Just dropped a deposit on some M Power - Trackday Project Car

adam cool dude said:
Nothing worse than a bit of drizzle. Binned it at Craner curves before but luckily the only thing damaged was my pride as I went into the gravel!
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When I first got this car, before I did a thing to it and it was a wet day at Donnington I booted it off the old hairpin exit to see how it handled expecting a progressive slide but the car was not the car it is today it just snapped and I spun several times and parked where the marshal box is on that bit of tarmac at the top of hill, amazing how you seem to go even faster once you go on wet grass, thankfully nothing hit and no damage was done. What it informed me was how bad the car was setup when I got it and secondly in a car you don't know maybe don't be so lead footed in the wet. :D
 
Gibbo said:
also have the ability now to fasten down a fire extinguisher too, probably a good idea considering the cars use and it gives that proper race car vibe.
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Looks nice,

I actually had it in my head that it was a requirement for track cars for safety reasons. Guess it’s not :o
 
harry5522 said:
Looks nice,

I actually had it in my head that it was a requirement for track cars for safety reasons. Guess it’s not :o
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If you want to use the car in any competitive events then it needs to comply with the relevant blue book rules, otherwise for a track day basically anything goes as long as the car is not dangerous in any way.
 
WOW WOW WOW, the car handles like an absolute dream, it is so adjustable and the rear end has so much grip, you can put in too much steering lock and the rear stays planted within reason.
Brakes actually felt incredible, just wished top of pedal was a bit more firm but the stopping power was pretty incredible.
Engine and gearbox performed flawless and oh my having the 3.91 diff transforms acceleration out of corners especially as I always drive Donnington in 3rd and 4th meaning before out the Chicane really needed 2nd but then you were on limiter, now just pullls hard in 3rd and I now need 5th on the two straights as hitting limiter in 4th.

Only issue on track was craners curves where you go over the slight rise and then steering left it felt like the rear was too soft, felt it again as you power up the hill after old hairpin in the past i've stayed flat up that section but the rear felt like it was compressing too much.

Spire tuning told me leave rebound where it is and focus on compression unfortunately I could not adjust rear compression as too hard to get too, so I dialled in one more click of rebound which did seem to help a little.
Also should note I am on 255/40/18 MPSS which are not as direct or as grippy as the 265/35/18 cups I used to run.

But I had to say I think the car is more fun on MPSS it moves around more and is more progressive, I used to find the cups were good for 2-3s around Donnington though.

Also my car has been plagued by a clunk/click for months which no one can find, but it started to happen frequent towards end of evening and done it most the way home when steering or driving over uneven surfaces, something is loose in the rear for sure and just hoping it is now loose enough to actually detect and resolve.

In short apart from clunk and need some damper adjustment the car simply feels incredible and really so much fun to drive and it feels insanely well balanced.

Also Mac in his Mustang set of the noise meters towards end of the day by going flat out for a lap, they did not black flag him, the caused a red flag and closed the circuit for been beyond 105db driveby, we did not even know that if you trip over 105db they throw reds, but yeah its loud, also handles and stops incredibly well too.

I forgot to record most the time, but did get a couple will post up later but quite scruffy and I am having fun so don't judge me. For now a of picture. :)


m3_donnington.jpg
 
Gibbo said:
What you think of the M3 then from a passenger perspective?
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Set up is fantastic, ive had a stonking migraine all afternoon though so those gearshifts were frikkin savage smashing my head into the seat haha. Considering the tyres were not great and you couldn't adjust the compression rates on the springs it certainly felt very quick and planted for the most parts. As you said you could upset it a little bit which could feel it getting a bit tail happy but overall pretty damn amazing.

Get some good rubber on there, get the springs and the clunking sorted and you will be laughing seconds off your lap times.

Im not usually a nervous passenger, but on track the car can feel very different being in the other seat, however the M3 was rather "unremarkable" in the sense that I never felt things were getting lairy, we were doing some speed and cornering but there was never any feeling the car was going to go wrong.

So all in all, a fantastic set up.
 
Video from when I took you out and we scaring Mclarens and Caterhams out the way. :D



Was a bargain at £150 and so quiet too. :)
 
Everyone else seemed like they were taking it very easy, even if for a warm up lap.
The caterhams didn't even seem to accelerate out of the turns, almost like they purposely slowed right down once you caught them.
Or is that the deception of the video?
Seems like there was hardly any body roll through the corners. :cool:
 
Here is a solo video:



If you turn volume up you will hear my issue which became a major issue on drive home. Through craners and through old hairpin you will hear a solid clunk and you hear it again through the chicane coming onto the pit straight.

Car has had this for months but not as loud, no one can identify, but drivinh home this noise was happening like crazy really made me take it very easy as over uneven surface I was getting multiple clunks and if I steer left to right a real solid clunk and it can be felt in steering and through base of seat.

My guess is something crazy like the actually differential is lose, maybe top bolt come undone, but its why I took the car very easy through craner curves as lets just say its quite off putting when you know something mechanical is moving that should not and as now whatever has plagued me for months has now come very lose, hoping when I jack it up later I can spot it and properly fix it.

You will also notice compared to previous videos I can take a lot more curb and the car is more adjustable and playful, my driving is not quite as smooth as fast as I normally am as I was kind of just enjoying myself too much. But the car rides curbs so well you hardly feel them, so damper setup helps but no doubt the big balloon 255/40/18 softer side wall road tyres help too.

Obviously car will lap faster on a set of 265/35/18 sticky tyres, but I feel its actually more fun on the super sports. Plus in fairness the car not only felt quick it was really quick. Only things faster was a single seater, a 420R Caterham and I had fun with a new Exige, he let me pass, then he stayed with me so I let him pass and he did pull away. There was also what looked like Scirroco and maybe Golf race cars there, latest gen stuff, full race prep, slicks and they were bonkers quick, think they were quickest things on track by some distance and guessing they were testing as they were all livery up with race numbers.
 
harry5522 said:
Video is always deceptive with speed.
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Yes but people under estimate how capable a well sorted E46 M3 is, remember I got this to do track work instead of a sorted 911. An average driver and a sorted E46 M3 can go quick, stick a good driver in and they go very quick.

Here is my mate Billy, he is no pro driver, in fact his second time at Donnington, far more busier day but you can see just how much quicker he is and you only need to be a few seconds per lap quicker than other cars to close on them very fast, typically a car lapping in 1:23's would catch a 1:25 lapping car quick and be held up, anything greater than two seconds and you begin to make other cars look slow as you close on them. Billy's car is like mine though he has full aero setup and runs full slicks but you can see from his video how quick a sorted M3 is:



Kindai will tell you how quick my M3 is he followed me on one session and I just drove away, admittedly he was lifting on pit straight due to noise limits but hey he has twice the horsepower I do. :D
 
I was there on Monday doing 1:21-1:22s in my M3, loads of time left in cornering speed too. I'm determined to get sub 1:20 this year as I've had a pro driver do a 1:18 in my car before a proper diff was fitted and decent tyres.

And we all know Kindai drives like a grandma on circuits with more corners than straights anyway :p
 
tsinc80697 said:
And we all know Kindai drives like a grandma on circuits with more corners than straights anyway :p
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Oi!

Yea probably true.

Plus the 2500 pads, utter trash, we came down the back straight and as Gibbo can attest... for a moment it didnt seem like the car was going to stop at all :eek::eek::eek:
 
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