Vorshlag Blog

We’ve covered another round of repairs and upgrades plus one more race weekend in our “Daily Driven Track Car” project in this latest 3-part forum build thread update. This is an example of a compromised dual-purpose car we tell our customers NOT to build, but they do it anyway… so we decided to give it a try and see how far we could push a car in NASA Time Trial that really was daily driven, had air conditioning, a radio, and other nice creature comforts.

This 2001 BMW 330Ci is finally getting more competitive after it’s 3rd track weekend, but we still have many more modifications planned for this car during the 2016 season. We took the car to another NASA Time Trial event at MSR-Cresson and won the class both days, but just missed resetting the old TTD track record. After this event we put the car on the dyno rollers for a “lie detector” test – where the bone stock, 160K+ mile mototr put out 195 whp and 200 wtq. That means we’re still 50 whp down, so plans are in place to fix that.

The biggest upgrade on this car to date was completed right before this NASA event – the Powerbrake 4-piston big brake upgrade, shown above. The 330 is still running on the non-adjustable Bilstein PSS kit with upgraded springs, but it has too much roll – this car needs a LOT more spring rate and better dampers. Tune in next time to see that, but for now, you can catch up on this project starting here.

We ran two more events in our 1992 Corvette we call Project #DangerZone. Check out all of the news in our forum build thread update.

We evaluated the results of our Big Tire Test, looked at what it would take to update the rest of the car to be competitive in TT2, and have more back to NASA TTC class with this entry. Again, you can read all about our testing here.

At long last our “Daily Driven Track Car”, the red BMW E46 330 shown below, has had much needed suspension and brake system updates and then made its track debut. You can read about the latest adventures in this dual-purpose BMW starting here.

In this monster-sized, 5-part Forum Build Thread update we discuss the laundry list of mods done in January plus two competition events we entered in this 330, including SCCA Club Trials at MSR-Cresson and NASA Time Trial at MSR-Houston.

The write-up for each of these events, plus details on the upgrades and repairs before, between, and after these events is all discussed in the Forum Build Thread. Enjoy.

The 1992 C4 Corvette we built in early 2015 was a bit of a mess on track last year but still hugely popular on the interwebs.

The positive reaction to this cheap track car build was so strange we decided to keep it another year. Unfortunately more weight was added to this car by NASA in TTC class, so we decided to try some changes – which you can see and read about in the latest 3-part Build Thread Update.

Going from a 245mm Hoosier R7 and stock shocks to a 335mm front and 345mm rear Hoosier A6 was a big jump, helped with a set of 18×12″ Foregestar F145 wheels. We also yanked all of the ballast, lost some more weight, and finally finished the refreshed stock LT1 testing and tuning. Then we took the C4 to an SCCA Club Trials event at MSR Cresson and tested the new big tire setup.

The C4 responded to the big tires well and the car set the fastest Club Trials time of the weekend. Still, at this smooth track there were handling issues that were painfully apparent. Would this stock shock / 345 Hoosier setup work at the next event, NASA @ MSR-Houston, which has a notoriously bumpier track surface?? We had our doubts, but we will talk about that in our next Project Update. Enjoy! #DangerZone

Our E46 BMW “daily driven track car” project has had a big update to the build thread. The first half of this is a laundry list of repair work done to the 2002 BMW 325Ci, the first chassis we started with. Oil leaks fixed, coolant leaks fixed, vacuum leaks fixed, and CELs chased ’round and round.

The 2nd half deals with work to the 2nd chassis we bought for this chassis – a 2001 BMW 330Ci – and details the plans we have for the NASA TTD build.

There are parts stacked up for this 330 and the race upgrade work begins today! Check in with Project #JackDaniels at the build thread starting here.

Our 1992 Corvette that we built for NASA TTC class has been getting some work and has a few track events coming up, including a NASA Time Trial event (MSR-Houston) in less than 3 weeks and an SCCA Club Trials in 2 weeks (MSR-Cresson).

The latest update to the forum build thread has lots of pictures of the upgrades we have been working on, including: front brake cooling, long wheel studs, a replacement wiring harness and MAF, and a polycarbonate rear hatch to replace the heavy rear glass.

There are a few other little changes that we will show in the next update, which we will post after the two competition events scheduled in January. Catch up with the plans and progress here.

This update for the 69 Camaro has a lot of great pictures of fabrication work and you folks seem to enjoy watching this crazy build come together. The latest huge 2-part post shows work completed in October 2015 on a number of systems.

This tube framed track focused 1st gen Camaro had the dual plane splitter laid out and fabrication started, as well as the custom lower valance and radiator ducting. We also built the front splitter mounting structure, added headlight buckets, made custom front brake ducting, and built the intake tube and airbox – which draws high pressure air from a blocked off upper grill. All of this was done in the name of downforce!

This is likely our last blog post using our old WordPress blog, as we’re moving everything to a new website in the next few weeks and the new site uses a different blog package (already ported over all 156 old blog entries). You can read all of this round of work starting here.

Here is a short forum update showing the work done in September to the tube framed 69 Camaro track car we’re building for a customer.

Nothing super glamorous, but all of it was necessary to move the project forward. LED tail lights were added to add some small measure of street legality, and we discuss what else we’re doing and why in the forum thread.

Another chunk of time was spent making these custom accessory brackets, necessary to work within the tight confines of the custom frame, which itself was set by existing wheels, tires, suspension and track widths. There was some work on a custom tubular splined swaybar, fan mounting, and more. You can see more of the September work on this beast starting here.