Drivers Schools to Club Racing - A Dream Realized By Simon Hunter   I have been a car enthusiast about as long as I can remember. As a child growing up in England I would read every car magazine I could get my hands on. I raced small radio controlled cars to get my kicks, and like today put all in my money into making that thing go faster! I would get excited whenever my Dad got a new car because it was a new vehicle for me to sit in making "Vroom Vroom" noises.   When I first moved to this country, one thing that really bothered me was how ugly all the cars were and how there was not a good selection of sporty hatch-backs or small sports cars. Don't people like driving in this country? I mean there is so much space, what a waste. Not to mention the police who seem to spend a good portion of their time sitting at the side of the road waiting for "dangerous" drivers like myself who are going 80 on a perfectly flat straight piece of beautiful highway. But I digress.   When it finally came time for me to buy my first "real" car (not the piece of junk I now drive everyday), I had basically decided that I wanted a VW Golf GTI. I loved these little cars back in England and that’s what I wanted to get over here. When the new Golf came out I thought it was a little soft and had lost a little bit of the edge that made the GTI such a fun car. But there wasn't much else to buy. I didn't even consider a BMW. Whether new or used, I just didn't think it was in my price range. Then one day I stumbled across an ad for a 91 BMW 318is. It had all kinds of upgrades like E30 M3 brakes, interior, chip and suspension. I went and saw the car and bought it after a 2 minute test drive. A complete impulse buy, but I was happy as a pig in… well you know what I mean.   Being the enthusiast that I am I then thought it would be a good idea to join the BMWCCA and attend a monthly meeting. Met some nice people and saw some nice cars, hey this isn't bad. Then someone mentions to me I should sign up for a driving school. "What's that?", I inquire. Well, you get to thrash your car around a racetrack, with proper instruction of course. So for around $300 I could go on a racetrack in my own car and have the time of my life? I had never even thought I could do that for that kind of money. I had only known of Skip Barber schools and the like, that can cost thousands of dollars for the weekend. So I signed up but was put on the waiting list.   By the week before the school I had lost all hope when no package had arrived and I knew other club members had their packages. Then the night before the school, Kim Tiede calls me and says someone dropped out and I'm at the top of the waiting list, would I be able to make it? Hell yes I would! Of course the car wasn't ready one bit. Luckily Kelly from Vauhgn Motorwerks was kind enough to put on new brake pads and bleed the brake system that day.   I make it to the school and I'm still a little worried about putting my new baby onto a racetrack. What if I wreck? I can't afford to replace this baby, and I would kill myself if anything happened. Then I was on the track, boy did those thoughts just fly out the window, I was pasting that car around the track (at least I thought I was) like there was no tomorrow. Then my instructor at the time says, "Let me drive for a couple of laps so you can see what the car can do". This made me a little nervous, but I'm new here so sure. Aaaahhh. So that’s what the car can do! I realized I wasn't even close to the car's limits. Needless to say I was hooked.   I met Mike Frank and Seung Chung that weekend who were also doing their first driving schools, Seung in an E30 318is, and Mike in his beautiful black E36 M3. We instantly became friends, all having the common bond of our cars and the need for speed The next year or two we attended as many schools as we could afford. About six in total. We were affectionately known as the "Three Amigos".   During this time Mike is constantly bugging me "hey you need to step up to an M3, so we can run together". Then Seung goes and buys an E30 M3, damn him! If he can find a way to buy one and still be a student on a limited budget then I have no excuses. Although I was having the time of my life running the 318, I really wanted a little more power, to keep up with those guys. The obvious choice for me was to replace the 318 with the race bred E30 M3 following in Seung's footsteps.   I started looking for the car, but most of the ones I drove were not very tight and quite ratty. I knew it would be buzzy but not that bad surely! Then Jeff Krause had a low mileage (35,000) mile car for sale. That would be perfect. I talked to Rick Vaughn who had already looked over the car for another buyer and he said it was one of the strongest cars he had driven. But alas I really couldn't quite afford it yet, and I balked at buying it. Then at the next BMW meeting I saw Jeff and casually asked, "So do you still have that silver car?" Of course he had to say, "Yes the last buyer fell through, it is outside, wanna drive it?" Oh no, here we go. We take it for a drive and it is almost totally stock but very tight and handles and drives how I imagined an E30 M3 would. Ten minutes later I'm going over numbers in my head and buy it.   The next year or so the Three Amigos became a fixture at Putnam Park and Mid-Ohio. One year at Putnam we were all running in the "A" group at the Rites of Spring driving school. We were having casual conversation with one of the other drivers while standing on the grid. Mike mentions to him that he was driving well when he passed him in an earlier session. The driver looked Mike dead in the eye and says, "No one ever passes me!". It is not uncommon to get the odd drivers with more ego than driving skill. The next session the Three Amigos are running round the track letting each other lead and checking out each other's lines around the track. Then in the distance we see the aforementioned driver. Seung lets Mike take the lead and we catch his car coming through turn ten on to the back straight. He gives Mike the passing signal and Seung and I basically draft right on by, the poor guy barely had time to get his hand out the window to signal Seung and I. The other driver was very sporting after the session. He comes over to talk to us, "I was driving, and I looked in my mirror and there was nobody there, then I looked again and there were three cars in my mirror!". We all had a good laugh about it.   I was having the time of my life doing the driving schools, but was starting to get a little bored just driving the track passing Porches and Corvettes all day J . Don't get me wrong, it was still the most fun I would have all year with my clothes on, but I needed more. Racing was the next step, but I couldn't afford it. Then I got a bonus at work and a few pay raises, and it was time to go racing. And yes I did take one of the lowest mileage E30 M3's in the country and turn it into a race car. Sue me, I have a disease! There was no way I was going to sell the car and I had to go racing. So in went the cage, seat, and window net, and before long I had a race car.   My first race was at Mid-Ohio. Not only was I a rookie but the race was sold out, a sixty car field with twelve in my class, J-Stock. Qualifying went well, I managed to qualify third in class and eighteenth overall out of fifty or so cars. Then we had the first race of the weekend, the thirty minute sprint race. I was a little nervous but not as bad as I thought I might be. We bunched up for the start and I hear Tammy Reamer (pit crew) over the radio, "Green, Green, Green". I floor it, of course. Despite how many times Bob Stommel (my mentor for the weekend) had told me to remember to shift to third at the start because I wouldn't be able to hear my own engine, I still forgot. Once cars start pulling away from me I realize, "Shift you idiot"! I couldn't believe how intense the first couple of laps were. I got passed by a couple of cars including a J-Stock car (Jack Money) that was for position. I was basically just trying to stay alive.   After the first two laps I started to settle down and passed back a couple of cars. Then I was behind Jack Money who had passed me earlier. Twice I got a run on him on the front straight and twice we went through turn one and up to turn two side by side. I conceded the corner at turn two, he later told me that he heard me brake at turn two and knew I had given him the corner. The next lap Jack misses a shift in the keyhole and I am through to third in J-stock. The field starts to string out and I'm in a comfortable position, then the car starts misfiring and my race is over. Luckily it was a simple problem to fix as two spark plug electrodes had given up the ghost, possibly from the over rev at the start. Fellow Hoosiers Bob Biggs, and Bob Stommel didn't have much luck either. Bob Biggs had a minor incident with another E36 M3 in turn two; Apparently you can't fit two cars on the same piece of race track. Bob Stommel was struggling all weekend with an overheating problem with a new 2.5 litre motor in his E30 M3.   I was happy to get the car fixed but I had to start from forty-forth overall for the one hour endurance race. (Your finishing spot in the sprint race decides your starting position for the enduro). Bob Biggs was just in front of me and Bob Stommel, last I saw, had the hood up on the grid and was crawling around under the car in his race suit. I got a great start because someone spun at the front and by the time I got to turn one there were roughly four cars in the grass. It did not take me very long to get up to a reasonable position. Once I got up to cars that would be harder to pass, I decided to take my pit stop. With two laps to go I managed to catch the third place J-Stock competitor, I didn't know how much time was left but knew it was not much. I was faster than him around the track, but his car was very good on the straits. This made him very difficult to pass. I did get alongside him once and we went through turn one side by side, but he held his ground and I let him go in two. So I finished the race fourth in J-stock and eighteenth overall. Bob Biggs had worked his way to second in H-Stock and fifteenth overall. Bob Stommel got his car running finally and continued to break in his new motor, he worked his way up to around twenty eighth overall. So at least all the Hoosiers finished the enduro. It was the most exhilarating one hour of my life.   My dream has been realized and I have to thank a few people. Everybody in the club for all their help and support. Especially Jeff Harker, may he rest in peace. He was always willing to let Mike and I use his garage and his many tools and give his expertise when we obviously had no clue what we were doing. We would drip oil (E30 M3 what do you expect), spill coolant all over the place and generally make a mess. You could be under the car and say "Er, Jeff I need a 3/8 stubby wrench with medium length extension and u-joint connector with a fifteen millimeter six point bit on it", and then three seconds later Jeff's hand would appear with the exact tool you needed. Wow, did we die and go to garage heaven? He was also the one who vouched for my so-called driving abilities when I applied for my Club Racing License. I would like to thank everyone who helped me get ready for racing, Bob Stommel & Bob Biggs (Just Bob Racing), Rick Vauhgn and company for preparing the car, and Jerry and Tammy Reamer who helped be my pit crew and support for the weekend. Jerry and Tammy enabled me to concentrate on driving for the weekend.   I especially want to thank my good friends Mike Frank and Seung Chung. Without them pushing me so hard on the track, I seriously doubt I would be at the driving level I am now. I also owe Mike about twenty trips to Vauhgn's shop and back. Seung has moved to California now where I hear he is showing those West Coasters how to drive Buttonwillow. I don't think they appreciate a Hoosier showing up and spanking them the first time he is at that track. Rumor is he got black flagged for being too close to a car (M-Coupe Race Car) when it would not let him by for two laps. They are both great drivers who need to step up and race so the "Three Amigos" can run together once again. Only now we can pass in the corners.   So if you are thinking that racing is out of reach, I'm here to tell you its possible. Just don't look at your credit card bills. If you are married, you need a very understanding wife or a co-driver. I recommend the latter.   See you all at the track. I'll be the one with the silly grin on my face.   Simon 88 M3 JS #9

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