I went out to MSR Cresson this weekend & got to see this 2002 R53 run in some friends race, I was very impressed. It did really well running with the BMW's & Porsches. Anyway I just thought I'd share these photos with the rest of the forum.
The owner and lead driver is Steve Diniz out of Baton Rouge, LA. He's a good friend of mine. When I drove it last (which was in 2006, so it does have some changes since then) it was mostly bolt-ons for power. I think the engine is still stock as far as internals go (head, cam, displacement, etc.). I need to talk to him again to try and get behind the wheel and see what we can improve while still maintaining certain class eligibility. I would like to get him to do head and cam and tune that to see what we can get, but I'm not sure what bolt-ons he still has on the car. Next time I see him, I'm gonna run a truck load of ideas on things to work on. If yall have any questions about the car, I can try to get some answers from him. Alex Ardoin
Nice looking, good track shots. That is one big azz wing. :devil: Wonder if it works to keep the rear planted? Don
He used to run tooth-and-nail against Randy Webb in Phil Wicks' series. In a way, it's the car that put Randy out of business. Steve and his sponsors and Randy developed a healthy rivalry over several races and began the internet trash talk, which escalated Randy's desire to win. I think that the racing became a central focus for Randy, at the expense of Webb Motorsports, which suffered mightily. I remember moments before one race at Summit Point, Randy decided that he was going to drop the hammer on Diniz and install our Turbokompressor kit (twin Charged) into his race car. I told him that there was no way he would get it done in time for the race. There really wasn't, he had like 24 hours to get the kit done and on the trailer for the trip from Colorado. Somehow, through sheer force of will, he got it done and made it to the race. Sure enough, he left Steve in his vapors on the standing start, and cruised to victory in race one. Race two looked to be a carbon copy until Webb ran out of gas. Note to self: Turbokompressor MINI get poor mileage on the track. I'm not sure if they raced again but it was fun to watch them duke it out on the track and on the web. It wasn't as fun to see Randy's company turn to dust. Although he was a competitor to us, he was a friendly and capable one. He's now in the UAE, flying passenger jets. Great guy.
Video Our HD in-car videos are still being edited since they are in 1080p and are huge files. This video is from Sean Garrity's BMW who kept pretty close to me in most races. Enjoy, Steve [ame= MSR-C GTS2 Race 3 on Vimeo[/ame]
Steve: thanks for the vids. Congrats on the great results as well. I can't wait to try and keep your tail lights in sight. Are you going to Barber w/ PBOC/CCA? I still won't be ready, but I might go up for the weekend. To those that have mentioned allowed mods or further modification, GTS allows almost unlimited mods. The catch is that it is a weight/whp calculation that determines your class within GTS. Any more power or any less weight would put them in GTS4, with some sick company. BMWCCA mod classes allow almost the same mods (some aero restrictions) but the cars are classed on displacement. Forced induction is X1.5. Steve is competetive in both groups while not being optimized for CCA. Again, nice work. Hope to see you soon. Greg