Getting Ready for One Lap of America

One Lap of America is an eight-day driving endurance race created by Brock Yates. Reading this you probably already know that it started as free-for-all run from New York City to Redondo Beach, California in the 1970’s and inspired a handful of movies. You also probably know that these days it is a more disciplined event where racing takes place on tracks and public roads are used only as means of getting form one location to the next.

Much like me, at one point you probably also wanted to enter One Lap of America. You are still confident that your mad driving skillz and even madder car tuning, modification, and repair skillz would totally pwn all those suckas and their jalopies. Right.

Talk is cheap for Justin Kababik, who in 2000 entered his first One Lap with a stock-ish ’89 BMW 535i. He loved the event so much that he entered again One Lap again in 2001 and 2002, each time modifying his 535i accordingly for faster lap times. Sadly the M30 motor did not like the pressurized air much and blew up on the first lap of the first event in 2002. D’oh!

Currently Justin, and our mutual friend Baer and his performance shop Ace Performance, are preparing the Redfive Motorsports for the 2011 One Lap of America. This year, because of its age, the venerable E34 will be competing in the “Classic Imported” class. Between TCD Turbocharged engine, well sorted chassis and the experience of previous races, Justin and Baer and are hoping for a class win.

One Lap 2011 starts at the end of April, so time is running to get everything done before the race. You don’t look at a patient in surgery as much as you don’t look a work-in-progress project car, so don’t dismiss the car by looking at these pictures. A lot of work still needs to be completed before the event. This is the current list of what the car is getting for 2011 One Lap and names of companies making it all possible through sponsorship and discounts:

• ACE Performance is doing the tuning of the car.
• DFORCE Wheels is supplying the wheels.
• UUC Motorwerks has helped with the custom clutch setup to handle the power.
• Bimmerworld supplied the Ground Control coil-overs.
• Sports Car Restoration modified the roll-bar so seats can recline, installed the hood vents, and helped fabricate the rear adjustable sub-frame that still needs to be installed.
• Turbocharging Dynamics provided the intercooled turbo kit.
• Bavarian Engine Exchange built the low-compression engine in 2006 that is the basis of the engine that’s currently in the car (ported cylinder head and the balanced lower end).
• BMA Auto Parts has been a supporter of RedFive me for years, providing hard to find parts and discounts.
• HIFI Auto Sport will be revamping of the stereo system, need tunes for the road!
• Boston Acoustics are supplying new amps and speakers.

The RedFive still needs:

• The MOMO seats in the car are completely shot, so new recline-able sport seats are high on the list. Why recline-able? Ever drive more than 100 miles in a race bucket, let alone 5000 miles in a week? Not comfortable.
• Proper set of 3” 5 or 6 point race harnesses.
• Money for gas, about $1000 (depending on Mr. Gaddafi, probably more). The car gets high teens on the highway and low single digits on the track.
• Front splitter, E36 racing splitter should do the trick.
• Tires, One Lap requires that we buy a set of One Lap stamped tires from Tirerack.com and then when we show up for the event they give us the 25% discount.  Without the discount the tires run us $1200 for four.
• Alignment, further tuning, and a bunch of miscellaneous crap which combined requires many hours of work.
• Find a charity to raise money for!

Specs on the car:

Built November 1988. Originally a 535i 5 speed, Zinnoberrot red with a tan interior.
Currently has 217,000 miles

Engine:

• 3.6 liter M30b35 (bored)
• Paul Burke designed low compression forged pistons (8:1cr)
• Paul Burke custom turbo cam
• Ported and Polished head
• PAR chromoly forged connecting rods
• Balanced lower end
• Dinan polished intake manifold
• Turbocharging Dynamics stage 2 turbo setup with their stage 4 SC-61 turbo and 3″ exhaust
• 55 lb/hr injectors
• Cometic MLS headgasket and APR studs
• Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator
• ATI fuel pump (in-tank)
• DTA S80 Pro fuel management and traction control system tuned by ACE performance
• Aquamist 2c Water-injection system

Brakes:

• Brembo GT with 2 piece drilled and slotted rotors by FrozenRotors.com and Performance Friction PF97 pads
• M5 spec rear brakes with cross drilled Frozen Rotors and Pagid pads

Suspension:

• Racing Dynamics adjustable sway bars
• Ground Control Racing Coilover setup w/ 700/750 lb springs ft/rr with custom valved Koni adjustables
• Front camber and caster plates
• Rear M5 subframe with toe and camber adjust

Driveline:

• UUC 6-puck ceramic clutch
• BMW rebuilt Getrag260/5 gearbox
• Quaife ATB differential with 3.46 gearing
• Short shift kit

Wheels:

• D-Force Empowers 18×8.5 front and 18×9.5 rear with 265/35/18 and 275/35/18 tires

Interior:

• 4 pt rollbar
• Schroth harnesses
• Momo seats
• Momo steering wheel, pedals and shift knob
• Custom gauging (AFR, boost, oil temp, oil pressure, volts)
• Partially stripped interior with aluminum floor pans

Exterior:

• Zender aero (front and rear)
• M-tech side skirts
• ACS rear spoiler (or APR perfomance carbon fiber GT wing)
• Euro spec headlights with HID lighting
• Vented hood
• Shadowline trim

Be on a lookout for more on the Redfive here and these pages:

• http://redfivemotorsport.com/ (whole history of the car, including earlier One Laps)
• Redfive-racing.blogspot.com (pretty pictures)
• www.facebook.com/pages/Redfive-Racing/159525514074395 (most frequent updates!)

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http://www.aceperformancesystems.com/

http://dforcewheels.com/