E36 Track Cars

At the Miller event I was lucky enough to pit with a group of local E36 M3 drivers. Two of them, Gabriele “Gabe” Giese and Jeff Blonder both have well setup street/track M3s. Gabe’s Hellrot 1999 has a TC Kline double-adjustable suspension kit with 700F/900R springs. The 200 in/lb difference between front and rear is more than typical for an E36 where the difference is typically 100 in/lbs. She also runs 255/40-17 tires, which required more an a little rear fender rolling. She describes it as having no understeer – ever.

I spent a lot of the weekend chasing Gabe’s car. She is 2-3 seconds a lap faster than I am and was nice enough to give me lot’s of data about the track.

Her car also has a very unique roll bar set up. It ties in the shock towers and all four sub-frame mounts but doesn’t come any farther forward than the “B” pillars. This is a concession to street use. A full cage can be dangerous on the street as the steel cage bars are really close to the driver’s head. On track the driver’s helmet provides the needed protection, but on the street it’s steel vs. skull.

Gabe uses a RaceTech seat with head restraint, which looks really nice but is just a little narrow for me. I think they offer a wider model as well.

Jeff Blonder's M3 is a supercharged Avus blue 1997. He has added a Eurosport twin-screw supercharger and intercooler kit that he claims produces almost 500HP.

Jeff is more my size and uses a Sparco Evo L seat which fit me really well. It’s now on my short list along with the Recaro SP-G. Jeff’s car also has a custom rollbar, although his doesn’t pick up the subframe mounts like Gabe’s car. He does have the stubs welded to the mounts but they aren’t tied to the bar yet.

The final car was Todd Green’s wicked Cosmos Black 1995 M3. This is a pure track car. It is totally gutted (including the dash, wiring harness, doors, Etc.) It has a sunroof delete (using the infamous E-Bay carbon panel (which looks just fine, thanks)) and a carbon hood. Todd says the car is about 2500 Lbs.

Todd runs 295/30-18 Hoosiers on CCW wheels and a full JRZ suspension. These tires are HUGE and stick out from the car even with front and rear flares.

Although pretty close to stock HP (Cams, CAI, Etc) Todd’s car was mixing it up with the fastest Corvettes in the Time Trial group.