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05-18-2020, 04:04 PM | #1 |
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Eamonn's Z4MR build thread
I have been meaning to post up some details about my toy car, but always thought it would be more interesting to do that when I am finished with the build.
With the obvious realization that there is no such thing as finished, I will post some occasional photos of progress. A wee bit about me and my history with cars As a young man I raced karts, super-karts, and formula cars. I wasn't particularly good with the mechanical preparation, and I was a bit of a hack on the track, but when it rained, it was a completely different story. I had some innate car control ability that, combined with massive amounts of stupidity, made me very quick in the wet. By the time I was in my mid twenties, I realized I was not committed enough to make up for the shortcomings in talent and funding, so I got a "real job". Most of the cars I have owned we got for free or very cheap. I always ensured the wife and kids were in something reliable, safe, and comfortable. But I tended to drive whatever came along, from a rusted out International Harvester Scout, to a 30 year old Volvo 740, many others in between, to a Jaguar S Type my father insisted on buying me so he could "have all his children driving Jaguars before he died". He didn't really have the money for this, but, like many war veterans of his era, he was unstoppable when fixated on a mission. My father passed away shortly after getting all his kids into Jaguars. And while my S Type required quite a bit of work to make it reliable (we bought it as salvage) it re-kindled within me the amazing feeling of a man-machine connection, and how much I missed having a bit of opposite lock in my life. How I came into my Z4MR My car is a 2006 Z4M Roadster. It had 80,000km / 50k miles on it when I bought it in mid 2018. I had been driving a 20 year old Subaru Outback wagon that we owned since new. When my daughter got her license, we gave her the Suby and dad got a toy. I started with my eye on a 60s / 70s era British sports car. My father was an engineer with British Leyland, so we had Spitfires, MGBs, Minis, TR6s, and one of the first TR8s in North America. These were all company cars. When British Leyland was taken over by Jaguar, we used to have a joke "when the ashtray is full it's time for a new Jag". But then I drove one of these old sports cars, and it reminded me how terrible they are by modern standards. Lovely collectors items, but I wanted to drive something hard. For a brief period I was looking at Miatas until a friend texted me "friends don't let friends buy Miatas". I realize these are amazing little cars, but they are somewhat anemic, particularly the era I was looking at. I shifted my eyes to an S2000. Then someone suggested the Z4M. I thought the S2000 would be great if I was 20 years younger, and the BMW felt better suited to a middle aged gentleman. The Z4M I found on Craigslist was "bone stock" aside from some 19" wheels. It has a clean no accident history. It is carbon leather, no-nav, black leather interior, with a silver grey exterior. Early adventures in Z4 motoring In the first year I owned the Z4MR, I did an autocross event with it, but found that lacking. I had previously won a North America championship autocrossing my daily driven Jaguar S Type my Dad bought me, but the Z4M seemed like it needed to be on a track. In 2019 I decided to do some HPDE / track days throughout the Pacific Northwest. I found this to be an AMAZING experience! I have tracked the car at Oregon Raceway Park, The Ridge Motorsports Park, and Area 27. I was able to turn 2 minute flat lap times at The Ridge. Here's a video I made of myself and my 10yr old daughter at The Ridge. And the "lowlight" of the year, was going off at Oregon Raceway Park *twice* in one weekend. I needed to replace the front tires after this, having spun at such high speed the bead was unseated on both fronts twice in one weekend. This made me think carefully about the idea that "I have to drive this car home" hehe. I attended a few other track days without incident. After an off at ORP by Eamonn Glass, on Flickr Interior after an off at ORP by Eamonn Glass, on Flickr Here's a random pic to start off a build thread with... the engine bay. This is almost complete, a few other things before I will call this done. 2006 Z4MR Engine Bay showing S54 and Evolve CSL Intake by Eamonn Glass, on Flickr Here's a pic of the car parked outside our house in Vancouver, Canada. Z4MR outside house by Eamonn Glass, on Flickr Last edited by eggman51; 05-19-2020 at 12:13 AM.. |
05-18-2020, 04:24 PM | #2 |
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Great story! Thanks for sharing
I hate to clean out that interior So jealous whenever I see carbon airbox! |
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05-18-2020, 04:53 PM | #3 |
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Well done eggman!
A great writeup and pics; the "offs" must have been harrowing! Tell us about it; same corner? Anyone with you? What caused the off? Entry speed? Braking late?
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05-18-2020, 05:27 PM | #4 |
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Garage List F15 X5 xDrive35i [8.75]
E86 Z4 M [10.00] F10 550i (Retired) [9.17] F25 X3 xDrive35i (R ... [9.43] E82 135is (Retired) [9.50] E85 Z4 M (Retired) [9.41] E90 328i xDrive (Re ... [9.25] E86 Z4 3.0si (Retired) [9.24] |
That evolve manifold is really something! Beautiful car you’ve got yourself...
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05-19-2020, 12:24 AM | #5 | |
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Quote:
On the next day, the driving group ran the track in the opposite direction. I personally don't like this. It's a great track in both directions, but I would prefer to focus on one layout for a whole weekend. Anyways, it was the second day, crazy desert heat, not a great night sleep in a cheap motel... and I thought "I can take this flat" and part way through the corner I realized this was not going to happen. I tried to recover - as in kept my boot in it - which made it much worse! Another massive dust cloud. Felt pretty stupid. Oregon Raceway Park is a great track and I will be back once we get through this pandemic crisis. Valuable lesson learned - needing to drive the car home requires very different sensibilities than putting a formula car into a trailer I hope we run into each other at one of these PNW event days! Cheers, Eamonn |
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