Converting the Family Car to a Race Car

When Colin Swanger was growing up in Nashville, Tenn., he would sit in the passenger seat of his mother’s BMW 328i and shift the gears while she drove him to school.

Nearly 30 years later, Swanger is now racing the family car affectionately named “Mama Bear” in NASA’s Southeast Region. The project has been a labor of love for Swanger, who owns Forza Motorsports in Louisburg, N.C.

“It was her baby,” said the 35-year-old Swanger. “She just loved it, and since then we’ve owned nothing but BMWs.”

After the BMW E36 blew a head gasket with 207,000 miles, it remained garaged for a couple of years until Swanger’s parents approached him with an offer. They wanted him to race the BMW that his mother Avis bought on Leap Day in 1996. The same car in which Swanger learned to drive and did a few unauthorized “reliability tests” in his youth was ready for a second life on the track.

“My parents said, ‘We would love to see it get turned into a racecar by you and you take it out into racecar heaven,” Swanger said. “That’s something my dad always says, ‘The car died and went to BMW heaven.’”

Swanger learned to work on cars with his father, David, in elementary school and his father would describe in detail how each part worked. The family maintained their own vehicles, so the younger Swanger knew the car well. It felt natural to let him have the car, Avis said.

“We spent a lot of family time in the car besides taking it out on vacations and visiting relatives,” Avis said. “It was the family workhorse.”

When Swanger got the BMW back to his shop in North Carolina, he turned the car to a roller and sent it to have the sound deadening material removed. From there it went to Babyface Fabrication in Kannapolis, N.C., for a roll cage and back to the Forza Motorsports shop. With parts from Bimmerworld, Swanger’s shop spent a year on and off getting the car ready for NASA Spec3 competition.

“It has so many special memories behind it, it was almost surreal turning it into a racecar,” said Swanger, who brings 14 years of servicing European vehicles. “There’s an aspect where this car has to be perfect and perform well because there’s a lot riding on it.”

Mama Bear made the maiden voyage at Carolina Motorsports Park in early May, winning all three Spec3 races. Swanger’s best lap on the 2.279-mile track was 1:49.89 and expects the BMW E36 to get even faster as he further dials it in.

“The best part of spec racing is the car does retain some of the same feel as a streetcar,” Swanger said. “It’s not like it’s on coilovers. It’s just a Koni street shock with factory brakes and a stock engine, essentially. So, it feels very similar.”

The 2024 season was Swanger’s first year with NASA, coming from the autocross and time attack ranks. Swanger won multiple championships in autocross and set track records in time attack before moving to wheel-to-wheel racing.

“When we really started getting up to speed and started to be successful, I started passing a lot of people and the more I did it, the more I realized I liked chasing people,” Swanger said.

When Swanger races, he’s joined by Bimmerworld’s Henry Fink, who handles prep and communications for the team. Having Fink as a spotter is not only an advantage while racing, but it also allows Swanger to do a deep dive into the data and video footage as soon as he’s off track.

He uses an AiM system for data and reviews it in RaceStudio looking at everything from braking to speeds through the turns. Swanger is learning to give clearer feedback on how the car is performing, a skill that also benefits his work with race clients.

“My team needs to know how the car is reacting,” he said. “It’s easy for me to feel, but sometimes a little bit harder to get across to them what I need the car to do. One of the main things I’m working on is how do I better communicate.”

In addition to running Mama Bear, Swanger campaigns a 2002 BMW M3 named Gretchen “The Ghost” in the GTS3. Between clients and racing his own cars, Swanger estimates he spends 26 weekends a year at the track.

Since launching Forza Motorsports in 2022, a shop focused on European vehicles, Swanger has significantly expanded its race operations. Forza offers track support and rental race cars. The current BMW fleet includes a Spec E30, a Z3, an E36 and an M3 with Forza currently building two additional Spec3 cars.

Finding the balance between traveling, racing and work can be a challenge, but Swanger is fortunate that his girlfriend, Holly, and her son join him most weekends at the track. “Your loved ones have to make sacrifices as well,” he said.

Swanger is looking forward to racing Mama Bear at the 2025 NASA National Championships, September 4-7, at Ozarks International Raceway. The track ranks among Swanger’s favorites, which includes Road Atlanta, Virginia International Raceway and Watkins Glen.

Swanger calls the Missouri track a “special place” thanks to the elevation changes, blind crests at triple-digit speeds and tight walls. He still holds a track record.

“There’s a lot less room for error, so you have to really be focused,” Swanger said of the Lake of the Ozarks track. “That’s part of why I love racing so much. When I’m in the car going at crazy speeds, tucked up next to walls and you’re only focused on one thing in the whole wide world.

“Nothing else matters at that moment, and it’s just you and the car. It sounds so cliché, but I love it.”