Fabcar Classic 1 Day Rally by AEM. 15 November 2009

The AEM Fabcar Classic 1 Day Rally was run April 25-26 2009.

Vito once again showing his presence with an entry in this rally, navigated by his son Chris. An up and down event with a couple of wrong ways early on followed by many times in the top ten and one outright stage win ended with a good result: a class win in the 1970-1989 over 2 litres and 7th outright.

Quarter mile times of 14.6, 14.6 and 14.2 show the car is not super quick in a staight line but handles the tight bits exceedingly well.

An entry of 65 cars included 6 mitsubishi evo's, 7 suburu wrx's, 5 clubmans and 6 nissan gtr's showed the depth of field and a good turnout for Paul's AEM event.

Targa West. 26-29 August 2009

BMAE provided some support for a competitor currently residing in Queensland, Brad Somerson and his E30 JPS 323. The following picture and words were supplied by Brad.

Well we made it!!! All stages completed without incident. We did have a slight fuel issue (fuel filter was blocked) which almost ended our campaign 500 metres into the last stage when the engine died, but after a few seconds the bimmer fired up again and we completed the stage. The last day was dry which made a good change from the rest of the rally allowing us to really push the car. I must give special thanks to Scott who did an excellent job at navigating the race and he really kept us on the "right track". I think by the last day we finally found our groove and I know we both were very relieved to finish the event.

I must also give special thanks to Rubin at BM Auto Engineering for his support prior to the rally. On the morning of the rally, having no spare wheels to fit the car for our wet weather tyres, he pulled through with a set for us. He also cast his eye over the car for one last check prior to commencing the rally.
A huge thanks to our sponsors being IDEC Ltd, Moore Stephens, Motorama Group and Gordon Wilson & Associates for your support to date. There are also a couple of others to thank and I will do this in person when I next see you.

The winner of the event was Stephen Jones in a new Nissan GTR ($150,000 new) and he blitzed the field for the second year in a row. We finished 37th out of 45 cars in the Modern competition field beating a number of all wheel drive Japanese cars. Not sure where we sit in the overall classification, but this should be on the web site in the next day or so. Having not driven the roads before, in mostly wet conditions, in car only set up in a short period of time, we are very happy with ourselves. Finally, thank you to our family and friends (and work colleagues) who put up with a lot both before and during the event.

Barbagello Raceway in Wanneroo

The NoLimits Car Club conducts practice days at Barbagello Raceway in Wanneroo on a Thursday evening each month. Each run consists of a warmup lap, timed laps and a cool down lap for a group of cars spread apart (at the start) by approx 10 seconds. The groups of cars then run as many sets as can be fitted into the evening. The long circuit is run during daylight hours, if possible, followed by the short track during the evening/night.

June 07th saw Brett running his E30 S50 turbo and his E46 CSL during the All Fours and Rotaries tuning day.
No offical times were taken during the day but unofficially the E30M3 reported a 54secs on the short circuit and 1:05 secs on the long circuit. These were by far the quickest times of the day. Reliability was excellent running in excess of 40 laps.
The CSL recorded a 57 secs on the short circuit.

May 28 saw Jeroen van der Lee run his newly acquired BMW E28 535 on the short circuit during the evening.
Despite a problem with the oil surging into the intake during high(?) G turns the car gave a best of 1:07.78 from the 18 timed laps. This car runs normal street tyres.

March 26 and Vito ran his fully prepared E30 M3 2.5 on the short circuit during the evening.
In his first drive at the circuit Vito returned very impressive times, astounding the field with his normally aspirated 4 cylinder. The field included turbo 4wd, v8's and some full race cars. A best time of 57.83 from the 16 timed laps gave a 5th outright. This car runs Rspec tyres.

TRANSCORE Classic Challenge by AEM.

The TRANSCORE Classic Challenge was run April 25-26 2009.

Vito, wife Susan and the E30 m3 combined to produce an excellent fifth outright in this event, run over two days. The first four places were Mitsubishi EVO 8 and 9's. Cars such as EVO 8's(2), EVO 10's(2), Porsche 911's(3), WRX STI's(3), Nissan GTR's (4) finished behind the 4 cylinder normally aspirated M3.

The M3, with three stage wins, must handle exceptionally well as in the drag strip stages it managed a best of 14.19 to be 22nd. The quickies here were a Nissan GTR (11.58), Nissan GTS (12.59), and three Evo's in the 12's.

AEM Superkhana series

Vito is again competing in the AEM Superkhana series when he is available.

The cars makover is complete with 2.5 litre S14 complete with carbon fibre airbox and Alpha N system.

Results:SpeedDome
Mar 08: 8th outright behind three Evo8's, two Birkin clubmans.

Next round:23August 2009

Rubin competes in the AEM Superkhana series when he, and a car is available.

So far 2009 is off to a better start having only made it to one event in 2008 The first event for 2009 was January 25, in his E36 M3 3.0.

Photo courtesy of Paul Blank at AEM.

Results:SpeedDome 2009
Jan25: 18th outright.

Rubin competes in the AEM Superkhana series when he, and a car is available.

In 2008 he only managed one round, in a loaned customer car (standard E30M3) as his E30M3 has been sold and "BUNKY" has had the engine sold.

Photo courtesy of Paul Blank at AEM.

Vito is again competing in the AEM Superkhana series when he is available.

The cars makover is complete and the engine is being run in. When completely run in a carbon fibre airbox and Alpha N systems will be installed and tuning completed.

Vito is looking foward to getting back into action after missing the last few events due to the makeover.

Results:SpeedDome
Dec07: 9th outright behind ev08, ev09, 2 wrx, 2 clubmans.
Oct19: missed.
Aug 21: missed.
Aug 31: missed.
Mar 02: 3rd outright behind two Evo8's.
Feb 03: 10th outright after incurring a penalty.
Next round:08March 2009

The TRANSCORE Classic Challenge (26-27 April 2008) has been run with Rubin (E30S14) and Vito (E30M3) competing. Owing to illness the Cohens (E36M3) withdrew.

Vito finished an impressive 11th outright (1st normally aspirated and 3rd two wheel drive), with Rubin in 23rd position.

TRANSCORE Classic Challenge photos

Chris Pavy has purchased Vito's M5 (brand new '89 car)). Plans are in place for a late December dyno run, quarter mile drag run and an AHG driving day.

Results:
Quarter mile time was 13.9, dyno and run not yet available.

Vito is competing in the Max Action Autokhana series and AEM Superkhana events in his E30M3.

Results:Max Action
Series 1: 10th outright, 1st in class
Nov11: 1st outright

Results:SpeedDome
Dec07: 3rd outright behind an EVO8 and a Lotus Elise.

Brett's turbo S50 powered E30 competes in the AHG State Sprint Championship against vehicles such as Porsche GT3's, Mitsubishi EVO's and WRX's galore.

Investment in a new set of R spec rubber saw a big improvement in the standings, this being followed by a fine tuning of the suspension settings.

Results: AHG State Sprint Series 2007
Oct29: 2nd outright
Sept23: 3rd outright
Aug26: 7th outright
Jun24: 7th outright
Apr22: 24th outright
Mar25: 17th outright

While the web editer was working in Japan in August/September he attended a round of the BMW CUP at the TSUKUBA race circuit.

Vito (E30M3)has been also competing in the MAX ACTION autokhanas and shaking up the opposition. In his standard engined but well suspended E30 M3 he posted a second fastest time and a top ten outright result even after hitting a bucket on one run.

Rubin and Vito competed in the AEM 2003 Classic Rally.

2002 and 2003 saw competition in the West Australian ENJO Speed Event Series. This consists of various circuit sprints and hillclimbs. At the end of the season results were class wins for 2002 and 2003 and 3rd outright in 2003.

This car is powered by a 321hp 3.2l M3 engine and drives through six speed gearbox and 3.91 LSD. It also features a bias adjustable pedalbox, coilovers, ALCON brakes, race seats and harness, stainless steel exhaust, 16x7.5" rims with 245/45 Bridgestone RE540's.