Hi

Discussion in 'Welcome & Introductions' started by Nick Bartlett, Jan 3, 2021.

  1. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    Hi,

    I'm newish on here.

    I have recently built a Group A E30 M3 and am racing it in the UK. I am running it in the Cecotto Spa 1990 Fina livery.

    So far we have raced in the Oulton Park Gold Cup in the Dunlop Saloon Car Series and in the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone.

    Our current engine is a 295bhp 2.3. We are hoping to build a bigger 2.5 for next season. Also under consideration is the Samosonas 6 speed as a replacement for our Group A 265/5.

    I attach a couple of pictures of the car.

    Nick 25-.jpg 25.jpg
     
  2. autohabit

    autohabit Moderator Staff Member Forum Supporter

    Hi Nick and welcome.

    Looks a really nice car, what's you plans for 2021 (Not perhaps an easy question to answer with the current situation!). I am hoping to get to a few events in the UK to spectate, so keep us posted if you are at any UK venues.


    Alan
     
  3. lucam3evo2

    lucam3evo2 Member

    Hi Nick ,
    welcome!!!
    what'sspecs your m3?
     
  4. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    Hi. I am hoping to do the Dunlop Saloon Car Cup with HSCC. I might also do some of the Legends Historic Touring Car Championship.
     
    autohabit likes this.
  5. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    Hi,

    We have built the car in our own workshops. The parts all match up with the Homologation Papers up to 1990.

    There are a lot of specs but some are below:

    Brembo Gold brake callipers with AP discs
    Grp A from arms, uprights and top mounts with Bilstein dampers
    Group A rear arms with adjusters.
    4.45 CWP with LSD and Group A drive shafts
    Getrag 265/5 with synchro Group A ratios
    AP racing clutch
    2.3 motor bored to 95mm with our own cams and exhaust. C.12:1 CR. Arrow rods. Motorsport bearings and valves. DTM oil pump. C.295 bhp and c.240 ft lbs at flywheel.
    Grp A dash
    Motec Ecu
    Replica BBS 17x8 on centrelocks
    Heated screens
    FEV fire system
    Custom cages cage
    ATL fuel tank with Bosch 044s
    Adjustable ARBs

    All in it comes to about 1030kg with original glass.

    I think that's about it.

    I have a few spares which are now surplus. Grp A rear arms with OE drive shafts. Carbon Airbox, 46mm TBs, cams etc. I will try to put these up on the classifieds section in due course.

    Nick
     
  6. JimmyP

    JimmyP Member Forum Supporter

    Hi Nick,
    Car looks wonderful, is there anywhere you might have more photos posted?

    Was this an original Gruppe A chassis or converted from a road car chassis?

    Best wishes going forward, car looks great both in the photos you posted and the specs.
     
  7. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    Hi, This was a race car built/run by Nigel Moseley (BTCC driver) in the 1990s. It has been rebuilt and refreshed during its life and has been competitive in various championships since the 1090s.

    I have quite a few pics and will post a few up from the HTP papers.
     

    Attached Files:

  8. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    At Oulton Park Gold Cup.
     

    Attached Files:

    autohabit likes this.
  9. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    More to come.
     
  10. lucam3evo2

    lucam3evo2 Member

    what's cams?
     
  11. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    We designed our own cams and had them made. I matched up the lift with the flow characteristics of the head and went from there. It was not our first rodeo on cams as I have done a lot of work developing turbo cams for Lancia Deltas.
    Specs:

    Duration: 303 - 293
    Lift: 13.25/12.5
    Timing: 104/104

    These matched up with the 32mm inlet ports which have blended seats etc.

    I have just designed a racier set of cams that have gone in last week.

    We have also designed our own valves, titanium retainers and spring bases etc. that work well with the cams. We use Arrow buckets and top hat shims.

    We stripped the current engine after 2 seasons and the parts have survived very well with no real signs of wear.

    A few pics of the head below.
     

    Attached Files:

  12. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    The built engine IMG_3562.JPG
     
  13. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    The new carbon airbox came later but didn't actually add any power over the ported aluminium trumpets and our previous CFA.
     
  14. JimmyP

    JimmyP Member Forum Supporter

    Thanks for posting the pics.
    Car looks great.
    Nigel is well known.
    He was super helpful to me when I first bought my Prodrive car and started restoring / researching the chassis.
    Looks like you have done a very faithful build on it, great work.
     
  15. Nilsp

    Nilsp Active Member

    Hi, welcome!
    Very nice car, and well done on all the engine stuff.
    May ask how much rpm you use, and the peak rpm for hp and torque?

    Regarding HTP.. in the process myself.. -did they say anything on the motec system? some say it has to be the old system, which I dont intend to use either!

    Brgds from Norway
     
  16. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    Hi,

    We have 295bhp at 7105rpm with 239 ft lb of torque at 5,800 rpm.

    For HTP, there is an exemption where you are allowed to substitute parts where they are no longer available. Our car originally had Zytec management which is not available. So long as you use a replacement operating on the same inputs and principles then the scrutineer can allow Motec. I know many HTP cars running on Pectel or Motec.

    We have just done a top end rebuild on the engine and have designed a more aggressive set of cams. I am now hoping to increase output to a bit over 300bhp.

    Nick
     
  17. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    If anybody is interested we are making more of our BBS replica wheels and I can add to the order. These are centrelock only and we won't be making them for road cars as the re-design costs and programming take too much time.cost as everybody seems to want different things.
     
  18. JimmyP

    JimmyP Member Forum Supporter

    LOL, I have felt your pain.
    When I bought my Prodrive car it came with a Zytec EMS in it, the software was on 3.5" disks in DOS. We couldnt even find a computer to open the files to even look at them.
    Took the Zytec out, put it all in a nice sealed box on a shelf for posterity.
    Switched to a more modern system, and its all better now.
     
  19. Nilsp

    Nilsp Active Member

    Hi Nick,

    Ok,thanks for the heads up.. really not sure what to expect from this HTP case :cool:
    Want to change system just to not be restricted to travel days to people know the old system and can make a eprom.. would be to much hassle. Not exepcting any gains on a modern ecu.
    But you use a cam sync sensor also?

    Your engine sounds very torquey for sure! should be capable of more rpm.
    Interesting parts you've got there.
    How does these cams compare to schricks etc? I guess they are not like the fat ms cams.
    How much does the head flow?

    Im rebuilding an old 2.5 grA engine, looking forward testing it.

    Brgds,
    Nils
     
  20. Nick Bartlett

    Nick Bartlett New Member

    Hi,

    Yes we run a cam sensor.

    The power/torque results were great and we were very pleased with this as our first build. The next is already ready for the dyno with much more aggressive cams. It will be interesting to see the results.

    Our cams in the 295bhp engine are high lift with 303/293 duration and c.13mm lift. I discarded the shrick options early on due to their ridiculous price. I did when speccing these cams review the MS and Shrick profiles and what we have is closer to the MS profiles.

    I didn't measure the head flow but did spend a lot of time on the blend into the seats and also on our valves which we had made to suit along with profiled valve guides and some work in the combustion chambers.

    Interestingly I have had a few orders for the cams which shows that there is confidence in what we have done.

    What outputs are other people getting from 2.3 motors?

    Nick