Take A Ride Around Buttonwillow in our 135i!

Berk Technology is proud to announce its first official event of the 2010 year!  And what better way to kick off the year than by raising money for a worthy cause.  In conjunction with Fatlace and their Hellaflush 3.5 event, Berk Technology will be setting up an official American Red Cross donation center near the car show area where participants can make donations, check out our 370Z demo car, check out our 135i time attack car, and more.   The really exciting part is that those who donate $10 or more and meet the age/health requirements will be able to sit shotgun for a hot lap around the famous Buttonwillow Raceway in our time attack BMW 135i!  Those who donate $10 or more will also get a free goodie bag filled with stuff from our sponsors and event supporters!

The event itself will be jam packed full of stuff to see and watch.  The hottest cars on the west coast will flock to the Hellaflush 3.5 car show, while drift fans will get their fill watching the Team Drift Championship event.  There will also be an open track day on the road course, and of course, our charity ride-a-long program.  The event takes place Sunday February 21st out at Buttonwillow Raceway, just outside of Bakersfield, CA off the 5 freeway.

For more information on the event, or to register for the car show, visit…

http://www.hellaflush.com

Velocity Motorcars Joins Our List of Sponsors!

Velocity Motorcars is fast becoming a very well known name in the BMW and MINI Cooper world.  Specializing in manufacturing and designing functional and extremely high quality products, Velocity Motorcars will bring a lot to the table for the Berk Technology Time Attack Race Team.  We will be running the full Velocity Motorcars product line for the BMW 135i on our time attack car as well as helping in development and testing on some exciting new products that will be coming out soon!

Velocity Motorcars will provide us with the necessary parts to remain competitive in the ever growing sport of time attack racing.  Their adjustable rear camber and toe links as well as their adjustable sway bar end links will allow us to further adjust our suspension settings to make sure we are getting 100% out of the car.  A proper alignment is one of the most important things you can do to a car to turn a fast lap time at any road course and with these new parts from Velocity Motorcars, we will be able to do just that.  We are very proud to have Velocity Motorcars on board with us for 2010 and look forward to an amazing year!

Check Velocity Motorcars out at http://www.VelocityMotorcars.com.

—- Berk Technology

The Berk Technology 135i Immortalized in Forza!

One of the best racing games out there is Forza Motorsports 3 for XBox.  One of the coolest things about the game is the ability to create your own liveries so you can replicate almost any car if you have the skills and the time.  Replicating and designing cars on Forza has become very popular among gamers worldwide.  There has been a trend of re-creating Time Attack cars within the Forza community which is a huge testiment to the popularity of the sport among the current generations.

James Elterman from the Takata Time ATtack race team and driver of the Takata Time Attack Subaru STI brought the sport of time attack to the Forza crowd when he worked in conjunction with them to create a livery design contest.  The winning design was turned into a full digital wrap and then used on the actual Takata Time Attack STI.  The contest was a huge hit and helped gain a ton of fans for the sport.  Since then, many of today’s time attack cars have been immortalized into the video game world.

James Elterman himself is pretty good at creating replica time attack cars and sent us the photo above of a re-creation of our Berk Technology Time Attack BMW 135i as it looks today!  It is incredibly cool to see our car immortalized in a video game and we thank James for doing an amazing job!

— Berk Technology

Vivid Racing Joins Our List of Sponsors for 2010!

Vivid Racing is one of, if not the largest online aftermarket parts stores in the import car community.  They are also major importers that are responsible for bringing many of the top JDM and European brands over to the United States.  Having such a big name associated with our racing efforts is quite a feat, which is why we are proud to announce Vivid Racing as our newest sponsor for our time attack race team in 2010!

Vivid Racing is based out of Arizona in a state of the art facility.  They have a massive warehouse full of the best parts for hundreds of different applications.  They have a full service install shop complete with five lifts, an AWD dyno, and experienced techs making them truly a one stop shop.  Their list of project vehicles is endless and they are always working on new things.

Vivid Racing will be a valuable asset to the Berk Technology Time Attack Race Team and our BMW 135i as we compete in the most competitive time attack racing series in the nation.  And of course, you can also buy quality Berk Technology products from Vivid Racing in return!

Check Vivid Racing out at http://www.VividRacing.com.

—Berk Technology

The Berk Technology Time Attack 135i Gets Some Hand-Me-Downs From Its Big Brother!

The search for speed continues with our Time Attack BMW 135i this off season in preparation for the opening round of the 2010 Redline Time Attack series. Although we are continuously breaking our own records and progressing forward with our little 1-Series monster there is still a long way to go. With progress comes issues and one of those issues we ran into this past season was the fact that we needed more negative camber.

One of the most overlooked aspects of a well handling car is its alignment. A car’s alignment settings can make or break its performance on track. A big part of a car’s alignment, when it comes to handling performance, is camber. Without being able to run enough negative camber, we weren’t using 100% of our tires handling capabilities. This, as you can imagine, is very frustrating to know when you are trying to shave off every hundredth of a second you can in time attack.

This is why one of the first major changes we are making to the car before the start of the season addresses this. We have swapped our stock 1-Series front control arms and wishbones with some longer, lighter, and stronger ones off of a current generation BMW M3. Although the M3 arms are non-adjustable, their longer length will give us the extra bit of negative camber the car is asking for allowing us to fully utilize our tires potential. This will result in not only better lap times, but also better tire wear!

Although adding more negative camber was our main goal with this upgrade, it also comes with a few other performance enhancing benefits. One of those is a reduction in toe change during compression/rebound. As the car’s suspension moves up and down, the toe setting for the wheels changes resulting in changing handling characteristics. These new M3 arms will reduce that effect providing us with a more consistent and predictable handling car. The new M3 components also feature higher quality bearings which will enhance steering precision and provide the driver with better feedback from the road.

One last change we made in this last go round of upgrades is switching to slightly stiffer sway bars, also from a new generation BMW M3. These will further reduce body roll and help keep all four tires planted through the turns.

We will make similar modifications to the rear suspension a little later on as well as a handful of other performance upgrades from some of our new sponsors! Check back often for more off-season updates and be sure to come see us and the car in person at Round #1 of the 2010 Redline Time Attack Series on March 27th & 28th out at Buttonwillow Raceway.

Sources
HP Autowerks
http://www.hpashop.com

APR Perfromance introduces new BMW 135i parts!

APR Performance develops a new BMW 135i application for their GTC-200 series of carbon fiber airfoil wings. The new kit is application specific to the BMW 135i trunk lid.

We opted to configure our wing package to a full competition spec which adds the optional gurney flap and 2.5″ riser plates. The gurney flap (or wicker bill for our UK audience) is that little right angle piece of carbon fiber that is added to the trailing edge of the wing. The wicker adds additional downforce by increasing the amount of air pressure on the top of the wing and reducing the amount of lift on created on the bottom of the wing. The 2.5″ risers place the wing higher into the air stream giving the wing a chance to catch “cleaner” laminar air that flows above the car.

Enough technical babble lets get on how well it performed on the racetrack!

On the Berk Technology 135i test bed the APR wing was generating a considerable amount of down force at Buttonwillow Raceway. Our previous personal best at this track was 2:03. In the long right handed sweeper known as Riverside we are generating a considerable amount of download and increased grip through that turn. At the end of the day we were able to shave over 2 seconds off of our previous times with the APR GTC-200 wing as the only major change to the car.

In addition to the quicker lap times we also have gorgeous body lines to look at in my opinion . The 135i’s stubby silhouette is given the much needed sleeker look with the set back stance of the glossy carbon fiber wing. Granted I’m the type of guy that enjoys the smell of carcinogenic race fuel and tire smoke so the look of a race prepped touring car may not be for you but it sure brings a smile to my face.

The APR GTC-200 wing for the BMW 135i is available now from Berk Technology.

A blast from the past….. before it was turned into a race car…..

There was a time when the Berk 135i lived a life as a normal commuter car that got you from point A to point B. Then the guys in the motorsports department got their hands on the car and things were never quite the same again.

Here’s a look back to the past when the Berk Technology BMW 135i was still a virgin. Personally I think she looks better now with all of the carbon fiber, but that’s just my opinion.

Berk Technology getting ready for the Redline Time Attack Finals!

For all the fans and customers…Hopefully if you are reading this you are both, but we are going to be competing at the Redline Time Attack finals on November 14th & 15th with the Berk 135i.  We have already shattered the BMW 135i/335i track record at Willow Springs Raceway and we have no doubt that the record will fall at Autoclub Speedway.  We hope to see you all out there to check out our new stuff. If you feel up to it come on out and hang out with the Berk crew, maybe champagne showers if we win….

Come by to check out the our BMW and other competitors with our race machines outfitted with the latest cutting edge race parts.

Here’s a sneak preview of what is to come….

Rotora 335mm Big Brake Kit & Super Cool BMW 135i Custom Brake Ducts

BMW did a fine job with the Brembo 6 piston braking system on the 135i. But as some of you have noticed the OEM system has a limited heat capacity before experiencing serious brake fade on the road course even when using proper race pads. Berk Technology and Rotora took a two prong approach to attack the problem.

1.  335mm Big brake upgrade from Rotora.  This uses their latest 6 piston forged aluminum caliper and their 2 piece 335mm rotor.
2.  Custom brake ducting and with air scoops that draw air from the OEM front bumper locations.

We will be taking the car out for the Euro Tuner Super Lap Battle to test out our new Rotora brake setup. We’ll let you guys know how it goes!

Berk Technology – Project 135i gets some carbon fiber goodness from SEIBON

BMW’s are known for their legendary chassis balance, superb handling, and the driver’s experience. BMW is not known for being lightweight unless you own one of the M3 CSL models. Seibon Carbon steps in an helps us shed quite a few pounds off the car by replacing the hood and trunk lid with lightweight carbon fiber composite pieces. Although it took two guys to carry the OEM stamped steel hood up the ladder we were sure glad to put them away for long term storage.

Coming out of the packaging.

There’s nothing more frustrating that receiving damaged goods from freight companies. Good thing that Seibon carefully packed everything and inspects every single part with two pairs of eyes before anything leaves the warehouse. Our parts arrived in perfect shape!

This hood was absolute cake to install. We were done in 15 minutes flat. Everything aligned perfectly just like OEM. Once again BMW over engineered their trunk latch mechanism and we fumbled a bit transferring the stock hardware over to the new Seibon carbon trunk. Once we had everything moved over it was easy installing the trunk. Just make sure to have a couple of washers handy to get the trunk sitting exactly where you want it.

Here’s the before:

And the after:

Notice the perfect lines between the carbon fiber Seibon bits and the OEM BMW panels. If you want to go full stealth the Siebon parts are fully paintable and no one would be the wiser that you just lost about 30lbs of dead weight.