evo magazine m3

[adil325i]

hi guys,

did anyone read the thread in evo magazine about attempting the 'ring in under 8 minutes with their Ԛ£15k e36 m3 gt? i started reading about it, but lost track of what happened - anyone know if they made it?

[TheDutch]

They ended up miles off the 8:00 time, and possibly over budget too. Still looked like a lot of fun trying though.

[adil325i]

thought it wouldve ended up along those lines. a bit of a shame though.

can sleep easy now!

cheers matey

[m3ben05]

Sounds interesting, il have to get that. 15k is way ott for an m3 gt though. Personally i doubt that an amateur driver could do the ring in under 8 mins in a road M3 apart from maybe a csl

[TheDutch]

The total budget was including all the mods such as brakes, suspension, cage etc. The car itself was much less, and all the stuff stripped out was sold and claimed back off the spend to try and get in within Ԛ£15k. Still ended up a great track car, just not a sub-8 minute Nurburgring one. Think it ended up quicker than the CSL, but could be wrong.

[maxfield]

Not of bin quicker than a CSL they do it in 7:53

[m3ben05]

Ah ok, that must be an amazing track car though! Il have to get that mag tomorrow!

I would have had the interior off them for sure, its one of my all time favourite bmw interiors

[TheDutch]

Ha, right that shows what I know then!

I do know that the article was originally spread over a few issues though so it may not be as easy as buying one mag.

[m3ben05]

Yea but who was driving both cars? Driver skill and local knowlage means a lot around the ring. If a professional test driver was driving the CSL and an amateur was driving the GT it would have amade a huge difference

[DieselMeister]

I though they got Dirk Schoysman ("Mr. Skyline") to drive it? I'm prolly confu=sed with a gazillion other "me too" ring articles

I think they were in the 8.5min bracket. Fun but pointless as any car is only ever going fast there in the hands of a ring meister.

Tasty mods though - apparently the end result was sublime to drive.

Plus the car was had in mint condition for under Ԛ£8k (complete with 305bhp or +10bhp on stock, no less).

I think something that heavy would need an extra 100bhp to be an 8min car. Or at least 50bhp plus some slicks. Who knows. They were always going to be a long way off imo.

[E30BeemerLad]

the final time was about 8min 30 something, thoroughly enjoyed reading the feature.

[Rich_W]

I enjoyed reading the article too. If only becasue they had no real idea what they were doing. Sure they fitted big brakes, and a roll cage. But they hardly stripped the interior properly, and didn't do much else.

They wre talking about fitting a flat floor in the hope of finding ~10-15 seconds. But that will require more aero work or the car will be upset.

It struck me as the sort of thing people "think" will be helpful, but you have to focus on every little detail, and they simply didnt.

Like to see a CSL do a 7.53 too. Zonda manages around 7:40 IIRC so 13 seconds for 250BHP less and 200KG more...

But more irritating was the praise they lavished on Munichs after Munichs sold them a GT for 3K less than a regular customer would have paid.

[E30BeemerLad]

yeah, that was way more than Ԛ£3k worth of advertising Munich Legends got
Still, there is no motoring magazine out there that comes close to Evo. Have read it since the year dot, Performance Car too before that. Still got some issues from as far back as 1986 in the loft at the other house.