Arnold,
The '91 318is was never in HS. Before going to GS it was actually a DS
car. And a rather successful one at that. You're thinking of the '92
and up E36 318is, which is still in HS.
The classing change that happened last year was in response to the total
domination of what was then GS by the Integra Type R. Also I believe
the SAC/SEB wanted to consolidate some of the predominantly FWD, hot
hatch categories to make room for one new sports car class (AS).
So, to make a long story short, the former ES (cars like the '94 Celica
ST and 1st gen CRX Si) got split in half, the lower half merging into
HS, and the upper half merging to GS. The top dogs of GS (Type R,
Celica GTS, IS300, 6 cyl BMW 3 series) moved up to DS. And some of the
main cars in DS (Neon, E30 318is) got moved back down to GS.
They added in a new AS for C4 Corvettes etc., made the old AS BS, the
old BS CS, the old CS ES.
So now you have decent competition in DS between the ITR, BMW 330, WRX
etc. GS is the most interesting class to come out of the reclass by far
IMO. There are a wide variety of cars that can be competitive on any
day, given the right course, driver, weather conditions etc. Anything
from a tiny '85 CRX Si with 91hp but only 1800lbs to carry around to a
big, heavy V6 Camaro have shown to be competitive. In the middle are a
bunch of fairly lightweight, low power speed maintenance cars like the
Celica GT, the Neon, the old Subaru 2.5RS and your 318is. I believe any
of these could be competitive on most courses.
The 318is you bought is an *excellent* car for GS. It was a good DS car
after all, although the Celicas are getting faster. The E30 318is was
only made in 1991, so they aren't that common. The motor was not that
powerful, but the car supposedly had struts from the E30 M3 as well as
an available clutch type LSD and lower ride height. Although it has
struts and not much negative camber up front, it is specced with
something like 9 degrees of caster from the factory!
Pete Mottaz might be able to shed some more light as he owned Bob
Tunnell's championship winning 318is for a while. I have driven them
and they are fun cars, though they have a reputation for being somewhat
tippy on race tires due to a narrow track and long suspension travel.
I haven't seen you around for a while Arnold, so I'm sure all you need
is some good seat time to get back in it. Also keep in mind you were
running street tires on a surface that grips like heck with Hoosiers.
But no, it's not the car. If anything Joe and Anna Goeke proved that
last weekend- I was working course for heat 4 and they hustled that
3600lb Audi boat around way faster than it had *any* right to go!:)
Peter
-----Original Message-----
From: red 318is [mailto:red318is@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2003 4:18 PM
To: ba-autox@autox.team.net
Subject: GS class cars
I'm having a small argument with a friend over why my '91 BMW 318is got
bumped up to GS from HS this year. Can anyone post a short list of the
other
cars in GS? I'm at work (yeh, I know, I shouldn't be doing this at work)
and
don't have my rule book with me. Thanks.
On the Nat'l Tour, it was my first taste of some serious competition and
boy
did I feel intimidated. Anywho, as much as I'd like to blame my poor
performance on the car (this w/e was the first time I took it autoxing),
I
know my driving sucked. I'll be showing up at more SFR events between
Sac
events to get some more seat time.
-Arnold.
ps. if anyone has an insight on the class change, please share it.
Thanks
again.
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