the flyin' scotsman

It actually warmed up enough today to melt off the frost and provide good dry roads for an afternoon drive. I was approaching a very nice twisty highway section when this M3 overtook the car behind me and continued to draw onlong side. Well I didn't know what it was so foot was on the floor easilly keeeping up/ drawing away (he's still in the other lane) when I back off to allow him to pass and see what I was up against.

Well after that we got it on and needless to say the cornering ability of the BM was so bad he admitted defeat after 3 turns and waved me passed, speeds between 120 and 190 kph. After doing so I was hard on the gas watching the poor M3 disappear in the rearview.

Not much of a contest really; don't know how hard he was trying or his capability...........don't matter, smoked 'im.

I turned around about 5kms further up the hway and saw him on the way back, he smiled.

pasa

Sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Dan 1990 928GT

ceedee

doesn't a M3 have a 4 cyl engine?
that is no match at all
but still fun.

SharkSkin

What year M3? If it was an E30, then you were basically clubbing baby seals. If it was a newer M3(E-46), you were up against someone who couldn't drive. If it was an E36, then he was definitely outclassed.

Either way, feels good, huh?

mspiegle

You'd be surprised with the E30 M3. It may not have a whole bunch of power... but the thing is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Good one though... none of the M3s are slouches (stock vs stock).

the flyin' scotsman

Sorry Dave, no idea the diff between E30, E36 or E46, all the same to me BMW. It looked to me that it was a newer car but considering the guy waved me passed (I was on his *** thru some 160kph curves) and I left him for dead after passing; he didn't want to play in the twisties..........only on the straight line where anyone with anything could pass if I'm behaving.

Either way, it was fun.

mspiegle

its in reference to the body style. here's the easy way:

E30 - super boxy
E36 - kinda boxy
E46 - not very boxy

hacker-pschorr

E30:




E36:




E46 - key feature is the vent on the front fender:

Normy

"Smoked an M3", not "Smoked a M3".

Good show! I'm of the opinion that though certainly nice cars...current and near-past BMW's are the most over-rated cars on the road. The late '90's M3's [E36] had 240 hp. The VW Corrado that I drove around town with futons sticking out the hatch on two occasions ran those cars to over 100 mph and at those speeds I was slowly gaining on both of them!!!

Did I mention that the Corrado could manage 30 mpg on the highway at 75 mph?

Hello?

N!

the flyin' scotsman

thx HP...........a pic is worth a huge amount of words.

The car I had fun with was a E46..............go figure.

the flyin' scotsman

There goes my Scottish accent again...........pardon my American

SharkSkin

There are so many BMWs in this area it's hard to tell them apart. The E46 I spot by either the vents as H-P mentions or the hood bulge. Around here there are far more posers than "drivers" buying these cars... sounds like you found one of the posers.

Mike, I know the E30s have a lot of potential, but IMHO you'd be tapped out trying to stay with a somewhat poorly driven S4 on a curvy highway. I've chewed E30's and spit them out on highway 17 with my 1st gen Z when I had it... with the Shark those same E30s would be rolling chicanes. Twisties could be another matter entirely...

mspiegle

certainly correct there. E30s just aren't stable at high speed turns (they also have the aerodynamics of a brick). The twisties are different... i've chased friends in either car and can keep up much better with an e30.

mark kibort

having more experience in racing BMWs, ill tell it to you straight. M3s, whether e30, e36 or a e46 are all right there with a porsche 928.

do you know that the top e30s run 1:45 at laguna, the top e36s can run in the lower 1:42s and e46s can run near 1:40 with top pros driving them?
why wouldnt they be as fast. the HP of the e30 is near 200hp, the e36 is 240hp and the e46 is 333hp. a porsche GTS is a match for a e46 or maybe a GT, due to the fact that the M3 is and always been lighter.

when i race the very top of the BMW bunch, the e36s are "euro" where they came stock with 320hp, and the e46s have been modified pretty substantially. we all run near the same times. I got a little edge now due to the larger tires i run and possibly a slight HP to weight advantage. e46s are 285rwhp common and some up to 310rwhp with slight mods. e36 euros are commonly found to run near 280rwhp.

so, street racing is pretty silly, especially if you are racing at triple digit speeds. there is just no room, unless you live out in UTAH!

On the track, the M3 is a formatable competitor e30 matches up to the older 928S 84 versions, and the S4 runs with the M3 e36 euro, and the new M3 (e46) can run with just about anything stock.

Mk

SharkSkin

Mark, no doubt these cars are formidable when stripped for racing and running with engine, tire/wheel and suspension upgrades.

Still, I stand by what I said. Consider, Malcom's got a few minor performance upgrades. This was on a twisty highway section.

The e30 was out of it's element in the triple digits on a twisty highway with the usual undulations in road surface. I've only driven one up 280 and over 92 to the coast and back, but that car was in excellent shape @ < 10K miles and my impression was that it just wasn't that stable hitting sweepers at those speeds -- certainly not like a shark. Unless of course it was a Euro or heavily modded. Doubtful.

I stated that an e46 behaving that way was all the fault of the driver. The e46 is the only series M3 I haven't driven an example of myself, but I've heard first-hand comparisons to the e36 and I have no doubt that a good driver could take one off the lot and give Malcom a pretty hard time.

The e36 M3 I drove might have been up to staying with a stock S4, but it was mushy compared to a stock S4 at speed, and Malcom's got some suspension upgrades.

Sure, you could fault me for assuming that we were talking about stock cars. I know you go out and trade paint with these guys on a regular basis(figuratively speaking ) but keep in mind that when you talk about the "top e30" or "euro e36" you're talking about a very different car than what any of us are likely to encounter on the highway. How many stock US market e30 M3's have you raced with a stock shark?

And, FWIW, I *don't* think I could have taken that "top e30" with my Z, nor do I think I'd stand much of a chance with my shark.