Quote:
Originally Posted by BMWCCA1
Happy to say my wreck lived on as an IMSA race-car from Miller&Norburn. I got to see it at races in later years. And that is the rest of the story. Try to find a 2002 owner today who will choose an E21 over their 2002 today!  |
I think I used up a whole 36exp roll of film on that 320i when I saw it in action the first time at Road Atlanta back in the day! It wasn't as successful as their 2002s were, but times (rules) were rapidly changing in IMSA RS series at the time too.
Younger BMW owners today can't fathom the amount of modifications enthusiasts felt required to make to cars back then. If nothing else, swapping out springs, struts/shocks, and swaybars (typically from Suspension Techniques, Quickor Engineering, etc) plus wider (and later larger diameter) wheels, just to have a well-handling stable platform which factory offerings were anything but. Think gigantic body roll -- standard feature of factory offerings back then.
This article also refers to the 2002tii fuel injected engine and directly implies it was carried over to the 320i and lost horsepower. They totally missed the fact that the tii had mechanical kugelfischer injection whereas the 320i had a Bosch K-jetronic system (also mechanical, but a totally different design).
Circling back to Miler&Norburn: ~1976 I was in Durham, NC and decided to find their shop. It was a weekend, and it was closed, but wow...my lofty expectations were dashed by the building and area it was located, lol. The building is still there today; it's
the red brick building in this google street view. Their address was
2002 E Peabody St
. Preston Miller left M&N and opened a race shop in Raleigh a few years later (Preston Miller Rennsport was its name I think). Great guy! I did business with him in 1979 having his shop do some modifications on my car, and he allowed me to work with his mechanic to help out. Imagine that in today's world.