Juha G

I've been playing with the thought about selling the GT3 and picking up a ~20k E46 M3, stripping it and prepping it for track (DE use).

I know I would regret selling the GT3 for the rest of my life as there is no better car out there (well, as long as I bought one again).
But I REALLY love DE's and considering I'm still in the beginning of the learning curve, a $70k Porsche is not really the ideal "learning tool".
If I put the car into the wall (and I know I eventually may do that when I get to solo), It'd be a very big financial loss for me.
Destroying a $20k car is something I could live with but 70k is just a tad too much in my current financial situation. To put it short, I could not afford to get another 70k car for a while, whereas I could easily pick up another 20k car.
I don't like the idea of financing a car that I'm tracking so that option would be out of the question as well.

So, maybe I sell the GT3 and pick up a 2003-2004 M3, strip it completely, put in my club sport seats, put a cage in and harness + some good brakes and call it a day!?

I know it all boils down to my own priorities. Financially I can afford to keep and maintain the P-car but the thought about totaling it on the track is something I woulnd't wanna deal with...

Any thoughts? Would the M3 actually teach me better driving trough not being as good a performer as the GT3?

mooty

your thought process makes sense.
however, E46m3 are not at 20k, unless beat the **** already. and E46 is too numb to teach you.

get a e36m3 for 15k-20k and set it up. any M3 you get will NEED suspension. moton cs, ground control or whatever.. but stock M3's are not good track cars anyway you cut it.

i had e36m3 decked out for track with moton and very little interior, stoptech, RA1, kosei K1's, seats, roll bar welded in. but no engine mods. great little car, not same league as GT3, but much cheaper to run and does teach you a good bit of driving.

Juha G

Thanks for the inpunt Mooty!

I had a 2005 competition package M3 with Ground Control suspension, supercharger etc. and I loved it but I can definately agree that the GT3 is in a completely different league.

If you look on autotrader, you can find tens (if not hundreds) of 2003-2004 M3's for under 25k asking price. Therefore I'm assuming I could pick one up for low 20s.

What do you mean by E46 being too numb (as compared to E36 I assume?).
If I go hardocre on tearing it apart and putting good suspension+brakes on it...?

mooty

i stand corrected. looks like e46 really dropped in price.
by numb i mean compared to e36. and yes, if you stripped e46 vs a stripped e36, the e46 is still numb. not much you can do about str feel for one thing. PM seth thomas and frayed. they both are bimmerheads, BIG bimmerheads.

Holger B

Why not get some DE insurance?

Problem solved.

Juha G

Sounds easy but from the looks of it, it aint that easy to get coverage.
At least that's the impression I have.
There were two companies offering this, the other one wants $15k a year and the other one keeps closing down and opening up it's services once a week!?

Who offers DE coverage at the moment and at what cost?

Holger B

I don't know the details as I have never gotten coverage for that.

$15k doesn't sound right to me unless your name is Mooty.

I'd check into it more before making such a drastic change.

mooty

someone called?
i dont know the cost of track ins as i never looked into it yet.

Juha G

No, I agree and I'm definately not jumping on the gun. Just playing thoughts in my mind...

regarding the DE insurance, this is the other company who was offering a policy other (not sure if they offer a policy at the moment):
https://rennlist.com/forums/showpost...&postcount=128


Mooty, how about a 993 over an M3? I know I can't pick one up for 20k but it would still not be more than half of what my GT3 is worth...

MovingChicane

Just came out of an E46 M3 that was ordered and bought with a single purpose in mind: track work. GC suspension, moton, or whatever else you throw at it is not going to get you where you want to be (or are at in the GT3). And you'll be +$10K in on top of the "low $20's car." If you want to race, get yourself a daily driver, and go cheap - spec miata, VW, or shifter kart.


-Dan

Rob in VA

You'll have to invest 15-20k+ additional to put in suspension and a roll cage. Also, once you do that, you'll have to get a trailer and a tow vehicle. It's going to add up pretty fast and you'll never be close to the performance and convenience of the GT3. Arrive and drive, it's a beautiful thing.

Juha G

Thanks for the input Dan!

The GT3 is not my daily driver and I'm not planning on racing anytime soon. The thing I'm worried about is totaling it on the track during a DE. That's why I thought it would make sense to get something cheaper for the time being, something that could be replaced easier if totalled.

I don't drive the car a lot on the street but I still want to have something I can take out on a Sunday morning every now and then so a full on race setup would not work.

Maybe a track prepped 993?

Or maybe I need to chill and wait until the 6GT3 prices fall to low 60's and my possible loss would not be 70k anymore! LOL!

m3bs

I've been tracking a E36M3 for 8 years now, following 8 years in 944T's. I've been lusting after a GT3, but all of this talk about switching back make me question my direction.

Anybody willing to let me take a few laps at VIR, RR, or RA so I can experience the difference first hand? I've done the passenger seat, but.....

ron_dargenio

Juha, the same exact thoughts ran through my mind over the past summer and I actually received a couple "nearly good enough" offers on my GT3. In the end, I am glad I kept the car. I decided before a DE at the Glen that I was going to learn the car at a very slow pace on the track, and that if I was in heavy traffic, I'd pull into the pits and wait for a nice opening to get back out. In other words, limit my exposure to unsafe track conditions.

Here's some food for thought: a 25K M3 track car becomes $45K after the mods. So if you wreck it, that's the replacement number. If your GT3 is worth 70-75K, (and it is the neatest car on here IMHO), it takes a lot more to "total" it and you can fix a lot of damage for $45K, your exposure $ with an M3.

Then, you must also factor in that the M3 will not be streetable, you'll need a tow vehicle, and you'll probably be unhappy being forced to drive your tow vehicle as daily transportation. So, you'll be unhappy with your daily driver and/or looking for a steet sports car before long, there's another 30 large at least, plus another insurance bill.

I think if you let a couple months go by without making a move, you'll come to a similar conclusion as me. If you decide to sell, someone is getting one hell of a GT3. Good luck to you either way!

bk12

I ended up buying DE insurance from WISB....I think the cost was just over 3% of my insured value for the year. I bouht it in October, the timeframe where it was questionable if anyone was selling these policies....I think they were my only choice, nice to deal with-but I haven't filed a claim yet, so who knows? They seem to be legit, and gives me some piece of mind. You might want to give them a call and look into it.