Aside from the added comfort and interior styling these seats offer, an additional weight savings benefit is realized as well. With the O.E. M3 "Vader" seats weighing 64 lb each (non-electric, heated), Project M3 lost 22 lb per side, including brackets-expect a much greater weight savings if your seats are electric. And if you desire additional weight savings, try a pair of MOMO's fiberglass or carbon-fiber race seats-you'll save an additional 25 lb per side (a total minimum weight savings of almost 100 lb), but these seats don't have reclining adjustments.
Getting rid of the factory seats was an easy decision for me, as I'm not a big fan of leather-it gets too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. These MOMO Street Racers don't.
After the seats were installed, I sat a little to the left and too high for my taste, so I had Wedge Engineering in Long Beach-the manufacturers for virtually all aftermarket seat brackets-custom build a bracket to site the seat an inch lower and more centered. This assured that I'd fit into my car with a helmet on. (By the time you read this, MOMO should have these improved seat brackets available.)
Some of the time-trial events I run require a five-point harness. In my last M3 I liked the street-legal, four-point Schroth harnesses I'd ordered from BMP Design, so I called again for a pair of the German-made Schroths, this time in five-point setups. Unlike many of the harnesses on the market today, the Schroth belts have a quick-release mechanism for easy operation, and the belts are FIA approved. Schroth harnesses are available in various colors and come in either four- , five- or six-point setups. For the street, anything over a five-point is illegal to use, so I made sure I could still use my three-point factory safety belts when I'm not on public roads. But I'll really enjoy being "strapped" to my seat for track use.
Track Testing
I was aching to get Project M3 back out on the track. Once again, I joined in with the Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Southern California (AROSC) during its time-trial event held at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. I like running with the Alfa Club-its down-to-earth members are great to be around, and some of the cars that come out to play are pretty spectacular. This time there were about five other BMW M3s with speedy and very smooth drivers behind the wheel. While in Buttonwillow, AROSC usually runs race configuration number 14 clockwise (see www.buttonwillowraceway.com).
AROSC offers schooling to anyone with a valid driver's license. However, your car must pass a strict tech inspection, and a five-point harness and fire extinguisher are required to run the time-trial class (no upgrades are needed for the school class). The entire two-day event is only about $170 for non-AROSC members, so these events are more than a bargain when compared to some other schools and clubs that charge $300 to $550 per weekend. Races are held for those who are qualified as well.
It was going to be a hot couple of days, so in order to save the motor from any pinging, I chose to run the AA turbo at only 8 psi all weekend. Lap after lap the motor generates a lot of heat, so I contacted Downs Oil in Corona, Calif., and picked up several 5-gal. pails of Sunoco 112-octane leaded race gas. After the successful testing of Sunoco's GT Plus Unleaded 104 (see european car 05/02), I was confident in using its 112-octane race gas for this track test to avoid detonation.
The 112-octane race gas has a research octane rating of 114 and a motor octane rating of 110 (11 more than the GT Plus Unleaded 104's motor octane of 99). However, this gas contains lead, so for this event I swapped out the catalytic converters and replaced them with one big straight pipe-talk about helping the turbo spool faster! Lead also harms oxygen sensors. I put back an old sensor I 'd earlier fried to plug the hole up for these two days.