The Gymkhana Grid Mass Appeal car show was just that. It was a show that featured all sorts of cars and not just the usual import scene. Hence, mass appeal. There were nice vintage cars, brand new cars, a JGTC racer, and this SCCA F-Street Prepared 1970 BMW 2002.
The car retained its four cylinder M10 engine and had its internals rebuilt to stock specifications. The motor also features a set of individual throttle bodies (ITBs) from Extrudabody. This setup roughly produces a healthy 140 horses. A rather significant jump from the 96 horses that the car originally came with.
The interior looks pretty untouched except for the addition of the extra gauges on the dashboard, the Momo competition steering wheel and bucket seat for the driver.
The battery was relocated to the trunk and replaced by a much lighter Braille battery which weighs in at featherlight 9 pounds.
The front suspension features shortened strut coil overs with Advanced Design custom coupled with 500lb springs. The rear shocks are also from Advanced Design and have 800lb springs with adjustable height perches.
The car rolls on a set of 15×10 Jongbloed Racing wheels with 275/35R15 Hoosier A6 tires. Covering the wheels are a set of reproduction Group 2 flares. Yesterday we saw a car that was sort of flush, today, we have some functional flush.
The car has been sticker bombed all over. I particularly like this Shamrock California Vintage Rally sticker. I got to make it out to one of those sometime….
Speaking of stickers, the owner and driver of this 2002, Steve Kupper, was giving out these amazing KGB Racing stickers. Glancing at these stickers gives me the feeling to break out in song to the tune of "Tipperary."
Steve has taken this car to win many awards. He's taken home the SCCA Solo National Trophy winner twice, the SFR SCCA FSP Champion four times, was the SCCA National Tour Winner for times and was also a Pro Part California Divisional Winner.
It was a bit strange to see an autocross prepared car at a car show but I'm glad it was there. It brought a lot nice variety and was breath of fresh air in the sea of slammed imports. This car is a perfect blend of performance and good looks.
-Linhbergh
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Dayum!
Wow... appreciation for an actual grassroots competition car on Speedhunters
Rad. I'm feelin that
WANT!!!! this car is awesome, id love to see a wallpaper of it
doooooooope!
Very, very cool!
THANK YOU FOR SOLO2 COVERAGE!!!
How the hell did that get classed in FSP??????????????? That is the LOWEST class in Street Prepared! No doubt it beats the hell out of all the Yugos and three cylinder Geo Metros that make up the remainder of FSP, but BMW's motto is "The Ultimate Driving Machine". Why is it that BMW sedans go from the middle of the Stock classes, where they compete competitively against the rest of the cars in the middle of the pack, but you add coilovers, header, programmable ECU, and a limited slip differential, and suddenly a BMW can't be classed in the middle of the pack, they move DOWN TO THE LOWEST CLASS AVAILABLE, MOST OF WHICH ARE 60-75 HORSEPOWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why can't BMW sedans be classed in the middle of the Street Prepared pack, instead of the bottom, with the three cylinder cars?
I remember seeing this car at autocross events a couple of years back, I'm glad it's still around and looking better than ever!
We need more autocross coverage!
amazing car!
i'd be more likely to sing this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVdVTVR-j0Q
.
also, methinks someone has confused Das Boot with Hunt for Red October
Bull-ish drift "missile" this ain't.
I think you'll find FSP a little more competitive than you remember.
Way to go Steve!
Real Racer... you are seriously out of date on your Solo 2. FSP is Mazda 3's, Subaru Impreza's and Honda Civic's now. Yugo's and Geo Metro's are extinct in Solo2. Pretty soon cars like this one will be too.
I'd love to see more autox car features. Looks like a great car and function screaming all over. A real change from what I usually see on speedhunters now a days.
@Real Racer FSP will break down as such. F class is the ranking of the car. SP = street prepared. In street prepared suspension and tire modifications are allowed as well as tuning. Every FSP car is allowed to do what this guy has done and if you have ever been to a national's event you will see that they have. I think you are imagining that F stock cars race against this thing which is not the case at all.
I LOVE THOSE WHEELS.
sharknose BMWs are awesome, i want this car and i would totally daily it.
Nice write-up and pics Lindbergh - as usual! But, wasn't it the MotorMavens Mass Appeal Show? I heard Gymkhana Grid got them to do all of the car show organizing. Is that not true?
What are the fearsome cars in FSP that this thing runs against:
Chevy Citation
Geo Metro and Swift
Plymouth Acclaim
Ford Festiva
Ford Pinto
Renault Fuego
Volvo 120, 140, & 160
All Yugo models
That BMW cost twice as much as any of those. Probably three or four time more than several in that list. Double or more the power. That's kind of like matching the Super Bowl Champions against a middle school girls cheer leading squad. Pretty difficult not to loose with those odds.
How do BMW drivers look themselves in the mirror?
Kupp's car.... nice! representin SFR!!
most BMW sedans are in higher classes, you'll normally see most E36s in DSP.. 2002s are just not powerful vehicles and fitting FSP engine rules (very little update backdate allowable, no internal modifications past factory spec) they're not going to be very powerful. Also with a vintage chassis do you think it stands a chance in even one step up in DSP with newer versions of itself and powerhouses like the MazdaSpeed 3? Beautiful car, and I'm sure it's still fast. Maybe in your local arena FSP is boring competition but on a national level it's a fast, competitive sector for it's participants. You act like only the "fast" classes (ASP, SM, AM) are fun --- please don't lead people astray on a blog of this nature.. Solo2 is long misunderstood by younger generations of automotive enthusiasts and we don't need to add to that.
Real Racer, this car is not the fastest car in FSP. FSP cars are not 60-75 hp, try 100-180
Harv, no one said FSP was not competitive. To the contrary, FSP is very competitive. The five or six BMW four cylinder sedans that show up to nationals compete fiercely for the trophies. The dozen or more non-BMW three and four cylinder, SOHC, front wheel drive, economy cars compete for which seventh through DFL positions. Same for DSP: a half dozen BMW six cylinder sedans compete fiercely for the trophies, and the dozen or more four cylinder, DOHC, front wheel drive cars all compete for seventh through DFL.
Q, try reading the rule book:
http://cms.scca.com/documents/Solo_Rules/2009_Solo_Rules.pdf
Yugo and Geo Metro are there, in FSP.
2xthefun, yes, every FSP car is allowed the same modifications, but putting a RWD 100 HP European sedan against a bunch of Japanese FWD econo boxes with 30-50% less power is going to end up the same way no matter if they are all stock or all have JATO rocket attached to their back bumpers. Every victory by that car in a class like FSP is because that model car has no business in FSP, not because it is classed with comparable vehicles. For everyone else in that class, that's being beaten by the car, not the driver.
feature on that EVOLVE-kitted Volvo, please!
It's not much of a secret that the BMW Car Club of America has the loudest voice in classing vehicles in the SCCA SPAC. DSP and FSP now exist as set-aside classes of guaranteed trophies for BMW cars. 2002s belong in DSP and E30s belong in ESP. The SPAC hides behind "We do not guarantee the competitiveness of any specific car", by creating default one-marque classes that can not be won without a specific make and model of car that has been grossly misclassed. This has long been an excellent example of why many autocrossers prefer the NASA classing system, because it prevents slaughterhouse classes like DSP and FSP. Disagree? Prove me wrong, have Peters, Shchipkov, Rowse, Cambell, Lambert, Pizato, Dressler, Pora, Bleh, Curtis, Jones, Rankins, Fair, Keller, Sereyka, Krowlewics, Scheier, Florance, Nichols, Fair to show up at next year's nationals in anything but a BMW and see how different the results are.
That's brilliant, I'll have one thanks
Can you please get out of the habit of saying things are ´sticker bombed´ such a scene wannabe fanboy phrase. Even then, this car isnt ´stickerbombed´ in the slightest, it has a few stickers and decals scattered about, that is all.
How about some historic perspective. What where the 2002's rivals in professional racing, and where do they fall in the SCCA's classing?
The 2002 won the European Touring Car Championship in 1968 and 1969. It ran against:
Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA (DSP)
Ford Escort Twin Cam (XP, Euro-spec car)
Mercedes Benz 300SEL (ESP)
Porsche 911 (BSP)
And in JAF, it ran successfully against:
Nissan Skyline GTR Hakosuka (XP, JDM)
Porsche 911 (BSP)
Datsun Fairlady 2000 (CSP)
Datsun 240Z432 (BSP)
Lotus Elan (ASP)
Mercedes-Benz 280SL (ESP)
Mazda Rotary Coupe (XP, JDM)
Isuzu Bellett GTR (XP, JDM)
Toyota Corolla Sprinter TE27 (XP, JDM)
-
The BMW 2002 certainly seems to be feeding at the bottom of the food chain compared to where it was and where it's historic rivals are now.
@Tom - Thanks for calling that out, scene fanboy phrase indeed. I'm glad that didn't just bother me. A car/area is sticker bombed or it's not.