Starting the M3 Journey (and documenting it all!)

[racecar_visions]

What's going on everyone, I sold my MK7 GTI and bought myself an E92 M3 ZCP! Words cannot describe how excited I am about owning this car.

Vehicle specs:
2011 E92 M3
ZCP Package
Alpine White
Manual Transmission
~55k Miles

I'm in the NorCal/SF Bay Area if anyone wants to go on a cruise, go to cars&coffee, or just hang out

Attached are some photos of the M3 (already took her out on track, check the youtube video!) and the recently departed GTI. Any VW love here??

Follow me on very recently made IG and youtube channel to stay up to date on my adventures in this beast
IG: https://www.instagram.com/racecar_visions/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy3...K8n_tn3THDTskg

[jiggz]

///M looks good, welcome to the forum.

Give us some initial thoughts vs. the GTI.

[DanMpower]

No carbon roof = no care




J/K, AW ZCP is always a good choice.

[SAMM3Y]

Welcome to the forum, watched the video looks great! thunder hill is fun, turn 8 is a no lift corner but it's definitely tough to talk yourself Into it when your tires are bald. Also I used to turn In too early on one too, that's a 100mph corner and you can trail brake into it too.. have you ever driven the cyclone bypass? I think I prefer it over the cyclone and it's even more technical. Keep up the good work!

[racecar_visions]

Originally Posted by jiggz

///M looks good, welcome to the forum.

Give us some initial thoughts vs. the GTI.

Honestly the GTI was a better city car. Small and very zippy, but ran out of steam on the freeway. M3 feels MUCH MUCH larger and heavier, but it has so much grip and chassis balance.

In an ideal world, I'd want both of them because I really loved the GTI and I'm sure I'm going to love the M3. The GTI would be the daily and the M3 would be the weekend/track car.

The M3's fuel consumption makes me want to cry though..

[racecar_visions]

Originally Posted by SAMM3Y

Welcome to the forum, watched the video looks great! thunder hill is fun, turn 8 is a no lift corner but it's definitely tough to talk yourself Into it when your tires are bald. Also I used to turn In too early on one too, that's a 100mph corner and you can trail brake into it too.. have you ever driven the cyclone bypass? I think I prefer it over the cyclone and it's even more technical. Keep up the good work!

Appreciate it man! Yeah once I get some good rubber, I'll be able to mentally and physically commit to more of the turns. I know the car definitely has it in it, it's just a matter of making to the other side with the shiny side up

[derbo]

welcome! See you around the local events!

[SAMM3Y]

Originally Posted by racecar_visions

Appreciate it man! Yeah once I get some good rubber, I'll be able to mentally and physically commit to more of the turns. I know the car definitely has it in it, it's just a matter of making to the other side with the shiny side up

Yep rubber side down! I like your emphasis on 9, I had a corvette nearly flip his car in front of me there one time lost it to the right and had only two tires on the ground for way too long..

[bkfastwagon]

Nice! I had a mk7 golf r prior to my e92 and I miss it sometimes. Current gen golfs make great daily and my R with tune and exhaust was a blast. Still it's nowhere as special as e92. Congrats

[racecar_visions]

Originally Posted by SAMM3Y

Yep rubber side down! I like your emphasis on 9, I had a corvette nearly flip his car in front of me there one time lost it to the right and had only two tires on the ground for way too long..

Yeah 9 is a silent killer. I say silent because everyone focuses on either cyclone or bypass and seem to forget about the rest of the blind crests and high speed corners on Thunderhill haha.

What times are you running on the East course?

[SAMM3Y]

Originally Posted by racecar_visions

Yeah 9 is a silent killer. I say silent because everyone focuses on either cyclone or bypass and seem to forget about the rest of the blind crests and high speed corners on Thunderhill haha.

What times are you running on the East course?

Last time I ran there it was cyclone bypass and I believe the best I got was a 2:04 with a 131mph top speed down the fs straight at the end of the day when traffic cleared out.. the guy next to me in a fully race prepped '95 mustang said I should be under 2.. I'm not sure what is fast there. I've ran about six days out there and tbh didn't do time laps for the first couple, running solo in traffic can kill your lap times. I only use the CMS app too, I don't have a fancy shmancy system. I think fast steet bike guys are doing low 1:50's.

[derbo]

kpewpew was up there this weekend! I think he was running a 2:00.xxx laptime but I wasn't sure if it was Bypass or Cyclone.


Hope to see some of you soon at a HPDE!

[racecar_visions]

Originally Posted by SAMM3Y

Last time I ran there it was cyclone bypass and I believe the best I got was a 2:04 with a 131mph top speed down the fs straight at the end of the day when traffic cleared out.. the guy next to me in a fully race prepped '95 mustang said I should be under 2.. I'm not sure what is fast there. I've ran about six days out there and tbh didn't do time laps for the first couple, running solo in traffic can kill your lap times. I only use the CMS app too, I don't have a fancy shmancy system. I think fast steet bike guys are doing low 1:50's.

That's awesome. What's your car setup/build?

[racecar_visions]

Originally Posted by derbo

kpewpew was up there this weekend! I think he was running a 2:00.xxx laptime but I wasn't sure if it was Bypass or Cyclone.


Hope to see some of you soon at a HPDE!

Lookin forward to seeing you out there too! I saw you followed me on IG, so let me know whenever you're planning to head out on track!!

[SAMM3Y]

Originally Posted by racecar_visions

That's awesome. What's your car setup/build?

That was Ohlins r/t on 10 clicks. Stoptech bbk f/r with sport pads. Advan neova staggered setup, Turner shark race tune with full catted exhaust, kn drop in filter, Dinan pulley. That was with a passenger too, I should add. I felt the car understeered a lot at the time with the staggered tires, since then I've done a ton of more mods and haven't tracked the car in a while, probably a bad idea. Should work on driving on a constant platform really, changing it up too much won't help me unless I'm getting a ton of wheel time.

[racecar_visions]

Originally Posted by SAMM3Y

That was Ohlins r/t on 10 clicks. Stoptech bbk f/r with sport pads. Advan neova staggered setup, Turner shark race tune with full catted exhaust, kn drop in filter, Dinan pulley. That was with a passenger too, I should add. I felt the car understeered a lot at the time with the staggered tires, since then I've done a ton of more mods and haven't tracked the car in a while, probably a bad idea. Should work on driving on a constant platform really, changing it up too much won't help me unless I'm getting a ton of wheel time.

Very cool. My goal is to iterate basically a major component at a time (tires, suspension, major engine mod, etc). and see what that, in addition to me becoming a better driver, ends up doing to my laptimes. That will be fun to document as well. Also why i'm happy that I got my baseline laptimes on a very non-ideal day (bad tires, cold/damp track, etc). It's a damn shame that my racing sim doesn't have Thunderhill, otherwise I'd be practicing waaaaaay more.

Thankfully i'm learning Laguna Seca pretty well though

[SAMM3Y]

Originally Posted by racecar_visions

Very cool. My goal is to iterate basically a major component at a time (tires, suspension, major engine mod, etc). and see what that, in addition to me becoming a better driver, ends up doing to my laptimes. That will be fun to document as well. Also why i'm happy that I got my baseline laptimes on a very non-ideal day (bad tires, cold/damp track, etc). It's a damn shame that my racing sim doesn't have Thunderhill, otherwise I'd be practicing waaaaaay more.

Thankfully i'm learning Laguna Seca pretty well though

Laguna's a different story with all the walls and sand, I also nearly lost it there with a poorly planned shift on the off camber downhill after the corkscrew, I unloaded the back suspension and got squirly and was lucky to recover. It was my first time in a car there and it is daunting. Car was stock at the time, I'm itching to to back though. Hallow grounds in the race world and being front row and center on a track day makes it special. Nothing like hearing the thunder around you between sessions.

[racecar_visions]

Originally Posted by SAMM3Y

Laguna's a different story with all the walls and sand, I also nearly lost it there with a poorly planned shift on the off camber downhill after the corkscrew, I unloaded the back suspension and got squirly and was lucky to recover. It was my first time in a car there and it is daunting. Car was stock at the time, I'm itching to to back though. Hallow grounds in the race world and being front row and center on a track day makes it special. Nothing like hearing the thunder around you between sessions.

That damn noise limit though! Also do you have an Instagram or some other build page? Would love to check out pics of your car

[derbo]

Originally Posted by racecar_visions

Lookin forward to seeing you out there too! I saw you followed me on IG, so let me know whenever you're planning to head out on track!!

4/20 SpeedSF Laguna Seca. I'm planning to do this.

[SAMM3Y]

Originally Posted by racecar_visions

That damn noise limit though! Also do you have an Instagram or some other build page? Would love to check out pics of your car

Yep Laguna friendly exhaust is a must, I love seeing garage concocted solutions to pass sound. No I don't have an Instagram, I'll do a full build thread in the forum when it's done. It'll have a new rear end, supercharger and recaros on a budget! should be fun. Have just rebuilt the TA's fixed the vc gasket leak and am pulling the rod bearings rn. Gonna replace the motor/trans mounts too and rebuild the shifter and install a turner shift kit and spec clutch and flywheel. All this before the sc and recaro's, should be fun.

[kyippee]

Originally Posted by derbo

kpewpew was up there this weekend! I think he was running a 2:00.xxx laptime but I wasn't sure if it was Bypass or Cyclone.


Hope to see some of you soon at a HPDE!

Yup 2.00.065 and today was bypass. Pretty happy with myself. I got 3rd place in S3 class with SpeedSF, my friend got 1st in S5.

I will likely be at Laguna with SpeedSF both days in April. I have a date with 1:40 I'm tryna get!

[derbo]

Originally Posted by kpewpew

Yup 2.00.065 and today was bypass. Pretty happy with myself. I got 3rd place in S3 class with SpeedSF, my friend got 1st in S5.

I will likely be at Laguna with SpeedSF both days in April. I have a date with 1:40 I'm tryna get!

See you there! I don't expect my ps4s to pull crazy laptimes but it should be fun!

Sorry for thread jacking loll