An Open Letter to Petrolicious (Regarding the BMW M Coupe)

Petrolicious, your YouTube channel has trumped Top Gear UK as my favorite motoring show.  The depth of story and imagery you provide is unmatched.  The majority of episodes focusing on European marques absolutely appeal to my finely honed tastes.  Please, take 5 minutes to read my proposition.

If you ever decide to do an episode on the quirky BMW (Z3) M Coupe, I'm your man.  I daily drive a high mileage BMW E30, but the pride of my automotive quiver is one of only 690 S54-powered M Coupes.  I have become a local M Coupe whisperer, learning the craft of maintaining and repairing a majority of the few M Coupes in Colorado.  I also have an S52 powered (Z3) M Roadster track car, wearing the same Imola Red paint its stablemate.  A Z3M car special could utilize both of these cars, on the track and in the plentiful canyon roads along Colorado's Front Range.

I realize the M Coupe is probably a bit too new to qualify amongst the much older cars you feature, but I think there is a storyline there.  The M Coupe is a unique intersection of technology that encompasses 3 generations of BMW engineering.  Designed as a pet project by engineers at M GmbH, it was never originally meant to go into production.  It has the original E30 M3 rear-end and accompanying trailing-arm suspension tendencies, coupled to robust yet reliable E36 internals.  The few that got the E46 M3's S54 engine shoe-horned under their bonnet benefit from the last of BMW Motorsport's normally aspirated, high revving, inline six cylinder engines, while embodying the visceral and involved driving experience of original E30 M3.  The polarizing design and absolute absurdity behind its development make the fact that the M Coupe was ever offered for sale a stark contrast in a car company that has since catered to different values.  If you ever decide to do a story on the M Coupe, I'd be happy to assist you.  If Colorado is too far, I know ton's of eccentric people in the M Coupe community.

Great work.  I look forward to every new episode!

The Midget through a Macro Lens

The legend of Dick McCulloch lives on through the MG Midget I inherited from him.  I've decided to keep the car as close as possible to how my Dad left it until the drivers seat literally falls through the slowly widening hole in the floor.  I put my new camera and macro lens to work capturing a few of the rich details from 32 years of my Dad's "modifications."

  

Summit Point Kart 24 Hour Enduro Race

Summit Point Karts hosts some of the best endurance karting in the country.  We've done 12 and 14 hour races there, but this summer SPK went big and hosted a 24 Hour Enduro!  It ended up raining for 16 hours of the race, turning an already painful slog into a cold and wet suffer-fest.  We assembled all of the usual characters on our Green Stigs team (Andrew, Tim, and Myself), then invited a few real Stigs from the karting world (Jon, Josh, and Nevin) to level our odds against the incredibly talented field of drivers.

We qualified in 3rd and Jon put us in 2nd by the end of his first stint.  Then the rain started.  It wasn't just rain, it was relentless walls of water cascading down on a track with varied surfaces and grip.  The best grip was far off the racing line, which meant straight-lining through the outside of turns while trusting the kart would hook up at the edges.  It usually worked, but not always.  As the soggy hours passed, Josh put his driving-in-the-wet skills to work holding us in the top 3.  Nevin maintained the position through his stint, then I went out and ruined it all.  Driving a kart in the wet on slicks is a skill that is only learned through spins, punts, and heroic "offs."  Jens (who runs SKP) likened it to a 90% loss of performance over the dry.  I would compare it to ice field infested with mines (tire walls and other karts).  After a half a stint I was decently fast and enjoying the challenge.  By the time Andrew and Tim climbed the steep (slippery) learning curve we were down to 9th place.

The long night was a buffet of cold, wet misery.  I spent hours huddling to any warmth I could find between driving stints filled terror and metered aggression.  It was wonderful!  By dawn the rain had passed and the track started to dry.  Our position started climbing.  We worked past 9th, 8th, and 7th.  In the final hours of the race we found ourself in purgatory at 6th place.  We were far too ahead of 7th to get passed and far too off of 5th place to make a pass, unless something dramatic happened.  We ran out the clock in 6th, our best finish yet.  I'll let the pics and video tell the rest of the story.  I can't wait for the next one!

Aerial Footage of the Race

(YouTube)

(Vimeo)

Karts Queued Up

Photo Courtesy of Summit Point Kart

Team Green Stigs

(Jon, Andrew, Tim, Alex, Josh, Nevin)

Strategy Meeting - This Shit is Serious!

Relaxed Once the Race Starts

Preparing for the Rain

The Rain Begins

Alex in the Penalty Box

Rain = Misery

Flying the Drone

Our Pit

McCulloch Boys Up to No Good

Andrew and Jen

Heat

Sunset

Into the Night

2:00 AM

Just Imagine the Smell

Dawn

Photo Courtesy of Summit Point Kart

Andrew in the Fog

Photo Courtesy of Summit Point Kart

15 Mins of Sleep

6th Place Purgatory

(6 laps down from 5th, 7 laps up from 7th)

"Maintain"

My Last Stint

Pain

Tim and Andrew

Green Stigs - 6th Place

This About Sums It Up