My "first" E46 M3 race car build

Donor vehicle

Mmmm, nice, gold wheels. This is a six-cylinder German sports car, not a four-cylinder turbo-charged Japanese fun car. What did it matter, I was ditching the wheels anyway.

Base colour was perfect. I decided I would use that as the basis for the colour scheme. Navy although in certain light it almost looks black.

The build starts

The car is shipped off to Geoff Steel Racing in Lincolnshire . . . and I start to get excited.

After a few weeks they've already got the car stripped down and caged, engine out and on the bench, new wiring and a raft of other things.

Engine refitted, fire extinguisher and fuel tank, seat, harness, suspension and wheels all go back on . . almost there.

I had elected to enter the 750 Motor Club M3 Cup where regulations were tightly controlled requiring the fitting of certain parts including coilovers, airbox, brakes, rear wing and a host of other things. Performance was to remain standard, factory default 338bhp +/- a few percent.

Geoff and I had spoken about the idea of investing in building a car that could be upgraded easily should I decide to enter a different series / championship so the base build, the foundation of the car had to support upgrades.

The airbox above was fitted to comply with the Tegiwa M3 Cup.

Since moving from M3 Cup to endurance racing (750MC Club Enduro), we've been able to fit a GSR carbon airbox that swallows volumes of air and that, combined with a remapping have given rise to significantly better power and torque without modifying the engine.

This ensures good reliability - small cost, big gains.

End of June 2016 the car was ready for testing. Blyton Park in Lincolnshire, Ginetta's own track . . a shakedown, of me!

OMG, my own race car. Can I even drive it? Do I know what the hell I'm doing? What possessed me to take up racing?

Yikes . . moment of truth

Blimey . . what a machine! A BMW M3 E46 race car . . . MY BMW E46 race car . . .

Okay, I was ready. Or so I thought . . . I'm joining the series half way through. So far the M3 Cup boys have raced at Donington, Brands Hatch, Croft and Snetterton and all are used to driving this machine. But that's okay, I know how to drive. I watched them all at Donington for the first two rounds and thought, yep, I can do this. Can't wait to get going.

I'm ready . . . as I said earlier, "I'm a driving god!" . . . . Oh dear . . . I know how to drive a race car? Errr, no!

Let the racing begin!

First stop for me, Rounds 9 & 10, Anglesey July 2016 . . . See "Career & Gallery"