135i Race Car Project Thread

On the track and on the road would you say the 135i is better or the M3 (after tuning of course )? I'm in the market for a car this coming month and am looking at quite a few options. The C63 AMG is also and option but not for the track of course

I had a 130i here in Asia that I sold a while back ago and had quite a bit of fun with it. It did have some power but not enough for me.

Originally Posted by stylinexpat

On the track and on the road would you say the 135i is better or the M3 (after tuning of course )? I'm in the market for a car this coming month and am looking at quite a few options. The C63 AMG is also and option but not for the track of course

I had a 130i here in Asia that I sold a while back ago and had quite a bit of fun with it. It did have some power but not enough for me.

It's hard to say at this point - the aftermarket is still be developed for the 135i. Are you talking the newest M3? If so, then the cost difference comes into play. The 135i is 90-95% of the the new M3 in performance for price difference.

Originally Posted by scottn2retro

It's hard to say at this point - the aftermarket is still be developed for the 135i. Are you talking the newest M3? If so, then the cost difference comes into play. The 135i is 90-95% of the the new M3 in performance for price difference.

Yeah the new M3. 90-95% after tuning

Originally Posted by stylinexpat

Yeah the new M3. 90-95% after tuning

Comapring both cars off the showroom floor, the 135i is probably 90-95% of the new M3.

Originally Posted by scottn2retro

Comapring both cars off the showroom floor, the 135i is probably 90-95% of the new M3.

So with a bit of tuning the 135i is much better then
1) Some nice lightweight wheels with some proper tires
2) Proper LSD
3) Lightweight front Seats
4) Lightweight battery

Have you weighed the front seats by any chance? I'm wondering how much they weigh

Originally Posted by stylinexpat

Have you weighed the front seats by any chance? I'm wondering how much they weigh

A manual sport seat weighed about 58 lbs.

Originally Posted by scottn2retro

A manual sport seat weighed about 58 lbs.

I guess one could save another 20 Lbs. per seat in the front then. I guess 100 Lbs. could be saved easily then on the 135i. The M3 would be nice to have but that car really does weigh in One would need to shed at least 300 Lbs. off that car and I doubt those front seats really weigh that much along with the wheels and battery. The 135i seems to have the edge over the M3 in terms of weight. I was looking around the last couple of days to see just how much weight I can trim off the M3 and the 1 series with just seats,wheels,battery and exhaust.

Unless the seats,wheels,exhaust and battery are that heavy on the new M3 I don't see to much that can be saved in weight on that new M3. I prefer the new M3 but don't want to bu a new M3 and end up getting beat by a 1 series after.

Finally getting the livery to look like a sister car to the M3

Spent Sat., Sept. 7th hanging out at Dubfest and answering questions about the car

Nice tuning Scott.

Talking about track cars, I ran through this 1er track version and thought of sharing it here. you might consider it as a future project lol

Originally Posted by Stratus650

Nice tuning Scott.

Talking about track cars, I ran through this 1er track version and thought of sharing it here. you might consider it as a future project lol

It would be awesome to see something like that at LeMans or 24 Hours of the 'Ring

So, what have we been up to? Just returned from 3 races in 3 consecutive weekends at Infineon (Sonoma), Watkins Glen (NY) and then PIR (Phoenix) - so I'm a little tired, but it was a great adventure and the 135i was awesome to drive around the country. Yes, the 135i was driven to all of those races.

First stop before the Infineon weekend was at Dinan Engineering for some Stage 2 software








And look what we found on the tour: Steve Dinan's club race car. This is one of the fastest cars ever to race in BMW Club Racing. Amazing - the turbo is actually in the passenger compartment

I messed up the link of the photo of the software department loading the Stage 2 software

First, my apologies for being so far behind - it has been that busy of a year. Seems like we were moving non-stop from the day we got the Dinan software installed.

First there was the race weekend at Infineon beginning the day after the Dinan install





This picture will be in the 2009 SSF Auto Parts Calendar

After the Infineon weekend, I drove the car cross country from Huntington Beach to Watkins Glen, NY, where Ralph put on a great show with the car - sometimes in heavy rain.

Very cool project. I'll gut and cage mine when I get a new DD (she's 3.5 years old). What shop did the cage fab work?

Originally Posted by westwest888

Very cool project. I'll gut and cage mine when I get a new DD (she's 3.5 years old). What shop did the cage fab work?

For the 135i, the cage was done by Impact Engineering in San Jose

For the M3, the cage was done by BMS in Santa Ana


Shoot me a PM, and depending on what you are looking to do with your car, I may be able to pass on some advice

Originally Posted by scottn2retro

Any more details about the e36 behind you?

Originally Posted by Philip81193

Any more details about the e36 behind you?

That is David White in a very fast e36 J-Prepared car. He races on the Eastern side of the country with a car built/supported by Bimmerworld. He post in the Track forum on Bimmerforums.

In even conditions (dry weather/dry tires), that car was about 9 seconds a lap faster that our car at Watkins Glen.

In preparation for the 2009 season, putting in a Dinan oil cooler kit

the 135 is freakin sick

Originally Posted by stack

the 135 is freakin sick

Thank you - not doing too much right now as we look toward Bimmerfest and then the BMW Club Races at Cal Speedway at the end of May.

We did have the car on display at a Goodyear Service Center in Huntington Beach a couple of weeks ago

The bmw car is very nice to drive. bmw 1 series is good.

Originally Posted by mm22176

The bmw car is very nice to drive. bmw 1 series is good.

Thanks - Got to hang out at Bimmerfest '09 for the day as we wait for Cal Speedway coming up in 2 weeks