Kieran Gobey Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 A new question posed to the hivemind. So E30... light, cheap, fast, fun. (and I have a stockpile of parts) E36, almost as light, faster, almost as fun (I have no e36 parts) E46, not as light, much more brakes and HP mostly, but only a smidge faster incrementally to the E36 (I have a few e46 things here and there) Or... SN95 Mustang; bitches!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblue Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 (edited) there is no right answer here, just a bunch of compromises between them all. I would be choosing based on how much development and customization you want to do. E30 is still the builder's choice because you have points to work with. E36 is just good out of the box, E46 is a hair faster but no limited slip. SN95 mustang could be fast, but do you have the fuel to last, do you want to do the millions of mods to get it match an e36 suspension and built in factory race reliability. pick your poison, I've considered all of them I've got like 3 years into developing an E36 and only this year are we at a stable point to hunt for wins with. Edited July 19, 2019 by theblue 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 The e46 will be expensive to build due to higher cost of parts. The e30 can be expensive to build because there can be a good bit of fabrication. I think the e36 hits a sweet spot of parts availability and some wiggle room to build the car a bit. I have driven both an e30 and e36 in champcar. The e36 is easier to drive and more consistent. The e30 is more raw and makes faster laptimes at the expense of being a bit harder to be consistent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendawson3 Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 I wouldn't touch an SN95 w/ a 100' pole, but it may be because I don't know how to make one turn. I also hate autocross just because I'm trash at it. Anyway- starting now, I'd go E46 to learn the series and find a good driver squad. Once you've done that, the rules might have swung your way and you have more points to play with. If not, and you want a different car, you'll have much of a spec e46 build done already. Bolt on spec parts and sell it for 30K, but I bet you'll want to keep racing the E46. If I were starting now, knowing what I do about that car now, it's what I'd choose. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Sampson Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 Having built both (E46/E36) I would suggest the E36 platform. The E36 is as fast as our Spec E46 with a S52 motor. Cheaper to run with 225x15 tires, older ABS but a ton of fun to race. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Advisory Committee Andrew D Johnson Posted July 19, 2019 Technical Advisory Committee Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 Option D: Maserati BiTurbo 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieran Gobey Posted July 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 55 minutes ago, red0 said: Option Maserati BiTurbo LMAO! Awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieran Gobey Posted July 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 59 minutes ago, Shawn Sampson said: Having built both (E46/E36) I would suggest the E36 platform. The E36 is as fast as our Spec E46 with a S52 motor. Cheaper to run with 225x15 tires, older ABS but a ton of fun to race. Hey Shawn! About those radios... I might need to talk to you again, turned out Sprint Races we didn't need them so much... but now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendawson3 Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 2 hours ago, Shawn Sampson said: Having built both (E46/E36) I would suggest the E36 platform. The E36 is as fast as our Spec E46 with a S52 motor. Cheaper to run with 225x15 tires, older ABS but a ton of fun to race. Yeah, I should have led w/ the caveat that I've only driven E30 and E46 race cars and only spent about 10min in an E36 race car. Lower running costs sounds like a big consideration. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd6681 Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 E30 values are going up. That means the car itself and the source of spares become harder to find and more expensive. I do not feel this is exclusive to the E30 but really any car of the vintage or older. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Advisory Committee NigelStu Posted July 20, 2019 Technical Advisory Committee Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 Depending on what parts you have, E30 would be a good place to start. Useful things are every suspension component, every engine component, extra diff/axles and trans. Rest of it is sorta useless. Good option for easy and potential competitive driving (with lots of work on the car) would be E36 - Go for a 4 cyl E36 - there are a few that have done awesome. Also, where are you located? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyKid Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 The answer is always Miata. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clifford Beisler Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 I got jokes...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racer7x Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 1 hour ago, LuckyKid said: The answer is always Miata. Miatas only work out well in Champcar if you have an extra $20K to put into it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABR-Glen Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 Unless you want to run the 4cyl, I would go E46 over E36. Every day that goes by E46 are getting cheaper and E36 are getting harder to find. You're also more futureproof when the 330 inevitably drops to 500pts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Magic Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 On 7/19/2019 at 10:32 AM, Kieran Gobey said: A new question posed to the hivemind. So E30... light, cheap, fast, fun. (and I have a stockpile of parts) E36, almost as light, faster, almost as fun (I have no e36 parts) E46, not as light, much more brakes and HP mostly, but only a smidge faster incrementally to the E36 (I have a few e46 things here and there) Or... SN95 Mustang; bitches!!! Keep in mind the only parameter you cannot fix with points is fuel. E30 has the fuel to weight advantage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedracer14v Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 Don't forget the E39 (528i). It's not fast, not light, but lots of fun to drive. And who doesn't want to be the underdog...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_leffe Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 On 7/20/2019 at 11:23 AM, Racer7x said: Miatas only work out well in Champcar if you have an extra $20K to put into it If you're only worried about running in class, you can field a competitive miata for a reasonable budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zack_280 Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 E36 is probably a better platform, but E46 is probably similarly capable. To me the E46 advantage is parts are readily available and pretty cheap in junk yards (and on running cars). E30 is probably more fun, probably can be made similarly fast with more development effort, but parts are getting harder and harder to source and costing more and more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Advisory Committee Ray Franck Posted July 22, 2019 Technical Advisory Committee Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 (edited) I am no BMW guy but it seems a few have visited the shop over the last couple of years . And they have won races after treatment . I have become quite intimate with 1 particular e46 and wonder why more are not in the searies . Edited July 22, 2019 by Ray Franck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
u-turn Posted July 23, 2019 Report Share Posted July 23, 2019 I think it depends on your driving style. I haven't raced an e30 but I've raced with alot of them and the fast ones seem to be little loose. They seem to be driving more off the rear tires. An e36 and probably the e46 will inheritly understeer until you fix that issue then they are very predictable. I think a 95-98 e36 328 would be a competitive car in CC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.