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M3 wins SCCA Solo II- Bob and PattyTunnell

Dear BMW friends,

Bob and Patty Tunnell, of Superior, Colorado, sent the below message, 
sharing their good news about a double victory at the National 
championships!  They were the decided underdogs, having struggled 
(and occationally won) against the Porsche 993's.  Given that they 
are racing a fully stock E36 M3 against the 993, a true sportscar 
weighing about 500 pounds less, and using much larger tires, their 
accomplishment is even more spectacular.

I hope that their success will encourage more of you Bimmerphiles to 
get involved in SCCA Solo II events,  where you not only will learn a 
great deal about car control at the extremes, but you might even WIN.

Now if we can only get the modified M3's put into ESP instead of 
CSP....

regards,

Carl


- ------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          16 Sep 1996 11:32:44 -0700
From:          "Bob Tunnell" <bobt@domain.elided>
Subject:       We Won!!
To:            "John Browne" <johnbro@domain.elided>,
               "Carl Buckland" <buckland@domain.elided>
Cc:            "BMW Digest" <bmw-digest@domain.elided>,
               "Steve LaFerre" <writecomm@domain.elided>,
               "bmw performance mailing list" <majordomo@domain.elided>

Yes friends, it's true -- both Patty and I won Solo II National 
Championships last week in Topeka in our M3!

They were both very narrow come-from-behind wins over hordes of
Porsche 993's, 968's, 911's, and MR2 Turbos.  Neither Patty nor I set
fast time either day, but stayed close by driving consistently and
cleanly enough to grab the overall National wins -- which are the only
ones that count!

We learned more about tires, wheels, protests, friends, sneakers,
insect bites, and Pepto Bismol than I thought I would ever need to
know.  When I've had time to dig out here at the office I'll file a
complete report on my dismal performance in Pro Solo, our successes at
the Solo II, some great time spent with TC Kline immediately following
his capturing the North American Touring Car Championship, and
thoughts about next year.

But in the meantime I wanted to pass along our heartfelt thanks to
Carl Buckland, John Browne, Boris Elpiner, Keith & Kelly Wollenburg,
Tom Mercado, David Watson, and David Kao for all their help and
encouragement in getting us ready to tackle the best in autocrossing. 
(BTW we ended up *not* using the 8.5" rear wheels or 5-point harness
we worked so hard to get, but I'll explain all that later.)

Thanks, too, to the dozens of other BMW digest members who sent us
private e-mail messages of encouragement.  Unfortunately, us BMW
drivers tend to get a little lonely at Nationals because there are so
few of us.  But knowing you all are behind us is a wonderful feeling
and makes the win that much sweeter.

More later,

Bob Tunnell
bobt@domain.elided
95 M3

P.S. Yippeeeee!!!
Carl R. Buckland
1000 Boston Bldg
Nine Exchange Place
Salt Lake City, Utah  84111
801-531-6686
Fax 531-6690
E Mail buckland@domain.elided

copyright (C) Carl R. Buckland; all rights reserved