Berk Technology’s BMW 135i Time Attack Demonstrator

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The L-Con crafted roll cage has perfect craftmanship.  Look at how the floor plates wrap around the frame rails.

 

The upper part of the hoop has sano corner reinforcements and flawless tig welding.  A hand-formed aluminum panel replaces the heavy sunroof.

 

 

Sparco seats save lots of weight.  Sparco harnesses protect the driver and occasional passenger.  A quick release steering wheel makes entry and exit of the car easier.

 

 

Sparco steering wheel is quite ergonomic!

 

Berk’s race team manager Bee makes sure the car looks as good as it runs before getting back out on track!

Louie Contreras of L-Con fabrication built a basic roll cage from DOM tubing for the car.  Since this was a street class car, the stock interior had to be retained.  It is quite difficult to cleanly integrate an effective cage with a full interior but L-Con did an amazing job.  The cage improves safety and greatly improves chassis stiffness and handling. The interior also includes lightweight Sparco seats on Macht Schnell seat rails and 6-point harnesses.  Switching to the Sparco seats trimmed 70 lbs from the car’s total weight, nearly making up for the weight of the roll cage!  A NRG steering wheel quick release and Sparco steering wheel round out the interior mods.

 

The V-Fiber air dam and the APR splitter make a lot of needed front downforce.

 

 
The 135i has good underbody aerodynamics.  The car is nearly a flat bottom.  This helps the splitter and diffuser’s effectiveness.  You can see the cool Berk exhaust very well from this underbody shot.

The exterior features a bunch of functional and tasteful mods. An APR GTC rear wing and rear diffuser provides downforce in the rear balanced by an APR front splitter.  A V-Fiber front airdam and side skirts manage airflow around the car.  A vented Seibon carbon hood sheds weight and helps the engine stay cool.  A Seibon rear deck lid also trims weight from the car.  APR carbon GT3 mirrors cut drag as a large percentage of a modern car’s drag is actually caused by the mirrors.

 

The Seibon carbon hood has generous venting. This greatly helps engine cooling and helps improve the effectiveness of the splitter.

 

 
The APR rear wing provides tuneable downforce.

After a 2009 development season and with a new veteran driver Mike Bonanni, the Berk 135i entered the 2010 Redline Time Attack season with a roar securing enough points to just about clinch the 2010 season championship at this time.  Below is the cars record in the 2010 season to date.

Buttonwillow – 1st Place – 1:58.839 **New Street Tire RWD Record
Las Vegas Motor Speedway – 2nd Place – 1:49.111
Auto Club Speedway – 2nd Place – 1:51.373
Willow Springs – 3rd Place – 1:30.415

 

The V-Fiber side skirts look good and somewhat help underbody aero by resisting the air’s tendency to curl under the car.

 

 
The Seibon rear trunk decklid saves weight while the APR rear diffuser helps create downforce.  ..and the Laura in the background does her best to distract photographers.

Despite its ontrack prowess, the Berk 135i is still quite streetable and would be a pretty decent street car, mild enough for comfortable daily driving!  The car is a true statement that a fully streetable car can still easily be a winner in the hands of the right team.

Sources

Berk Technology
 

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