Most liked posts in thread: Hello from Tampere!

Thanks all! Here's a few pics of my R53 a.k.a. alcohol problem (it runs on ethanol and usually gives me problems)...

 

It has taken the abuse pretty well tbh. I've done about 100.000km (~60k miles) in it, including lots of track days. It's been mostly various oil leaks, some coolant leaks, and a little gasoline leak. And a cracked JCW head. But that was just a good excuse for a BVH. Clutch release bearing failed at about 180.000km (~112k miles). Good excuse to replace the stock LSD with a Quaife unit. Other mods include a Cat cam, OBX headers, 550cc injectors, -15% s/c pulley and +2% crank pulley. And of course Bilstein B14 coilovers with SPC top mounts. Brakes are standard JCW with Nitrac DCT slotted discs and Carbotech XP8 pads on the fronts.

Last May I took it to the Nordschleife on the way home from the International Mini Meeting in Belgium. Only problem on that 3500km trip was that E85 isn't really available in central Europe... Had to switch to a close-to-stock gasoline map, which meant losing a lot of power.

 

There aren't that many track day events at the 'ring where a helmet is required. It's mostly public driving sessions (touristenfahrten) during which you're basically driving on a one way public toll road. With no speed limits.