M3 Compact Rally Car
Discussion
My old man currently rallies a slightly tuned 2.8 Compact and has bought this M3 Compact as a running spare. The good news is that I'll be getting the use of it at selected tarmac rallies in 2014.
It's a 3.0 litre but apart from that, I don't know too much at the moment! More info to come and pictures/videos of the car in action.
It's a 3.0 litre but apart from that, I don't know too much at the moment! More info to come and pictures/videos of the car in action.
Bit of an update... (mods - I make no money from my videos)
The car is running a completely standard 3.0l and gearbox from an e36 M3. It has Bilstein suspension, but everything else is BMW road car. Front brakes from a 7 Series and the rears are from a 330d.
I've done two tarmac rallies in it now and came 6th overall in both. First one was at Blyton and very much a shakedown. We used old tyres that came with the car, which looking back was a big mistake. Very little grip and almost no turn in! 2nd in class to a £100k + Millington Escort.
Video of the final stage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROoM6eG8tjw
I knew the car had some potential given some grip, so I went and spent over £2k on some sets of tyres ready for the next rally at Cadwell Park (last Sunday). The entry list was very high quality with a number of WRC cars, Proton Millingtons, Escort Millingtons, 306 Maxi etc.
It started wet and thankfully I had some new wets waiting for me at the circuit. We fitted them on rims and then on to the car. As I drove off for the start of SS1, the car wouldn't move! The front wheels caught on the caliper, so we couldn't use the wet fronts!! We found a set of very old, hard cut slicks in the trailer and the boys fitted them in no time. I'd not driven the car in the rain before and knowing that I had grippy tyres on the rear and tyres with no grip on the front made me pretty cautious as you could imagine! I felt I drove it too slow and wondered were I would be out of the top quality 88 entrants. I couldn't believe it when I found I was 13th equal and second in class. I knew there was lots more to give as I couldn't turn in very well and had to wait until I was in a straight line to get on the gas. Thankfully we got the wets fitted onto a set of front wheels that didn't foul the brakes and went out for stage 2. We pushed pretty hard but took no risks. Very happy with 9th and was then leading class by three seconds.
An unfortunate set of incorrectly marked tyres on the car for stage 4 and 5 meant some lost time and some big skids! They were marked up as XS (They are tyres for WRC cars), but it was obvious from the first corner that these tyres were very hard. We dropped the pressures for stage 5, but they were still cold when I got back to the service yard.
Thankfully I had a set of mediums ready to be put on wheels, so we quickly got that sorted so that I would be on grippy medium tyres for running the circuit the right way around - a circuit I know well.
Thankfully the dry weather stayed and we started setting fast times - 5th on stage 8 (10 seconds off the Fabia WRC), 2nd on stage 9 and 3rd equal on the final stage 10. The longer, more flowing stages suiting me and the car.
The car weighs 150kg more than the escorts, has up to 100bhp less and no fancy gearbox, yet we won the class (over 2L) by 36 seconds and first 2wd. It's my second rally in a rwd car, so hoping to gain experience throughout the season. We had been seeded 50th (I wasn't best pleased about it) so to finish 6th whilst battling slower cars was great. Looking back at it now, we lost lots of time (just over 30 secs) by our tyre issues. So with hindsight and using experience gained, we will be looking for a better result next time out.
We are now jointly leading the championship (North East Midlands Tarmac), proving you don't need to spend over a £100k to be competitive. Our car cost £7k and the parts (not yet needed) are nowhere near the price of the fancy Escorts.
Some videos from Cadwell:
Stage 3: (Still on wets - 7th fastest) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKv7djlc8g
Stage 4: (Hard tyres giving very scary handling! - 15th fastest) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKv7djlc8g
Stage 9: (In the groove by now - 2nd fastest) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMCjRU746Dw
The car is running a completely standard 3.0l and gearbox from an e36 M3. It has Bilstein suspension, but everything else is BMW road car. Front brakes from a 7 Series and the rears are from a 330d.
I've done two tarmac rallies in it now and came 6th overall in both. First one was at Blyton and very much a shakedown. We used old tyres that came with the car, which looking back was a big mistake. Very little grip and almost no turn in! 2nd in class to a £100k + Millington Escort.
Video of the final stage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROoM6eG8tjw
I knew the car had some potential given some grip, so I went and spent over £2k on some sets of tyres ready for the next rally at Cadwell Park (last Sunday). The entry list was very high quality with a number of WRC cars, Proton Millingtons, Escort Millingtons, 306 Maxi etc.
It started wet and thankfully I had some new wets waiting for me at the circuit. We fitted them on rims and then on to the car. As I drove off for the start of SS1, the car wouldn't move! The front wheels caught on the caliper, so we couldn't use the wet fronts!! We found a set of very old, hard cut slicks in the trailer and the boys fitted them in no time. I'd not driven the car in the rain before and knowing that I had grippy tyres on the rear and tyres with no grip on the front made me pretty cautious as you could imagine! I felt I drove it too slow and wondered were I would be out of the top quality 88 entrants. I couldn't believe it when I found I was 13th equal and second in class. I knew there was lots more to give as I couldn't turn in very well and had to wait until I was in a straight line to get on the gas. Thankfully we got the wets fitted onto a set of front wheels that didn't foul the brakes and went out for stage 2. We pushed pretty hard but took no risks. Very happy with 9th and was then leading class by three seconds.
An unfortunate set of incorrectly marked tyres on the car for stage 4 and 5 meant some lost time and some big skids! They were marked up as XS (They are tyres for WRC cars), but it was obvious from the first corner that these tyres were very hard. We dropped the pressures for stage 5, but they were still cold when I got back to the service yard.
Thankfully I had a set of mediums ready to be put on wheels, so we quickly got that sorted so that I would be on grippy medium tyres for running the circuit the right way around - a circuit I know well.
Thankfully the dry weather stayed and we started setting fast times - 5th on stage 8 (10 seconds off the Fabia WRC), 2nd on stage 9 and 3rd equal on the final stage 10. The longer, more flowing stages suiting me and the car.
The car weighs 150kg more than the escorts, has up to 100bhp less and no fancy gearbox, yet we won the class (over 2L) by 36 seconds and first 2wd. It's my second rally in a rwd car, so hoping to gain experience throughout the season. We had been seeded 50th (I wasn't best pleased about it) so to finish 6th whilst battling slower cars was great. Looking back at it now, we lost lots of time (just over 30 secs) by our tyre issues. So with hindsight and using experience gained, we will be looking for a better result next time out.
We are now jointly leading the championship (North East Midlands Tarmac), proving you don't need to spend over a £100k to be competitive. Our car cost £7k and the parts (not yet needed) are nowhere near the price of the fancy Escorts.
Some videos from Cadwell:
Stage 3: (Still on wets - 7th fastest) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKv7djlc8g
Stage 4: (Hard tyres giving very scary handling! - 15th fastest) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKv7djlc8g
Stage 9: (In the groove by now - 2nd fastest) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMCjRU746Dw
Edited by drakart on Saturday 12th April 14:25
Love this thread now, great to hear it's going well for you
mark.c said:
Great stuff! Thanks for putting that up, looks great fun. I fancy a 325 compact as a road car, I've only driven one briefly but reckon they would make a cracking little daily.
Used one for 3.5 years as a daily, they're superb little carsLeins said:
Used one for 3.5 years as a daily, they're superb little cars
Ah I thought you had written elsewhere that you had one previously, I think one would make a great addition. I'm using my 320is as a daily at the moment and since you own that beautiful C2.5 you can probably understand why I want to retire it from such duties. Anything you didn't like?
^^^ Didn't want to go too OT on this man's thread , so here you go Mark: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
drakart said:
Bit of an update... (mods - I make no money from my videos)
The car is running a completely standard 3.0l and gearbox from an e36 M3. It has Bilstein suspension, but everything else is BMW road car. Front brakes from a 7 Series and the rears are from a 330d.
I've done two tarmac rallies in it now and came 6th overall in both. First one was at Blyton and very much a shakedown. We used old tyres that came with the car, which looking back was a big mistake. Very little grip and almost no turn in! 2nd in class to a £100k + Millington Escort.
Video of the final stage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROoM6eG8tjw
The car weighs 150kg more than the escorts, has up to 100bhp less and no fancy gearbox, yet we won the class (over 2L) by 36 seconds and first 2wd.
Sounds great - what does it weigh exactly ready to go sans driver/co-driver?The car is running a completely standard 3.0l and gearbox from an e36 M3. It has Bilstein suspension, but everything else is BMW road car. Front brakes from a 7 Series and the rears are from a 330d.
I've done two tarmac rallies in it now and came 6th overall in both. First one was at Blyton and very much a shakedown. We used old tyres that came with the car, which looking back was a big mistake. Very little grip and almost no turn in! 2nd in class to a £100k + Millington Escort.
Video of the final stage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROoM6eG8tjw
The car weighs 150kg more than the escorts, has up to 100bhp less and no fancy gearbox, yet we won the class (over 2L) by 36 seconds and first 2wd.
mark.c said:
Great stuff! Thanks for putting that up, looks great fun. I fancy a 325 compact as a road car, I've only driven one briefly but reckon they would make a cracking little daily.
Good luck with your racing, please keep us updated.
I had a 325ti as a daily for about 18 months and really enjoyed it. My advice would be to get the newer sport model with 6 gears, as mine had 5 and was a bit highly strung revs wise on the motorway. They love to be revved though and are well built. Good luck with your racing, please keep us updated.
Update:
One or two things needed sorting after Cadwell. Mainly the passenger seat as the bolts had started to pull through the chassis (!) once the guys had sorted it all, it was ready for the next outing. This time with Dad at the wheel, as he wanted to see the differences between the two compacts (his is a tuned 2.8). Dad won the BTRDA Gold Star back in 1977, so is no slouch and has loads of experience that could help the car develop. I was due to drive it the next weekend for the next round of the championship, so was somewhat relieved when that was cancelled!
Dad took the car to MIRA for the Horiba D'Isis Stages on the 26th of April. The completion was tough at the top, but with the very long straights there, I thought it would suit the long gearing we have on the car. Anyone with a short diff was in trouble here! The fastest Darrian was hitting the limiter at 148 down one of the straights...
Lots of very tight hairpins meant the handbrake was severely tested and ended up breaking when a bolt at the pivot gave way. It was sorted before the next stage, but it really tested the car. He ended up finishing in 12th and 3rd in class. I think the car was capable of a top five result, but he didn't want to take any risks and drove round a few issues.
There was a big list of things to sort after the rally and is still being worked on! We are looking at a carbon airbox and chip to allow the car to breathe properly and to release some cheap horsepowers without worrying about expensive internal work! I feel that in order to compete against the WRC and Millington engine cars, we need a bit more power just to enable me to drive with a bit of wriggle room.
Next outing for the car will be at RAF Ludford in Lincs for a 2wd only rally. The site hasn't been rallied on for years, so we don't really know the surface qualities, but I will give it everything to be up at the top of the times.
Below is a great pic from Adam Pigott from Cadwell which I will be buying.
One or two things needed sorting after Cadwell. Mainly the passenger seat as the bolts had started to pull through the chassis (!) once the guys had sorted it all, it was ready for the next outing. This time with Dad at the wheel, as he wanted to see the differences between the two compacts (his is a tuned 2.8). Dad won the BTRDA Gold Star back in 1977, so is no slouch and has loads of experience that could help the car develop. I was due to drive it the next weekend for the next round of the championship, so was somewhat relieved when that was cancelled!
Dad took the car to MIRA for the Horiba D'Isis Stages on the 26th of April. The completion was tough at the top, but with the very long straights there, I thought it would suit the long gearing we have on the car. Anyone with a short diff was in trouble here! The fastest Darrian was hitting the limiter at 148 down one of the straights...
Lots of very tight hairpins meant the handbrake was severely tested and ended up breaking when a bolt at the pivot gave way. It was sorted before the next stage, but it really tested the car. He ended up finishing in 12th and 3rd in class. I think the car was capable of a top five result, but he didn't want to take any risks and drove round a few issues.
There was a big list of things to sort after the rally and is still being worked on! We are looking at a carbon airbox and chip to allow the car to breathe properly and to release some cheap horsepowers without worrying about expensive internal work! I feel that in order to compete against the WRC and Millington engine cars, we need a bit more power just to enable me to drive with a bit of wriggle room.
Next outing for the car will be at RAF Ludford in Lincs for a 2wd only rally. The site hasn't been rallied on for years, so we don't really know the surface qualities, but I will give it everything to be up at the top of the times.
Below is a great pic from Adam Pigott from Cadwell which I will be buying.
Thanks.
Even on a budget it's not exactly cheap. We had loads of wheels and tyres come with the car, but only after trying the new tyres did I realise how awful the old tyres were!
Single venue entry fees range from £200 (airfield) - £350 (two dayer at Rockingham). Other costs from there are variable. We have a camper and trailer and we now need another trailer for my car. The team bring that behind a service van at the moment.
We pay the service crew for turning up and for working on the car between rallies - this price differs depending on distance, work involved, parts etc. They guys are amazing really. They have been running rally cars for years and know every trick to ensure you finish if there is a problem.
Having two cars helps lower the costs (although my old man very kindly pays for it all any way). No such thing as cheap motorsport, but we run at the lowest level possible (apart from the camper!).
ETA - Fuel use is quite severe. We use pump super (as opposed to specialist fuels that others use) but it uses a litre per mile. This costs around £65 for the 45 milers and £150 for longer rallies.
Even on a budget it's not exactly cheap. We had loads of wheels and tyres come with the car, but only after trying the new tyres did I realise how awful the old tyres were!
Single venue entry fees range from £200 (airfield) - £350 (two dayer at Rockingham). Other costs from there are variable. We have a camper and trailer and we now need another trailer for my car. The team bring that behind a service van at the moment.
We pay the service crew for turning up and for working on the car between rallies - this price differs depending on distance, work involved, parts etc. They guys are amazing really. They have been running rally cars for years and know every trick to ensure you finish if there is a problem.
Having two cars helps lower the costs (although my old man very kindly pays for it all any way). No such thing as cheap motorsport, but we run at the lowest level possible (apart from the camper!).
ETA - Fuel use is quite severe. We use pump super (as opposed to specialist fuels that others use) but it uses a litre per mile. This costs around £65 for the 45 milers and £150 for longer rallies.
Edited by drakart on Thursday 15th May 12:31
So I tried a different sort of rally due to a gap between rounds. We had thought it was going to be just concrete, but turned out to be 70% gravel and very bumpy. Here is stage 4. Its a bit low res, but you get the idea that it was struggling to cope with tarmac suspension and tyres! Most other entrants were in gravel cars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF2HFgCzOCQ&fe...
Edited to add SS2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLbOqqXqb-0
Edited to add SS2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLbOqqXqb-0
Edited by drakart on Monday 30th June 21:58
Edited by drakart on Monday 30th June 22:23
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