Simple question... was the C63 a Performance Pack car? I am wondering whether stiffer suspension and an LSD would have improved its performance.

 

The steering wheel is all leather. It is not a P30 car. I’m not sure if the suspension would have helped. The LSD never hurts.

 

Interesting! The Top Gear website also seems to suggest the cars from the original events were not Performance Pack cars.

I’m sure that the suspension and LSD would have been worth some time, maybe not enough to keep up with the M3 but I’m sure closer.

 

JC specifically says that it is not the "full fat" 6.2L Merc puts in the higher-end models and that it only produces 450 hp, so no. As for a comparison with the M3, the tires and the race track itself make as much if not more of a difference than the PP or LSD would. With better (wider/stickier) tires and on a faster, sweeping track, the C63 will outrun an M3 of the same era, especially the later MCT models with the PP and LSD. I have driven both and I'm consistently over a second a lap faster around my home track in my C63 (MCT/PP/LSD) than in a E92 M3 (DCT) on the exact same tires. Both are heavy porkers that weigh about the same, and while the M3 has a slight edge in the handling department, the C63 easily outruns it.

 

Simple answer... there wasn't such a thing as PP or LSD at launch, those options came in later years.