So now you may be asking, “What is Sprint Booster?”

The Sprint Booster aims to overcome this throttle response delay for ECT-equipped vehicles, providing crisp on-tap acceleration at the driver’s disposal. The ECT system (Electronic Throttle Control, also known as drive-by-wire) has the unfortunate downside of delayed throttle response and subdued acceleration, creating problems in certain circumstances such as up-hill starts, quick gear changes, overtaking, etc. This is where Sprint Booster comes into play. It is an electronic device that modifies the throttle curve for increased performance that makes your car “feel” more powerful. The stock system is designed for “smoothness” and fuel economy while Sprint Booster makes your car more “fun” to drive

While Sprint Booster does not increase horsepower, it changes the throttle response in the low to mid rpm range where cars spend a majority of their time. As a result, your car feels peppier and more powerful. Horsepower gains usually improves performance in the mid to high rpm range, sometimes with a loss of horsepower and torque in the lower rpm range. Sprint Booster, however, is designed to improve driveability in the low to mid rpm range where most cars are driven on a daily basis. Basically, Sprint Booster puts the fun back into daily driving.

Sprint Booster is a hardware based product designed specifically for your car. It installs easily between the accelerator pedal module and the harness in about 10 minutes with a 5mm allen wrench. Your car can be restored to stock just as easily.

Contact:

Email: info@minimania.com

Phone: 1-800- 946-2642 (7am-5pm PST)

URL: http://www.sprintboostersales.com

Mailing address: 870 Gold Flat Rd., Suite A, Nevada City, CA 95959

The season opener at Infineon Raceway was a raging success. The series has already grown from the 2 cars last year to 6 competitors on Saturday (March 15th, 2008) and 7 on Sunday (March 16th, 2008). The March event at Thunderhill saw 6 Saturday and 9 the following race. Add to that the 3 or 4 cars in our shop that we’re preparing and we’ll have a full grid of our own by the end of the season. The SpecE30 series is a real testament to BMWs and their durability. The cars are limited to stock engines, transmissions and differentials. Despite the cars being nearly 20 years old they are able to withstand the abuse of the warm up, the qualifying, and 30 minute sprint races with little to no maintenance between rounds! While our fellow racers are busy hammering away repairing or replacing parts we get to stand around and enjoy each others company. This camaraderie has some Spec Miata and RX7 people looking at our series, the Valley Motorwerks / Norcalspece30.com

Saturday’s race at Infineon was pretty trouble free despite half the field was made up of rookies. We took the time to talk to everyone and make sure that they were going to drive a clean race and not damage their car or reputation! The guys did really well and I was proud to watch them in their maiden race. I was not present for Sunday’s race and maybe it was a good thing. All of our good luck from Saturday was gone by Sunday’s race. Brenden Selvig from Carmel managed to overcook turn 11 and total out a Honda Challenge car. Luckily no one was hurt and the parties involved were able to work out an equitable solution. The March Thunderhill race was simply incredible. I thought it would be difficult to outdo ourselves but we did. Having a record number of 9 cars and 2 others at the track going through testing was an incredible feeling. Adam Lazur, Mike Schwartzbart, Ryan Johnson and Brenden Selvig tested for their licenses and passed! Ryan sat out the Sunday race but the others jumped in feet first. The start was a reverse grid that placed 2 rookies on the front of the pack. The races were going to be run with a standing rather than a rolling start adding to the stress. AJ Goldsmith took off early then BACKED UP and got back into place just in time for the green flag. We could have had a real catastrophe on our hands but it all worked out well. There was some really exciting racing but it only lasted a few laps. Unfortunately, the race was red flagged due to a bad accident that involved Brandon Kraus. He took Lifeflight to a Chico area hospital and was released with only bruising a few cuts and a broken arm. His crash was a grim reminder how dangerous our sport can be.

For most of the guys this was their chance to get into racing and live out a lifelong dream. The cost of building and maintaining a SpecE30 is relatively low compared to other forms of auto racing. A set of tires will run 3 race weekends and brake pads will last about half a season.

VMWERKS Racing prepared a car for licensed racers outside the series to drive during a non-race session. Scott and Marcus Miller, Don Bailey, Carlos Suarez, Mark Welch, Tommy Lo and Richard Serafino along with myself took the car out. The common thread between all of us was how drivable the car was. The Miatas owners really liked the stability of the chassis and all the torque. I owned a SpecE30 for 2 years and picked up a second one a year ago but had never driven one. I was excited to get behind the wheel and give it a go. My personal track car is an E30 but is modified to a much greater degree than the Spec cars. I was surprised at how quickly you could pedal around Thunderhill in a stock drivetrain E30. The E30 chassis equipped with the Spec suspension had no bad habits and was “easy” to drive. Needless to say the test drive concept was a good one and allowed other competitors a chance to see what racing “The Ultimate Driving Machine” is all about!

See you at the races!

Meet some of the VMWERKS team:
Walter Ford, President

Alex Johnson, Service Writer

Michael Luce, Director of Operations 22 years with BMW

Kevin Borchers, Lead technician and fabricator (BMW master certified as well as ASE master certified)

Sergey Ryssev, Technician

CONTACT:
Valley Motorwerks
11401 White Rock Rd
Rancho Cordova, Ca 95742

• Phone: 916-636-9526 sales or service
• Fax: 916-635-2053
• Email: walter.ford@vmwerks.com

Good links for Nurburgring Lap Times:

Forum Post with Nurburgring Lap Times

There doesn’t seem to be a good place to discuss and keep track of Nurburgring lap times for production, modified and race prepared cars.

Here are a couple of important links:

Nurburgring entry on Wikipedia

Fast lap times at Nurburgring

* This page and section are very much a work in progress at this point.

In addition to offering race courses, FAST LANE Racing School also provides courses for new/teen drivers. Their Defensive Driving Academy, an extension of FAST LANE, is also involved in the “development and management of Toyota Driving Expectations, a free program offered to teens and parents throughout the United States.”

Press release follows for more on FAST LANE Racing School and the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race:

An eclectic roster of stars of film, television and sports will strap into brand new race-ready Scion tCs to vie for the checkered flag in the world’s longest-running, most successful celebrity racing event: the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on Saturday, April 19, part of the 34th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

For the 23rd year, Danny McKeever and FAST LANE Racing School, the Official Racing School of Toyota Motorsports, will provide all driver training for this coveted event. Participants are required to attend a four-day high performance course at FAST LANE, where they will prepare for their racing adventure in Long Beach, CA, April 20. Regardless of previous experience, all participants start with the basics such as braking and skid control, and work their way up to advanced racing techniques, such as heel-toe downshifting, passing and simulated race starts.

“It’s the camaraderie that occurs in these four days of training that makes this event special,” said Mckeever, a 40-year teaching veteran and CEO of FAST LANE. “To watch a NASCAR pro like Mike Skinner or Todd Bodine come out along side of someone who barely knows how to drive a manual transmission, and watch each participant meet or exceed their personal limits is exciting and rewarding.”

Based at Willow Springs Raceway (just north of Los Angeles), FAST LANE offers various courses in driver training, from a Teen Defensive Driving School to Advanced Racing Schools and everything in between. Racing school participants can be taught in the same race-prepared Toyota Celicas that were previously used in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, or have the option of bringing their own high performance car. Either way, these courses are guaranteed to get the adrenaline pumping with high performance driving techniques such as high-speed cornering, extreme braking and ultimate skid control.

The Defensive Driving Academy educates new drivers in advanced behind-the-wheel driving skills. The one-day course explores the dynamics of a vehicle, exploring ultimate cause and effect behind-the-wheel. It’s a safe environment where these young drivers can experience a vehicle out of control as slower speeds and learn how to recover properly.

“Our driver education system does not prepare new drivers as well as it could,” explains McKeever, who opened the doors of Defensive Driving Academy nearly five years ago as an extension of FAST LANE. “We continue to improve the safety and technology of our vehicles, and we need to give that same attention to the new drivers. They can greatly benefit from these additional skills training.”

Defensive Driving Academy is also proud to be involved in the development and management of Toyota Driving Expectations, a free program offered to teens and parents throughout the United States.

2008 Pro/Celebrity Participants

Drew Lachey
Raymond Cruz
Wilmer Valderrama
Eric Dickerson
John Salley
Daniel Goddard
Jamie Little
Nancy Lieberman
Brad Lewis
William Fichtner

Eurotoys Ltd. just signd up as a forum sponsor for all of the past Jaguar Forums: XJ8, XJR, XJ6, XJ12, XJR, XK8, XKR, XJS, and E-Type forums.

Some of their current vendors include: Frozen Rotors, Borla, BMP Design, Supersprint North America, BBS, and Koni, for more, visit the Eurotoys Ltd. website.

CONTACT:

Eurotoys Ltd.
8N914 Dittman Rd.
Elgin, IL 60124

• Phone: 1-847-464-4000
• Fax: 1-847-464-4020

Office hours:
Monday - Friday 9:00 AM-6:00 PM (CST)
Saturday 9:00 AM-Noon

American Lifts Systems, Inc., DBA American Custom Lifts is a privately held corporation dedicated to solving problems related to the parking, storage and transportation of vehicles, material, and other objects, large or small. We’re headquartered in Escondido, California, and we have service centers in every major city in the United States as well as in several International cities.

American Custom Lifts specializes in the parking lift industry both for commercial and residential applications. We offer the widest variety of parking solutions including the only American made Automated Parking System. We’re also the only company in the United States that offers an American made subterranean parking lift that is code compliant in every city.

We offer parallelogram lifts, mobile column lifts, four post and two post truck lifts for public-work garages, motor-home lines, railroad transit facilities, airport and ground support vehicle garages, utility fleets, school buses, construction, fire departments, mechanic shops and towing yards. American Custom Lifts offers every type of automotive lift needed for any of the above industries.

Contact:

• Toll Free: 1-888-711-5438 (USA only)
• USA 760-745-5438 (worldwide)
• FAX: USA 760-745-6200 (24 hours, 7 days a week)
• Web: http://www.aclifts.com/
• Email: sales@aclifts.com
• American Custom Lifts
  24840 Lake Wohlford Court
  Escondido, CA 92027

This facility is responsible for world-wide production of the M engines as well as a significant number of 3 Series wagons. The video features manufacturing areas such as the robotic welding arms, robotic car painting as well as final car prep areas of the factory.

BMW Production Factory Tour Video:

Palm Springs is 90 miles East of Los Angeles and easily accessible from anywhere through Palm Springs International Airport.

BMW of Palm Springs - Brad Williams
3919 E. Palm Canyon Dr.
Palm Springs, CA 92264
USA

Main Tel: 760-324-7071 ext. 410
Fax: 760-324-9222

e-Mail: brdwms@aol.com