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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
The unexpected E36 328i find.
- Thread starter M3boi
- Start date
M3boi
Well-known member
This update might be a little all over the place, so apologies in advance...
So last month entires opened for Speed Classic Cape Town in October, essentially a Cape Town version of Simola Hillclimb in Knysna at the foot of Table Mountain on a road I think all of us Capetonians have enjoyed from time to time. The first time since 1962 that Cape Town will host an inner-city Hillclimb event. So I thought screw it, let me apply to race and see what happens. Would be an epic event to participate in if I get accepted, and should be a jol.
Low and behold, my acceptance email came through and I had been accepted to race! Just after I got confirmation, I decided to enter Killarney Time Attack this past weekend as well. I was chatting to a few people about Speed Classic, as well as Time Attack, and had quite a lot of interest in terms of partners jumping on board for both events. I started getting super excited with all the support, so with a week to go until Time Attack, I decided to do a little mini livery on the E36 showcasing all of the partnering brands for both events, and began prepping the car.
Livery starting to go on at The Garage:
Livery complete, photos taken just below the road we'll be racing on next month:
Day 1 of Time Attack - Practice and Qualifying. I entered into the road car class, which required full interior. There was a separate race car class for the stripped out/caged guys. The TA layout at Killarney is an odd one - reverse track layout, starting roughly halfway down the back straight. Standing start, around T4 to T1 and finishing at the normal Start/Finish line. A layout I had never done before, and also my first competitive MSA event. Day 1 was a bit crazy, trying to come to grips with Killarney in a reverse layout. No references for braking points or turning points at all, and the lines are SO different compared to the normal layout.
I really struggled trying to find the right lines and braking points, my first practice run being timed at a 1:08.006. My second run came in at a 1:07.474, the third came down to a 1:06.358 and the fourth was a 1:06.571. So I was improving, but there was more time in me and the car.
Qualifying run 1 returned me a 1:05.948, so I was getting the hang of it. But my Q2 run went back down to a 1:06.310. That was the end of day 1, and I was feeling somewhat content yet slightly disappointed. My times were in and amongst the N/A E36 and E46 racecar times that all had 40+kw more than my car, which I was happy about, but the goal was the be in the 1:04's by the end of the weekend, which was around mid-field for the N/A BMW racecars.
Day 2 arrived and it felt like a blur. A super busy day with loads of practice and quali sessions. Started the day doing 1:06's in practice, then down to the 1:05's. For the rest of the day the car did consistent 1:05's and those 1:04's were just teasing me. Towards the end of the day I could start to feel the tyres not loving life anymore, and I couldn't go faster than a 1:05.3.
I managed to qualify P3 for class finals, and by the end of the day I secured P3 in the 6cyl N/A road car class. P1 going to a brand new 992 GT3 RS, P2 going to a good mate of mine in his 350z with fresh RE71-RS tyres. I think the gap between us by the end of the day was 0.4sec, so a very close battle all day!
Overall, I'm very happy with how the car performed. Zero issues over both days, times being amongst racecars and faster than cars like modified RS3's, M240i's and even a 991.2 Carrera. All in a 140kw, heavy little E36 - it really says a lot about how impressive these E36 chassis are. But man that 1:04 is going to haunt me 😂😂 I think this set of RE71-RS I have on the car is just at the end of its life, about 6 trackdays and plenty mountain road driving = too many heat cycles for them to be happy this weekend.
Anyways, time to start getting the car ready for Speed Classic! There are a few changes I want to make, and some maintenance to be done on the car for the event so that will keep me busy.
Hope to see some of you at Speed Classic! I'll be racing on Saturday the 25th of October, and for those that can't make it but still want to watch, I think there will be a live stream.
Until then!
So last month entires opened for Speed Classic Cape Town in October, essentially a Cape Town version of Simola Hillclimb in Knysna at the foot of Table Mountain on a road I think all of us Capetonians have enjoyed from time to time. The first time since 1962 that Cape Town will host an inner-city Hillclimb event. So I thought screw it, let me apply to race and see what happens. Would be an epic event to participate in if I get accepted, and should be a jol.
Low and behold, my acceptance email came through and I had been accepted to race! Just after I got confirmation, I decided to enter Killarney Time Attack this past weekend as well. I was chatting to a few people about Speed Classic, as well as Time Attack, and had quite a lot of interest in terms of partners jumping on board for both events. I started getting super excited with all the support, so with a week to go until Time Attack, I decided to do a little mini livery on the E36 showcasing all of the partnering brands for both events, and began prepping the car.
Livery starting to go on at The Garage:
Livery complete, photos taken just below the road we'll be racing on next month:
Day 1 of Time Attack - Practice and Qualifying. I entered into the road car class, which required full interior. There was a separate race car class for the stripped out/caged guys. The TA layout at Killarney is an odd one - reverse track layout, starting roughly halfway down the back straight. Standing start, around T4 to T1 and finishing at the normal Start/Finish line. A layout I had never done before, and also my first competitive MSA event. Day 1 was a bit crazy, trying to come to grips with Killarney in a reverse layout. No references for braking points or turning points at all, and the lines are SO different compared to the normal layout.
I really struggled trying to find the right lines and braking points, my first practice run being timed at a 1:08.006. My second run came in at a 1:07.474, the third came down to a 1:06.358 and the fourth was a 1:06.571. So I was improving, but there was more time in me and the car.
Qualifying run 1 returned me a 1:05.948, so I was getting the hang of it. But my Q2 run went back down to a 1:06.310. That was the end of day 1, and I was feeling somewhat content yet slightly disappointed. My times were in and amongst the N/A E36 and E46 racecar times that all had 40+kw more than my car, which I was happy about, but the goal was the be in the 1:04's by the end of the weekend, which was around mid-field for the N/A BMW racecars.
Day 2 arrived and it felt like a blur. A super busy day with loads of practice and quali sessions. Started the day doing 1:06's in practice, then down to the 1:05's. For the rest of the day the car did consistent 1:05's and those 1:04's were just teasing me. Towards the end of the day I could start to feel the tyres not loving life anymore, and I couldn't go faster than a 1:05.3.
I managed to qualify P3 for class finals, and by the end of the day I secured P3 in the 6cyl N/A road car class. P1 going to a brand new 992 GT3 RS, P2 going to a good mate of mine in his 350z with fresh RE71-RS tyres. I think the gap between us by the end of the day was 0.4sec, so a very close battle all day!
Overall, I'm very happy with how the car performed. Zero issues over both days, times being amongst racecars and faster than cars like modified RS3's, M240i's and even a 991.2 Carrera. All in a 140kw, heavy little E36 - it really says a lot about how impressive these E36 chassis are. But man that 1:04 is going to haunt me 😂😂 I think this set of RE71-RS I have on the car is just at the end of its life, about 6 trackdays and plenty mountain road driving = too many heat cycles for them to be happy this weekend.
Anyways, time to start getting the car ready for Speed Classic! There are a few changes I want to make, and some maintenance to be done on the car for the event so that will keep me busy.
Hope to see some of you at Speed Classic! I'll be racing on Saturday the 25th of October, and for those that can't make it but still want to watch, I think there will be a live stream.
Until then!
M3boi
Well-known member
Finally got around to giving the E36 a little more volume this past weekend. Since getting the car the one thing I haven't really touched is the exhaust, besides removing the cats, so I've been running the stock exhaust the entire time.
A few BMW mechs pointed out the fact that the factory rear muffler is a massive restriction especially when you're constantly on it, and I could tell by the exhaust tips turning a very rich gold colour, that rear muffler was getting stupidly hot. I did want a bit more sound from it, as it kinda sounds like a Tesla on track and you struggle to know where you are in the revs on track with a helmet on, without looking down at the rev counter.
So off to Powerflow Salt River we go. Spoke to Andrea the weekend before and we decided on what I wanted to do - a bit more volume without going crazy as my ears are already rekt from the titanium system on my 350z, and having the potential to update the system with a full system next year, while still being able to make use of what we're putting in now, and without changing the look.
Tested 4 different rear mufflers to see volume and tone wise what would work best, and ended up deciding between these two:
These were the largest 76mm mufflers they had that we could physically fit under the car.
Round:
Oval:
Sound and tone wise they were very very similar, with the round muffler being slightly quieter. But I really didn't like the look of the round muffler, a little too ricer for me. And the clearance was much better with the oval muffler, so after a bit of back and fourth, we chose the oval muffler.
Off with the rear section while keeping the factoory resonators in place, insert y-pipe into a single 76mm section:
Reused the tips they did for me previously, standard M3 style tips to keep the look.
Very happy with how it sounds now, you can actually hear the damn thing. I'll have to take a proper video sometime. The single rear section gives it a very nice tone.
The plan is to do an equal length mid-pipe to ditch the factory section next year, that brings the y-pipe a bit further forward vs where it is now, and extend the single 76mm section and add another muffler of the same size to the middle 76mm section to keep it pretty tame. It is still a street car after all.
I've got some Speed Classic prep to do this week and next, will update as I go along. I'll also try get a proper clip of the sound.
Happy Monday!
A few BMW mechs pointed out the fact that the factory rear muffler is a massive restriction especially when you're constantly on it, and I could tell by the exhaust tips turning a very rich gold colour, that rear muffler was getting stupidly hot. I did want a bit more sound from it, as it kinda sounds like a Tesla on track and you struggle to know where you are in the revs on track with a helmet on, without looking down at the rev counter.
So off to Powerflow Salt River we go. Spoke to Andrea the weekend before and we decided on what I wanted to do - a bit more volume without going crazy as my ears are already rekt from the titanium system on my 350z, and having the potential to update the system with a full system next year, while still being able to make use of what we're putting in now, and without changing the look.
Tested 4 different rear mufflers to see volume and tone wise what would work best, and ended up deciding between these two:
These were the largest 76mm mufflers they had that we could physically fit under the car.
Round:
Oval:
Sound and tone wise they were very very similar, with the round muffler being slightly quieter. But I really didn't like the look of the round muffler, a little too ricer for me. And the clearance was much better with the oval muffler, so after a bit of back and fourth, we chose the oval muffler.
Off with the rear section while keeping the factoory resonators in place, insert y-pipe into a single 76mm section:
Reused the tips they did for me previously, standard M3 style tips to keep the look.
Very happy with how it sounds now, you can actually hear the damn thing. I'll have to take a proper video sometime. The single rear section gives it a very nice tone.
The plan is to do an equal length mid-pipe to ditch the factory section next year, that brings the y-pipe a bit further forward vs where it is now, and extend the single 76mm section and add another muffler of the same size to the middle 76mm section to keep it pretty tame. It is still a street car after all.
I've got some Speed Classic prep to do this week and next, will update as I go along. I'll also try get a proper clip of the sound.
Happy Monday!
M3boi
Well-known member
Shit, where to start 😂 I am absolutely exhausted, hence me being pretty inactive on the forum. Between everyday life stuff and getting ready for Speed Classic, its been a lot! Can safely say I am kinda done with cars for the year, I've had more than enough fun!
First things first, change every fluid in the car including engine, diff, gearbox and brakes:
Next up was a quick video shoot before the event with some very talented guys:
Link to the video:
Final bit of prep:
A few quick "sighting laps" with a mate:
And off to the races we go!
My goals for the weekend were to A: complete the event with no mechanical failures and B: make it home alive with the car completely intact. Being the inaugural event, there were no times to reference or beat, so I had no intention of trying to be extremely fast out there. At this point, my Bridgestone RE71RS's are already extremely heat cycled from all the trackdays and mountain pass driving. So the whole point of the weekend was just to have fun!
Everything set up in the pit box, with OEM+ Automotive Solutions being mechanic for the day, making sure the car was running perfectly all day, checking tyre pressures, etc.
Some of the competition in our 6cyl N/A road car class:
A 230kw E36 M3 with a phenomenal driver at the wheel. Ironically the manual gearbox in my car comes out of his car which I bought when he fitted his 6 speed!
The legendary VD Linde 325iS racecar which has since been converted into a road car, driven by the legendary Achmat Achmat of A-Team Racing, which did my manual swap:
Lovely 996 Cup Car in the racecar class:
The day started off with 3 practice runs. In Practice 1, I had QUITE a moment in turn 2 with the grip levels not being what I expected and the car getting very sideways. Managed to run a sub-50sec pass, which was enough to secure P2 overall which absolutely blew my mind. Never did I think I would be ahead of Franco Scribante in any form of competitive racing, I'll keep this screenshot forever 🤣🤣
But it was still early days and everyone was getting to grips with the road. Everyone got faster and faster through the practice runs and by the end of practice I was sitting in P8 overall, 2nd in class.
Myself and the yellow E36 M3 were then notified by MSA officials that another competitor (a very experienced, well-known competitor) had complained about the tyres we were running, saying that they did not comply with the regulations. This is significant because a lengthy discussion was had in the driver's group about the RE71RS and whether or not it was a true street tyre or not. Race control confirmed in the week that the tyre was considered a true street tyre due to DOT markings and was readily available from tyre shops serving the public, and not a competition tyre. They approved the tyre for the event, even though a certain driver in that group was rather disgruntled.
MSA was in and out of our pit boxes for around 30mins checking our tyres, and once again said that the tyres were within regulations and we were free to continue racing, and if the competitor that made the complaint was still unhappy about this, they would have to submit a formal protest at their cost. No formal protest was made 🙃 go figure.
Into qualifying and there was a 0.5sec gap between myself and the M3 with him being ahead. With each qualifying run we both got quicker, and I just wasn't able to catch him on that fast of a road. At the end of qualifying, it was the M3 1.0sec ahead in P1, myself in P2 with a 48.032, and a 996 GT3 in P3 with a 49.2. We made it to class finals and Top 10 shootout qualifying!
In my class finals run, I miss-shifted 3rd gear AND the gearknob came off (some say I was being too aggressive on the knob) and only managed to achieve a 49.2sec run, which meant P12 overall for me and sadly no Top 10 shootout. However the GT3 driver didn't have a great run either and I managed to secure P2 in the 6cyl N/A class!
This was more than I could've ever hoped for to be completely honest. I didn't think a podium was possible considering the cars in our class, but the little 328i ran flawlessly the entire day and felt incredible on that stretch of road. I couldn't be any happier with how it performed. I really didn't think it would be faster than 996 Cup Cars, E30 M3 racecars and Ferrari 348 Challenge cars. It honestly blew my mind 😂
Was a 47sec run possible? Asbolutely. But everything happens for a reason and I wouldn't change anything about the weekend as a whole. The event felt like a world-class motorsport event, everything was very well set up and there were very minimal issues or hiccups throughout the day considering it was the first of its kind. I don't think the event was marketed as well as it could've been, and a lot of people that didn't attend on Saturday said they wish they had because they didn't realise how cool it was actually going to be. Still, the 14 000 attendance number was pretty impressive for a first event. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
First things first, change every fluid in the car including engine, diff, gearbox and brakes:
Next up was a quick video shoot before the event with some very talented guys:
Link to the video:
Final bit of prep:
A few quick "sighting laps" with a mate:
And off to the races we go!
My goals for the weekend were to A: complete the event with no mechanical failures and B: make it home alive with the car completely intact. Being the inaugural event, there were no times to reference or beat, so I had no intention of trying to be extremely fast out there. At this point, my Bridgestone RE71RS's are already extremely heat cycled from all the trackdays and mountain pass driving. So the whole point of the weekend was just to have fun!
Everything set up in the pit box, with OEM+ Automotive Solutions being mechanic for the day, making sure the car was running perfectly all day, checking tyre pressures, etc.
Some of the competition in our 6cyl N/A road car class:
A 230kw E36 M3 with a phenomenal driver at the wheel. Ironically the manual gearbox in my car comes out of his car which I bought when he fitted his 6 speed!
The legendary VD Linde 325iS racecar which has since been converted into a road car, driven by the legendary Achmat Achmat of A-Team Racing, which did my manual swap:
Lovely 996 Cup Car in the racecar class:
The day started off with 3 practice runs. In Practice 1, I had QUITE a moment in turn 2 with the grip levels not being what I expected and the car getting very sideways. Managed to run a sub-50sec pass, which was enough to secure P2 overall which absolutely blew my mind. Never did I think I would be ahead of Franco Scribante in any form of competitive racing, I'll keep this screenshot forever 🤣🤣
But it was still early days and everyone was getting to grips with the road. Everyone got faster and faster through the practice runs and by the end of practice I was sitting in P8 overall, 2nd in class.
Myself and the yellow E36 M3 were then notified by MSA officials that another competitor (a very experienced, well-known competitor) had complained about the tyres we were running, saying that they did not comply with the regulations. This is significant because a lengthy discussion was had in the driver's group about the RE71RS and whether or not it was a true street tyre or not. Race control confirmed in the week that the tyre was considered a true street tyre due to DOT markings and was readily available from tyre shops serving the public, and not a competition tyre. They approved the tyre for the event, even though a certain driver in that group was rather disgruntled.
MSA was in and out of our pit boxes for around 30mins checking our tyres, and once again said that the tyres were within regulations and we were free to continue racing, and if the competitor that made the complaint was still unhappy about this, they would have to submit a formal protest at their cost. No formal protest was made 🙃 go figure.
Into qualifying and there was a 0.5sec gap between myself and the M3 with him being ahead. With each qualifying run we both got quicker, and I just wasn't able to catch him on that fast of a road. At the end of qualifying, it was the M3 1.0sec ahead in P1, myself in P2 with a 48.032, and a 996 GT3 in P3 with a 49.2. We made it to class finals and Top 10 shootout qualifying!
In my class finals run, I miss-shifted 3rd gear AND the gearknob came off (some say I was being too aggressive on the knob) and only managed to achieve a 49.2sec run, which meant P12 overall for me and sadly no Top 10 shootout. However the GT3 driver didn't have a great run either and I managed to secure P2 in the 6cyl N/A class!
This was more than I could've ever hoped for to be completely honest. I didn't think a podium was possible considering the cars in our class, but the little 328i ran flawlessly the entire day and felt incredible on that stretch of road. I couldn't be any happier with how it performed. I really didn't think it would be faster than 996 Cup Cars, E30 M3 racecars and Ferrari 348 Challenge cars. It honestly blew my mind 😂
Was a 47sec run possible? Asbolutely. But everything happens for a reason and I wouldn't change anything about the weekend as a whole. The event felt like a world-class motorsport event, everything was very well set up and there were very minimal issues or hiccups throughout the day considering it was the first of its kind. I don't think the event was marketed as well as it could've been, and a lot of people that didn't attend on Saturday said they wish they had because they didn't realise how cool it was actually going to be. Still, the 14 000 attendance number was pretty impressive for a first event. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
TBP88
Well-known member
Man remains, and will always remain, an aggressive knob grabber.
Jokes aside, epic speed considering the power difference you're sitting with to half the field. ZERO driver mod needed. That moment was a *PROPER* moment, at speed with 0 runoff and basically just rocks the other side of the slide - real brown pants stuff. Great control to keep it.
M3boi
Well-known member
Classic Saturday was R11 500, KOM Sunday is R15 000.
///M Individual
Well-known member
You’re an absolute legend! The transformation of this car is unreal - from what you started with to what you have created and the incredible driving first time out at an event like this. Massive respect. Well done!
M3boi
Well-known member
Thank you! Yeah basically just a little burnout box, but no way to warm the front tyres which is where you actually need the heat! Only felt the tyres start warming up halfway through the run, so pretty damn sketchy 😅
Spanky
Well-known member
And the brakes? Some pads take a while to switch on too!
I suppose the MO is the same at other hill climb events, such as Simola?
