construction? Does anyone have a pictures of it?

I've been trying to locate a set of dymags for my car, but without succes. Are the all gone?

Thank's
Daniel

[dprs]

Hi!

Just talked to a guy from South Africa regarding some parts. Asked him at the same time if he had some info about the third Vic Lee car that should be located in South Africa. He told me there were two!

One that has been modified to fit in a special class. The second was with a collector, probably the third Vic lee car?

So to conclude my research this far,

One is located in AUS. One in NZ and two in South Africa.

There is one in the US, but I am unsure if that really is a full btcc racer or a PR car?

This makes me wondering about the other three?

Nice to know atleast four? of them are still alive!

Kind regards
Daniel

[hermann_the_german]

Hi !

Here is some more information:

I have recently bought one the ex-Prodrive cars in Germany. The car came from Denmark in 2008 and I am told it is the ex. Alain Menue car. I am trying to investigate the history of the chasis (E36/1 015) but have not been able to get much information so far.

The car needs some attention. Also, engine and gearbox where stripped shortly before I bought the chassis. The engine was a S14/7 2 Liter engine with dry sump, which was also the setup Prodrive ran in BTCC 1992.

Regards,
René

[Alex E]

Rene,
E36-1-015 was one of the Prodrive cars run in BTCC in `92.
Alex

[hermann_the_german]

Alex,
many thanks for confirming this. I am reading in the other thread on the E36ST cars, that you owned the Ex-Harvey VLM car for some time. Also, I found the foto of the 3 2-Door cars from Norway which you posted last year.

Since 2 of these cars were VLM, the other one could be an ex-prodrive, perhaps mine.

Do you happen to have other fotos of these cars ? If so, it would be very kind of you to send them to rene@bmw-m-team.de

Any further info on the 92 Prodrive cars would be much appreciated ! (Ian, Conrad, etc..)

[hermann_the_german]

Here are some pictures of E36-1-015 as it is today.

I am not yet sure about my plans with it. Either restauration to it's original state or some compromises to make it more competetive.

[ian beckett]

Hi Rene,your car was built February 1992.I can give you all the results for the car when raced by Prodrive in the '92 BTCC if you need them.At the end of the '92 season the car was sold to Ray Bellm.Can you give me any more information to help me track the car from '93 onwards? Can you supply a picture of your car from the outside? Ian.

[hermann_the_german]

Hi Ian,

thanks for the info. Yes, it would be very nice if you could send the info concerning the results to me. Email see posting above !

So far, I was not sure who used the car in 1992. Also the 93 info (Bellm) is new.

Here are some fotos of the outside. Car was driven by Klaus Ellmies in 2007 in Denmark.

[John Elwin]

Ray Bellm took charge of the VLM team towards the end of the '92 season when misfortune hit the team. VLM was disbanded at the end of the year & Bellm joined forces with Steve Neal to form Team Dynamics, primarily to further the career of Steve's son Matt.

Dynamics began the year with three ex-Prodrive BMW bodyshells together with a lot of ex VLM hardware & some personnel, Neal jnr & Bellm driving. However, as is so often the case, the previous seasons' championship-winning car was no longer dominant & they struggled a bit, Bellm himself soon losing interest in the cut-&-thrust of Super Touring, pulling out after a few rounds & selling his interest in the team to the Neals. Amongst others, Le Mans winner Andy Wallace raced the car but crash 'n bash driving was never his style.

Matt persevered but before the season was over he had upgraded from the 2-door Coupe to a newly-built 4-door 318.

Hope that adds something to the story!

[brown dog]

Originally Posted by dprs

Hi!

Really interesting reading! Thank's! Really funny to read 20 year old articles telling you that the bosch abs system and the PI dash is a multi billion invention, not intended for the masses

Well, anyway. It seems like, as you said before, that they used a detuned S14 2,5L engine, runned by a zytek? standalone system. But, when looking at the airbox it almost looks like the ones from the S42 engine?

Regarding suspension. I read that they used some sort of reinforcement between the front rear control arm pickup points and the front of the car? A triangulated tube construction? Does anyone have a pictures of it?

I've been trying to locate a set of dymags for my car, but without succes. Are the all gone?

Thank's
Daniel

The ABS system and Pi dash were indeeed "drug money" back in those days, costing many times what a similar system will cost you now.

The airbox although similar in appearance to the S42 piece is different. The S14/7 (2.0) was usually fitted with a 45mm slide throttle.



Here is a couple of pics of the reinforcement to the front suspension, this is a 1994 car:





The Dymags were 8.2"x18" on the Prodrive cars, and quite hard to find.

[Clive Brown]

Originally Posted by brown dog

The ABS system and Pi dash were indeeed "drug money" back in those days.