After a long drive from the office, I'm making my way to the bar down Valley Circle Drive. It's sprinkling, enough to hit the wiper. After several lights and lots of traffic, we finally line up. A sweet, black M3 to my left. The light turns green and we roll, a couple MPH. He hits it, I hit it and he's got the edge. My VDC is on for the slippery road and the M3's wheel is at my hood from the get go.

All through 1st, there is no gain, he has the edge from launch. I notice that he is shifting into the next gear before I am. In second, I get some wiggle from the slick road but we're still moving, no gain, no loss.

In third, the same, no gain, no loss. The car that was ahead of us aproaches and he shuts down. So do I. He knew there was a car infront of me and extended that courtesy.

We pass the car that was in front of us and I motion for him to roll down the window. Young kid, and I say "sure would have been nice to have done that dry." He responds with a grin on his face that reminds me of mine, "yeah! would have been." We roll off in different directions and I give him a thumbs up.

Now then, I know the M3 is faster than a stock Z. With the Borla exhaust and waiting for him to launch, and with no pull on either side, I know I'm as quick as a M3.

So, dyno notwithstanding, in the wet, I'm very pleased to say that a stock Z with a Borla exhaust will have no problems keeping up with a M3.

Damn, that was fun!

 

Good run. I find it hard to believe that exhaust gives you that much extra power. I thought the stock system on the 350 were pretty good. Good run though. Mmmmmm M3. So nice.

 

I am a Borla fan as well but I didn't know it was good for an extra 5-100hp

 

Did you guys know that WRX's equipped with Borla's catback exhaust can take out M3's, Z06's and 03 Cobras in the wet as well?

 

5-100 hp? LOL, just how many horses do you think a M3 has exactly?

 

Stock, an M3 is like a second faster than our Z's dude...

 

I hate magazine racing...

2001 BMW M3
Engine type: DOHC 24-valve 6-in-line, iron block and aluminum head, Siemens MSS 54 engine-control system with port fuel injection
Displacement: 198 cu in, 3246cc
Power (SAE net): 333 bhp @ 7900 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 262 lb-ft @ 4900 rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Wheelbase: 107.5 in
Length: 176.8 in
Curb weight: 3523 lb
Performance (new / 40,000):
Zero to 60 mph: 4.5 sec / 4.8 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 11.2 sec / 12.0 sec
Zero to 130 mph 20.1 sec / 21.2 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph 5.2 sec / 5.5 sec
Standing 1/4-mile 13.1 sec / 13.4 sec
@ 107 mph @ 105 mph

Now then I'm telling you I raced a M3. It did not pull on me. However, we were in the wet. So, I have no idea what would happen in dry. Strictly by the magazine numbers, I should have been toast. It didn't happen.

[Edit: Emphasis added to street start stats]

 

I've done several runs against my friend's M3 from a second gear roll and the M3 slowly pulls away from my 350Z Track. Same thing happens when we switch cars. The M3 doesn't smoke the Z, but just slowly opens the gap so that by the end of second he had almost a full car length. With 46 more HP I'm not suprised. I'm gonna kill him after the twin turbos go on. (By the way, I used to pull away from him pretty easily in my 300ZXTT Stage IV).

 

And you're pretty bad at it too, you used stats form an old M3!

If you want to magazine race, then do it correctly! From bmwusa.com:

 

In the recent Best Motoring video they had the M3 vs. G35 & 350Z. It was clear that the M3 is faster on the straights, as at the end the M3 pulled past the 350Z quite a bit on the straights of tskuba. I think it is a bit faster straightline.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Fanman
[B]In the recent Best Motoring video they had the M3 vs. G35 & 350Z.


Isn't that the video where the G 35 wins the race

 

He quoted a street start...which is a little slower

The 2001 m3 is the same engine as the new 2003 m3 or e46 m3. The older ones (e36 m3 1996-1999) had a 3.2 liter inline 6 with around 240hp. The 95's had a 3.0 liter inline 6. Watch out for the 95's though. They had the obd1 and respond to mods much better than the 96-99 m3's. I have some friends that can run 13.8's in thier 95 m3's with some bolt on mods.

 

The Best Motoring videos are a joke.

They put the M3 at a severe handicap from the begining. It looked like the 350 Track was about 25 yards behind the Skyline (Infinity G35 Coupe) and the M3 was about 100 yards behind the 350Z. I forget the reasoning as to why the M3 started at the back of the pack.

I think it had the highest power to weight ratio so they handicapped the start. It really made the race unrealistic as it took 3 laps for the M3 to pass the 350 and the Skyline (G35C). Had they started on an even grid, the M3 would have led the entire way and had a significantly better lap time and finish time.

 

They start the cars based on ***** power to weight ratio. At the start you could see the M3 gain on the Z. Although the M3 slowly caught up to the Z, it could not pass. The Z had higher conering speeds and was able to out break the M3. On a track with even drivers it's a close race. By the way the Skyline GTR smoked everyone.

 

IMO we're talking about 3 different drivers with 3 different sets of skills. Therefore, a good comparison would be each driver driving each car and then compare the times for each driver with all different cars.

 

It is a skyline not a GTR. Skyline and GTR have parted ways. The new GTR will be in the same style as the R34, the R35 is the G35.

 

I could see that the 350Z was cornering with the M3 but on a lot of those turns you could see that the M3 had to brake hard to avoid hitting the 350Z in the corner, and the G35 got away because the 350Z driver held the M3 back for the first laps. If they had started on equal footing or with the M3 it was pretty plain to see the M3 would have killed the G35 and the 350Z. I'm not a huge fan of the Best motoring videos but in this case I thought it was pretty obvious that the M3 was just plain faster. Not hatin' just looked like the 350Z/G35 needed more hp (that's what mods are for). I got the 3 different car/drivers reasoning, but on the straight it seemed pretty easily seen that the M3 with both drivers stomping on the gas had more straight line speed.

 

I did not use the stats from an old M3. And, using stats from BMW isn't magazine racing, you're getting the stats from the manufacturer. Check here:

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....&page_number=1

Moreover, the zero to sixty times posted on page 4 are 4.5 to 4.8 from standing start and 5.2 to 5.5 on a roll. We were on a roll.

Look if you have a hard time believing my post, whatever, I don't lie about my runs. When I lost to a SS, I clearly stated the loss. When a beat a SS, I clearly stated the win. When I tied a 911 Cabriolet, I clearly stated the tie. And, in this case, the M3 did have the jump on the get go as I waited for him to make his move but, he simply did not pull away from me under the conditions were were in.

Now, I have no reason to disbelieve that you ran from the cops at 157 mph. I'd appreciate that you extend the same courtesy of not disbelieving one of my posts. And, if you're going to post in such sarcastic tone, then don't call the kettle black when people start telling you how much of a dumbass manuever it is to run from the cops at 150+ mph while weaving through traffic.

 

good job. some ppl just dont pay attention to detail. street starts are much different fromm launching. a street start on the m3 will hurt its acceleration because it is a high rpm car the power comes a bit later just like the s2k. s2k from low rpm rolls will get owned badly.

 

For the most part, you have me wrong. Let's get one thing straight: I believe your story. I have outrun brand new M3s as well, as well as the newest MCoupe. My friends in college have both and so we race. My disagreement is how you implied that exhaust made all the difference in the world -- if you think it's possible to consistently own new M3s with just exhaust, you're wrong. As with most cars, it's a driver's game.