The Event
One Lap is a direct descendant of the legendary Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash - an honest-to-goodness ‘Run What You Brung’ speed contest that started out in New York City and ended in Redondo Beach, CA. The first event dates all the way back to 1971 when it had only one rule: ‘There Are No Rules’! The Cannonball is the stuff that folklore is made of. A number of movies were based on it including the most popular of all: The Cannonball Run, starring Burt Reynolds. The actual event got too wild toward the end of the ‘70s and legendary event founder and esteemed automotive journalist Brock Yates decided to fold it for a few years. In the ‘80s they toyed with the idea of doing real laps around America where they would start in Maine and drive around the perimeter of the country for a true lap of America. Great, but who has the time to do all that? The final formula was: Reduce driving on public roads to an almost sane 5,000 miles and ‘Run What You Brung’ in timed events at road courses and ovals, drag races, and skidpads. Now in its 22nd running, the 2005 One Lap of America will take place primarily on the Eastern half of the U.S.
All you need to enter is $2,100, a comfortable, reliable (and preferably very fast) car, plenty of driving talent, no particular need for extended periods of sleep, and the following: physical exam, SVRA license, a single-layer driving suit, Snell-approved helmet, fire extinguisher, and road flares.
Our Car
The car entered must be street-legal and licensed and ride on DOT tires sold through Tire Rack (the official sponsor of the event). Trailers are allowed, but no support/tow vehicles. You must finish on the same tires that you start on.
I have ~20 track days with BMWCCA chapters at tracks such as NHIS, Watkins Glen, Lime Rock, and Mont-Tremblant in my 2001 325i. The little 325i does pretty well at the track already and it does not need much in the way of modifications (although an Atlanta Downing supercharger would not go to waste). It only has the BMW factory Sport package and the following improvements:
• UUC sway bars
• TMS fixed front camber plates with -2 degrees camber all around
• TMS E46 Rear Subframe Reinforcement Kit
• R/D front brace
• ECIS CAI
• Shark Injector
Even with these minor modifications, the car could lose a couple of hundred pounds and would probably still be in a Stock class according to BMW Club Racing rules. The car still has the stock brakes, although we will be running more aggressive ATE Power Discs in the front with Ferodo DS2500 brake pads front and rear. We are using ATE Super Gold brake fluid and Red Line differential and tranny fluids. We chose Michelin PS2 235/40/17 street tires mounted on lightweight O.Z. Superleggera 17x8 wheels. The wheels alone saved us nearly 10 lbs of rotational weight per corner over the stock Star 44 wheels. Forty pounds of rotational weight translates into something like 150-200 lbs of unsprung weight reduction. The end result is better acceleration, handling, and braking.
We were determined to do the event on a tight budget. It soon became apparent that in order to stay within the budget, we would need help from sponsors. We have been amazed at the support and especially the enthusiasm with which motorsports vendors have welcomed our team. I mean, we are just two average guys driving a fairly stock 325i, up against much more powerful cars driven by a lot more experienced drivers. Thanks in part to the good folks at Club Motorsports; One Lap ’05 will soon be a reality for us. We told Club Motorsports that we like the concept of a country club-like motorsports park with a great road course, a vehicle dynamics area, garage service, professional driver training, and a pro shop so much that we would be honored to promote them even at our expense. Not only did Club Motorsports offer to help us with the event, the best part is they even provided an additional incentive for us if we manage to finish in the top half of our class. We are convinced that Valley Motorsports Park ™ will be a huge success, a great neighbor, and a source of regional pride.
Our Cause
My co-driver Eric Smith and I thought that all this effort and energy would be completely wasted without putting some of it toward a worthwhile cause. With our participation in the One Lap event, we chose to promote the charity Books for Soldiers, which is a soldier support site that ships books, DVDs and supplies to deployed soldiers and soldiers in VA hospitals. Using their website, soldiers can make requests for needed items - anything from Skittles and sunglasses to books, DVDs, and gloves for local children. Participants simply post to say they are fulfilling the requests, and then mail out the items to the soldiers at the addresses that have been provided on the board. Eric has filled out a few requests and he has received back letters from appreciative soldiers. If you have old, but usable books or DVDs sitting around collecting dust, why not send them to a soldier for a big morale boost? Please visit BooksForSoldiers.com and make a donation to help sustain this effort. The web site is run by volunteers and operates on the donations and good will of others.
The 2005 Event
We have a reliable car that does well at the track in its current configuration (it laps Watkins Glen in the 2:27-2:29 range on street tires). However, our car will have an unfavorable power to weight ratio when compared to many cars in the event, including our Mid-Priced Sedan class. Here is an incomplete list of the vehicles in our Mid-Priced sedan class (vehicles with original purchase price between $20,000 and $40,000, ALL modifications allowed):
• 4 Subaru WRX STi (one of them pumping 500+ HP)
• an Infiniti G35
• a Dodge Magnum
• heavily modded Chevrolet Impalla SS driven by Lap Dogs (the “official” term for One Lap vets)
• a Mercedes-Benz 190E driven by Lap Dogs
• a 328i driven by Lap Dogs
• last but not least, another ‘01 325i driven by James Clay of Speed World Challenge’s BimmerWorld team with his chief mechanic Jason Marks as a co-driver.
I think it’s safe to say that our car will be outpowered by at least 100 HP average in our class. Hopefully, we will offset some of our car’s horsepower deficiency (at least by One Lap standards) with good event preparation and planning. Our complete collection of One Lap track videos, maps, and “hot laps” should be huge help!
Final Steps
Next on the list is a tech session with CCA friends at my house. We will finish prepping the car and will give it a final and thorough checkup. Eric will be doing the One Lap skidpad events, so he is taking the 325i to one of those fun Advanced Driving events at NHIS. I will be taking the car to the track two weeks before One Lap for a final shakedown.
A couple of months ago, Eric strung together a couple of web pages for own One Lap team’s website. With countless design hours, creativity, and great feedback from friends, it evolved into our much-loved ABsolute Puppies Racing team website (www.ABsolutePuppies.com). We hope we’ll be able to provide daily updates of our participation in the event, so please visit our website regularly once the event starts on April 30. Our One Lap caravan will be racing at NHIS on May 2. The event has not been to NHIS since 1993, so if you live in the area, stop by for this nearly historic opportunity. We hope to see you there.
