E92 M3 Competition Pack

[RS Grant]

In other news, I've started my preparation for my Nurburgring trip at the end of the month. I'm hoping to have the car back from Harry Fairbairn next week at some point because I've got a few things which I've ordered/want fitted before I head over to Germany. I'm also on the waiting list for a track day at Spa, however I can't imagine that's a short list, so I may need to settle for spectator-status there!!

I'll be changing the oil (which I've yet to buy) but I have received my Miller Oils Health Check kit, so I can submit a sample of the old/current engine oil for analysis..

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

..so that will go some way to give an indication of any potential bearing-related issues, which is the other big negative spouted about the S65.

I've also ordered a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S in 255/275 flavours, slightly wider than the standard 245/265 sizes.. I was going to go for standard sizes, but when I saw that the 265-section tyres had rocketed to £300+ a pop I thought it was maybe a sign to go for the wider option. So they'll be getting fitted after I get the car back from BMW too.

I'm in the process of deciding on what big brake kit to buy for the car. I've settled for AP Racing, but now I've got to make a decision between going for the more traditional design and the newer 'Radi-Cal' design of caliper:

Ap Calipers by Grant F, on Flickr

Aside from the fact they look different, the newer design has a bigger pad contact area and therefore should give even better braking performance. So I'm swaying towards the newer design, despite usually being a traditionalist. Regardless of the caliper, I'll be running a 378mm floating disc with the DS2500 pads which are supplied with the kit and see how I feel about their performance before looking into pad upgrades.

[RS Grant]

amc_adam said:

Brilliant thread, looks like you're a dab-hand with a camera too! and that steering wheel

Cheers Adam, I'm enjoying the progress of your ///MPact too.. the idea and sleeper aspect of an E36 or E46 Compact with M3 running gear has always really appealed to me.

[RS Grant]

TheAngryDog said:

Did you research the tyre size differences before buying? I only ask as changing sizes on the E60 M5 can cause DSC issues.

Yeah, I was swaying back and forth between the standard 245/265 and 255/275 sizes for a LONG time.. the only issues I could find were that some people run into very slight rubbing on big undulations after fitting the wider rubber; however it would appear that these people are either running the M359 replica wheels which have a more aggressive offset than the 359M wheels of the Competition Pack, or they are using genuine 359M wheels but with the addition of spacers.

However having said all of that, after all the research and all of my will I/wont I deliberation; I wouldn't be wholly surprised if fate singled me out and saw me catching the tyres despite running genuine wheels without spacers!

d_a_n1979 said:

Lovely car and project this. Every credit to you

My pals had a fair few of these in at his place for suspension/gearbox/brakes work etc and fast road set-ups and IMO, they’re the last of the properly built M3s and obviously the V8

Sound bloody great on full chat too

I’d love one, but too small for me!

Cheers Dan.. yep it has considerably less space than your big E65 does!

[RS Grant]

Brakes are finally ordered, I've gone for:

Front: Red 6-pot AP Racing RadiCal calipers with floating 378mm curved groove discs (with curved vanes inside to aid cooling) and DS2500 pads.
Rear: Red 4-pot AP Racing RadiCal calipers with floating 350mm curved groove discs (straight vanes inside) and DS2500 pads.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Should look similar to this when it's all put together, I cannot wait for them to arrive and see them bolted on to the car... along with the tyres, which have also now arrived and will be fitted once I've got the car back from having it's work done at BMW.

On that last subject, the warranty company are wanting to try a new Throttle Position Sensor before they authorise the full actuator replacement (hoping for a ~500 bill rather than ~1500 bill obviously) but I'm deeply sceptical about whether that will work. I'm also worried that due to the fact that the issue is intermittent at present and my actuator seems to be dying rather than dead, that if there are no fault codes post TPS fitting then they'll assume that has fixed the issue and release the car with lame actuator(s)... so the problem will only reappear and has the potential to screw up my Nurburgring trip.

Therefore if I get told that the warranty company aren't going to authorise an actuator replacement then I am seriously considering biting the bullet and buying some refurbished/future proofed actuators from www.rebuild.org.uk and just sucking up the costs myself, which will be far outweighed by the benefits and peace of mind that I'll have going forward.

[RS Grant]

AndrewO said:

Snap...front and rear are awesome brakes.

I see you went for the less 'tarty' black calipers, are you on DS2500 as well? I'm looking forward to Pagid making some pads for these calipers, which I believe is in the pipeline.. because the braking performance should be enough to put creases in the tarmac!

What wheels studs are you using and where did you get them from?

e30m3Mark said:

Steering wheel and AP’s look great and am sure can only add to the overall feel of the car. Lovely.

Thanks Mark, the small additions have made a big difference.

D4SH said:

MikeGoodwin said:

D4SH said:

Can I ask what you paid for the supply and fitting of the steering wheel? Perhaps I’m still learning the car, but find I’m watching the rev needle For when to change up which is less than ideal as your going fast in any gear at 8k+rpm! I take it that steering wheel negates the issue completely? PS great write up, I’ve had mine (similar spec but not comp pack) for almost a year now and absolutely love it!

In your M drive settings surely the shift light setting is turned off then, youll get used to the power and know when to shift eventually.

Is that for manual as well as DCT? I thought it was DCT only?

As far as I know, the shift lights are only available on the DCT models.. you may be able to retro-fit a DCT gauge cluster and code in the shift lights but I never investigated that as I'd always planned to fit an MP Steering Wheel with the shift lights built in.

[RS Grant]

Been a busy last couple of weeks getting parts sent to me, fitting the seats and organising fitting of the tyres/brakes/oil change/geometry.

First off, the day after I got the car back from BMW after having the throttle actuator/throttle position sensor replaced under warranty, I trundled up to Hectyre in Dundee who are the only place I trust to fit tyres without marking wheels locally and they fitted the set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S which were sitting waiting for me..

by Grant F, on Flickr
by Grant F, on Flickr
by Grant F, on Flickr

..initial feelings are great as far as grip goes, they really are a marked improvement over the tired (but not dead) Continentals which I took off the car. So far they've only been tested in the dry, so will see how they fair in the wet but all the feedback I've seen would suggest that they are even more impressive in wet conditions.

Next up on the agenda was something which I didn't think that I was going to be able to fit in before I go to the Nurburgring and then stick the car away for the winter; fitting Recaro Sportster CS seats. I had been collecting the floor mounts, Recaro sliders and was watching eBay, Facebook, Gumtree, etc like a hawk for any Renault, Ford, Recaro seats appearing for sale... to no avail. Then, by complete chance, I found a pair of seats for sale in the Lake District and they were for an E92 M3, with all the mounts etc included... result!!

So after a very long, very boring day driving the M140i which I had...

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

...I got the seats home and fitted them to the car over the next couple of days:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

I absolutely love them, my standard seats were never heated so I don't miss that feature and 99% of the time it's only me who drives the car so the loss of both the electric and memory functions doesn't fuss me either. The seat height is reduced, which I love, I've got a real 'thing' about sitting low in cars and there are very few cars which I've driven that sit low enough for me as standard.

The eagle-eyed of you will have noticed that they are a slightly different shade of red to the rest of the interior?! My plan is to take the seats back out over winter and send them to someone to retrim in Fox Red to match the rest of my interior. Not decided who to use for that job yet, but have got a couple of names who I will contact about it.

Finally, the last big update/change to the car is the AP Racing brake kit front and rear, finished specs were 380mm front and 360mm rear.. and I knew they were going to be large, but once fitted, they really do look comically big squeezed behind the 19" wheels. I booked the car in for yesterday, with the agreement that if I got my brakes before the end of last week then I'd give them a shout and they'd squeeze me in for fitting to give maximum time to bed the brakes in before I leave for Germany on Thursday.... great service!!

So on Thursday last week three big boxes arrived at the house... three of the FOUR which were meant to be there?!! After a frantic call to Reyland and Parcelforce to see where the fourth box (the front discs!!) had got to, it was located at the National Hub in England with absolutely no apologies or explanation for why it had been left behind in the first place.. but they assured me it would be with me on Friday morning, which it was... but it had taken away the chance to have the brakes fitted before the weekend, which would have allowed me to take the car for a long run to bed them in on Saturday and/or Sunday. Thanks Parcelforce...

Here are a few quick pictures that I've taken:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

...still bedding them in currently so I've not had any opportunity to use them in anger yet, however, I did have to brake hard for a rogue Bambi on the way home last night which saw me pull 1G of braking force according to the wee display on my M-Performance wheel, which made the hazard lights come on automatically. That's never happened before.

Leaving for a long weekend at the Nurburgring and Spa (on waiting list for a trackday at Spa..) on Thursday and will be there until Tuesday, so have already got my fingers crossed for good weather and no issues for myself or my friends who are taking a MK7 Golf GTi, EP3 Civic Type R Turbo, R1 and an S1000RR.

[RS Grant]

D4SH said:

Upgrades looking really good, especially the seats! I remember you saying you were concerned about the MP4S tyres having 'too much grip' ie losing the opportunity for a bit of sideways fun every now and then - please let us know when you've had the chance to test this theory as my tyres are due changing soon and am in the same predicament!

Hmmm, I'm a little torn when it comes from the tyres; on the one hand they grip like nothing else in the dry short of proper Cup 2 or Semi Slick tyres like AD08, NS2r, 888 etc. That level of grip came in very handy on my recent Nurburgring trip, although on fast laps I managed, they did start to get a little loose towards the end of the lap when I assume that they got a little too warm and started to drop off as a result.

In the wet, from a grip point of view, they are absolutely amazing too. However, they are very safe and I feel like they reduce your ability to have a little fun/movement from the rear unless you really commit to it; which is something I don't really feel comfortable doing on the roads... and it's not a track car, so at the moment I'm unsure whether I'd buy them again. As Mike Goodwin suggested before, it my be better to go for something quality but marginally less capable (as crazy as that sounds!) next time; like Goodyear/Continental.

[RS Grant]

AndrewO said:

Love the seats...I put in a pair of Sparco fixed buckets in mine. Yours look like the BMW Performance seat.

Re: Wheel studs...I was a bit busy so just let a company local to me (JTech) do it all for me. He only had the long ones in at the time, I thought its probably a safer solution as you need to have a extra long socket to get them off. I can ping him a msg or give Jamie a call if you need the details ?

From memory the pads are DS2500 equivalent, came with the AP brake kit....fast road pads.

May have missed it along the way...would recommend Driven FR5w-50 oil if you are starting to track it. Mines had a new engine in it so I've spent some time looking into this.

Have fun at Spa/ring...I'm there next month. 4s tyre a good choice for Spa, they are suppose to be a big improvement in wet weather over the MPSS. If its dry ideally you'd want the Cup2....then a fixed bucket...then a 4point harness.....it never ends ! I just chewed my MPSS fronts up at Castle Combe yesterday so now have to get a new pair for Spa.

Yeah if you could sound out Jamie about some studs that would be great, alternatively I'm happy for you to pass on my email grantfarnan AT yahoo.com or instagram @thegrantf for him to give me a shout direct if he doesn't frequent PH.

Re: the oil, I changed the OE BMW oil with some new OE stuff when the car was getting the brakes fitted and alignment carried out. It's not a track car, so I thought best to stick to the OE stuff in the meantime, however, after the trip to Nurburgring/Spa the desire to use it on track is building a little more than I expected it to!!

Spa was amazing and despite going from sodden to mildly moist to occasionally dry.. the car performed extremely well and the tyres were absolutely perfect for the job/conditions there.

[RS Grant]

Pommy said:

Cracking looking thing.

Question- a year on how does it feel in comparison to the Golf and would you recommend anyone considering the Golf to seek out an E92 m3 instead?

My feelings are broadly similar to how I felt a year ago really:

Performance - the M3 is faster than a standard Golf R in a drag from say 30-40mph round to the expensive side of the speedo, however (especially in the manual with longer ratios) it needs commitment and space for you to wind it up and get the best from the V8. The Golf is easier to go fast in and given it has '4WD' then it is able to lay that down more days of the year too.

Looks - Subjective really, but while I loved my Golf with the lowered stance and BBS/Speedline wheels; the look of the M3 is far more special for me. It has also received a lot of attention and comments from car people and non-car people alike, where as the Golf only ever got comments from those who knew what it was and appreciated the small changes that I'd made.

Occasion/Specialness - by a country mile the M3, the noise burbling around (post exhaust modification) is fantastic and the noise/howl when really pushing it up to the >8000rpm limit is addictive and amazing.

Handling - both very good, the M3 will cover ground very quickly indeed; but it does command a bit more focus and care to go fast. It has a three stage traction control system to help keep things in check depending on how much you do/don't like to feel the back of the car moving around. In contrast, the only time I had the Golf moving around was on semi slicks and in very cold weather, which goes some way to show how safe and borderline sterile it could be. That is not me saying it was boring, because when you wanted to drive fast, the handling was fantastic and it allowed you to cover ground extremely quickly indeed. Just that it lacked that little drop of fun/hooliganism which I like a car to have.

Practicality - comparing 3dr Golf to 2dr M3, the M3 is more practical. The rear space and access to the rear is probably better in the Golf, but the limited boot space is quite surprising and the added boot space in the M3 probably just tips the balance in its direction for me.

Running Costs - the costs of running/keeping these cars is night and day in my experience, tyres/servicing/tax/insurance is all far higher with the BMW over the VW. Even keeping the M3 in fuel would be a real issue if I was using it as a daily driver and doing 10-12k miles per year in the car; because I find standing at a fuel pump one of the most boring wastes of time ever... it's not income related either, I could be a multi-millionaire and I'd still find standing at a fuel pump every ~250 miles extremely annoying. The costs of extending a warranty on a car which still has BMW/AUC warranty on it are strong at ~£800 per year, but the costs of reinstating a BMW warranty on a used car which has dropped out of BMW/AUC warranty (like my car) are absolutely ridiculous, ~£1800 per year. If you're buying a car with over 60k miles on it which is out of BMW/AUC warranty then the cost of putting a BMW warranty on it is ~£4500 per year..?!!

So it really depends on whether you're using it for daily duties, how many miles per year you do, what car(s) you're coming from and how much standing at a petrol pump annoys you.

I wouldn't change back to a Golf R for anything; I absolutey love my M3 and it's more than filled the minimal (but important) s that the Golf had in its armor. I would absolutely love to be able to man-maths my way to putting a Golf R Estate in the garage alongside the M3, but they're still too pricey for me to justify as a daily driver so that idea will have to stay on ice for the foreseeable.

[RS Grant]

SiT said:

Oh an interesting question.................. as Grant knows this thread has been the source of HUGE temptation for me which up until now I have continued to resist. However it now looks like the stars have aligned so we'll see.

The car is superb and I love the Recaros, I had them in a Clio 200 Cup and they were incredible seats, everyone that sat in them commented the same.

Good work Grant and keep going with the inspiration

Si

Cheers Si, you bought one yet...??

The seats are absolutely brilliant, great modification that I've really enjoyed over the past week at the Nurburgring and Spa.

[RS Grant]

antseddon said:

RS Grant said:

Next up on the agenda was something which I didn't think that I was going to be able to fit in before I go to the Nurburgring and then stick the car away for the winter; fitting Recaro Sportster CS seats. I had been collecting the floor mounts, Recaro sliders and was watching eBay, Facebook, Gumtree, etc like a hawk for any Renault, Ford, Recaro seats appearing for sale... to no avail. Then, by complete chance, I found a pair of seats for sale in the Lake District and they were for an E92 M3, with all the mounts etc included... result!!

What floor mounts did you go with in the end, Grant? I'm thinking of doing the same with my Java Green E92 and would welcome any advice you could send my way to help with the Man Maths!

Java Green?!! ...that's a really rare beast you've got!! I absolutely love that colour, so if you want to machine gun this thread with pictures then I'm absolutely ok with that.

The mounts that I bought in preparation are (by complete chance!) the same mounts which came with the Recaro CS that I bought. They're VAC mounts which I sourced from Martin @ MS Motorsport (https://www.raceparts.biz/) who was very helpful and happy to chat about my options when I called him/messaged him. I'm hoping that he's just as understanding when I try to send them back since I found a complete set up and fitted that instead, haha.

[RS Grant]

Remember at the beginning when I said that the long/wordy posts wouldn't be a common thing.. well looking back it seems like I'm a liar, the last few updates have been nothing but long/wordy!! ...and the bad news for anyone who is bored of reading my waffle is that this one about my recent Nurburgring and Spa trip is not going to be any different!! However, at least I've got a load of pictures and a couple of video links to share with you, so I won't be offended if you sack off the story and just scroll through the media instead, in fact, I'll even hide it in a 'Spoiler' clicky for you.

After my first visit to the Nurburgring in 2016 with my Golf, I was absolutely hooked..

racetracker_2062120_81251 by Grant F, on Flickr

..it's a place which I had wanted to visit for years and to finally be there was amazing, it didn't dissappoint at all. The track, the atmosphere, the area, the people, the cars and the famous steak on a stone.

Afterwards there was a WhatApp group chat created between everyone who had come along and to start with there was the usual post-holiday chat like 'I'm gonna change X,Y and Z on the car' and 'I'm definitely going back there next year' from everyone. But as time wore on, the chat slid into the usual (at least for me anyway?!) WhatsApp group chat mould of sharing funny/horrendous pictures and videos. When it became clear that a 2017 visit wasn't on the cards, the title of the group chat changed from 'Nurburgring Trip 2017' to 'Nurburgring Trip 2028'.

Fast forward to around June this year and Ryan from the group chat mentioned that he'd be keen to go back in September time again; although it was met with 'too late notice' and 'the car needs X, Y and Z done to it' type replies... but I jumped at the chance and was really keen to experience it all again and take the M3 back to Ze Fatherland to see what it could do. However it all went quiet for a few weeks and I had written off the idea that we were going to make it there in 2018... when one of my best mates Paul, who had stayed fairly quiet on the subject when mentioned on WhatsApp, said that he'd be keen to give it a whirl!! Jackpot!! We asked the others in the group chat who gave the same replies as they did when it was mentioned in June and Ryan said that while he was still extremely keen, he needed to wait and see how work was before he committed.

So me and Paul booked our hotel ( http://sonnenhof-nuerburgring.de/en/) and our ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam as well.. then time slowed down to a crawl as I started to count down the weeks/days until we left. I'm joking obviously, because I had/wanted/man maths'd my way to a new AP brake kit front and rear, lower mounted/more supportive seats, M Performance steering wheel and some better/new tyres... so time actually moved really quickly and a couple of times I wasn't sure if I'd have it all done before we left!!

The planets aligned for Ryan, who chose to bring his EP3 Turbo rather than his Supercharged S2000. We also had two other lads confirm that they were going to come along too, Lee with his Suzuki GSXR1000 and Jordan with his S1000RR HP4... so a decent group and a nice variation of cars/bikes too.

So, 27th September arrived and an early morning wash of the car before getting ready to leave:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

...it was only me and Paul who were travelling from NE Scotland and it was a fairly gentle sunny drive down the East Coast, round Edinburgh, down the A1 to Berwick, into Englandshire and eventually arriving at Newcastle port with a good amount of time to spare:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Paul was wanting to get checked in ASAP, so we made our way through passport control/customs and into the queue for boarding... only to be met with a guy waving us up an impossibly steep ramp which led to an impossibly tight 'tube' that they expected you to park your car in. For someone like me, who freaks out when people get within 10ft of my car, this wasn't a comfortable situation to be in?!!

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

After waiting until everyone had vacated their cars and made their way past my car towards the doorway/stairs up to the passenger deck, I got my stuff and made my way up to the cabin.

The other guys were travelling from over Glasgow way in the West and had run into some issues on their way; with the towing dolly suffering a blowout and then after changing the tyre they got choked by traffic... it got so bad that missing the ferry had become a real possibility for them! They decided to take the Civic off the towing dolly, allowing them to make 'better progress' and after calling ahead and negotiating an extra 15 minutes grace for check-in, they only just made it.

After a few beers and an early-ish night, we docked in Amsterdam.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

...after a visit to the petrol station to fill the cars (a common occurence for me! ), we set off on the ~3hr trip to our hotels to check in and dump our stuff, before popping up to the Nordschleife for a look round and managing to squeeze in a lap before it closed for the day. Getting a lap in was great, but getting a greasy/cold/damp lap in was something I didn't experience on my first trip in the Golf where it was 30c+ temperatures and bright sunshine the entire time we were there. So a nice, gentle and very careful lap was the order of the day!!

NOS_20180928_192227_IM5_3672_1 by Grant F, on Flickr
NOS_20180928_192228_IM5_3674_1 by Grant F, on Flickr

Turned in a 10m12s lap, which I was surprised about because I thought I'd gone much slower than that, it certainly felt pretty pedestrian at times. However, with a couple of wee slides and a lot of laughs with Ryan and Jordan on board who aren't good passengers, it was good fun.. which is the main thing.

The next day we popped down (everything is down from Landhaus Sonnenhof given the altitude it sits at!) to see the guys at their hotel before we went up to Nurburg for a drive around and then along to enjoy the sunshine while we spectated at Pflanzgarten and Brunnchen for a while.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Gratuitous landscape shot:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

After specatating for a while, we got ready for going onto the evening TF session.. it was only going to be 90 minutes long, so was expecting it to be fairly busy but it was extremely busy, so we decided not to bother going on and tempting fate! The queue to return to the car park stretched back to the Gantry at the start of the last straight.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

The next morning I went to fill the car up and try to wash the crap/brake dust off it too.. but was told that it is illegal to wash a car on a Sunday in that area?! Religious reasons apparently, which were somewhat lost on me I'm afraid... but I stopped for a couple of photos on my way back to Nurburg; the obligatory Nurburgring sign photo and then the BMW M-Testcentre photo too.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

The Nurburgring was open for a whole day, 8am to 7pm of TF madness... so I met up with everyone in the car park around 11:30ish, with the lads on bikes heading out for a lap while I was getting myself sorted. Once the laps were purchased and I was ready to rock, I turned off the roundabout to be met with a red flag and the track closed, so I parked up and went to find Lee and Jordan in the bike car park... unfortunately I only found Lee who said that the track was closed because Jordan had come off his bike at Pflanzgarten. He was fine, but the bike wasn't quite so fine and he'd told the Ambulance people that he didn't need to go to hospital because he only had a very small scratch on his hand... so we headed along to pick him up and take a look at the bike, which was going to be recovered by ADAC.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

...ouch! The reason for this was due to a Dutch-registered Porsche having an off/moment, but continuing with his lap... unaware that he was spewing oil all over the track until his engine let go 15-20 corners later?! When the Police arrived they told Jordan that the Porsche insurance will cover the damage/costs, so in addition to being uninjured, it looks to be about as good as you could hope for in that situation.

After another spot of spectating at Brunnchen and some high end culinary delights from the wee hotdog van there (they're very good!) we headed down to the car park to put in a couple of laps.

racetracker_5384524_81243 by Grant F, on Flickr
racetracker_5378375_81242 by Grant F, on Flickr
racetracker_5369908_81247 by Grant F, on Flickr

YouTube link to my best BTG lap

...managed an 8m23s BTG lap, which I was really happy with. The Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres were fantastic, however did start to get a little loose about 2/3rds of the way through the lap; but they're a road tyre, it's a heavy car and I was driving it pretty hard so I will more than forgive them for that.

After Jordan's issues and the TF laps, we decided that the best place to nurse the sunburn was the Pistenklause while we enjoyed a famous 'steak on a stone' meal.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

...and after that, we talked each other into having seconds!!

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

After we finshed that, we rolled our fat ar$es along the road to try and get a night shot at the Nurburgring sign.. stopping to get better pictures of the cars on show at the M Testcentre on the way.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

I think this is probably a situation where a DSLR, a flash or two and some photography knowledge would create an amazing photo... but as you can see, an iPhone 7 pointed at a car in the dark by a man who is struggling to move because he's rammed full of food isn't such a great combo.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr




(I'm unsure about what the character/photo limit is per post here, so I'll end it here and follow on with Part 2 in the next post...)

[RS Grant]

Once me and Paul had booked our ferry and accommodation, I started to look around for things to do aside from wandering around Nurburg. I had heard that Spa-Francorchamps was within striking distance, so I had a nosey on the website to see what may/may not be available to see there and saw that there was a (fully booked) Circuit Days track event on... so I pinged them a quick email asking if I could be slotted onto the waiting list in case there was a cancellation.

Fast forward to the night before we left and I thought I'd send the organiser an email to check to see where I was on the waiting list and he replied saying that I had a space on the event if I still wanted it... happy days, a bucket list track ticked off!!

So the morning after the Pistenklause feast was an early one, 5:30am is not a typical time to get up when you're on holiday, but this was going to be well worth it. On walking through the car park at the hotel, I saw some kind of insane looking Audi on a trailer. I wish I'd had time to wait until daylight to get a proper look around the car, but sacrifices need to be made.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

The roads were good quality, quiet and apart from a couple of road closures which added an extra 20minutes onto our journey time the trip there was largely drama free... until I followed the car sat nav Point of Interest which took me to the town centre rather than up to the circuit.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Finally arrived at the circuit, found the correct paddock, signed in, hung around the main pit garage for a bit and then listened to the Drivers Briefing; which included the fact that you cannot be wearing short sleeved tops or shorts, something I didn't want to hear... given I was wearing shorts. In my defence, I've done plenty of track stuff at Knockhill in shorts but conceed that I should have planned for worst case and at least brought something long legged with me...... instead I had to scuttle over to the onsite shop/trailer to buy some nomex long johns for a less than reasonable 90 euros and wear them under my shorts, haha, but at least I got to go on track.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

YouTube link to a run with a Boxster Spyder
YouTube link to a run with a 991 GT3RS (Part 1)
YouTube link to a run with a 991 GT3RS (Part 2)

What a track, what a trackday and what an experience!! Extremely well run day, people were polite, everyone seemed to be having a great time and apart from one incident with a White E46 ignoring blue flags and not getting out of the way for a couple of laps or so it was very smooth and easy to pass/let others pass... I'll definitely be trying to do another Circuit Days event in future.

Best Lap of 3m08s may be good, may be bad, may be average... doesn't really matter because I had an absolute blast!!

After an early start, the long day at track and the long drive home.. when we had been driving on a lovely B-road for some time, we were met with a road closed barrier.... not really knowing where we were, where to go, or what the signs were saying... we decided to investigate just how closed the road was, discovering that apart from a few raised drain covers, it was smooth as silk through the wee village.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

After that it was smooth sailing all the way home to meet the rest of the lads, have a feed and then go straight to bed exhausted.

Next morning was time to get packed up and start back for the ferry at 17:30 in Amsterdam.. so a quick picture from the hotel car park looking over the town:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Then we stopped for another refill of the tank in Adenau before we left... getting swooped on by ~£1mil worth of BMW M5 filling their tanks for the day in the process:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Having had to go up onto the 'car tube' on the ferry during the journey on the way out, there was no way that I was going to be stuck on it during the journey home.. so, along with Ryan (whos car couldn't clear anything), I said that my car couldn't make it up the ramp on the side and would need to stay on the bottom deck with the trucks. Preparing for a bit of a discussion, I was surprised when they just agreed and let me wait with Ryan until almost the end.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Apart from the unfortunate situation with Jordan and his bike it was an amazing trip, loads of new memories, great track time and so much fun. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't going to be and I went in with my eyes open... which was good because I spent nearly £700 in fuel alone.

Highly recommended, if any more pictures drop into my inbox then I'll fire them up.

Edited by RS Grant on Tuesday 9th October 13:10

[RS Grant]

jaybarts said:

Excellent write up, had our first ring trip this summer and already can’t wait to go again!

What did you take over? It's a brilliant place and I loved having the M3 over there, but I think I'd enjoy myself in almost anything.

SiT said:

Looks like an amazing trip!!!!! What’s next?!?

Si

I'm unsure... I had planned to take the seats back out over winter and send them off for retrimming, however the local(ish) place I had lined up to do the work have seen the car now and said that matching my Fox Red leather is going to be impossible; as will getting hold of BMW to buy some OE leather to use. So I'm going to do a bit more digging and research about who is well regarded in the UK because I'm not against boxing them up and sending them off somewhere if people can guarantee a colour match.

Aside from the seats, I'm weighing up the benefits of coilovers at the moment. I got chatting to another E92 owner over a petrol pump at Spa and he was running Ohlins Road and Track coilovers, which he really rated and was very happy with... they're the ones I had been reading up about prior to the trip, so it was good to have some real life feedback rather than relying on the sales chat/literature from suppliers. But the huge downside in changing the suspension for me is the loss of EDC, which I like to mess about with on the fly depending on the situation/road that I'm driving on; so I'm really not sure about losing that function and need to remember that this is still a road car and not an attempt to build an out-and-out track toy, so a switch to coilovers is possibly a step too far.

[RS Grant]

antseddon said:

Yes, I've had it just over 3 years now, DCT with just over 51k on the clock. The only thing I dislike about it is the driving position so I'm hoping the Recaros will sort it.

I don't want to spam your thread too much, but here are some pictures of it in cleaner times!



Let me know if you have any issues returning those floor mounts. I'd be happy to take them off your hands.

That is lovely. I've no idea what number of Java Green E92 were made, but it's such a striking colour and right up there with Santorini Blue and Japan Red for me.

I'll wait to see how I get on, but will PM you and let you know if the VAC floor mounts become available.

[RS Grant]

Jez m said:

Awesome writeup, thoroughly enjoyed that as well as the YT vids.. watching you drive Spa and especially Eau Rouge corner has made me think i'd rather go there than the Ring!

Looks like the brakes were a worthwhile upgrade.

Thanks Jez, it's a tough call.. but there's not really a 'wrong' answer, you'd the experience on both!! I must say though, that driving them both back to back, it was nice to know that there were some rules on the Spa track day after the 'gloves-off' nature of the Touristfahren laps at the Ring... along with lots of nice safe run-off areas if you/others made a mistake, something which is quite rare on the Ring.

Brakes were awesome, definitely not a cheap upgrade but worth their weight in gold when you're leaning on them as hard as you do on track!!

MikeGoodwin said:

Looking good, looks like you had some good use out of it.

Sold my Monte Carlo last week. Regretting it so looking at a new one now.

You get on OK with the manual? Ive never tried one but people are so negative about it

I saw that you'd sold it.. and then to regret it afterwards too, nightmare!

The DCT gearbox is awesome and very well suited to the S65 engine, I'll conceed that the manual gearbox isn't as good a match.. given the increased shift time and longer ratios; but the interaction of the manual is a huge positive for me as is the control you get from being able to select gears yourself.

I'm very used to the throw of the manual gearbox now, but it isn't a short throw and isn't a super precise action. I know you were a fan of the DCT (especially with GTS software) so I would definitely say that you need to find a manual car and have a drive of it to see how you feel and how it changes the package for you.

For what it's worth, I don't wish I'd got a DCT car and am extremely happy with my choice. But as I said, it's not perfect, so I will be looking to order a proper short shift kit at some point because I'd like to sharpen up the action and reduce the throw distance a little too.

[RS Grant]

d_a_n1979 said:

Bloody brilliant write-up

Cheers buddy.

MRobbins1987 said:

The photograph at the entrance to Spa made me twitch. Car looks superb I really need to get over to the ring at some point.

Hahaha 'twitch' ...I've not heard that for a while, brilliant!! Thanks mate, if you make it over then I'm sure you'll love it there.

[RS Grant]

I think I've found all of the photos taken by photographers at both the Nurburgring and Spa, so thought I'd share the new ones I found on the thread too. The pictures at the Ring are all Karousel based:

racetracker_5375133_81245 by Grant F, on Flickr
IMG_4676 by Grant F, on Flickr
IMG_4682 by Grant F, on Flickr
IMG_9867 by Grant F, on Flickr
IMG_4684 by Grant F, on Flickr
IMG_4687 by Grant F, on Flickr
IMG_4693 by Grant F, on Flickr

...and the ones from Spa are dotted around the circuit a little more:

spa7 by Grant F, on Flickr
spa6 by Grant F, on Flickr
spa5 by Grant F, on Flickr
spa4 by Grant F, on Flickr
spa2 by Grant F, on Flickr
spa9 by Grant F, on Flickr

[RS Grant]

AndrewO said:

Looks fun...and back in one piece is the main thing.

I'm off to Spa Saturday for Monday/Tuesday, may drop down to the ring depending on weather. I've done Spa before but not the ring and stories if something happens sort of put me off a bit. I was thinking of hiring a hot hatch/instructor just to do a few laps in...just to tick the box .

Yep, back in one piece is the primary goal.. anything else can be fixed!

If you've not been to the Nurburgring then I'd definitely urge you to visit, the whole set up/area/atmosphere is great.

Going out on a Touristfahren day is a little hectic at times; so while the headline figures seem high, I do see the value in spending the money to sign up for the likes of a Destination Nurburgring type event instead, which appear to be well run and will cut down on the number of loonies which are on track at the same time as you... regardless of what you're driving or what day you venture out on track; just remember to go as fast or as slow as you are comfortable with and keep an eye on your mirrors because certainly on a TF day the fast cars/locals will seldom lift off when approaching you and expect you to see them and move over, that's one of the biggest differences I've seen compared to UK track days.

[RS Grant]

Tony B2 said:

Can I ask you about insurance for these events? As far as I know, short of registering your car in Germany, it is practically impossible to get cover for Nurburgring use, unless it is an organised track day.

Or are there other ways?

TIA

Re: the track insurance... I was covered for the day at Spa, however, as above I couldn't find someone to cover me specifically for a TF day at the Nurburgring. I did contact my insurance company and they said that I was covered in Europe; including toll roads, which I believe on a TF day the Nurburgring would be classed as, however I'm not sure how well that would have held up if there had been an issue and thankfully didn't and won't ever have to test the strength of coverage when I'm there.