So I toured Dinan the Other Day.....

tha_new_guy · 07-01-2005, 04:37 PM

.....and it was great.

WARNING: THIS STORY IS LONG BUT INTERESTING.

A coworker of mine had a hookup there for a tour whenever, since his wife works for Dinan, so he took me along for the quick run-through.

The first thing i see when I enter was an E36 BMW fully prepped for a race. Not quite sure what series, but it had a full race suspension, full rollcage, a single racing seat and the most minimalistic dash I've ever seen in a bimmer. Quite impressive for a coffee table, huh?

When I enter the actual workplace, I see two more race cars, one is a BMW ///M coupe, and the other what appeared to be an ols school BMW 6 series, both were just sitting there doing nothin. The tour guide told me that the 6 series was the actual race car that Steve Dinan made his career, and the other a failed experimental ///M coupe. It had a twin turbo Inline 6 that was putting out 400+ hp in race tune, but it had been yanked for other purposes. Apparently, Steve Dinan hated the car so much, he only raced one race in it, and workers there actually kick it as they enter the workplace....

Inside they were working on about 8 bmw's, two M3's, two M5's, a new 6 series, and three other 5 series BMWs. Yah, I remember these things...

. The 2 M5's were getting the full Dinan supercharger package, putting out 600+ hp, and the M3 was getting an experimental supercharger installed thats not even offered to the public, supposed to put out 450+ hp when they finish with it. I can only imagine how much they paid, somewhere around $35,000 i think....yah no joke.

We moved on before I could note what was going on with the other rides, however. Met the guy that makes all the headers for all M5's and V8 5 series that leaves Dinan, cool guy, BEAUTIFUL welds. Those headers were sexy...also met the guy who assembles the differentials for all the BMW's there. Heady stuff.

They got a fullsize dyno in there, with the biggest fan I've ever seen, Industrial fans are actually dwarfed in comparison. Steve Dinan himself insists on doing the high speed testing, and he actually goes out to a location I won't disclose, and at night, he blows through every red light there for a stretch of miles....

. Guy's crazy.

The tour guide tried to skillfully guide us away from their racing development section, until I insisted on walking in that direction, and he said it was restricted...

Afterwards I was just chatting with the tour guide, and he was telling me stories about this guy Steve Dinan. He said he's a funny guy, like he'll take his hands off the steering wheel at over 100 mph while chatting with someone....:

or that theres a corner right outside of their facilities that every worker drifts on the way to work in the morning. I also noticed an inordinate amount of tire marks and burnout patches on the road to the facility...wonder what THEY'VE been doing, huh?

At the front, only BMW's are allowed to park there, even my coworkers wife has to park on the side since she drives a corolla. All in all, great place, would love to work there, and I got invited back to take a ride With Steve Dinan, that should be interesting! Apparently Dinan takes interns too, i hear the pool is tough though, you compete with MIT and CalTech graduates.....

so none of that for me.

CLIFFNOTES: Toured Dinan facilities, high end tuning shops are the place to work. Beats the hell out of dearborn, michigan. Oh, shout out to Felipe, awesome tour guide and lucky bastard for working there.

Oh and Cassiesman, the tour guide tackled me when I went for the Dinan badges, sorry bud.