I purchased my M3 on August 28th, 2000. It was in mint condition with the exception of a few colorado rock chips on the hood. The car registered 28950 miles and a great deal. The car had no modifications except for after market wood interior that was installed at the time of purchase. I took the car to BimmerWerks(now AutoSport Werks) in Broomfield, CO for inspection and the results were perfect. And I'm not going to mention the price I purchased the car for, because no one would beleive me. So I'll keep that as my personal secret.
First itteration of MODs
The tires alone was the best improvement for several reasons; 1) handling 2) stickyness and 3) no tearing up my street tires.
In the 2002 season, the M3 was bumped down to BS. I ran B-stock for the first 5 events and after cording my G-Forces at the local Divisional at Pike's Peak, I decided to go into SM. Reasons for this was that 1) Wanted to make modifications to my car that season 2) PAX is better in SM than in BSP 3) there were many friends in that class alone. So I switched to SM, which a set of used 245 40 17 hoosiers was aquired from the retired Dan Wagner. Suprisingly enough I ended up taking 2nd place in SM for the season, as well as placing around 55th overall for the region in points. The results can be found here. In late July I made some modifications which really made a difference with the car handling.
Second itteration of MODs
I spent a lot of track time at second creek adjusting the shocks and sway bars. And I have found this to be the best settings. Shocks are set at full-stiff up front and at 75% in the rears. The front sway bar was set at the middle position and the rear sway bar was set at the softest position. The produces enough roll to balance the car out in turns but not too much to cause any over/under steer. I also chose to keep the stock front struts on the car mainly because I purchased the shocks and springs at different times due to money reasons. So far the stock struts are working well and hopefully work well for the life of the car.
The start of my 3rd season was greatly anticipated. Having attended ALL winter series events as well as several BMW club events over the winter, my seat was well warm for an autocross season. This is the first year of the Bimmerhaus Rocky Mtn BMW club autocross series. Which means two summer series and 18 events! I was in the 'A' class for the BMW series. The classification was based on the modifications that you did to the car. It was BMWs only but there were a few non BMWs, and they were thrown into thier own non-bmw class. A really big difference this year in SCCA was the turn-out in the SM class. The average number of people registered in each event was 12. The only bad things was that Jake Latham had purchased a corvette thus moving over to ASP. Ken Lewis a long time SM'r didn't attend any events this season due to "Not having the tires".
The start of the season for me was rough. After the first 4 events, I was strongly holding onto 4th place. The 2-day event a PPIR was my worst event for that I had scored under 900 points on both days. My hoosiers were worn down and needed to be replaced. Over the winter I purchased a cold-air intake off ebay. The device was only $30 and I figured it wouldn't hurt. This device was made by OBX and I highly recommend NOT using this. Several things that made this product bad, was that it heated REALLY quickly thus forcing hot air into the engine. Also it's design was not very aero-dynamic inside the intake which caused pockets of un-circulated air to form. So this intake was replaced with a self-built intake system from the Chuck Brazeu design, which worked out perfect. See my custom intake page for more details. In the middle of the season, a long time autocrosser Bill Lamkin, lent me 2 SSR comp rims. These rims weigh 14.5 lbs each!!. This is a 10 pound difference over the stock rims. And the rims are 8" instead of 7.5", thus making the 245s fit much nicer. I purchased 2 of my own rims along with a new set of Hoosier tires. This was the turn-around of my season. I won the local divisional event, both days, and scored a career high 960 pts on both days. I ended up winning SM for the season.
Third Itteration of MODS
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The next season schedule is up for the local as well as the national tour. I hope to make at least 2 nationals tour events as well as nationals. This way I can get more seat time on a national competition level. I'm hanging the car up for the winter season. Did not attend any winter events in the M3, but will be attending the SCCA National Tour in March. I did however spend some money on the car, a little early than expected, for the National Tour event. Here are the mods:
Fourth Itteration of MODS
Future Modifications