My DE instructor took me out in his
 

2004 E46 BMW M3 to show me how he drives the course. I nearly got sick after 5 laps and had him pull back into the pits. They are amazing cars......and super amazing in the right hands! By the way, he said they lose a lot of instructors because they can't handle the passenger seat.

I WANT ONE NOW! Does anyone here have one? If you do, please pm me or post what I need to look for in a used E46 M3.

Thanks.

If you think that's impressive, try a drive in a 997 GT3!

I rode in my instructor's GT3 before taking the track myself and it screwed me up for the rest of the day. I was disoriented and couldn't find my lines right for 4 hours after riding in that car! It was strange because it was like a switch turned on and in the final session I was actually following the lines and hitting the braking points right.

Haha..................It's amazing that it happened at all! It took me about 3-4 hours to shake it off too. My lap times gradually got back to the lap times I attained at my first track day at BIR.

Note to self: Do NOT RIDE in another person's car if you intend on driving on the track the rest of the day. It may not happen to you but why take the chance.

It's the driver, not the car. Pretty sure on a tight track, with identical drivers a Boxster base keep up with a M3...

As Ekam suggested, at this level its definitely the driver and not the car. Get as much track seat time as you can and you'll be amazed at how good you will get.

The scary part to me is that on that day, my instructor got a ride in a GT-R and HE was amazed. I can't imagine how screwed up I'd have been from a ride in a GT-R.

Tires man, tires. Almost any high performance car transforms into a different animal with track tires.

Its definitely the driver, not the car. Not to brag but the first time on the track, I was getting pointed by by Vettes and Mustangs with probably twice my horsepower. And, I also had to point by a BMW SUV! The driver was good.

You're both right. The M3 was in my instructor's hands and the 113+ additional hp over my 2003 base made it feel amazingly fast!

I do agree that it's the seat time, as I was able to out drive newbies in a 2004 LS1 GTO (350hp), a 2005 LS2 GTO (400hp), and a Boxster S.

I'm currently trying to find free software to overlay the gps data to the videos before posting them. I'm hoping to post them this weekend.

Have a great day everyone.

By the way, I'm having second thoughts about the Hankook Ventus tires. I'm now realizing that the sidewalls feel fairly soft. The front tires also became out of round to the point where road force balancing is not helping the light vibration in the front end/steering wheel.

I owned a 2006 M3 before my boxster. Very Fast indeed! I pushed mine to 160k mph. I loved the car! One buying, you should get the 6 speed umanual and get the competition package (they come with stock 19 in wheels and I believe tighter suspension). They are an amazing machine, but I felt like they felt too luxury - I drove fast in it all the time because I couldnt really feel the speed. The 2-seater boxster is more fun. I can only imagine how fun it would be if it had the same 333hp the M3 has. Good luck with your search.

Thanks for the advice. I'm in no hurry. I'll keep an eye out for the right deal and we'll see what happens.

The one I rode in had the 19" wheels, aftermarket adjustable shocks, intake, exhaust and a Dinan (sp) ECU map, and five point harness. It was fun.....after the fact.

Btw, I just went ahead and bought RaceRender 2 and did a short video of the two GTOs I mentioned in an earlier post. Here is a link. I lost my password to my old Youtube account so I had to create a new one...hence only one video so far. I'll also post this link in the right forum (racing).

8 6 12 session 5 Part I - YouTube