Redline Time Attack Results! The BERK TECHNOLOGY 135i goes faster!

[BerkTechnology]

BERK is on the podium with a 3rd place finish and a 6th place finish!

BERK TECHNOLOGY went out racing this weekend at the Redline Time Attack season opener @ Buttonwillow CA. This track is the proving grounds for the fastest tuner cars & works vehicles in the country.

BERK TECHNOLOGY took 3rd in their S2000 and 6th in their BMW 135i in the ultra competitive street RWD class in a field of 29 cars entered!

We had plenty of time to prep the BERK 135i since it's last outing at the EuroTuner Magazine Super Lap battle. With the help of JTyler, HP Autowerks, & Orb we were able to spec out some new suspension settings and analyze the suspension geometry on the 135i to make some well placed changes.

The BERK 135i recieved some stiffer springs all around which really helped plant the car down in the twisties while still maintaining civility on the street. We learned more about the 135i suspension after this event and we will be able to apply that data to make for an even faster car.

The car performed flawlessly without any hiccups. We are always worried about overheating out in these hot desert race tracks but the Code3 IC & oil cooler are keeping our temps in check. The N54 engine is known to heat up the oil to dangerous levels but with the Code3 oil cooler in place we were able to push the car longer and harder than before!

We wish we could take some more weight out of the car but since it's still a street car we don't want to loose any of our creature comforts. It's a fast BMW, but this is still a BMW afterall. The only weight savings we have done to the car are the race seats, removed rear seats, and BERK turbo back exhaust. The seats save us ~60-80lbs total and the BERK turbo back exhaust saves us about 50lbs.

We keep heading the right direction with the car and are pushing the 135i platform further than any other tuner in the country. The lessons learned from the race track trickle down into the components that we manufacture for YOUR street car. We stay true to the BERK mantra, "dyno tested, track proven".

I hope that some of you guys will be able to get out to some of the Redline events. They just created a Rookie class for those of you who aren't quite ready to compete at the higher levels. There is no better way to test the capabilities of your street cars than on the track!

Best regards,
The BERK TECHNOLOGY TEAM





More pics on the BERK BLOG:
http://berktechnology.wordpress.com/

[J Tyler]

More pics:

In the paddock:




Me being interviewed for a D-Sport magazine DVD


The competition:

[Evolution Racewerks]

Congrats!
As you know, we missed out on all the fun.
See you guys at the next event.

[Papa13]

Nice good job man. What front lip are you guys running on your 1er? Looks great

[xbook]

Excellent pics, and congrats on your times guys!!!!

[BerkTechnology]

Originally Posted by Papa13

Nice good job man. What front lip are you guys running on your 1er? Looks great

We're running a V-Fiber front lip. It will give you the tii look for about 1/4 the cost. We had a hand in desiging the lip so it would be functional and look good to boot! The side skirts are also from V-Fiber as well.



Same guys who did all of the aero work that makes this the fastest GC Impreza in the world.

[J Tyler]

Originally Posted by xbook

Excellent pics, and congrats on your times guys!!!!

Thanks Jason. The car is getting there.... We definitely went in the right direction with our new springs & ride height. Our Time Attack competition session was done on old front tires this time, and the track conditions were pretty bad: hot, high winds, dirt/sand all over the track; so I know that with fresh tires and good track conditions we will be quite a bit faster. And we will have a few more new bits on the car for next time!

[heyimsam]

the rims looks look tight I was thinking about those what size please!

[BerkTechnology]

Originally Posted by heyimsam

the rims looks look tight I was thinking about those what size please!

Thanks! They wheels are Enkei NT03. Very lightweight and very strong.

18x8.5 +38 on 255/35/18.
18x9.5 +58 on 265/35/18.

I have an extra set w/ 2 day old Toyo R1R tires on them if you are interested.

[Berduderunner]

Congrats on the finishes guys! Keep pushing the envelope!

[MINI135i]

Originally Posted by J Tyler

Thanks Jason. The car is getting there.... We definitely went in the right direction with our new springs & ride height. Our Time Attack competition session was done on old front tires this time, and the track conditions were pretty bad: hot, high winds, dirt/sand all over the track; so I know that with fresh tires and good track conditions we will be quite a bit faster. And we will have a few more new bits on the car for next time!

What spring rates and ride height did you settle on?

[Raflekt]

what oil cooler do you have? I have a Setrab oil cooler , but I think I need a bigger one because last weekend I ran for 18 laps ( 1 min 02 each lap ) and at 16 lap I have to do a slow lap. I have to say I have an steptronic transmission.

congratulations!

[94JZA80]

congrats on the 3rd and 6th place finishes. and i'm loving those Enkie's


could you please post the results in their entirety, or a link to the results?


TIA,
Eric

[BerkTechnology]

Mini - Spring rates are 400 front, 800 rear. We may go stiffer in the front.

Raf - No oil cooler at this time. A Code3 oil cooler should go in this month. The brakes actually force more cool down laps on us than the oil temps. These N54's run so dang hot!

94 - Link to the street class re-cap.
http://redlinetimeattack.com/Article/Details/7

Full results are here. We got bumped to 7th? I just checked it now and they changed our finish? What's going on there.....
http://redlinetimeattack.com/Article/Details/5

[BerkTechnology]

The Berk 135i

The Berk S2000.

[J Tyler]

Here are two videos from the weekend, filmed with a friend's GoPro camera. We had some technical difficulty with our own camera so I think this is all we got from the weekend. Enjoy!

Roof cam: http://vimeo.com/3945997
(apparently the mount can't take 125mph wind!)

Door cam: http://vimeo.com/4072847

[94JZA80]

i took a look at your blog and noticed that you went 2:03.9 in last year's Super Lap Battle, and yet in this year's Redline Time Attack you went 2:03.617, only managing to shave a few tenths of a second off your lap time. what changes (if any) did you make to the car between then and now? are there significant differences in the way you're allowed to set up your car for Super Lap Battle and Redline Time Attack? and if there are differences, did you take advantage of any/all the regulation differences?


TIA,
Eric

[jeremydgreat]

Where can you buy a Code3 oil cooler?

[J Tyler]

Originally Posted by 94JZA80

i took a look at your blog and noticed that you went 2:03.9 in last year's Super Lap Battle, and yet in this year's Redline Time Attack you went 2:03.617, only managing to shave a few tenths of a second off your lap time. what changes (if any) did you make to the car between then and now? are there significant differences in the way you're allowed to set up your car for Super Lap Battle and Redline Time Attack? and if there are differences, did you take advantage of any/all the regulation differences?


TIA,
Eric

The main differences on the car from SLB to RTA were the spring rates and tires. For SLB, we had the 'stock' KW V3 rates on the car, and brand new tires. For the RTA, we did our own custom spring rates which was definitely a big step in the right direction; but due to a limited budget we ran on old front tires.

Honestly, the fact that we did a 2:03.6 with pretty bad understeer (old front tires) in hot weather was very impressive to me. We know that the car can go quite a bit quicker than that on a cooler day with decent tires all around!

The next competition for Berk Technology will be May 30-31 at Willow Springs International Raceway. I think the 1er will be more competitive there due to the track layout. We'd love to be on the podium with this car.

[akak1997]

how are those Enkei fitting? Any issue? Requires fender roll or any mods?
They look pretty good

[94JZA80]

Originally Posted by J Tyler

Honestly, the fact that we did a 2:03.6 with pretty bad understeer (old front tires) in hot weather was very impressive to me. We know that the car can go quite a bit quicker than that on a cooler day with decent tires all around!

cool man...i suspected that the car changed minimally between events. don't get me wrong, i'm not unimpressed - its exremely difficult to drastically improve lap times at a "one lap" event. in fact, depending on the venue, shaving a few tenths of a second off a lap time can be very significant. i'm looking forward to seeing you guys run in cooler weather and on fresh sticky tires. i only wish you were running at Buttonwillow one more time (instead of Willow Springs) just to eliminate one more variable to the equation and to get more of an apples-to-apples comparison. nevertheless, be sure to keep us updated on the upcoming Willow Springs event!

job well done guys...

[J Tyler]

Originally Posted by 94JZA80

cool man...i suspected that the car changed minimally between events. don't get me wrong, i'm not unimpressed - its exremely difficult to drastically improve lap times at a "one lap" event. in fact, depending on the venue, shaving a few tenths of a second off a lap time can be very significant. i'm looking forward to seeing you guys run in cooler weather and on fresh sticky tires. i only wish you were running at Buttonwillow one more time (instead of Willow Springs) just to eliminate one more variable to the equation and to get more of an apples-to-apples comparison. nevertheless, be sure to keep us updated on the upcoming Willow Springs event!

job well done guys...

Thanks man! We appreciate the support and interest from everyone here. Berk will be back at Buttonwillow eventually; it's our 'home' track and our testing benchmark. Berk is always doing little tweaks to the car, trying new things/ideas/etc so we always have something new to report on when we go out. I definitely see your point... it is tough to find lap time in a car that has to remain comfortably street-able. I think they've done incredibly well with a limited budget and sticking to simple, well-thought-out bolt-on mods. It's really amazing when you see the cars that we are up against.

I'm excited for WSIR. It's going to be F-A-S-T in this car!