Patrick_y of PuristSPro visits DINAN Motorsports, a premier BMW tuner, at their headquarters in Northern California. A rare opportunity with a photo report about cars, performance enhancement, and racing engines. Read further to get a behind the scenes glimpse into a world of automotive tuning, engine building, and BMW racing.
BMW already makes fast and great handling cars. In fact, some of the best cars I've ever driven come from BMW. I especially like the E92 2012 328i coupe, the steering was communicative, the power and drivetrain immensely smooth, very linear power, very good suspension, and great handling. I had that car for a few days as a rental, and it pained me to give it back. That's one of the best cars that I've driven, and I've driven some very impressive cars.
For some, a normal out of the box BMW isn't good enough. Sometimes, some people want to modify it/customize it to the way they like it. Usually it's an exhaust system, wheels, and a reprogramming of the engine computer. Sometimes some people like to go a bit further; going into a revised suspension set up, deeper tuning, such as changing the turbochargers, crankshaft, increasing engine displacement by re-drilling the cylinders, and my personal favorite of changing the stock BMW brakes in favor of extra large fixed calipers.
Here are some photos of one of the premier BMW tuners in the world, that happens to be right near Silicon Valley, California. Dinan Motorsports is recognized by BMW as a high quality aftermarket tuner. In fact, BMW corporate even goes to Dinan Motorsports on occasion to receive their consultation regarding their own racing engines.
Dinan was very gracious and generous to open up their facility for a tour to local BMW car fans to show us what they do. I managed to sneak in and get some photos of their interesting facility. It's important to keep in mind, this facility houses all of the R&D that's not accomplished on the racetrack, it does all of the prototyping, and it also does much (but not all) of the manufacturing of most of their components. Definitely an interesting place!
The front door already has a big sign.
This is the BMW E92 M3. The bigger brother version of the BMW 328i I liked so much. This is an awesome car.
A reception of BMW Car Club of America members at the parking lot. This was during BMW CCA week.
This guy's got a sense of humor. And he's got great skills on the autocross course.
I love big brakes with fixed calipers.
Those are individual throttle bodies.
Exhaust systems.
I think this is some sort of radiator/intercooler. Perhaps for the 35i engine's turbo(s).
A big watch company give out big awards.
Lots of trophies in the trophy case.
Our tour is about to begin.
This engine makes around 450 hp out of the box from BMW.
But upon request, Dinan can easily turn that 450 hp engine into 550 hp.
A DINAN M Coupe.
This pipe (the one that says DINAN on it) is actually not just an air pipe. But now it's part of the car's structural chassis. Yes, it's bolted to the car's frame to enhance rigidity!
It's really a family saloon car here in the United States. It just happens to have all wheel drive and 550+ horsepower.
If you've got a lot of horsepower, you've got to be able to have a lot of braking power too!
This is a BMW M5. It comes from the factory with already 500 hp. I don't even want to know how many HPs it'll have after they're done with it.
Rear differential.
That is a turbocharger.
The inside of a turbocharger.
Air boxes in carbon fiber.
Suspension parts.
A jig to make full length exhaust systems I think.
They must make a lot of exhaust systems.
These go inside the mufflers.
Mufflers, they make the car quiet but not too quiet.
Behind the red tarp, is where they weld the exhaust parts.
This is an engine block.
That's 10 cylinders!
Crankshaft.
I have no idea what this does, but I think it has something to do with the engine.
Is this a 4 cylinder? Or is it half an 8 cylinder?
It kind of reminds me of a CNC machine for watches, just a giant version that drills more than baseplates.
This really reminds me of watch manufacturing now. Reminder: we are not in Switzerland. USA, not CHF.
A craftsman at work.
That is beautiful.
This is a DINAN racing engine.
The racing engines have to be tested and homologized.
Control panel to an engine in the soundproofed room.
This is a dyno. It measures at the wheels, how much power the car produces.
Huge fans cool the car.
The fan increases speed when the car increases its theoretical speed.
This device tunes the compression of the strut. Part of the suspension system.
Some sort of bedplate at the bottom of the engine. Will eventually be covered in oil. Very industrial. Yet very handsome.
You can see the mechanical linkages (polished chrome parts on the top of the engine) that control the throttle valve bodies.
Belts
Spare parts.
This is a 3D printer. These are parts made from a 3D printer.
Prototypes are made here in the 3D printer before they're made of metal or carbon fiber in series production.
The 3D Printer itself.
Thanks for viewing! It was an interesting experience to experience this facility. I thank BMW CCA and DINAN Motorsports for organizing this factory tour!
Please leave comments below. Are you familiar with car tuning? Would you consider ever modifying your car like this? Does anybody on PuristSPro actually own a DINAN modified vehicle? Is there a noticeable improvement?
This message has been edited by patrick_y on 2014-02-07 00:55:06
