Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5

[Jake]

great writeup Jake, i love seeing this story keep unfolding. you've really been dedicated to this and it sounds like its paying off across every facet of the journey! sorry to hear about the mechanical BS but nice work with the "hell no we won't go" attitude to salvage the weekend. making friends pays off, it seems :lol:

with the rear end, can you sell the 3.23 to help make the 3.64 an even sweeter buy or will you keep it as a spare? i guess that 3.23 might not be something that's in demand anyway.

how did you like driving the E46 compared to your 36? they seem pretty comparatively prepped and i guess weights are pretty similar too.

I'll try to sell the 3.23. It's not really worth much to M3 owners, but non-M's can use it if they want to limit their slips. I think it's a drop-in for a 328i and mayyybe a 325 if the driveshaft has the right bolt pattern. Only worth a few hundred dollars, but that will offset a (very small) portion of the cost of the 3.64. I'm getting the new hotness diff for about half of new retail and it's still painful :vomit:

The SE46's are faster in a straight line, no contest. I thought it was predictable everywhere, easy to drive fast, and whatever ratio of diff it had made it a (relative) rocket. I think they dyno around 220 whp, and the spec diff is a 3.64 LSD, and minimum weight is 2,850 with driver. My car weighs a bit more (a hair over 3k with driver) so even with the new diff, it will feel a little slower but not much. SE46 definitely needs aero, I was heading toward the top of 5th on the back straight (125-130?) and it was becoming unpleasant. Same under heavy braking from that kind of speed.

Both cars/classes are piles of fun. Well-prepped examples of each, with quality drivers and open track ahead of them, can lay down 2:10s at VIR. The GTS2 E36 M3s have been nudging down into the 2:08-2:09's lately though.