The second of two BMW Club Races in Canada is slated for Mosport on September 7-9. Please come out and cheer us on especially if you missed us at Tremblant on July 13-15.

For all the excitement of BMW Club Racing it is not the final step one can take in a racing career. Because of our vintage rules and emphasis on safety and the preservation of equipment it is more like a fist step for the select few who want to take their hobby further.

Don Salama is one BMW Club Racer who has done just that. He was one of us just a couple of years ago and distinguished himself as a class and outright race winner on numerous occasions. When the opportunity came to move up, Don accepted and he is now in his second season with Turner Motorsport running a BMW in SCCA's World Challenge pro touring series. Here are Don 's observation on taking the next step.

Having been through this transition from Club to Pro racing and personally dealt with the sponsorship search, here are my thoughts.

I was one of only a few people who made the move from BMW club racing directly to World Challenge Touring. I think I made the transition reasonably well, but I know now in hindsight that I was missing some experiences that can be very important if you are serious about optimizing your performance as well as staying safe on the track.

First, more important than which venue you club race in, its how much quality racing (wheel to wheel)experience you get. If you're running 3-5 races per year in a class that has little competition you will have a very difficult adjustment in moving to a Pro class. If you have run 10+ races per year and often competed wheel-to-wheel for race distances, the experience is much more valuable. In Pro racing and especially World Challenge expect to never have a moments rest for the full hour of racing - expect to be taken advantage of if you make one mistake in one corner over the full race distance. And that could very well mean getting tagged, punted, side swiped, whatever - always be prepared for it.

Now BMW Club racing (typically ha ha) does not offer the banging experience, however if you're in the right class with the right competitors (like JS in the Northeast) you will get great wheel-to-wheel dueling - its invaluable. I know that many SCCA classes may "allow" banging but do not always have enough competitors to ensure you are getting that wheel-to-wheel racing. So look for the key elements of learning not just the right racing body.

You also need to evaluate your performance. How fast am I... for one lap... can you put a fast one together any time?... can you run 25 laps within .5 seconds of your best lap or do you fall off, make mistakes, etc. I know I used to compare my time in my DM car to Pro times as best I could - it was very difficult to say whether I would be running in the top 10 or middle 20. It's important for you to evaluate where you may be running realistically - will you not want to be there if you can't run in the top 10? Can you have a great time running mid-pack? Many drivers do. Many do not.

I think the toughest thing I learned was how to look for that last half second. When you're in club racing running with 1 or 2 other good drivers, you can sometimes be fastest without optimizing your performance or the car's. When you have 10 great drivers perfecting a lap you realize the importance of being perfect. It can be very rewarding and frustrating. The difference between 1st and 5th place in qualifying may sometimes be a relatively minor setup adjustment to your car - you need to be able to read your car quickly and solve your problems - learn the technical side of setup - don't be lazy and say the car is good enough. Even if you've qualified on pole ask yourself if you can be faster and look for it.

So now the sponsorship side. An area I haven't done well at. I've been funding my own ride in a series that gets 60+ hours of TV time. Last year and so far this season I get more TV time and general exposure than most cars.

I now sit here half way through the W.C Touring Car season 2nd in the championship out of 50+ competitors and have no more sponsorship opportunities than I did when I started. This job takes as much time as racing itself. Although you need to know how to do it, you also need contacts to do it with and the best contacts are ones where you or someone you know well has a relationship. $$ don't necessarily go to the best driver, they go to the best salesman.

The bottom line is that WC gives me a high when things are going well. That's what makes you come back and spend a good portion of your life savings on an expensive hobby. If you can swing it - do it - there is almost nothing like it.

Don Salama #94
Turner Motorsport BMW
World Challenge Touring Car