Picked up an E36 for track times... will compare to my 507
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Joined: Nov 2014
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From: Australia
MB C63 AMG
old 924 and 944 Pigs starting to jump bigtime here too as the 930 Turbo went from Last year 80-100K to over 200K !!
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From: The Great White North
W204 C63 Coupe, W166 ML350 BlueTEC, 928GT, Taycan GTS Sport Turismo, C5 Z06 & IS300 race cars
I still have most of a 1994 Canadian E36 M3 kicking around somewhere... they only brought 45 of them here with the 282 hp S50B30 Euro mill.
I got it with a salvage title and about 100K km on the clock (it was writen off due to an accident but the rebuild was done by the shop where I serivced my E30 M3, was fully documented and most importantly the frame was straight) and used it as a dedicated track toy until the VANOS crapped out five years later at about 226K km IIRC. Aside from reinforced strut mounts, a welded-in four point strut brace and a full M-Sport suspension with the square 9" setup, it was stock - and I put about 120K km of MOSTLY TRACK KILOMETERS on it. I've never had a car that took that much abuse at five times the amount of money I put into it over the years.
As for the driving experience, the handling of that car was sublime for its time... yes, the 924/944/951s were somewhat beter and more neutral especially if set up properly, but not by a huge margin. It was a great track toy that you could beautifully steer with the throttle - almost telepathically - once you wound up the motor within an inch of its life, and yes, it handled like a go-cart compared to the C63. The only "problem" with it was that once I got used to 500 hp, on a fast and flowing track with elevation chages the E36 was a tad... *boring* on the long uphill. Sure, it would corner way faster and better than 3/4s of the cars on the track, but then they'd fly past me on the back straight. It will teach you how to drive though, and yes, there's lots of aftermarket bits and parts. Enjoy it in good health!
I got it with a salvage title and about 100K km on the clock (it was writen off due to an accident but the rebuild was done by the shop where I serivced my E30 M3, was fully documented and most importantly the frame was straight) and used it as a dedicated track toy until the VANOS crapped out five years later at about 226K km IIRC. Aside from reinforced strut mounts, a welded-in four point strut brace and a full M-Sport suspension with the square 9" setup, it was stock - and I put about 120K km of MOSTLY TRACK KILOMETERS on it. I've never had a car that took that much abuse at five times the amount of money I put into it over the years.
As for the driving experience, the handling of that car was sublime for its time... yes, the 924/944/951s were somewhat beter and more neutral especially if set up properly, but not by a huge margin. It was a great track toy that you could beautifully steer with the throttle - almost telepathically - once you wound up the motor within an inch of its life, and yes, it handled like a go-cart compared to the C63. The only "problem" with it was that once I got used to 500 hp, on a fast and flowing track with elevation chages the E36 was a tad... *boring* on the long uphill. Sure, it would corner way faster and better than 3/4s of the cars on the track, but then they'd fly past me on the back straight. It will teach you how to drive though, and yes, there's lots of aftermarket bits and parts. Enjoy it in good health!
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Joined: Jun 2011
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From: Silicon Valley, CA
C63 AMG, P30
I still have most of a 1994 Canadian E36 M3 kicking around somewhere... they only brought 45 of them here with the 282 hp S50B30 Euro mill.
I got it with a salvage title and about 100K km on the clock (it was writen off due to an accident but the rebuild was done by the shop where I serivced my E30 M3, was fully documented and most importantly the frame was straight) and used it as a dedicated track toy until the VANOS crapped out five years later at about 226K km IIRC. Aside from reinforced strut mounts, a welded-in four point strut brace and a full M-Sport suspension with the square 9" setup, it was stock - and I put about 120K km of MOSTLY TRACK KILOMETERS on it. I've never had a car that took that much abuse at five times the amount of money I put into it over the years.
As for the driving experience, the handling of that car was sublime for its time... yes, the 924/944/951s were somewhat beter and more neutral especially if set up properly, but not by a huge margin. It was a great track toy that you could beautifully steer with the throttle - almost telepathically - once you wound up the motor within an inch of its life, and yes, it handled like a go-cart compared to the C63. The only "problem" with it was that once I got used to 500 hp, on a fast and flowing track with elevation chages the E36 was a tad... *boring* on the long uphill. Sure, it would corner way faster and better than 3/4s of the cars on the track, but then they'd fly past me on the back straight. It will teach you how to drive though, and yes, there's lots of aftermarket bits and parts. Enjoy it in good health!
I got it with a salvage title and about 100K km on the clock (it was writen off due to an accident but the rebuild was done by the shop where I serivced my E30 M3, was fully documented and most importantly the frame was straight) and used it as a dedicated track toy until the VANOS crapped out five years later at about 226K km IIRC. Aside from reinforced strut mounts, a welded-in four point strut brace and a full M-Sport suspension with the square 9" setup, it was stock - and I put about 120K km of MOSTLY TRACK KILOMETERS on it. I've never had a car that took that much abuse at five times the amount of money I put into it over the years.
As for the driving experience, the handling of that car was sublime for its time... yes, the 924/944/951s were somewhat beter and more neutral especially if set up properly, but not by a huge margin. It was a great track toy that you could beautifully steer with the throttle - almost telepathically - once you wound up the motor within an inch of its life, and yes, it handled like a go-cart compared to the C63. The only "problem" with it was that once I got used to 500 hp, on a fast and flowing track with elevation chages the E36 was a tad... *boring* on the long uphill. Sure, it would corner way faster and better than 3/4s of the cars on the track, but then they'd fly past me on the back straight. It will teach you how to drive though, and yes, there's lots of aftermarket bits and parts. Enjoy it in good health!
Obviously would run FIA approved fixed backs in tandem.
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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 3,745
Likes: 811
From: The Great White North
W204 C63 Coupe, W166 ML350 BlueTEC, 928GT, Taycan GTS Sport Turismo, C5 Z06 & IS300 race cars
Did you run a roll bar on the street? In other words, without a helmet? I've heard mixed opinions on this as some say in the event of an accident, your head could hit the bar, while others say that it should be an issue. I plan on making this a streetable track toy, but worry about a roll bar and it's implications in the case of a rear end collision per say.
Obviously would run FIA approved fixed backs in tandem.
Obviously would run FIA approved fixed backs in tandem.
