Bill Auberlen is a veteran, one of the most successful BMW drivers in the world. His career highlights include a fourth- and fifth-place finish at the 1997 and 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans in a McLaren BMW and BMW V12 LM, and the Sports Car GT-3 Championship title in 1997 in a PTG E36 M3. This year Auberlen is at the front of the Speed World Challenge GT class in an E46 M3 prepared by PTG Racing-a team which is leading the field with all four of its M3s in the top six-and also the Touring Class in the #93 Turner Motorsport BMW 325i. When Editor Brown told me I was going to strap into Auberlen's race seat and drive the Streets of Willow Springs in Rosamond, Calif., I almost needed a five-point harness to hold me in my desk chair.
The SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge is a series divided into two classes, Grand Touring (GT) and Touring Car, the cars are grouped based on their performance potential and market segments. Only normal production vehicles available to the general public, manufactured from 1997 to 2003, are eligible. Vehicle weights and wheel/tire sizes are governed to achieve equality in performance. Modification companies and small-volume manufacturers may also be accepted on a case-by-case basis, and all vehicles must be accepted by SCCA Pro Racing.
If you've ever wanted to see how a BMW M3, Audi RS6, Porsche 996, Viper GTS or a Corvette Z06 fare against each other, the GT series is the one for you to watch. The Touring Car class is just as, if not even more, exciting. With nearly 70 cars on this year's roster, an intense combination of BMW 325s, Acura RSXs and Integras, Mazda Proteges, Lexus IS300s, Audi A4s, Nissan SE-Rs, Subaru Imprezas and Honda Civics keeps spectators on their feet. The GT cars run on Toyo RA-1 R-compound tires, but the Touring class is required to run shaved Toyo Proxes T1-S street tires. Although the majority of cars in the Touring class are Japanese, BMW 3 Series are consistent front-runners.
Turner Motorsport is a leading BMW aftermarket company and has been involved in World Challenge racing continuously since 1998-longer than any other team except Real Time Racing-and Will Turner has racked up more than 50 starts. Two wins in 1999, breaking an eight-race Integra Type-R streak, helped Will to a fourth in the championship. In 2002, Will led the most laps and the most miles and had the most fastest laps, but three DNFs held his season-end standing to sixth place. Extensive off-season testing and recruitment of Bill Auberlen helped set the tone for 2003 with a season-opening win at Sebring. As this is written, Auberlen has 181 points to three-time champion Pierre Kleinubing's second-ranked 121. Will Turner is tied for fourth and Frank Selldorff is 24th.
The Touring Car class may look like a series for the budget-minded, aspiring racer. Don't let the near-stock-looking cars fool you-the cost to build them is calculated in units of $1,000. The TMS cars started life as a $30,000 body shell with a built-in rollcage; it then took nearly $20,000 more for the factory parts to complete each car.
On the aftermarket side, TMS had to reach even deeper into its pockets. The $24,000 engines are still the all-aluminum, 2.5-liter inline six, but they have been massaged, including 11.0:1 compression, to produce 270 bhp at 7200 rpm and 175 lb-ft at 5550 rpm on street-legal Sunoco 104 octane unleaded, the spec fuel for the class. Exhaust exits through a $7,000 TMS header and exhaust system. The engines are controlled by $8,000 MOTEC M800 engine management.