Thanks for the input on the brake pads...Whatcha driving this weekend?

 

My rule is: If you're going to be driving agressively and fast on a race track, use race pads.

I made the mistake of using High Performance street/track day pads once. I burned through the pads, backing plate and into the pistons in 40 minutes of track time. :-(

Russ

 

e36 M3. I was actually #3 on the list for an evo here in VA, but it was taking so damn long that I wound up biting on the m3, more than a year ago.

I have heard of some street races, bone stock evo vs. e36 m3. Sounds like the evo pulls slowly and steadily ahead in a straight line. Should be at least as quick in the turns, too. I will be running my regular street tires and crappy hawk HPS pads (decent on the street, low dust, but it's easy to fade them on the track. I only signed up for this Monday, so I didn't have time to get my act together), so I'd have to be really working to catch you.

Are you running the full course? I'd be curious to hear some lap times and what kind of top speeds you can reach on the back straight.

 

I think the first morning the beginners have the south course for handling drills, while the rest of us have the North course. After lunch on Monday and all of Tuesday it will be the full course. I haven't run VIR before, so times won't be that great, but I'm studying a friends in-car video of a ITS enduro there to get at least a knowledge of the turns and timing. As for top speeds, I don't know if I'll be looking anywhere but the left hander apex after the back straight!

 

Sounds like it will be fun. I have ONLY run VIR before, but it is clearly a really nice track. Who are you running with?

The full course has a few spooky spots. I think the left hander after the back straight isn't nearly as bad as it looks. You can come in hot and the stick seems good. The sequence of turns to follow is tricky, though, and you need to stay on top of it. The penultimate turn before the front straight has a pucker-inducing track out, imo. There are a couple other interesting sections, but I don't think anything is too surprising.

If you can, check your speed at the crest of the hill at the end of the back straight. I think it's a pretty safe spot to flick your eyes down.

 

THIS IS THE KIND OF REPORTING WE SHOULD BE SEEING!!!
Not a post about how fast it was a the local redneck dragstrip.
Very good write up. i'd be interested to know if getting coil overs, and the front diff, and bigger sways would yield a more stable ride.

It seems like its dumbed down to protect those crazy boy racers that would try to make a canyon run with no track time

 

If you don't mind taking a polite suggestion from a redneck dragstrip boy racer...... well the boy racer is stretching it a bit (like my Depends) checkout the excellent information relative to suspension by Claudius.


https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/fo...?s=&forumid=23

Speedlimit......

 

you should have waited. you will want to trade the M3 for an evo soon.

 

Yeah, the M3 is such a piece of junk, I kick myself every time I get in it. Also, every time I pass a 911 or a viper on the track.

If only I'd waited a whole year with my sentra I'd be so much better off. Life is tough when you have to drive an M3.

 

don't get me wrong, the e36M3 is a nice car, I had one myself for a year. It was sold within 1 week of having driven an evo.

I don't race but do a few trackdays, even the e46M3s don't keep up

 

I'm running with the Audi club on April 28-29, I'll be in the intermediate group. From the VIR website movie, it does look like theres a slight bit of time from the crest of the hill until the braking markers, so I'll check it out. The vidoe movie is pretty good, at least as good as it gets from a motorcycle helmet cam!

 

I have never seen a faster make of car on the track that I have not passed at least one of. I have, likewise, been passed by "slower" cars. That's life in the fast lane. I suspect that what was really keeping you from going faster was your driving skill, Claudius, but who knows.

You guys need to get a grip. An M3 with worked suspension handles fantastically well, and in its stock configuration was named best handling car at any price by some US magazine. It is widely known as a very satisfying car to drive fast. Is it still the best? Probably not. Does it still kick ***? Yes.

Used e36 M3s are HALF the price of a new evo, and offer vastly better interior, good looks instead of transformer autobot evo styling, and something like 90+% of the performance of an evo.

For the price of an evo I could buy an M3 in great shape, plus a complete race kart set up. I'd trailer the kart to the track and turn lap times that would positively SHAME your evo, Claudius, no matter what you've done to it. That's if you think it's all about performance, because if you're just in it for the fun and not the pose, driving a slow spec miata or rx-7 on the track is a hell of a lot of fun for practically nothing.

The evo appears to be a good car, and in a few years I may wind up getting one, but there's hardly a hurry.

 

Ah, nice. I'll be up there again in mid may, it's looking like, for another porsche club event.

I think an M3 guy I know will be at the Audi club event. He drives a pretty heavily modified (full cage, etc) e36 m3 lightweight model.

The helmet cam video isn't bad, except he keeps ducking his head (naturally) on the straights.

Please post back here or start a new topic and let us know how it goes!

 

Also, in the interests of the truth, the motor revs well (and no lame turbo lag below 3k rpm), the gearing is nearly identical between the US spec M3 and the Evo 8, and the M3 is something like 100 pounds lighter than the Evo, maybe more. Did I mention the extra $15,000 the Evo costs? Oh, yeah.

I'm glad you like your car, though!