BMW E46 M3 track day / weekend car
Discussion
Been on a few PH runs now so thought I’d better start a thread!
I have been driving various cars on track for around 7 years now. Mostly Snetterton as this is 30 minutes down the road from me. Here’s a little history of my track cars:
So I started out with 2 other guys in a Pug 205 GTi 1.6. It was a really fun (and very cheap at the time!) car to start out and learn in.
Then I bought my first RWD and turbo’ed car and everything changed from thereon in. I caught the tuning bug bad and this was the result. A Nissan 200sx s14a Touring. Amazing car for the money (again, at the time!) and I still miss her today.
I then had a moment and bought a Mazda RX7 FD on a "you only live once" day. I was aware of the reliability issues (so I thought) but still ended up pouring my wallet, all of my time and my actual blood into the car. I had to rebuild the engine after 4 weeks of ownership! It was something really special though. I doubt I will own another car that will compare in terms of pure driving joy and theater.
Nurburgring!
The RX7 was the best car I’ve ever owned but as my lust for track days grew, my patience for the Mazda’s reliability issues and my bank balance ran out!
I wanted to replace it with something that I knew I could get to the track in relative comfort, have a fun day and then know I will be able to drive home instead of on the back of a tow truck.
So here is my latest track day car as it stands. A 2001 BMW E46 M3.
The plan was to make the car as light as possible without removing anything that couldn’t be easily undone. I still wish to retain resale value where possible and use it on the road, so things like sound deadening and AC, electric windows, stereo etc will remain. Coming from a car with the same power output but weighed 1200kg, so it’s going to be a challenge to get near the same power/weight with the NA engine.
The car came with a few choice track bits to get me stated, including some Cobra buckets which are much lighter than stock, ACS exhaust, Evolve stage 1 map with a healthy dyno figure of 345bhp.
I bought the car and stripped the interior the next day.
Also replaced the massive battery for a more sensible sized one from a Mini. I didn’t go full race battery as I still want to use the car for the road.
First things first. Service and alignment. Managed to get just over 1deg negative camber all round on the stock suspension setup.
So 7 days after buying and stripping the car out, I took it to its first run out at Snetterton.
This highlighted a few areas of improvement for the car. Firstly there was a significant amount of understeer and roll. The car was on stock suspension with stock sized Kuhmo Ecsta tyres. Secondly, although the brake pads had been upgraded to Performance Friction all round and it had uprated fluid, the stock brakes felt like they were struggling to cope.
I managed to pick this little lot up at a good price to address these issues.
Performance BMW Brembo 6 pot calipers (from a 135i) with custom brackets mated to CSL disks:
And for the handling, Nitron coilovers and H&R larger front and rear roll bars:
I also changed the seats to some Sparco fixed buckets and harnesses:
Another track day at Snetterton with the 200sx owners club
My power steering system then randomly failed one day leaving me stranded on the side of the road. The pump to rack pipe had split, a common fault on the E46, ejecting all of the fluid onto the road which in turn made the pump run dry and finish it off.
So, reconditioned pump and pipe made up by Pirtek (BMW wanted £300 for this part – not a chance!) and fitted
Next I had a few bits added to the car to help engine response and stiffen up the drivetrain. Vibratechnic engine and gearbox mounts. These are a brilliant piece of kit. They do everything mentioned without the added noise of cabin vibration. Engine response is night and day better with these mounts.
More track time!
In 2 track days I managed to eat through a set of “performance” BMW pads that came with the 6 pot Brembos. They were clearly not up to the task so I have replaced with Padgid RS29s which sit on the car now.
More track time!!!
This is normal on an M3 exhaust unfortunately. Clamps totally corroded and snapped
To be replaced with these aftermarket units. Also have decat pipes to go on.
And finally I caved and bought the new Eventuri intake. It really is a good as all the reviews say. Throttle response is night and day better, also noticeably improved low down torque and just generally better drivability.
This is more or less where the car now stands. A few outstanding jobs include fitting a rear strut brace to mount my harnesses to and welding in a fixing to the floor so I can use a proper 6 point harness.
Full Spec:
Engine / drivetrain
- Eventuri intake
- Relocated AIT sensor
- ACS rear muffler (much lighter than stock)
- Evolve remap
- Engine making around 355bhp with great response
- Vibratechnics engine and gearbox mounts
- Short shift kit
- CDV (clutch delay valve) removed
Suspension / Chassis
- Nitron Coilovers
- H&R antiroll bars
- Reddish Motorsport rear subframe strengthening
- Diff carrier polybushed
- Polybushed RTABs
- 255/40/18 square setup with Eagle F1 tyres
Braking
- Brembo 6 pot front calipers with CSL disks
- Padgid RS29 pads front
- Performance Friction pads rear
- Performance brake fluid
- Goodrich hoses
Interior
- Rear end fully stripped out
- Sparco fixed bucket seats and harnesses
- Stereo and AC retained
- Rear top strut brace
- Lighter battery
- ACS carbon trim
- Around 150kg lost
Exterior
- ACS rear spoiler
- ACS front carbon splitter
- Smoked indicators
- Smoked side repeaters
- Black front grill
Hope you enjoyed the thread so far. I will update as and when stuff gets done. Next track day is 18th May at Bedford. See you there!
I have been driving various cars on track for around 7 years now. Mostly Snetterton as this is 30 minutes down the road from me. Here’s a little history of my track cars:
So I started out with 2 other guys in a Pug 205 GTi 1.6. It was a really fun (and very cheap at the time!) car to start out and learn in.
Then I bought my first RWD and turbo’ed car and everything changed from thereon in. I caught the tuning bug bad and this was the result. A Nissan 200sx s14a Touring. Amazing car for the money (again, at the time!) and I still miss her today.
I then had a moment and bought a Mazda RX7 FD on a "you only live once" day. I was aware of the reliability issues (so I thought) but still ended up pouring my wallet, all of my time and my actual blood into the car. I had to rebuild the engine after 4 weeks of ownership! It was something really special though. I doubt I will own another car that will compare in terms of pure driving joy and theater.
Nurburgring!
The RX7 was the best car I’ve ever owned but as my lust for track days grew, my patience for the Mazda’s reliability issues and my bank balance ran out!
I wanted to replace it with something that I knew I could get to the track in relative comfort, have a fun day and then know I will be able to drive home instead of on the back of a tow truck.
So here is my latest track day car as it stands. A 2001 BMW E46 M3.
The plan was to make the car as light as possible without removing anything that couldn’t be easily undone. I still wish to retain resale value where possible and use it on the road, so things like sound deadening and AC, electric windows, stereo etc will remain. Coming from a car with the same power output but weighed 1200kg, so it’s going to be a challenge to get near the same power/weight with the NA engine.
The car came with a few choice track bits to get me stated, including some Cobra buckets which are much lighter than stock, ACS exhaust, Evolve stage 1 map with a healthy dyno figure of 345bhp.
I bought the car and stripped the interior the next day.
Also replaced the massive battery for a more sensible sized one from a Mini. I didn’t go full race battery as I still want to use the car for the road.
First things first. Service and alignment. Managed to get just over 1deg negative camber all round on the stock suspension setup.
So 7 days after buying and stripping the car out, I took it to its first run out at Snetterton.
This highlighted a few areas of improvement for the car. Firstly there was a significant amount of understeer and roll. The car was on stock suspension with stock sized Kuhmo Ecsta tyres. Secondly, although the brake pads had been upgraded to Performance Friction all round and it had uprated fluid, the stock brakes felt like they were struggling to cope.
I managed to pick this little lot up at a good price to address these issues.
Performance BMW Brembo 6 pot calipers (from a 135i) with custom brackets mated to CSL disks:
And for the handling, Nitron coilovers and H&R larger front and rear roll bars:
I also changed the seats to some Sparco fixed buckets and harnesses:
Another track day at Snetterton with the 200sx owners club
My power steering system then randomly failed one day leaving me stranded on the side of the road. The pump to rack pipe had split, a common fault on the E46, ejecting all of the fluid onto the road which in turn made the pump run dry and finish it off.
So, reconditioned pump and pipe made up by Pirtek (BMW wanted £300 for this part – not a chance!) and fitted
Next I had a few bits added to the car to help engine response and stiffen up the drivetrain. Vibratechnic engine and gearbox mounts. These are a brilliant piece of kit. They do everything mentioned without the added noise of cabin vibration. Engine response is night and day better with these mounts.
More track time!
In 2 track days I managed to eat through a set of “performance” BMW pads that came with the 6 pot Brembos. They were clearly not up to the task so I have replaced with Padgid RS29s which sit on the car now.
More track time!!!
This is normal on an M3 exhaust unfortunately. Clamps totally corroded and snapped
To be replaced with these aftermarket units. Also have decat pipes to go on.
And finally I caved and bought the new Eventuri intake. It really is a good as all the reviews say. Throttle response is night and day better, also noticeably improved low down torque and just generally better drivability.
This is more or less where the car now stands. A few outstanding jobs include fitting a rear strut brace to mount my harnesses to and welding in a fixing to the floor so I can use a proper 6 point harness.
Full Spec:
Engine / drivetrain
- Eventuri intake
- Relocated AIT sensor
- ACS rear muffler (much lighter than stock)
- Evolve remap
- Engine making around 355bhp with great response
- Vibratechnics engine and gearbox mounts
- Short shift kit
- CDV (clutch delay valve) removed
Suspension / Chassis
- Nitron Coilovers
- H&R antiroll bars
- Reddish Motorsport rear subframe strengthening
- Diff carrier polybushed
- Polybushed RTABs
- 255/40/18 square setup with Eagle F1 tyres
Braking
- Brembo 6 pot front calipers with CSL disks
- Padgid RS29 pads front
- Performance Friction pads rear
- Performance brake fluid
- Goodrich hoses
Interior
- Rear end fully stripped out
- Sparco fixed bucket seats and harnesses
- Stereo and AC retained
- Rear top strut brace
- Lighter battery
- ACS carbon trim
- Around 150kg lost
Exterior
- ACS rear spoiler
- ACS front carbon splitter
- Smoked indicators
- Smoked side repeaters
- Black front grill
Hope you enjoyed the thread so far. I will update as and when stuff gets done. Next track day is 18th May at Bedford. See you there!
Edited by pantera chris on Wednesday 13th May 16:36
Thanks Barry. I'm really impressed with the car so far. People go on about how they aren't that fast, and compared to some turbo cars they don't seem that quick, but get it on a track and it really comes alive and leaves far more expensive machinery far behind. Add that to the fact that you can still cruise to and from the track in relative comfort and you're on to a winner.
Square setup works well on track. More front end grip and lessens understeer. Tramlines a bit on the road.
Bit of an update. Went to Snetterton few weeks back and still getting understeer. Going to fit some adjustable front top mounts so I can run -3deg front and then soften the dampers up at the front which should hopefully all but cure it. Otherwise the car is very quick, neutral and confident so you can really brake real late and push into corners.
Bit of an update. Went to Snetterton few weeks back and still getting understeer. Going to fit some adjustable front top mounts so I can run -3deg front and then soften the dampers up at the front which should hopefully all but cure it. Otherwise the car is very quick, neutral and confident so you can really brake real late and push into corners.
Thanks.
The RX7 was the best car ive owned so far for pure fun. 360bhp on twin turbos @ 1200kg is going to be hard to beat. The car had zero understeer and was very balanced. The massive issue was reliability, that's why I made the move to the M3.
Maybe ill go back one day. I do miss the excitement of Japanese turbo cars. But for now I just want to get as much track time in as possible without having to worry about anything breaking.
The RX7 was the best car ive owned so far for pure fun. 360bhp on twin turbos @ 1200kg is going to be hard to beat. The car had zero understeer and was very balanced. The massive issue was reliability, that's why I made the move to the M3.
Maybe ill go back one day. I do miss the excitement of Japanese turbo cars. But for now I just want to get as much track time in as possible without having to worry about anything breaking.
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