Albi Blue 200 >> BMW E46 Track Car
- Thread starter tombate911
- Start date
tombate911
Paid Member
Final build update starts on the previous page!
So... The first track day in the E46.
All Loaded up on the Thursday evening we set off down to Anglesey ready to camp over the night before. BBQ's packed, enough food to feed and army from the Tesco and Bangor and we were set for two nights camping at the Circuit.
Unloaded from the trailer ready to drive into the garages the following morning. At this point the weather was holding dry, we set up tents, pulled the awning out from the side of the van, opened a beer and sat around talking for the evening.
Morning broke and it was still dry but overcast. Dry tyres fitted in the garage ready to scrub them in on sighting laps.
Photo of the finished interior, roll cage padding added to the cage, tablet fitted to the centre console of the dash controlling Go Pro and also running Harry's Lap Timer.
Videos
So the morning session started on the International Circuit which is a longer circuit with two straights out of fairly slow corners. It was nice and dry at this point, perfect to get to grips with the car.
Made a few changes to the set up of the car, made the rear a little softer, lowered the rear ride height down by 15mm on the rear and spent as much time out there lapping and getting used to the car in the dry conditions.
The afternoon session was wet, very wet. Weirdly these are the conditions that I wanted in the afternoon to be able to learn to drive the E46. I would have felt short changed if it had been dry all day. After all I bought this car to learn more and challenge myself.
Here's a video of a smooth lap from the afternoon session, one of the faster laps.
In the afternoon the track started to get damper and damper, normally in the past I'd just straight to wet tyres for the most grip but decided to go out in the wet on the RSR's to get a better feel for the car and driving RWD in wet conditions. After doing that for a session I flipped over to the Rainsports and set off again learning the car.
Blooper Reel and fun bits.
Some good bits from all of the sessions of the day. Yes I was trying to provoke the car and play with the limits of grip at times. Pointless staying in control of the car all the time. The only way to learn how to drive RWD is to slide it, spin it and develop the feel for the car.
Overall... From a driving perspective one of the best track days I've had. Made all the hard work and late nights over the past 8 weeks totally worth it. The car feels and sounds amazing on track and in my opinion looks the part too! Everyone's been asking me how it compares to the Clio. The Clio was so fun to drive and so chuckable on track and was great for 2.5 years. However this car is such a thrill, really does make you a little bit nervous. I've never concentrated as much on track as I did on Thursday but it is so rewarding to drive and the feel of the car is totally different.
So... The first track day in the E46.
All Loaded up on the Thursday evening we set off down to Anglesey ready to camp over the night before. BBQ's packed, enough food to feed and army from the Tesco and Bangor and we were set for two nights camping at the Circuit.
Unloaded from the trailer ready to drive into the garages the following morning. At this point the weather was holding dry, we set up tents, pulled the awning out from the side of the van, opened a beer and sat around talking for the evening.
Morning broke and it was still dry but overcast. Dry tyres fitted in the garage ready to scrub them in on sighting laps.
Photo of the finished interior, roll cage padding added to the cage, tablet fitted to the centre console of the dash controlling Go Pro and also running Harry's Lap Timer.
Videos
So the morning session started on the International Circuit which is a longer circuit with two straights out of fairly slow corners. It was nice and dry at this point, perfect to get to grips with the car.
Made a few changes to the set up of the car, made the rear a little softer, lowered the rear ride height down by 15mm on the rear and spent as much time out there lapping and getting used to the car in the dry conditions.
The afternoon session was wet, very wet. Weirdly these are the conditions that I wanted in the afternoon to be able to learn to drive the E46. I would have felt short changed if it had been dry all day. After all I bought this car to learn more and challenge myself.
Here's a video of a smooth lap from the afternoon session, one of the faster laps.
In the afternoon the track started to get damper and damper, normally in the past I'd just straight to wet tyres for the most grip but decided to go out in the wet on the RSR's to get a better feel for the car and driving RWD in wet conditions. After doing that for a session I flipped over to the Rainsports and set off again learning the car.
Blooper Reel and fun bits.
Some good bits from all of the sessions of the day. Yes I was trying to provoke the car and play with the limits of grip at times. Pointless staying in control of the car all the time. The only way to learn how to drive RWD is to slide it, spin it and develop the feel for the car.
Overall... From a driving perspective one of the best track days I've had. Made all the hard work and late nights over the past 8 weeks totally worth it. The car feels and sounds amazing on track and in my opinion looks the part too! Everyone's been asking me how it compares to the Clio. The Clio was so fun to drive and so chuckable on track and was great for 2.5 years. However this car is such a thrill, really does make you a little bit nervous. I've never concentrated as much on track as I did on Thursday but it is so rewarding to drive and the feel of the car is totally different.
Antti O
Gold Member
Yiannis197
Paid Member
Fantastic post Tom. I really like what you did here, the transformation of that car is immense.
It looks and sounds awesome. Turn in and general setup seem great as well. Top marks.
It looks and sounds awesome. Turn in and general setup seem great as well. Top marks.
tombate911
Paid Member
Cheers Yiannis. Still getting the grips with it and haven’t really started messing with the set up of it too much at the moment but there is so much grip and feel in the car it’s awesome to drive. Really lively and full of feedback but really planted at the same time.
Yeah. The sound of the m54 engine combined with the S50b32 manifolds makes an amazing noise. With the stripped out and cages cabin it’s such a great place to sit and drive.
Enjoyed catching up on the new project Tom, thanks for taking the time to document and welcome to the dark side! 
Car looks really nicely prepared, well done!
Car looks really nicely prepared, well done!
tombate911
Paid Member
Will get it onto a dyno with the standard map on at the moment and then remap it with the standard rev limiter for the moment until I put a superdamper pulley on there.
Been very quiet over the last few weeks after editing the videos from the track car. The car has been parked up since and hasn't turned a key. Book Oulton Park in November so will now start to spend some time on it over the new month getting it ready, got a nice list of jobs to do on it.
tombate911
Paid Member
Update - So since the track day I've not really touched the car. I worked so hard on it in the 8 weeks leading up to the track day mostly 12 hour weekends and then another 6 hours on it after work most evenings it was really rewarding to drive it on track but needed a little break away from it.
Some of the guys I chat to outside of the forum will know the problems we've had with the racing this year with the guys I've been helping and supporting racing Road Sports with 750MC
So far this year we've had a lot of bad luck with the likes of a blown engine from fuel starvation, been crashed into under yellow flags at Rockingham, Gearbox shatting it's self at Cadwell and a number of smaller problems along the way meaning the car has only finished one race this season and only completed on average 35 mins on track each race.
With a freshly built gearbox with around £1400 worth of new parts the team raced at Anglesey in the Club Enduro which is a 3 hour race with two driver swaps and fueling each time too.
All the updates and write up's are online from the race but really happy to have completed the 3 hour race and also finish 4th in Class! Mega weekend.
Road sports and Club enduro at Snetterton to follow at the end of the month followed by the 12 hour Mission Motorsport Race of Remembrance at Anglesey in Novemember.
Sunday morning was a wet start to the day but I'd set the time aside to do some jobs on the BMW.
Just before Anglesey I'd bought some spare shafts to replace the ones with a little bit of play in them. Started swapping them over on Sunday, Passengerside fitted perfectly. Sadly the drivers side the wrong shaft was supplied so the old one was refitted. No problems with performance but just a slightly knock from the rear end when setting off.
A job i should have done ages ago when the cage was welded in the car, but at the time I didnt have time so it ended up nudged to the bottom of the to do list and still hasn't been done.
Everywhere where the weld had penetrated the shell I've been wire wheeling, primering and then stone chipping the whole area around it to make sure that no rust can form on those areas and prolong the life of the shell.
With the areas totally covered now that's a job that needed doing before winter taken care of, just a few small areas left to finish off one night this week after work.
Also got around the covering as much of the floor in the drivers and passenger foot well with grip tape. Just to make it easier for driving in wet conditions as well as getting in and out, I did mess around with putting in a false floor but weirdly actually prefer the position of the lower floor mainly due to the accelerator being floor mounted. Found my heel of the right foot sits nicely into the little lower section just below the go pedal giving me a nice position for heel and toe.
Last few little jobs:
Swapped out the RC5+ for Brembo Rears which a slightly lower co-efficient of friction. At Anglesey found under heavy breaking that the rear wheels where locking up more than expected and the ABS was kicking in, I don't run traction control on the E46 just ABS but with the rears locking up so easily I was finding it hard to use the fronts to their potential, normally a slight ajustment to the bias valve would sort this out but while i'm still running dual rear lines to the rear calipers I thought I'd try some experimentation first, if it gives the desired effect I've found some dual line proportioning valves which I'll then fit or even some 5-10% line restrictors just to reduce the power from the rear brakes a little.
Got the next outing planned for Oulton Park on the 14th Novemember.
Finally, I just keep coming back to the videos from Anglesey.
There's 3 videos in my channel. Dry Lap, Wet lap, and then this one...
Me just messing around seeing where the limits of grip where in the car.
Some of the guys I chat to outside of the forum will know the problems we've had with the racing this year with the guys I've been helping and supporting racing Road Sports with 750MC
So far this year we've had a lot of bad luck with the likes of a blown engine from fuel starvation, been crashed into under yellow flags at Rockingham, Gearbox shatting it's self at Cadwell and a number of smaller problems along the way meaning the car has only finished one race this season and only completed on average 35 mins on track each race.
With a freshly built gearbox with around £1400 worth of new parts the team raced at Anglesey in the Club Enduro which is a 3 hour race with two driver swaps and fueling each time too.
All the updates and write up's are online from the race but really happy to have completed the 3 hour race and also finish 4th in Class! Mega weekend.
Road sports and Club enduro at Snetterton to follow at the end of the month followed by the 12 hour Mission Motorsport Race of Remembrance at Anglesey in Novemember.
Sunday morning was a wet start to the day but I'd set the time aside to do some jobs on the BMW.
Just before Anglesey I'd bought some spare shafts to replace the ones with a little bit of play in them. Started swapping them over on Sunday, Passengerside fitted perfectly. Sadly the drivers side the wrong shaft was supplied so the old one was refitted. No problems with performance but just a slightly knock from the rear end when setting off.
A job i should have done ages ago when the cage was welded in the car, but at the time I didnt have time so it ended up nudged to the bottom of the to do list and still hasn't been done.
Everywhere where the weld had penetrated the shell I've been wire wheeling, primering and then stone chipping the whole area around it to make sure that no rust can form on those areas and prolong the life of the shell.
With the areas totally covered now that's a job that needed doing before winter taken care of, just a few small areas left to finish off one night this week after work.
Also got around the covering as much of the floor in the drivers and passenger foot well with grip tape. Just to make it easier for driving in wet conditions as well as getting in and out, I did mess around with putting in a false floor but weirdly actually prefer the position of the lower floor mainly due to the accelerator being floor mounted. Found my heel of the right foot sits nicely into the little lower section just below the go pedal giving me a nice position for heel and toe.
Last few little jobs:
Swapped out the RC5+ for Brembo Rears which a slightly lower co-efficient of friction. At Anglesey found under heavy breaking that the rear wheels where locking up more than expected and the ABS was kicking in, I don't run traction control on the E46 just ABS but with the rears locking up so easily I was finding it hard to use the fronts to their potential, normally a slight ajustment to the bias valve would sort this out but while i'm still running dual rear lines to the rear calipers I thought I'd try some experimentation first, if it gives the desired effect I've found some dual line proportioning valves which I'll then fit or even some 5-10% line restrictors just to reduce the power from the rear brakes a little.
Got the next outing planned for Oulton Park on the 14th Novemember.
Finally, I just keep coming back to the videos from Anglesey.
There's 3 videos in my channel. Dry Lap, Wet lap, and then this one...
Me just messing around seeing where the limits of grip where in the car.
tombate911
Paid Member
Bit of maintenance before the next track day continues.
Put plates on the car and drove it over to EFI Tuning just to run it on the Dyno and log the AFR's to see how the car was running with the new manifold, exhaust and engine work and also to see what power it makes.
Ran on the Dyno 238bhp and 245ftlbs, changed to a slightly different map that had slightly safer fueling, happy with those results, wasn't really chasing power gains just interested in the safety of the map and how it was running.
Interesting to see that the car stops making power around 6200rpm, much higher though than with the standard exhaust manifolds, So no need to start chasing a higher rev limiter as there's no extra power to be made. I have however left the limiter set at 6800 which gives a little more room on some tracks to rev it a little bit higher if needed instead of shifting up for a split second vs bouncing the limiter. Handy with the shorter FD Diff fitted.
Great torque curve addtional 40bhp and 85ftlbs of torque over the clio.
Blue line shows the Clio Power and Torque 201bhp and 160ftlb
And finally a quick video of the power run just for the amazing engine and exhaust sound from the M54 engine.
Put plates on the car and drove it over to EFI Tuning just to run it on the Dyno and log the AFR's to see how the car was running with the new manifold, exhaust and engine work and also to see what power it makes.
Ran on the Dyno 238bhp and 245ftlbs, changed to a slightly different map that had slightly safer fueling, happy with those results, wasn't really chasing power gains just interested in the safety of the map and how it was running.
Interesting to see that the car stops making power around 6200rpm, much higher though than with the standard exhaust manifolds, So no need to start chasing a higher rev limiter as there's no extra power to be made. I have however left the limiter set at 6800 which gives a little more room on some tracks to rev it a little bit higher if needed instead of shifting up for a split second vs bouncing the limiter. Handy with the shorter FD Diff fitted.
Great torque curve addtional 40bhp and 85ftlbs of torque over the clio.
Blue line shows the Clio Power and Torque 201bhp and 160ftlb
And finally a quick video of the power run just for the amazing engine and exhaust sound from the M54 engine.
Attachments
Last edited:
tombate911
Paid Member
Thanks Ben.
That engine and exhaust note was the reason I wanted to move to the E46.
Really adds to the thrill and drama when driving it.
Booked a track day for the 24th November at Oulton Park, nice local track day for me on a Saturday.
Pav
Moderator
tombate911
Paid Member
A Few people have asked me about the full spec of the car now it's built, while I'm away on a holiday I've finally got around to typing one up. Seeing it all written down like that makes you realise how much of the car was actually rebuilt when I was building it. I'd forgotten a lot of the parts that I'd replaced until I've gone back through all the photos. I'm sure there's still plenty missing from the spec list.
Engine
BMW E46 M54 – 240BHP 245FTLB Ran @ EFI
Custom M54 > S50 Exhaust adaptor plates
S50B32 Exhaust manifold
2.5” Custom Stainless Exhaust
Vac Motorsport M54 Oil Pump Kit
ARP Rod Bolts
New Rod bearings
New sump gasket
S54 Oil Filter housing with AN10 oil take off for cooler
AN10 lines with 19 Row Oil Cooler
Thermostat delete
New Cam Chain tensioner
Redline Shock Proof Gear oil in the Gearbox
Titan |Syn MC 10W40 Engine Oil
Poly bush Engine and Gearbox mounts
New Copper and Braided Clutch line
Single Mass Flywheel and Clutch.
3.38 Shorter FD Rear Diff
Suspension/brakes
All running gear front and back powder coated red
Full BMW E46 strong flex 90ShA
Gaz Gold adjustable Dampers 750F/400R Linear springs
Gaz Gold adjustable Front top mounts
BMW Strengthening Plates for the strut tops
Gaz Gold Solid Rear top mounts.
Carbon Loraine RC5+ Brake pads F+R
Custom Brass Bushes/Sliders
ATE TPY200 Brake Fluid
Hel Braided lines front a rear
New copper lines from engine bay to fuel tank
New pair of handbrake cables
Solid Aluminium Steering Bush
2 sets of BMW MV1’s Powdercoated Anthracite
Federal RSR & Uniroyal Rainsports Fronts -225/40/18 Rear- 255/35/18
Front and Rear wheel bearings replaced
Track rods and rod ends replaced
Upper and lower ball joints replaced in the rear arms
Rear subframe plated and painted.
Interior
Safety devices 330 Challenge Cage – 16 Point weld in cage with rear strut brace
Sparco EVO LF
BMW E46 A-Tech Motorsport side mounts
L-TEC 6 Point harnesses
RTD Race 360mm
RTD Dual Shear Selector Rod Linkage
AEM Oil Pressure and Temp Sensors and Gauges
OMP Steering wheel and boss
Geometry
Front Camber – 3 degrees
Front Toe – 0 degrees
Rear Camber – 2. degress
Rear Toe – 0.14” Total toe in
Engine
BMW E46 M54 – 240BHP 245FTLB Ran @ EFI
Custom M54 > S50 Exhaust adaptor plates
S50B32 Exhaust manifold
2.5” Custom Stainless Exhaust
Vac Motorsport M54 Oil Pump Kit
ARP Rod Bolts
New Rod bearings
New sump gasket
S54 Oil Filter housing with AN10 oil take off for cooler
AN10 lines with 19 Row Oil Cooler
Thermostat delete
New Cam Chain tensioner
Redline Shock Proof Gear oil in the Gearbox
Titan |Syn MC 10W40 Engine Oil
Poly bush Engine and Gearbox mounts
New Copper and Braided Clutch line
Single Mass Flywheel and Clutch.
3.38 Shorter FD Rear Diff
Suspension/brakes
All running gear front and back powder coated red
Full BMW E46 strong flex 90ShA
Gaz Gold adjustable Dampers 750F/400R Linear springs
Gaz Gold adjustable Front top mounts
BMW Strengthening Plates for the strut tops
Gaz Gold Solid Rear top mounts.
Carbon Loraine RC5+ Brake pads F+R
Custom Brass Bushes/Sliders
ATE TPY200 Brake Fluid
Hel Braided lines front a rear
New copper lines from engine bay to fuel tank
New pair of handbrake cables
Solid Aluminium Steering Bush
2 sets of BMW MV1’s Powdercoated Anthracite
Federal RSR & Uniroyal Rainsports Fronts -225/40/18 Rear- 255/35/18
Front and Rear wheel bearings replaced
Track rods and rod ends replaced
Upper and lower ball joints replaced in the rear arms
Rear subframe plated and painted.
Interior
Safety devices 330 Challenge Cage – 16 Point weld in cage with rear strut brace
Sparco EVO LF
BMW E46 A-Tech Motorsport side mounts
L-TEC 6 Point harnesses
RTD Race 360mm
RTD Dual Shear Selector Rod Linkage
AEM Oil Pressure and Temp Sensors and Gauges
OMP Steering wheel and boss
Geometry
Front Camber – 3 degrees
Front Toe – 0 degrees
Rear Camber – 2. degress
Rear Toe – 0.14” Total toe in
tombate911
Paid Member
Not a lot at the moment just use it on track days and enjoy it. Need to finish off the oil cooler install before Oulton.
Long term goals will just be to build a plated diff into the spare diff i’ve got in the garage, that’s also a shorter 3.38 final drive too.
tombate911
Paid Member
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