Prep tips for BMWCCA racing classes

[phaques]

I'd be interested in posting and responding to questions in this thread on specific club racing regulation questions...so I'll start with a one:

Regarding the suspension regs for BMWCCA stock class racing...if you are only allowed to use the stock oem upper front shock mounts (and they seem to say this twice in the regs, so it must be a big issue), then how do you get anywhere close to the max allowable 3.5 degrees of negative camber?

for reference, here is the relevant section from the 2004 rules:

"Upper front shock mounts must be OEM factory parts. Solid mounts and/or substitute bushing material are prohibited. The negative camber setting at either front wheel may not exceed 3.5 degrees through any method or combination of methods. There is no negative camber limit for the rear wheels. Factory camber correction mounts ("crash mounts"), non-adjustable camber plates and "hat" swapping are allowed so longas the maximum allowed negative camber setting is not exceeded. The car must be equipped with the factory-original, upper front strut mount. It
must be used without modification to the part. The body holes locating and securing the mount must be unaltered and used in the original configuration to secure the mounting. No slotting, modification or substitutes are permitted."

[ptg95m3]

I posed this question to some others and here is what I got:

1) Knock out factory alignment pin. If you have an ///M3 (which you do) you can swap the left and the right strut bearings, since they're assymetrical, and give you an additional 1.5 degree of negative camber.

2) I believe certain models, you can adjust the tie-rod assembly to push the bottom of the wheel out a little bit more. Used in combination with the strut bearings trick you can obtain up to 3 degrees of negative camber.

More of the discussion is here:

Camber question

[phaques]

That is clever! What is the factory alignment pin? That looks like a more racer oriented board - thanks for referring the post over there.
thanks.

[ptg95m3]

Originally posted by phaques
That is clever! What is the factory alignment pin? That looks like a more racer oriented board - thanks for referring the post over there.
thanks.

No problem - it's all about sharing the info