Partee Racing

08/22/2026

Another philosophical reflection borne of engine work. (Pic solely for attention.)

Engines obey strict physical laws. That makes them predictable: If built the same way, broken in the same way, and tuned the same way, they will perform the same way in the same environmental circumstances (within a stated margin of error).

Testing an engine on an engine dynamometer strips away all of the other variables that apply when the engine is installed and operated in a car. Repeatability, engine after engine, all built the same, perform the same, reliably, time and time again. It is amazingly emotionally comforting to have that epistemological certainty, to see physical laws at work and never changing. It instills an unprecedented peace in me.

Not so with people. You can know someone deeply or even intimately for most of your life and fail to predict accurately how they will act or respond in a given circumstance. Even if they have acted in accordance with a well-established disposition many times previously, they may very well act differently the next time. And sometimes, that’s because the person has changed, but sometimes is just because the person was weak (or strong) on a given occasion. With a human being, the variables are overwhelmingly numerous and diverse, and having to w**d through that epistemological thicket is the very core of skepticism. It is for me the strongest root for the neighboring trees of relativism and nihilism.

Struggling to conform people to an engine-like physical law is sheer folly and leads nowhere fast. All one can do is accept the inherent variability, recognize the old Biblical adage that some things are not within our power to control, and move on. Perhaps even revel in the diversity, however painful it may be on a given occasion. Like the shepherd biting the head of the serpent and the laughing hysterically in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the movement has to be one of sheer will, solely from within.

Just a few meanderings on a decidedly psychologically unpeaceful Saturday morning away from the shop.

Be well, and go fast.

—Peter

PS: For the Kripke fans out there, note the inherent difference in the skepticism I outline above about predictions of personal action, on the one hand, and Kripke’s putative skepticism about how we know that X+X=2X for all rational values of “X”, on the other hand.

08/18/2026

Quick preview of our recently revamped Partee Racing engine dyno! The first engine? Our 4.591L stroked BMW S65, which put down 545BHP. Our second engine? Another 4.591L stroked BMW S65, which put down 560BHP!

07/31/2026

Just wrapped up engine dyno tuning one of our 4.6 liter S65 strokers with 12.5:1 compression using a Motec M190. 545bhp, and I personally believe it has a tad more in it! Congratulations to Matt Lambert for such an amazing result creating this Motec tune from absolute scratch, and to Chris Knerr for figuring out S65 vanos control on the Motec. Another identical engine in the queue!

Be well, and go fast.

—Peter

07/23/2026

Just a sampling of today’s head and valve work! Can imagine a better job than building engines! Well, racing.

07/11/2026

Topped off Mr. Darling’s spectacular track/street E46 M3 build with a CF vented hood and hood pins. The hood pins use brackets in the stock latch location that are completely reversible if Don ever chooses to reinstall his stock hood. Oh and just had to paint that Rogue Engineering strut brace to match the exterior paint. Just had to

—Peter

07/11/2026

Worth sharing. He's trying to explain the why and the beauty of Quixotic endeavors, how special it is to find your white whale and pursue it "until the wheels fall off." Sisyphean perhaps. But smiling broadly all the way.

07/11/2026

https://youtu.be/tmlZNd_wxkY?si=UjqTaiOLg7G2YeCi

We finish up our (nearly whole car) restoration of Joey Carranza's ...

07/02/2026

What exactly is “The Partee Racing Recipe”?

It starts with an idea, usually because Peter has found an OEM or aftermarket BMW M part that is not quite good enough. Then Chris argues with it in CAD, John argues with it in the machine shop, Matt argues with it in the car, and eventually a better part survives the process.

In this deep-dive shop tour, we walk through how Partee Racing develops parts from concept to finished product, including S62 VANOS solenoids, E39 M5 carbon intakes, S65 oil pump development, MAF sensor limitations, wideband tuning, and more.

Yes, it is an hour and twenty minutes. No, Peter did not find a shorter way to explain why good parts take time.

Watch here:
https://youtu.be/6cGLOYxfoqg?si=iKe5O3Nn3sWesP8n

This is The Partee Racing Recipe. Ideas, part design, fabrication,...

06/27/2026

I was a hotrodder as a teenager. I had a 1974 Formula Firebird with open front hood scoops and had no business driving a car that powerful at 15-16 years old, but I did. So much so that I blew the engine. That's when my dad made it clear that if I wanted the car to be mobile again, I'd have to fix it myself. At that age, I had no idea what I was doing, but I figured it out. Once back on the road, it was time for a Competition Cams 268H camshaft (engine fortunately only required one of those; no double overhead cams!), changing the jets in my Quadrajet after getting rid of the Holley double pumper with its mechanical secondaries, cranking that distributor clockwise to advance ignition timing to dangerous levels, and yearning for headers that didn't leak like a ticking clock. I was consumed. I suppose I still am.

It was about that time that I got into weight lifting and worked as a mens' fitness center attendant at the local YMCA. I basically checked membership cards and washed workout clothes and put them back in the members' lockers. Plenty of boredom ensued, and one day I flipped through a book underneath the counter that one of my fellow attendants was reading: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. To say that it completely altered the course of my life is ridiculous understatement.

Those of you who know the book know well how it detects a wide range of philosophical and spiritual issues in all things mechanical, including of course motorcycle maintenance. Pirsig's book sparked a decade long compulsion in me to do philosophy, concluding with a two-year graduate stint studying Wittgenstein, Kripke, and logic at The John's Hopkins University. I subsequently got practical, went to law school and practiced law.

One thing that never left me in the ensuring 35 years was seeing meaningful philosophical issues in mechanical work. For me, I find them in designing, building, tuning and modifying engines and cars. And my crazy team seems infused with precisely the same pathology. We can't seem to make it through more than a couple of days without our work triggering a multiple hour discussion of the underlying metaphysical principles.

Yesterday, while fine-tuning a BMW S65 on the engine dyno, something crystallized in me that has been brewing for some time. My wise and beautiful wife encouraged me to share this, so here goes.

Contemporary ECUs typically employ some form of sensor--MAP or MAF--to determine the quantum of air entering the combustion chamber. Or they use a chart of RPM versus throttle angle ("alpha n") that hard codes predictions as to how much air is entering the combustion chamber in particular circumstances. Either way, the ECU then computes (among other things) how much fuel should be injected into the combustion chamber to achieve the correct air to fuel ("AFR") ratio for the engine for each level of airflow. As the final step, wideband oxygen sensors in the tailpipes (before the catalytic converters) measure the actual AFR achieved by the ECU's calculations and feeds that information back to the ECU in a constant loop. Because the ECU generally cannot alter the amount of air enter the combustion chamber in naturally aspirated engine, the ECU responds to this feedback by constantly adjusting its fuel calculations to achieve the requisite AFR using what's known as a proportional/integral/derivative or "PID" algorithm.

Unfortunately, people follow this model, sometimes their entire lives, without realizing it. They interact with other people and institutions, then act and respond based on their personality and identity. So far so good. The bad part ensues when people decide to change who or what they are when the feedback they elicit from people and institutions is not what they want. They craft their personality and identity to conform to what pleases others. They fawn, to the point that, in many if not most cases, they lose who they are.

What I want to suggest is that people should instead do what a naturally aspirated engine's ECU cannot: Change the airflow. Change the input. Change the people with whom you and the institutions with which you interact. If your personality and identity doesn't generate the kind of interaction with people and institutions you want, change the people and institutions, not who you are. Who you are is infinitely more precious to preserve than how others react to you.

Sometimes the critical lessons in life are right there in front of us in an engine and its ECU.

Be well, and go fast.

--Peter

PS: Yes, I know the analogy is not perfect. I couldn't figure out how ignition timing advance could be incorporated. But you get the point!

06/24/2026

“Was it fun?” That was a stupid question.

Darling’s E46 M3 is finished, and we took it to VIR for a proper shakedown on an absolutely gorgeous, extremely hot day.

In this video, Peter and Don talk through how the car feels after two days of testing: S54 stroker torque, MCS 3-way suspension, AP Racing brakes, 4.10 gears, Recaro Sportsters, BimmerWorld wheels, 200TW tires, and the kind of setup details that make the whole package work together.

This is the goal: a BMW you can drive to the track, run hard, brake harder, and still enjoy on the street.

Watch the full video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w22sUCPzlQ

Part Two of our BMW E46 M3 street/track build series is here, and t...