Two Canoes Racing

“Little Germany” - bring the family out to watch the races this weekend if you’re in metro Detroit. Cheap entry, kids free, beer on the hill, and spectacular racing

Great first weekend out for Two Canoes Racing. Winter prep work paid off tremendously and continued to dial in the car. More work to be done but we are much closer to a dialed in setup than we work. Also came home with our best finish to date!

As the season approaches, cleaning up last years kit to start this season and make the most of our money spent

Out with the old, in with the rebuilt.

I feel personally attacked

Unfortunately we missed the last race weekend. Went to load the car up on the trailer and it wouldn’t start. Suspect a failing/failed ignition coil was the culprit. After swapping in a new one we checked the plugs and they definitely don’t look like they were burning hot at all. Brake clean, a wire brush, and a spark plug gapper has them looking good as new! Decided while we’re on the ignition train to upgrade to some larger plug wires to make sure all the electrons from the new coil make their way over to the motor. Next race weekend at the end of August, can’t wait to see how that new larger rear axle does!

It was a good but busy long weekend at the Two Canoes shop. We upgraded the final drive ratio from 4.10 to 4.45 for some added pep and shorter gearing. Since this car isn’t even topping out fourth gear the reduction in to speed isn’t a concern. Oh and we also rebuilt some brake calipers to sit on the shelf as spares, nbd.

Shiny new bits. Not clogged and straight fins radiator coupled with a colder thermostat to hopefully keep the engine temps down. Race weekend 3 at this weekend.

It’s not a first place but quite happy with this hardware right here. For only being the second time ever racing in the wet we managed to bring home a P3 this weekend. New setup on the car is 🤌 with the higher lateral loading we’re able to achieve we’re running into the common fuel starvation issue that the E30’s have. Have a few ideas in mind to rectify this and if that gets solved there is a solid chance of a P1 finish in the future.

Race Weekend #1 has begun! Come check us out at this weekend

We don’t just race ourselves, we help to bring the next generation of racers forward. Last weekend instructing at drivers school

Your annual pre-season reminder to tape your wheel weights 🏎️

Keeping with the cooling improvements we’ve added a close out at the top of the radiator as well. Hoping to see an improvement of quite a few degrees this season

CAE: Cardboard Aided Engineering. Have some ideas for a Gen2 that will seal things up better but for now, it’s better than a gaping hole and is ready for race season

It’s that time of year. We’re going racing!

If you’re cold, they’re cold. Bring them inside to warm up.

New wheels. Who dis?

A bad day at the track is still better than a good day at the office. Main caliper bolts sheared off when getting hard on the brakes. Luckily it was open grass in front and just let it coast to a stop. Somehow the only damage was the brake hose and the wheel. A new braided line for a VW Buggy and a set of wheel from a competitor and we made it back to grid with 3 minutes to spare. New pads and rotor needed for the next weekend but these will do for the remainder of the weekend. Can’t thank the paddock family enough for the help getting parts together and making the afternoon race a reality

Battle of the 80’s 4-bangers!

Waterford Hills race weekend #4. Weather was cooler than race weekend 3, which was a reprieve. The hard work put in between races seemingly paid off as the car rang strong all weekend resulting in a podium P3 finish on Saturday. Sunday morning had some great racing action going side by side and trading spots with a GTI but ultimately went too hot into T3, had a bit of a tank slapper, and spun off into the grass. Sunday afternoon was tire concerns and a failing axle resulting in an extremely poor finish. Overall a satisfying weekend for the TCR team and looking forward to the next one!

Took a break yesterday from what feels like rebuilding the entire car to enjoy some grilling with family and friends

Race weekend #3 did not go as planned. Friday was supposed to be practice to bed brakes but lost the clutch pedal pulling out of the paddock spot. Sticking master cylinder was the culprit. With the help of some friends we took it apart and it looked good but dirty so we cleaned and reinstalled. Saturday qualifying now was meant to bed brakes but again lost the clutch. Another competitor had an E36 clutch master so we were able to make that work enough to get through the weekend. Race 1 was now to bed brakes. Thanks to a black flag early on we finished the brakes and we’re able to be with the field. Unfortunately, an outside pass in the marbles led to a Kansas City hayride off into the grass. The rest of the weekend was spent battling overheating issues and a transmission leaking from about every seal. Definitely have our work cut out for us before the next race in a month

Pro tip: foil tape your wheel weights on track wheels. The high heat generated by the brakes caused the adhesive to lose its tack. Couple that with the high forces the wheels see from cornering, braking, and high speeds and it’s a recipe to lose some weights and think you have a bigger problem than you actually do

New stoppers thanks to

On grid 😎