We have one instructor available for private lessons by the hour, contact us for more information. A professional photographer will also be on hand to take picture of you tackling the track...
Please note: You are responsible for your self and your car. That includes inspecting your car and making sure it is track worthy. We expect you to have fun, stay within your (and your car's) limit, and to have respect for those around you. We're all adults and shenanigans will not be tolerated.
As mentioned, it will be open track from 9 to 5 with a lunch break around 12 noon. No classes, no run groups, open to all, all day. We'll have flaggers at all the important corners to give everyone a heads up.
What you need to do right away
Please let us know if you have the time, and if you're interested, as soon as you can. If you're in, sign up at motorsportreg.com
Or send a check for $225 to:
VRPerformance
43706 Utica Road
Sterling Hts., MI
48314 USA
Questions? Call Horst or Eric at 586.991.2455 or email horst@vrperformance.com, eric@vrperformance.com
We'll keep all those interested up-to-date as we get closer to the cut-off.
Date: Saturday March 27th
Start: doors open at 11:00, qualifying starts at 11:30, race starts 12 noon sharp
Price: $150 per team, payable at the door
RSVP: we need you to RSVP your team with us by March 20th, send us an email with your team name and drivers at horst@vrperformance.com
Keeping in mind my "GT" requirements I did not want to ruin the already pretty stiff M3 ride and handling characteristics. But, I track the car every now and again so I did not want soft either. To deal with these conflicting goals I decided to go a bit stiffer on the spring settings, 500 lbs front, 600 lbs rear, but keep the stock sway bars.
Stiff sway bars work great on smooth pavement but really kill the ride on rough roads. Sway bars, or "anti roll bars" as they are sometimes called, link the car's side to side suspension components. In other words, when the outside suspension is compressed in a corner, the sway bar tries to compress the inside suspension as well, thereby effectively stopping the body from rolling. The downside is whatever happens to one side-- hitting a bump or pot hole-- is also transferred to the other side. This tends to hurt the ride. By going with some stiffer springs, I was able to sharpen the handling while still keep each wheel independent-- the better to deal with our terrible public roads.
Another big improvement the TC Kline set-up provides over the OEM suspension is the adjustable dampers. The dampers (struts in front, shock absorbers out back) have about 12 settings for compression and rebound. I'm running the car right about in the middle of the settings and have found the ride to be better than stock. Yes the car is a bit stiffer, but the reactions to the road surface are not as harsh. In other words, exactly what I want for my GT theme.
During our track event back in July I took the newly suspended M3 out for a few hot laps. What a world of difference the TC Kline suspension made. The car settled into the corners much better with excellent initial turn in and controllable oversteer on the exit.
Weight
When I ordered the M3 from BMW I kept in mind its potential track duties, so I tried to go as light-- literally-- on the order form as possible. That meant no heavy sun roof or power seats or other fancy heavy stuff. Optional weight was the enemy. Same went for the new wheels. The two criteria for the aftermarket wheels I purchased last year was lightweight and strength-- which meant multi-piece forged wheels. I went with the best in the business, Fikse. I also swapped out the rear trunk lid with a carbon fiber CSL style version from Vorsteiner. (Both items sold by VRPerformance, by the way). The end result is a car that comes in at only 3258 lbs, unladen (without fuel). That is over 100 lbs lighter than the smaller BMW 135i, and almost 200 lbs lighter than current EVOs and STis. Not bad.
The F1 was so good and so fast that, as Gordon Murray explains in the first video, the owners demanded a race version. The four part video series after the jump chronicles the F1’s amazing debut at the 24 hours of Le Mans.
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
I wanted to get the the M3 into top condition before it was to be displayed at this year's EyesOn Design Automotive Exhibition. Despite thinking the car was in good shape to begin with, I could not believe the transformation that took place. I am convinced the M3's paint looks better now than when it left the factory. Inside and out, the guys at AutoLavish did a stellar job.
Here you see the car at VRPerformance. First thing they did was take off or tape up all the trim.
Armed with all sorts of tools, machines and chemicals, they go to work.
Talk about details, even the fuel filler cap and door is clean.
And the inside of the exhaust tips.
And the wheels, inside and out.
Take a look at how "wet" the paint finish looks... even inside the door opening.
For more info, check out AutoLavish on facebook or give them a call at 248.894.8071
More details after the jump
]]> If you're a seasoned track driver, you're welcome to come out and have some unadulterated fun at Grattan Raceway with your friends from VRPerformance.As of this moment we do not plan on having any instructors on hand, since we are inviting experienced track rats that know how to handle themselves around a race track.
You are responsible for your self and your car. That includes inspecting your car and making sure it is track worthy. We expect you to have fun, stay within your (and your car's) limit, and to have respect for those around you. We're all adults and shenanigans will not be tolerated.
As mentioned, it will be open track from 9 to 5 with a lunch break around 12 noon. No classes, no run groups, open to all, all day. We'll have flaggers at all the important corners to give everyone a heads up.
What you need to do right away
Please let us know if you have the time, and if you're interested, as soon as you can. If you're in, sign up at motorsportreg.com here: VRPerformance Grattan Day and pay via credit card.
Or send a check for $225 to:
VRPerformance
43677 Utica Road
Sterling Hts., MI
48314 USA
Questions? Call Horst or Eric at 586.991.2455 or email contactvrp@vrperformance.com
We'll keep all those interested up-to-date as we get closer to the cut-off.
We first disconnected the sways and started on the coils for the struts. The customer decided to save some money and just swap out the stock springs with some slightly lower and stiffer aftermarket versions from Cobb instead of going the full coil-over route. The result is improved center of gravity (lower) and sportier cornering (stiffer). The overall visual effect is awesome, just enough lowering to improve the overall stance of the car without that ricer slammed looked. Aiding in the improved handling are much stiffer sway bars, also from Cobb. The rear ones, shown below, are a trick three piece set-up similar to what is used on race cars.
Here's a shot of the rear sway bar (note end link) and new coil installed on rear strut:
Next we moved to the engine and transmission mounts. The customer went with stiffer JDM mounts. The stiffer mounts transmit a bit more noise, vibration and harshness but the theory goes that less flex in the drivetrain makes for more precise shifting and better power delivery. The trans mount was no problem but the engine mounts required more effort. Since they reside between the engine and sub-frame, the engine mounts are tough to get to. Our solution was to hold up the engine with a standing jack, disconnect and carefully lower the sub-frame or axle carrier until the mounts were accessible.
Finally we tackled the exhaust. We had to remove the intercooler to replace the "dog bone" (engine torque limiting mount).
While the intercooler was out, we had better access to the downpipe. Despite only about 1000 miles on the car, the nuts that attach the downpipe to the turbo bolts were very hard to break loose. The Cobb pipe did fit perfectly, as did the new heat shield.
From the top:
From the bottom:
We installed a Perrin exhaust system from the downpipe back. All components fit with only a minimal amount of tweaking. And the resulting sound is great!
Starting at the front:
Ending out back:
While we aligned the STi we took the time to do a quick weigh in-- so we could compare it to the EVO X we had in the shop earlier. Here are the results:
3400 lbs with a full tank of gas (about 3340 with a half tank) is not terrible, and about 100 lbs lighter than the EVO X.
We have to admit that when the latest evolution of the STi came out we were not excited. Our first impression was that Subaru went soft on us, from the frumpy hatchback to the heavier chassis and slower handling. But after spending a week with this one, we're won over. The upgrades we did really transformed the car into something we can get excited about again. And the visual tweaks the customer already made like the red tail lamp lenses and black mesh grill really help the looks.
The customer already installed new springs and rear sway bar, leaving "just" the front sway bar for us. The front sway bar is a bit of a trick, and installation is not recomended for the shade tree home mechanic. Just check out our last EVO sway bar installation here.
The installation of this bar was not quite as bad since there is more space between the firewall and engine. Nonetheless, it required disconnecting the front sub frame and slowly lowering the engine to make room.
Here you can see the OEM bar, disconnected and ready to be wrangled out:
A comparison of the OEM bar (black one) and the one from Cobb. (Note the Cobb bar is hollow.)
While not too terribly complicated, the job does take the better part of a day with the proper equipment. Without a lift it's pretty near impossible.
While we had the EVO X at the shop, we did a quick weight check and here are the results:
3541 lbs with a half tank of gas, not exactly lightweight. But the cross car balance is very good at 49.4%.
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A common problem with the red Brembo calipers in Mitsubishi EVOs (and other cars) is that they don't stay red for very long-- especially if they see some hard track use. The heat generated during hard braking at the track quickly turns the bright red into a brownish red and the "brembo" logo yellows.
The only fix is to repaint or powder coat the calipers another, less sensitive color. In this case, the customer wanted to go with a simple black repaint (powder coating, while more durable, is much more expensive and potentially damaging to the caliper if you split the calipers). At the same time, we decided to replace all the dust boots and seals which were also damaged and worn out.
Here you can see the dust boots and seals extracted from the caliper. To get the pistons to come out of their cylinders, we force air through line holes. This should be done carefully as to avoid damaging the pistons should they "pop" out too quickly.
Here's a closer look at a heat damaged dust boot which has dried out and the piston from which it came:
A closer look at the piston, note the grit and particles in the fluid and the marks on the piston:
We polished the piston and replaced the dust boot and inner seal (each piston has a dust boot which can be seen on the assembled caliper, and is designed to keep grit from migrating into the cylinder, and an o-ring style piston ring or seal which is located in a groove in the cylinder and "seals" the piston to the cylinder).
Here's our brake rebuild assembly line, note the cleanliness of the work area. You must keep all brake parts as clean as possible before reassembly!
A picture of a disassembled front caliper before paint:
We did not paint the calipers ourselves; instead we sent them off to the experts. Autometric, a local auto body shop painted the caliper for us, and they really did a nice job.
Front
Rear
Since Brembo sold the rights to the caliper parts to Mitsubishi, they do not sell specific rebuild kits. Here is what we used:
Front Calipers
Large piston Small piston
Dust boot Brembo p/n: 20 4872 51 Dust boot Brembo p/n: 20 4872 46
Seal: 46mm ID, 51mm OD, 3mm thick Seal: 40mm ID, 45mm OD, 3mm thick
Rear Calipers
Dust boot Brembo p/m: 20 4872 46
Seal: 40mm ID, 45mm OD, 3mm thick
These p/n and sizes worked for this EVO 8, double check your own calipers.
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Why downforce? Friction. Any time a car changes velocity (when braking, accelerating or turning) the maximum force exerted by the car’s tires on the road cannot exceed the frictional force exerted by the road on the tires or else the tire (and car with it) starts to slip. We need to try to increase the force of the car on the road so that the driver can maximize the speed at which changes in velocity can occur. The most basic reaction force the car exerts on the road is its weight. Since the coefficient of friction is constant for the tire and the road one way to increase force is to increase the mass of the car. This is not a great option since increasing the weight also increases the inertia of the car when in motion, which causes a whole other set of problems. The solution is to increase aerodynamic downforce which allows the car to increase its normal reaction force without the adverse effects of increasing its mass.
Downforce is a vertical force directed “downward” and is produced by airflow around an object such as front and rear wings, splitters and venturi tunnels. I’ll save you the mathematics behind this phenomenon; suffice to say for the race car we’re going to use a “splitter” at the front and a “wing” at the back. In order to balance the aero package, we recommend looking at both the front and rear of the car at the same time. Too much downforce at one end of the car can potentially create over or under steer.
For the front we purchased a ready made splitter by MaxVelocity, their E36 M3 Evo II model. This drops the front of the car by approximately 3.5 inches and extends it 3 inches as compared to the stock piece.
The kit includes only the splitter and some rudimentary mounting equipment. To install it to our standards, we had to do quite a bit of fabricating.
First we removed the front fascia:
The splitter is attached to the front edge of the stock fascia using 11 nuts, bolts and oversized washers. The stock holes in the fascia were reused. We added two extra bolts near the back of the fascia, behind the OEM brake duct opening for added security. In this photo you also see the new brake duct funnels where the fog lamps used to be.
From this picture you can see that the Evo II is more than just a splitter, extending underneath the car back to the front sway bar and thereby replacing the stock belly pan.
In order to properly fix the rear of the splitter/belly pan to the car we had to fabricate some mounts, or "uprights".
A closer look at the uprights installed.
Next we had to fabricate a new diverter tray for the radiator. The stock belly pan directs air from the lower opening in the fascia up towards the radiator; the Evo II splitter had no provision for this. It is very important that the radiator continues to get fresh air. Also, allowing the air to simply pass through the opening and under the car would have created lift-- exactly the opposite of what we're trying to do with the splitter. Fabricating a custom diverter tray was no small task.
First a great many measurements were taken and a cardboard template was made.
After we were certain of the design, we fabricated the tray out of strong yet lightweight aluminum stock.
Test fit on the car.
The final piece, painted and ready to be installed.
With the new diverter tray in place, the front fascia with splitter was re-installed for the final time.
The rear wing install was much easier. We purchased a NASA approved ready made wing from APR Racing.
The key for this install was finding the center of the car and drilling the holes in the deck lid at the right place.
The front splitter is fixed-- in other words the amount of downforce we'll get from it cannot be changed. The rear wing is adjustable, and we'll use it to balance the car at the track. Hopefully these two aerodynamic aides will improve the cornering speeds as predicted by theory. Below is a chart showing the progress of aerodynamic aides, by decade, versus cornering speed in terms of grip (g force).
Past posts here:
M3 Race Car Part 1
M3 Race Car Part 2
We choose Braille's 17 lbs battery (a 43 lbs weight savings over the original BMW battery!)
And while it's a relatively simple idea, the execution is not. Since the footprint of the new battery is so much smaller, a new way of mounting is required.
Here you see the empty box where the old battery was, and the first thing we had to do was grind away the rust and repaint area:
Next we constructed a new battery tray with aluminum angle stock. We used the mounting bracket that came with the battery kit and tied it to the car with threaded rod and eye bolts. The finished install is good and solid:
Out with the old:
And in with the new:
Undercoating re-applied to the new sheet metal:
After we got the car back, we essentially had to start over with the reinforcement procedure. First we had to grind away all the undercoating material to prep the areas for weld. Here you can see the front reinforcement plate welded onto the OEM body panel. The hole in the center is where the stud goes. The welded hole to the right is used to further bond the plate to the body. Note the hole on the left with the tan insulating material around it. This material, which is sprayed in between the body panels and structure for sound deadening and weather proofing really gave us fits. When the material heats it turns to liquid and comes pouring out of any hole or crack. Our welder switched from side to side so as to not heat the material up too much, but it was unavoidable. The sticky mess doubled the welding time to about 4 hours.
Below is view of the trunk as it came back from the body shop. There were several holes, and even a few cuts in some of the surrounding sheet metal that was made by the audio equipment installer.
This shows where we needed to cut access holes. Just beneath these areas are the structural components where the rear sub frame mounting bolts are attached.
Here is a detailed look into the access hole and the second cut, and extra welding we had to make in the structural beam under the trunk’s sheet metal skin.
New plate custom formed and welded into place.
Though these failures are relatively rare, they do occur on higher mileage cars that have had a rough life. As you can see by the two entries posted, the process to repair and reinforce the area is straightforward but very involved. This repair can easily cost over $10,000 including the replacement of the OEM sheet metal. The lesson is to inspect this area frequently, and/or add the reinforcement package before the sheet metal fails.
]]>The S54 engine that comes in an E46 M3 is already tuned to achieve the maximum amount of power, so great gains cannot be made without resorting to super or turbo charging. But there are some simple modifications that can help unleash a few extra horses-- especially at the mid to upper end of the RPM chart.
The first thing we look at when we want to extract some more power out of a stock normally aspirated engine is improving the flow of air into and out of the engine. We used an aFe brand stage 1 airbox to open up the engine's intake. The aFe stage 1 kit is a solid piece made of materials befitting the M3 engine compartment. We like the stage 1 kit over the stage 2 because of its better fit and finish and the separate lid that keeps the engine's heat from seeping into the intake (instead of using the hood as the heat shield). aFe quotes a 10 horsepower gain with this unit.
Here is the stock airbox:
This is a picture of the aFe unit installed without the heat shield; note the large cone air filter:
The final installation with the (silver) heat shield:
Now that we have improved the inhaling end of the engine, we need to open up the exhaling portion-- the exhaust in other words. There are many brands of exhaust systems on the market for the E46 M3 including Borla, Corsa, Rogue Engineering, Eisenmann and Supersprint. We are partial to the systems from Supersprint because we know they have the capabilities to do proper engineering and testing. Supersprint tends to be the most expensive, but we have never been disappointed with the results.
Increased air flow and proper back pressure are not the only aspects of an exhaust system one needs to consider; sound is important. Since this customer plans on using this M3 as a daily driver, the sound level needs to be within acceptable range-- not too loud around town and no headache inducing drone on the highway. Supersprint has several versions available, and for this application we chose their "performance" model over the higher flow, but much louder “race" version.
The S54 engine has a unique "raspy" sound to it-- some people love it, others not so much. We have tested all sorts of rasp reducing mid-pipes, but none of them get rid of it completely, and most end up impeding air flow (robbing some potential horsepower).
The Supersprint performance muffler does a great job reducing the rasp and lowering the frequency of the sound emanating from the tailpipes as well as increasing the airflow for better power. Overall, a hard package to beat (check the video at the bottom of the blog).
Here's a picture of the muffler installed. It is smaller and slightly lighter (about 15 lbs) than the OEM unit, though not as light as the race version muffler from Supersprint. Also note the larger diameter tailpipes in polished stainless steel that add a bit of visual flair without going overboard.
In order to use the increased air flow through the engine, and find a few extra horses, we used Powerchip to reprogram the ECU. Powerchip, based in Australia, is one of the biggest and most reputable engine tuners in the market today. We like their programs because they are robust and work across the entire rev range, not just the upper end. The stock S54 engine in the M3 is rated at 333 hp and 262 lb-ft torque. Powerchip is able to increase that to at least 342 hp and 269 lb-ft.
The fourth power adding modification doesn't technically add power, but it frees some up. "Under-driving" some of the auxiliary components strapped to the engine such as the water pump, power steering pump and alternator frees up power to the rear wheels. In other words, power that would have normally been used to drive these pulleys can now go to the rear wheels. We used pulleys made by Turner Motorsport, which quotes a gain of 10 hp at the wheels.
Handling
To better harness the new power, we installed a coil-over suspension kit by TC Kline Racing. TC Kline makes several types of suspension systems for BMW including everything from a mild upgrade to total race ready. For this project we decided on their rebound adjustable kit with 400 lbs springs at all four corners and adjustable camber/caster plates for the front. All of TC Kline's kits have been engineered to work as a system-- the spring rate is matched to the dampers to provide the perfect amount of feedback and control without being overly harsh. The kit we installed provides improved ride and handling characteristics across the performance envelope that can easily be adjusted (ride height and damper rebound) to suit conditions. Typically our customers find that the ride has actually improved over stock configuration.
Here is a picture of the front struts with a close-up of the camber/caster plates:
The suspension is height adjustable. The red ring is the spring perch which can be raised and lowered by screwing it up or down on the threaded body of the damper. We always coat the threads with anti-seize compound so that the perch doesn't stick in the future.
The front strut assemble installed (note we use factory reinforcement plates at the top to avoid strut tower failures):
The system is designed to fit the rear suspension hard on hard without rubber pads. But, since this car will be driven mostly on the street, we custom fit the OEM spring pads. By going through the extra effort of cutting these pads to fit, we are able to substantially reduce the chance for any noises coming from the movement of the rear springs. For a race car set-up we skip this step since we want less variability in suspension movement.
We install the height adjusting spring perch at the top of the spring for easier access:
The rear suspension installed:
We consider the modifications made to this E46 M3 perfect for daily driving. We've added some noticeable power throughout the rev range with particular emphasis on mid range torque and improved throttle response. We coupled the added power to an improved, adjustable suspension system that eliminates some of the inherent understeer and improves overall ride and handling.
Date: Saturday February 21st (the weekend after Valentine's Day)
Start: doors open at 12:00 noon, race starts shortly after (this session is full)
Price: $150 per team, payable at the door
RSVP: we need you to RSVP your team with us by February 14th, send us an email with your team name and drivers at contactvrp@vrperformance.com
A second session has been added! Session two will start at 2 pm and run to about 4, sign up today!
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