Performance BMW - October 2004

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9Eililliflill,i'Jll
PBMWPROJECT
E36
318iS
ZEEMAX
WIDE.B()DY
E46
M3
W()RLD'S
BIGGEST
BMW
SH()W
with the removalof morethan 140kgof uselessweight,there'spreciouslittleleft
concentration
or in my case,white-knuckled
withthe driver'snirvana,
to interfere
carpet. Need a factory CD Changer? IIe
tighl.weight wheel genre.
vehicle. They also allow thc big leaguc
didn't. Thc factory :mrps were also dunped,
b[t Sande.'s adcled a Pioneer ]IPll player to
,q.tthe time ofpublication, thcse 19x10"
forged and fully polished, split live spoke
acld a little enterlainilrg ICE. The air
condilioning is siill there, but $'e'll forgi\,e
riNs should be available through Complete
{-rustonfs websile lbr BMW applicaiions,
brakes to step out and take thc stagc.
Unless yofve been stuck north of re
Alctic trircle, you sllould recognise the
hin this as Califomia sunmlers tend to heat
l,our- ( ar up norc than tsritish ones.
"It
weighs 1,195kgright noq" Sander
\{ith 19x11s soon to follow. Sander's are the
fil-.stones finished, nounted ivith Michelin s
Pil{)f Spoft stickies, ancl were shipped
across the c(nl]ltry just in time for the
not.ed $.hile \\''e cntised the canyons lbr the
pet lect.Pelir' t o t | fti B il4w photo spot.'lhat's
sig l'lcanily less than the'as delivercd'
f i q r f e u f | : ; 0 1 . S .; u x l S . r r n E c l o s e r o a S L
ma-sst.edtory To eclipse this, carbon flbr.
l ( x i \ f i r n . l . a n d L . x a n w i r r d o \ , \ sa l e p r r .
Helping elintnatc rotational lrasses ar-,
ilyou hadrft guessed fr'om ihe pictures,
Brcmbo and (lompiete Custon \\ahecls.
You'le rol alone ifyou haven't hcald of
CCIW Despite truning out absolutely
fla\l'less forged wheels for racing and strcct
use, this !-lodda based comparj' has
'found
managcd to keep its prices lo\\'. Not
on every Honda Ci\,ic' Io!r', brt very
respectable for the ultru-high quality,
pholoshoot. Their staggered offset makes it
possible to (barely) tuck the tyres inside the
iiont wheel arches, still .rllowing ar
Br€r[bo nane. Facior] supercars have long
sprouted these red (and sonetimes yello$
or black) lvonders at cach colner. \\hat you
don't know is, thanks to the on going cfforts
of Race Technologies, LLCI, locatecl in
M:irina Del Rey, California, you can ante-uD
"Big
io the legenda4,
Red" braking polr.er
.r, y, 'ur, ar (ts\.n rhe Lr'|(,-nrark.t , ar.l).
impressive deep<lish liD ir the rear.
Sander-hits another set of lE", foqed
centre, three piece honeycoNb dcsign
Tecluologies
l-acing &'hecls, 9.5" and 10.5" wide, shod
Brembos GT alrd Spot kits in the US. The
with Goodyear tyres. It's these lightweighi
'(]lassics'
and sidster-looki[g
which see
rcIr\)rry
duty on track days, carq,ing R-conDound
Hoosier gumrrries- The 18s \rerc functional
and undcniably cool, but the new 19"
lvireels olTer .m i[csistib]y
conmanding
prescncc, dcmanding passels by to pay
lrore thanjust the occasiona] glance at the
A main sponsor ofthe car, Race
($aa'il..racetecluologies.colll),
is rcsponsiblc for thc distribution of
ha-sbeen so suc(:essful lllat, sinr:e
1998, BrenrlD's range of GT kit-s hd,s dsen
Irom 12 io f,.10veldcle-specrific applicationsBy varl'ing the piston sizes, Brembo has
engineered complete packages, incllrding
blaidcd stair{css steel lines, aclapterB,
calipcrs and rotols which deliver optirtun
brake balalce for peformance ard salety
S.r ho\L wcll dot.s this lilihtcnrd an.l
tctilo(1 \l:i \lork in rhe relrl rrorl(ll hr a
nulslx'11.il's r\l,esonre. Sinfe Sruder is
sc\ crlrl ir.ics
tirllc.r'thar1I rnr ir \ras difti.ull
to scc out lion his lo1\ shurs b t \\ ell
b.rlstcrr.d pL-rch.Sidc to siclL.ck:rr rcc .|\'as
exllenLely lighl alolurcl my hips. I w:ts
( l e l e r l n i l l e { l o d f i \ e l h e r r u r : u r { l* r l s n - i
aborrt to allo\\' nrcrc seat position lo stan(l
bct\r'oon m. :rn.l r..'kless arrt(nnotive
r ran{lon. \o tx)sitilnr r(ljrlst rents \i ere
lx)ssiLle \1ithoul u \\1ench too rLLu.hplx)
in ihe sliller' $sernblies, :rccorclirlg t.r Sarlcll.|
''L:sc
thc Spolt llodr.
ihat littlc buiton
on lhe'dxshl
he tell{,cl :1t tlre t]rlough thc
"lt'll gil.c.l"o
$'irxlo$ of nry $ilc s rlcu.car
"l
(|ri( ker 1lu ol.llL' rr.sporlscl
hc n l1l.1"
I dli|e.
set ol l.IlLpisron Rr-enb()s. Ililtiug a blick
\\ell {oulcl tcel sofierl I Ioull(l nl-vsclf
r ...rr\ \ u r , L rI r u r i r c N r l c , \ i s i o r s v f r l
Bhre Lrg(ion X'lel:1]licV$rstutlid jnto a
. r'rr 'r *:rl
lr. ro". ol .
nushing thc lrrlkes ril e\er! oppol-turrjtli
som.tirrcs e\.en on llLe sllxighls, just io teel
lhell smo.rthh hig rhe ( ar to a cr:r$1.
I lollol\'e.I. litilrt up lo lhe fil'sl colrlr']-\r'hct-c
hc crpcftly lilided lhfo]lgh \\ldlsl n1t blain
R u r n i r r g l l t i o u g h t h c c a n l ( n r s 1 ) r 1 r \ i ( l e ad l l
f o s s i l ) l e l l t ) e s o f r ' o a ds u l l a c e 1 i ( n I s n r o o l h
to :just corele(l lhe hoL' tbl thc nigh1, ltill lre
back iilst rhirg in the lrL()r'nirg cor$tlucti(nl
z.rl.s. l;r'ound atnrlr()l (orl.r\ ells
o\erloaded liom thc bfake fest)(nrse.
I t r q ) l ) e ( 1i l, s t o p p e c l ., \ l i m f e m i n d e r t h r l
rhis \ as 1001i,rececal:
il;5\J2nu1 t\r'o pic.e alunrinirrrL rentre
discs \rith X'lrl,auren ('lit)s (so the t'oiol
r n :' - : r r. l , , r . - t r - i , r F : r ' , r l ; l ' t . i t l, ' ,
t l - o l r t .t r i f e ( l $ i l h : 1 2 3 \ 2 l i m [ r U u l o f c a n t $ o p i c r e r o t o s i n 1 h e r e r u , c l a l r t p c c lb y a l l o t h c r
( $a\-$.grornxl-control.com) an.l Eil)a.h ERS
-l r r,c- : r'l:I lir'. r r..l' r'r l. '-.lJ,l
rcar: $orked Ih\\-kssl!
$ist)endirlg the crr
fmrLllt but rlevcl har-shlt drre lo crlstrxrt
\ahe(l K.xli singlL.acUustnenl slxx ks.
The reax spings utilise a weight-jacking
mount set inboaxd of the odginal, and
comer-weighting has been applied, of
course. The dde was amMingly compliant,
even with urethane bushings in the front
conhol anns. Even my hea\,X,-handed,
bmking-iar-too-late-in-the-comer,
pathetically-incompetent &iving style failed
to upset the cax'sbalance. With the 10" wide
wheels a.ndsticky stea.mrollers from
Michelin I was surc the vehicle's limits ;ere
fax outside my own,
Every time I downshifted to second, 333
German thorcughbrcds did their best to
pulvedse the rear tlaes. 'Throttle conhol'
took on new meaning. A dash mounted
waraling should read "Do not floor gas
beforc comer apex!' In spite of my efforts,
Sander had pulled off a commanding lead in
the umodifred Veedub.
Did I mention his collegebuddy was
none other than CART stax and Fl-hopeful
Tonnsend Bell? I concentrated on
increasing my pace, while my overactive
imagination began to feax accidentally
piling this red wonder into the mountainous
teraa firma.
Left, right, left again, I delighiflrlly tossed
it, hyirg to flow like water I danced with
the devil in the red tuess while my thoughts
pondered every well-used perfomance
analog/. I gunned the engine to the red line
with each shift and squeezedthe brakes as
late as I daxed every time ihe rcad
disappeared around a bend in the rocks.
I managed to light the BMWS anti-skid
contrcl only three times during the tdp,
unfoftrnately all duing the same comer.
Glad to learn it worked as well as
advertised in the glossy sa.lesbrochures.
The seat, initially far too tight, provided
perfect retention for my toNo. The
D-shaped Spa-rcosteering \"r'heelfelt sensual
under my fingers, its suede covering
soaking up the sweat ftom my nervous
pa]trls. Was I nen'ous? You bet. Ma-ssive
canyon1lalls do not leavc beauty marks on
metal bod)'work.
I didn't tuln the stereo on but I think it
works. Air conditioning?I didn't need it.
Windows down and cmising, it \!as
Serenadeby Six Cylinder echoingoff the
rock walls, as peiformed by a cast of
irrcrediblytalcnted llunich nusicians,
accompaniedby an Active Autowerks
stainlesssteel exhaustsystem.
With the rcmova] of more than 140kg of
useless*.eight, (uselessto a racecal ddver,
perlups not to a normal individual) there's
preciousliltle left to intedere with the
driver's nin ana, or in my case, $'hiteknuckled concentration.
The tdp back pa-ssedin a blur ofscencry
.-rnd
an8n la, es fr,,nrr,'rdsidpob<cn' rc.
I think I heard sorneoneshouting.Since
I didn't recognisethe words at thc speedwe
r.ere travelling I took it as a sign of
encouragement,alUroughI'm not positive of
his intent. I felt as ifl finally undeNtood
World Rally. Take one spory passenger car',
rernovc every amenil,y, sNpend it above l,he
tarllrac with state of the art stspension
componelts, *.hccls and tyres, then fling it
thrcugh l.he rnosl hellacious course
dcvised by man (ihis one dcfised by lhe
State of Califomia, Depafinent ol
Tfanspoftation). Add a co-pilot reading
course notes in a droll Scottish accent and
the picture's complcte.
Lai.er, in Sa[dcr's driveq.ay, despit€ my
affectiorl lor the cat hc didn't have to
"WelI,
e lor i.he keys (he's bigger).
wrestle
what do you tlink?" was his only queslion.
I was lelt feeling inadequate, Iikc a nlan
who'djust rliscovered he'd run out of Viagra
long after ihe neighbourhood drugstorc
closed lor re night. Will Smiths chalacter,
in the hit No\,ie /r?..1.??nd.rkp Dalt,
provided perhaDs the best slrrulation I can
"I
have got to get me orLE
ofTer thc reader
of thesel" a