- 02/01/2017
- 1 Min Read
- By: Michael Hurczyn
The FCP Euro BMW E30 Enters AER Race #4 - Summit Point Motorsports Park
As we prepare our e30 BMW 325i for this weekend's race at Summit Point, it's crazy to think how far we've come and how much we've learned from our first three races. Our little e30 has raced for 47 hours so far this year. That doesn't even include practice, qualifying, and testing. I think it's safe to say that the ratio of race time to wrench time is easily 1:10, but probably more.
When you watch a race on TV, you watch a professional production of what the network thinks you want to see. But the massive effort that goes on to prepare the cars, the logistics of getting the cars, crew, and equipment to and from the track, and then ensuring the car is operational and on schedule during a race weekend is overwhelming just thinking about it. For pure enthusiasts, that stuff is more interesting and more relatable than the TV coverage. Racing in AER is not much different except they have Facebook live instead of Fox Sports, and most of the team's haulers aren't 18-wheelers with a full machine shop inside.
The other difference is that we are not doing this full time. We don't have the luxury of taking the car back to a race shop and hand it off to the mechanics and wait until the next race or test day. We need to squeeze in hours outside of work and family time. We don't have a traveling crew that trailers the car and sets up our paddock area; we pack my Nissan Titan to the brim, haul with an open trailer, and set up our pop-up tents and work area ourselves. If the budget allows, sometimes we even get a hotel room instead of a tent to sleep in!
So far this year, we have replaced the engine after Watkins Glen, replaced the entire rear subframe and suspension and played body shop after one of the drivers bounced off a tire wall at Palmer Motorsports Park. After race #3 at New Jersey Motorsports Park, we replaced the pressure plate, transmission, diff, tie rod, control arm, headers, muffler, pulled the dash and tidied up the wiring, and installed some stuff to help speed up pit stops. This racing stuff is a lot of work!
After hundreds of hours in the garage, occasionally your mind starts to wander. I caught myself the other night just sitting in the car with my head resting against the Recaro's winged head protection for several minutes. Maybe longer, I don't know. I was just thinking about all of the small items still on the to-do list. Sometimes I think ahead to things that we'd like to improve when time and budget allows. My co-driver Nate calls this realm'ing. I call it making envisioning and making mental notes.
At the start of the season, my goal was to just finish an 18-hour race.
For most people, that's a two to five years of track days in a single weekend. Well, we accomplished that! The next goal is to finish on the podium, and our next chance is this weekend at Summit Point. If you're in the area and would like to check out the action, feel free to come and say hi. If you'd like to find out how you can help crew, or drive for our team, or learn how to get started yourself, we are an open book! Just ask!
Stay tuned to our social channels for coverage and updates. We are towing down to West Virginia from Connecticut on Thursday. If you see our car, take a pic (safely, not while driving) and post it with #FCPEuroBMW and you may win a team t-shirt!
See you at the track?!
