Touring Car pics uploaded (finally)

[jimmy p.]

Hey All,

Well, I finally have some pics worth showing you guys of my Touring Car restoration.
Its been a 2 year wait, but hopefully you guys will approve.
The car came back from the vinyl shop today, something I said I would not do until pretty much everything else was done and it was "trackworthy".
The icing as Geoff Atkinson called it. I agree.

I still to have to swap back in it's fancy-schmancy-shift-without-the-clutch-dogbox which now has all its gaskets installed and will hopefully cease doing its impression of the Exxon Valdez at the track.
(It was only missing a few gaskets,,, I cant imagine why would have leaked).
I gotta say,,, over two years of disassembly and reassembly I found some impressive kluges in this car for an ex-pro car,,, some sh*t that just made me shake my head and laugh. The trans was only but one...

I have uploaded some of them to my gallery here at S14.net (thanks Magnus for the space for us guys to post photos of E30 M3s).
They are in the "member gallery" under "jimmy p".
They are stuffed into my garage,,, and not on a race track where it belongs but it will have to do until spring.
This link "should work"


<<< http://www.s14.net/photopost/showgal...500&ppuser=138 >>>

If it does not maybe Magnus will telll me how to get you there. I have never been able to figure out how to get them to come up in a post...

I also want to say thanks to everyone who has helped with this project over the past two years.
Especially most recently SIG members Alan Fryer and Craig Harmon who totally bailed me out this past week with photos and clip art literally sending me stuff that I was forwarding to my vinyl guy in real time.
Bora, Don, Mike & Ralphie for helping me figure how to get screencaps off the BTCC DVDs to use as guidelines.
Lance for "getting" us ALL those DVDs...

And mainly,,, the guy who helped me find the car,,, who wishes to remain nameless,,, my sincere thanks most of all.

I also gotta add,,, this resto was done pretty much with ZERO help from Prodrive,,,, who I thought might like to help someone get one of their old cars back in shape, but who did pretty much nothing despite years of asking them for photos, records, tech help, decal dimensions, race results, chassis history, basically anything I asked for, I got nothing. It was all through guys who are reading this that helped it get as done as it is now.

Now I gotta just learn how to drive it...
Have a look,,, hope you likee.
Cheers
jimmy p.
88 E30 M3 Zinnoberot street
88 E30 M3 Lachsilber Race
87 E30 M3 Prodrive British Touring Car 2.0 Litre
04 Ford F350 - V10
01 Audi A4 Avant 1.8T

[DBurke]

Congrats and a BIG thumbs up.

[aaronmjr]

looks schweet. have you driven it hard yet? was there US prodrive cars? or did you import it? im very happy for you it looks like it came together AWESOME!! and from one fanatic to another, thank you for sharing, and your effort to restore the car. it makes me happy to look at those pics.

[BMG]

Looks fantastic Jimmy. Strange to think I've probably had a good look around this car, if it was the one used at any of the Brands Hatch rounds in it's heyday . Do you know which drivers used the car and at what rounds of the BTCC ?

[UofOm3]

great looking car man ... thanks for the pics

[jimmy p.]

Thanks Guys.
Its been to about 6 track days here in the Northeast,,, about 2 of which it has made it through with no problems. Thats 2 and counting.
It drives great. The grip is fantastic. I have been driving it with my spare US spec overdrive transmission from my silver car lately because I had the Grp A crash box apart to find a serious transmission leak.
The US spec trans was totally wrong for the car and made it almost impossible to drive. With every single shif it fell off the cam. That doesn't happen with the Grp A trans. Its a joy to drive with the correct transmission,,, well if the oil would stay inside. Hopefully that is fixed now. I'm assuming that all the missing gaskets and seals were causing the leak. It was literally missing several gaskets, a seal and all the crush washers. I think I have it all buttoned up now. That trans will go back in this coming week.

The car is an early build ('87 delivery to Prodrive). It has RAC / BTCC tech stickers up through the '92 season.
Alot of that information is the details I have been trying to extract from Prodrive,,, but they are not giving it up.
They say they dont have it,,, I say "sure".
I am sure if I sold them the car,,, (as they would like me to),,, all those results would appear on a plaque in front of it in their museum instantly.

One of the cars previous owners I tracked down in Spain said the only results he could remember were from 1990 season.
According to him, this car came in 1st at Donnington with Frank Sytner driving, and 4th at Snetterton again with Sytner driving.
The race results from that year do bear out that Prodrive M3's with Mr Sytner driving did finish in those positions,,, so I guess its feasible.
At least thats the most I have to go on.

Right now it still has alot of loose ends detail wise (at least to me)
- Its missing the correct mirrrors,,, they were nicked somewhere in its life. I need to get a set of correct ones.
- I have a hodgepodge of assorted wheels,,, I am trying to track down a few sets of the classic Prodrive gold Dymags they used back then.
If I cannot I am going to have the sets of 5 spoke OZ's (shown in the photos) that came with it refinished and repainted in Prodrive gold. They will not be correct, but they will look more correct. It looks fantastic with the BBS crosspokes on it. I'll pop them on and post up some more pics with those.
- Right now the car has an evo 3 road car fender on the passenger side. I am looking for a real Grp A steel fender to replace it,,, but body parts from those days are near impossible to come by. The availability of mechanical Grp A parts compared to the body parts is like dime a dozen. The body parts are like hens teeth.

Its not super critical,,, this things not going in a museum anytime soon,,, or any concourse. Its built to be a driver.
So I can live with the fender thing, although it bugs me.
Someday I will break down and buy a set of Grp A mirrors,,, I just keep hoping the dollar will rally a bit.
I just know as soon as i do it, its going to rebound like Dennis Rodman.
I also need to finish cleaning the trunk and fuel cel area. I keep putting that job off. Its the last place I have not scrubbed and painted.

Thanks again to everyone for all the kind words on list and off.
Cheers
jimmy

[H a n]

all i can say is......... F*CKING BEAUTIFUL!!!!

[jimmy p.]

Originally posted by BMG
Looks fantastic Jimmy. Strange to think I've probably had a good look around this car, if it was the one used at any of the Brands Hatch rounds in it's heyday . Do you know which drivers used the car and at what rounds of the BTCC ?

As far as I know,,, all of them. According to one the previous owners it was one of the team cars in the regular rotation from '88 thru 91-92.
I dont know when Prodrive got out of BTCC with E30 M3s, but if they got out in '91, then I assume it did '92 sold off as a privateer car (as I posted, it has tech stickers up through '92)

It just kills me to know,,, somewhere,,, in a file cabinet,,, is probably a sheet with all the details & results of this chassis life,,, at least its life at Prodrive (which I'll probably never see).
Cheers
jimmy

[v8m3]

i have a video with this car on driven by frank sytner for that season of the esso rac bttc i will sought it out and go through other years to find out more also have a friend who used to work for dave richards at prodrive at this time as a photographer i will see him monday and ask him for any provinence

[v8m3]

jimmy have you tried moseley motorsport in the uk he has many touring cars from this era bttc, dtm and the bigazzi cars also a boat load of spares try nigel for the center locks as i am sure he will find you some he is so helpfull and more interested in the cars than the money


wayne

[jimmy p.]

Hi Wayne,
I have the 88, 89, & 91 BTCC seasons. The only one I am missing is the 1990 season,,, which by all accounts is the hardest to find.
I keep hitting Ebay though.

Yep,,, I have talked to Nigel and correspoded with him. I bought my trailering wheel hubs from him.
Nigel is a great guy and was very helpful,,, well as helpfull as he could be. He was the first guy who gave me the delivery date of my chassis to Prodrive.
I told him waht I was looking for,, but have not heard from him in a while. I guess I could shoot him another call just as a reminder.
I just hate to be a pain in the ass to people,,, I know guys like him are busy with customers and stuff.

I keep scouring all the UK race classified boards and sites, I chase every lead i see. Someday hopefully I'll hit on what Im looking for.
At least when I last corresponded with Nigel I dont think he had anything I needed. Like I posted,,, its the body parts that seem hardest to get your hands on.
I have also been corresponding with several UK guys for the past two years who are connected with these ex pro cars. They are all looking for stuff for me, trying to help me out.

If you do see your photographer friend, please let me know. I'd love to have any info he is willing to share.
Thank you very much in advance for the help. I do appreciate it.
To save bandwitdth on S14.net,,, please email me at < [email protected] > if its correspondance like that, little things, specifics, that I'll spare 700 guys having to read until I compile enough info to make it worthwhile.
Cheers
jimmy

[Kevin]

Jimmy

It looks stunning, congratulations on a job well done.

It is a shame that Prodrive have been so uncooperative. Some video footage of it on track would be great to see and hear. There was a ETCC one at Croft in July this year and it sounded awesome, particularly when it first fired up in the confines of the pit garage beside me. To hear it screaming round being used as it was designed to be used, and not stuck in a musuem, was great to witness.

Enjoy.

[Chris Miller]

Hi

That is sweet nice job. Reminds of when as a youngster i used to go and watch these cars racing in the BTCC.

Chris.

[ADA///M]

i just want to say i hate you.





















and by hate you i mean im really jealous of you

[JEDM3]

Jimmy

Any chance you will be able to run this car at vintage events like Lime Rock? It would be cool to see it running there and that is certainly a great place to bring a tuly vintage racer. Regardless, car looks awesome. I am sure you have put countless hours into it so hope you get to enjoy it leak free soon.

John