[Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the October 2011 issue of Grassroots Motorsports.]
Race cars are often expensive machines, full of custom parts that a shade-tree mechanic can only dream about. James Clay, owner of BimmerWorld, attacked that notion by building an off-the-shelf M3 for our bare-bones battle of speed, the Ultimate Track Car Challenge.
“The goal wasn’t an overall winner,” he admits. “It was to show that a track day car could be very fast with some good, basic planning and standard parts.” During our recent brake pad test, this same car also withstood a brutal day of hot laps without a single hiccup.
James set out to build a fast, streetable and street-legal car capable of a 2:05 lap at Virginia International Raceway’s Full Course. For comparison, the current record for a Factory Five Challenge car at VIR is 2:11.9. To add to the challenge, he made sure that anyone handy with a wrench could replicate the package.
James started with a car that had a slight off-course excursion at Mid-Ohio.
According to James, the E46-chassis M3, built from 2001 through 2006, is a great tool for meeting this goal. “These cars are becoming so readily available and so reasonably priced,” he says. “I see good donor cars around $15,000 these days.”
Before you head out to snatch one up, James warns of a possible sore spot with these machines: “I feel like all E46 M3 cars require an inspection and potential replacement of the rod bearings. This was a recall issue for early cars, but the fact is—on the track or at high rpm—they need some special care and feeding.”
Every 2001-’02 M3 was recalled for a tolerance issue with the connecting rods that would result in spun rod bearings. It’s useful to check if the fix has been…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Grassroots Motorsports Online Articles…