Track Training Car – Project E36
We’re excited to announce that ShiftAtlanta’s 2023 community project will be building a dedicated track car. Our goal here is to get people out doing more with their cars. So we’ve established a new community project to help make that happen.
One of the biggest limitations we’ve found to people getting on track is they don’t own a car they feel is sufficient to go on track. Also, even with track day insurance, there is often hesitation to take your personal car on track if you don’t feel it’s track oriented.
So for 2023 we’ve decided to build a car we can use to help get people on track. In the process, we’re also going to help car enthusiasts answer a number of common questions they deal with. Why? Because we’re going to literally go through the process and document it.
It includes: restoring a 25+ year old car to road worth condition, replace a lost title and determine what “track prep” upgrades are worth it. We’ll explain more.
The Car – Project Track E36
The car itself was donated by Shift partner Garage Prevail. They specialize in high touch towing and saving high interest cars. They are committed to the Shift mission of getting people on track and thought this car was the perfect opportunity to do.
However, this car came with a few things we had to work through. There was no title. So we’ll be documenting the entire process of getting a new title, including the bond.
In addition, the car was missing a few key parts: exhaust, intake boot and a few others. Otherwise, the car is in great shape mechanically. It’s a little rough looking on the interior and exterior, but for a track day, that doesn’t bother us.
The Plan With the Track Car
Our plan with this project is to not only document the process, but also to create a vehicle we can use here at ShiftAtlanta to get people on track. This will include helping people learn to drive on track, car control and eventually maybe even move into our Lucky Dogs/Lemons race car that was our community project car from 2021 (that carried into 2022 thanks to the Pandemic).
What We’ll Be Documenting With Our E36
We’ll be documenting several things during this process:
Getting the car legal to drive on the street. While this will be track car, to save us from having to tow it to every track day, autocross or other event we plan this car to be street legal. For us this will include needing to get the title replaced, which will be an entire post coming up.
Getting the car mechanically sound. This car runs good, but we’re going to document all of the fixes we need to do to get it running good. We’ll be changing all of the fluids and replacing all mechanical parts missing, including putting on an exhaust back on it. While we don’t need cats and other pieces for emissions, we do need the car to be road legal.
How well the car performs, or doesn’t, at each stage. Our plan is to get out at Atlanta Motorsports Park and set a baseline laptime with the E36 stock. Then, with each improvement – anything from removing weight, to adding brakes or suspension, we’ll reset the baseline. Sure, we’re not the greatest drivers in the world. That’s ok, we’ll use the same middle of the pack driver, so at least the results will be consistent.
Want To Get A Seat?
We’re a long way away from being able to take others out in the car, but we’ll be talking a little more about how get involved with ShiftAtlanta. For now, a great way to get engaged and learn about getting on track is to read our other articles about getting on track, find a track day near you or join us for the upcoming Drivers Festival.
