The first car that I ever raced was a little 1996 BMW Z3 4-cylinder. When I got this car it was in an SCCA class called Showroom Stock B (or SSB). This meant that it was basically straight off the showroom floor with only minor safety modifications. No real performance enhancements to speak of. After learning a great deal about driving in this car, I moved up to the Grand Am Cup where I drove other people's cars. This left my race car to just sit in storage for a few years.

About a year or so ago I decided that I would dust off the cobwebs and bring the old Z3 back to glory! The car was no longer eligible to be run in the SSB class; so this meant if I wanted to race it, I would have to make some modifications to it. I decided that this would be a great opportunity to really learn the mechanical side of racing, instead of just the driving side.

After many lessons, near defeat, and a host of failed tests I finally brought the car out to the track last November to give it a whirl. Because it was so late in the year the only race left was the year end regional championship race (called the ARRC) held at Road Atlanta. I was a little reluctant to bring my car out, because I knew it would not be competitive. I had changed a lot, but the rules allowed much more modification than I had time or money for. So, I decided it would just be a fun test and went out to the race anyway. The car ran surprisingly well and lasted the entire 2 hour race without a hiccup. I lucked out a 3rd place finish in the race, but the real good news was that I was able to work out all the major glitches in the car.

Now I've got the entire front end of the car apart doing some work on the suspension and the air intake for the engine. Also after a few to many bumps and bangs I have finally pulled off my front bumper so that my buddies Tommy and Travis can have fun attempting to re-paint it in their back yard. We'll see how that goes!

So as I continue to make improvements to the car, the next step is to take it down to Savannah, hand it over to my good friend Tyson, and have him take it through 4 days of Racing School. I have some work to do on it before then, and will hopefully not be too pressed for time with the upcoming Koni Challenge race at Daytona.

Here are a couple pics I took today. It's looking a little rough right now. But, if you ever want to drive or take a ride on a race track, let me know, this is a great car to do it in. I'm planning on taking it out more often in the upcoming months.