Many BMW enthusiasts have that extra BMW sitting around their driveway, maybe they park it on the street because it leaks a little bit and the family does not want to let the neighbors you actually own it. It is kind of embarrassing when you think about it. More than likely though that very car has some kind of connection to the owner and despite all the nagging from the wife you will not send this car to the junkyard. What can you do with it?

Enter ChumpCar World Series!

That terrible BMW you have hidden out on the street in front of your house has the potential to be a racecar… and it might even be destined to bring you along to a top spot on the podium. The car barely run if you can even get it to start so how is this possible? Everyone else is going to be racing similar cars so you will be in good company. $500 dollar cars are run in this series of crapcan racing which is nice when you wallet cannot support a more serious entry into Club Racing.

Enter a very special 1986 325e. It was hit in the back and is rusting. The repair was quite low quality and at some point the trunk might fall off. The car starts when it wants too… which is a crap shoot. Maybe it’s your lucky day and it will fire right up. The shifter is falling out of the car and drags on the driveshaft. It’s filled with garbage. This is perfect! The car is owned by a friend named John Allen and the car has always been called “The Special”. More on that later. Being an E30 nerd myself most of my friends just seem to all be E30 guys.

It’s a curse and we love it. A late night of wrenching on one of our own E30s that was broken we decided we should enter ChumpCar and run The Special. Say it ain’t so… we are going racing!

Enter the John Allen Special USFail1 race team. A bunch of BMW nerds that love wrenching and want to go racing. This is where we have to apologize for the misleading title. While Formula 1 is coming to the US in Texas there is not a new Formula 1 team and BMW is not returning… that we know of. What we do have is a 1986 325e 5 speed and it will be racing in ChumpCar. BMWBLOG will be following along with the build and results as we make this into a true racing machine.

Enjoy the photos of what we are starting with and please check back as we will have updates to get everyone caught up with where we are at!