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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!
