[Highboosted]

No expirence in BMW's, but bought a used rally car a long time ago. Anyways it's pretty universal.

Dom's right, the very first thing you want to know is hours since last overhaul. Every recip part should have logged hours, and they should provide those logs with the car. If it doesn't have a log, then you should be asking why not, because most sanctioning body's require one, as well as a build log (lotsa pics of the build up for passing tech and getting your certification). Buying a race car is useless of it can't get certified. Next thing is to check the SFI dates on any safety equipment, as most things expire and require replacement every season or couple of years, ect. If it has a fuel cell, make sure it's an FIA approved cell and not one from Summit or some other NHRA standard cell. NHRA rules are very relaxed and most sanctioning bodies will not accept their standards because they are too low.

Remember wear items, tires, brakes, engine, clutch, tranny, rear diff, all should have records to how many races/hours on on each, and their overhaul interval. And no matter how good the car may seem, it's only as good as the records the team kept. Poor recordkeeping usually means poor maintenance.

But on the other hand, it's always a crapshoot. A car with 10 hours on the drivetrain can DNF the next race, while some 3rd hand "beater" 200 hour car could win a 6 hour enduro....really depends on what kind of racing it's seen and how much God likes you...

Oh yea.....get the spares with the car. If the team is liquidating they sometimes will offer you a deal to get the whole package so they don't have to deal with selling general stuff....for just a little more than what they were asking for the car I got a spare engine and tranny, 3 sets of tires, 2 sets of wheels, several sets of spares of things like steering racks and pumps and radiators. Basically another car or two without a body.