Racing a 1985 190E Cosworth
MBCA Member Paul Geddings Dominates in Ace 190E Cosworth
by Rod Diridon
Photographs by Sabra Diridon
“That thing is loud and slow.” “Isn’t Mercedes a truck manufacturer?” “You should trade up to a BMW.”
These were not the wisest taunts to throw at a guy like NASA club racer and Mercedes-Benz Club of America member Paul Geddings. With a stubborn determination to win, Paul is a man who doesn’t take “you can’t do that” lightly, especially in relation to his favorite 1985 Euro-spec 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth.
“Every time the BMW guys gave me a hard time, it made me want to work on the 190 more,” shares Paul. An undefeated flyweight boxer in high school, he practiced by fighting his much-larger cousins. It’s a perfect mindset to go toe-to-toe with the E30 horde that has oversaturated modern club racing.
The sheer volume of cheap and pliable 5-speed BMW E30s, and their massive range of aftermarket performance gear, has justifiably made them one of club racing’s darlings. Without the aid of a spec-build blueprint or more than a trace of a track-related peer group, Paul had his work cut out for him with the Cossie.
But let’s not forget what the 16v Cossie eventually became: a fierce competitor in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) series, where Mercedes and Klaus Ludwig won the Manufacturers Championship in 1992 (see next article for more information). With late-model 2.5-liter 16-valve engines packing 202 horsepower in race trim (235 horsepower in EVO 2 trim), their BMW and Audi competitors spent plenty of time looking down 190E tailpipes.
“The Cosworth had all the good stuff: four valves per cylinder, forged nitrated crank, one-to-one final ratio 5-speed, and that marvelous 5-link rear suspension,” Paul says of his affinity for the car. “Plus, the styling is awesome, a racer with class compared to the 1988 M3, which to me looked rushed in its design.”
Of course, history and 25-year-old engineering only go so far. A civil engineer and the president of Geddings Engineering, Paul and local master fabricator Mike Griffith put their significant complementary skills to work in sourcing and modifying the parts needed to compete with leaders in the field. No easy task when you realize that the major Mercedes tuners have long since turned their heads to more plentiful models.
As he set to work preparing the car, Paul refrained from big-bore kits and fancy porting, opting instead for reliability. “The Cosworth was so well designed from the factory that uncorking its potential was all it needed,” he explains. The rebuilt engine remains in stock configuration, dyno’ed at 159 horsepower and 149 pound-feet of torque at the rear wheels. The stock brakes, more than adequate, were equipped with Raybestos pads in the front and Porterfield pads in the rear.
To straighten out the curves, Paul fit the suspension with H&R Sport Springs and Koni adjustable shocks. RDM TEK front camber plates and K-Mac eccentric bushings on all four corners have garnered an impressive 3.2 degrees of front and 2.7 degrees of rear camber. Hoosier 225/50/15 R6 tires have helped tie all of this to the pavement.
But not everything proved so easy. The 15x7 Team Dynamics wheels had to be purchased as blanks and custom drilled to fit the car. The MegaSquirt electronic fuel injection upgrade was a challenge, to say the least. A custom-built Ultra Shield seat perfected the cockpit ergonomics, and a full 2.5-inch exhaust was fabricated to help the Cossie exhale.
Even some Mercedes-sourced parts were a challenge. The rear anti-sway bar used on the EVO 2 was less than plentiful, as was the 300E limousine bar for the front. Paul had to find a set of 3.9 differential gears from a 1970 220 diesel and ship the entire unit to Patrick Evans at Benz-Mac to have it shimmed and modified for the factory limited-slip differential unit.
The final push was ruthless weight reduction, including gutting the interior, replacing glass with Lexan, removing the dash, and even cutting out the inner doors and hood bracing. Even with Paul weighing in at 150 pounds, still significantly less than your average Big Mac-scarfing gearhead, the total weight of the slimmed-down Cossie and driver is just under 2,500 pounds.
Paul’s skill and speed quickly drew attention from his peers, including Morgan Combes of Ace Driving Gear, the 16v’s first sponsor. An accomplished driver and the leader of the HPDE-3 NASA effort, Morgan shares that even as a green driver, “Paul was a unique talent in an interesting car.” The owner of the company that provides vintage-look racing gear, Morgan has always had an eye for style, “I remember as a kid in Europe seeing a 190E 16-valve and thinking how cool it was. With Paul at the wheel, they still are.”
With limited time in the TTD class for racing and development, the Ace Driving Gear-sponsored car has gone from a rough project to proving that a well-prepared Mercedes with the right driver can win against the BMWs, and win often.
One of Paul’s most impressive performances was a recent race at Northern California’s Thunderhill Raceway, run partially in the rain. Looking to the skies, Paul made the gutsy move of running regular dry-track race rubber.
“Those first few laps were really sketchy,” Paul explains. “But I had qualified on pole before the rain, and people give you a wide berth when you’re sideways on a wet track!” Holding his own early on, Paul’s tire choice proved unbeatable when the pavement dried halfway through the race, hurtling the Mercedes to a first-place finish.
While friendly and engaging off the track, Paul definitely does not like to be pushed. “At Sears earlier in the season, the father of one of the drivers checked out the Mercedes and commented that I should ‘pack a lunch,’” Paul says. Someone should have warned the guy that trash talking Paul is akin to poking a friendly badger with a sharp stick. True to form, he beat the NASA TTD National Champion and his 3.0 Z4 BMW by three-tenths of a second.
Making the jump from time trials to GTS-2 midway through the season, Paul has won in three of four outings. A testament to the durability of the Ace 190E, even with a troubled fuel system he managed a third-place podium finish in his roughest outing.
He’s also earned the respect of his peers, among them the current points leader, Greg Peterson. North Bay Bavarian tapped Greg, a former motorcycle racer, to race its BMW in both the GTS-2 and Spec E30 series.
“Paul is a strong competitor and a really good driver; he’s really smooth,” allows Greg. “When I switched to Hoosiers, he shared advice with me about tire pressures. That openness is not something you always see among competitors.”
In addition, the charm of the Cossie has not escaped Greg, who says, “It’s a cool-looking car and neat to see someone racing and winning in one. Next year, with a full season to race, Paul and the Mercedes will be the ones to beat.”
Results don’t lie: In just a partial season in GTS-2, Paul and the Ace 190E have earned two track records at Thunderhill Raceway, 2:06.494 when run clockwise, and 2:04.013 counterclockwise. Impressive work for any car, let alone a 1985 4-cylinder!
Standing in the paddock, it’s clear that Paul and the Ace 190E are becoming ambassadors of the tri-star nation. “I’ve never seen a Mercedes on the track,” said one kid, a typical paddock rat with a rock-star haircut who rolled off the assembly line around the same year as the Cossie.
Another 40-something stopped by to say how “cool it is to see a Mercedes being raced.” Having an uncommon car takes some time to explain, and Paul is patient with each curious visitor.
“There’s a different level of responsibility to the marque when racing a 16v than your normal club racer,” Paul confides. “If you ball up an E30, you just go and buy another one. If you write off a Cossie, then there’s one less of these beautiful cars around for future generations.”
But don’t let his appreciation of the brand make you think he’s afraid to flog the Cossie like it was built to be raced, or that he’ll give quarter without a fight. “I have a lot of respect for the guys I drive with, but we’re here to race,” explains Paul. “Any day at the track is a good day, though, and I have nothing to complain about.”
And, even if Paul did have cause to complain, it’s unlikely he would. It’s more likely that he’d continue to fight his way to the front of the pack, more often than not with the Silver Star crossing the line ahead of the rest.
For more information, contact Paul Geddings at Geddings Engineering in Nevada City, California, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.acedrivinggear.com.
