Crenshaw Rally Team Monarch Hill Climb Recap

We last checked in with the Crenshaw Rally Team after their podium finish at Canyon Pintado Hill Climb back in May. Since then the guys have been enjoying their summer and performing routine preparation and maintenance on their Condor Equipped E30 325ix. 

The time off between events was well enjoyed and next up on the Colorado Hill Climb Association’s calendar would be the Monarch Hill Climb, held in Salida, Colorado on July 13-14. 

Rally Car classes were well represented and included Dave Kern with his expertly prepared Evo, Troy Smith with his WRX, Matt Garcia in a crowd favorite Eagle Talon and Jeff Zwart's 997 GT3 Cup Porsche. It was a beautiful summer weekend in the Colorado mountains and the team was excited to hopefully improve on their performance from last year.

Early on, the Mitsubishi would be their biggest competition, but Fraser in their E30 managed to stay within a few seconds in the event's early stages. As the day progressed, the podium was well within reach. This is where a war of attrition began. 

The first of the casualties was Troy Smith’s Subaru WRX which suffered a blown engine after his first competitive stage of the weekend. 

Soon after this, Bret Hunter’s CRX would tear a ball joint which would have to be welded for the time being to prevent further damage throughout the event. Unfortunately this would only lead to more issues when he then had to nurse a failing alternator for the rest of the weekend.

Things would go from bad to worse for the rest of the grid. Dave Kern’s Evo was forced to retire with transmission failure as did Matt Garcia who suffered (another) blown motor in his Eagle Talon.  

Meanwhile, the E30 stayed intact and performed brilliantly. Fraser and the crew managed to beat the previous year’s pace by a considerable margin with no damage or issues to speak of.  By the end of the day Saturday, they would simply have to make it to the chequered flag to secure a win.

The car continued to hold as strong as ever and they achieved their first win of 2024 after putting on a great show for the crowd. After the podium finish at Rangely back in May,  they were also first in the points with a comfortable lead going forward.

Monarch was a great representation of how a well prepped, properly equipped BMW rally car can outlast sophisticated modern machinery. This is a testament to the hard work of the team and the build quality and reliability of their turbo M20-powered E30. Their dedication is only matched by their competitors who though unlucky this time out, will surely put in the time and effort to come back stronger for the rest of the season.

Epilogue - More Maintenance Going Forward by Fraser Crenshaw

Here are some words from Fraser on the happenings with the car and team after the Monarch win. 

“After Monarch, we had nearly a month until the following race near Grand Junction so I took some time to fix up a few things.  325iX e30s rely on a viscous coupler in the transfer case to split power F/R in a consistent way.  The VC is commonly worn out from use and abuse and/or improper towing procedures over the last 35 years.  If the VC is cooked the car will still effectively have functioning AWD but power can be leaked entirely to either front or rear depending on the surface/conditions.  In our case the VC in our 320+k mile transfer case was still functioning correctly (as demonstrated last season when we blew a front differential and were able to finish a hillclimb at speed with the car behaving as RWD), but it was time to give that part of the system a little love.  A savvy engineer in Michigan named Devon Eyerman runs Random Industries, LLC (@randomindustriesLLC) and specializes in reproducing and rebuilding obscure iX-only bits and pieces, including the transfer case coupler.  Over the winter I had resealed a spare t-case I had been hoarding with a fresh high-performance rebuilt VC from him and now seemed like a good time to swap it in as the old case was leaking fairly significantly and had an odd high-speed vibration.  So in went the fresh case, along with a modified front driveshaft (w/brand new "Finland Fix" front spline extension, also offered by Random Industries), larger guibo using a selection of parts and pieces used more commonly on the rear e30 driveshaft, and of course a fresh UHMW trans/t-case bushing from Condor.  I also took some time to do some standard housekeeping like adding another couple layers of Kevlar to the fuel tank which was showing signs of several years of abuse at this point, and replacing one of the front axles that was showing odd wear at the splines where they engage with the differential.”

Stay tuned for more updates from the Crenshaw Rally Team as they look to hold and build on their class lead in the CHCA Championship.