Let's start off with my history with BMW. Well......... it doesn't exist. I have only driven one and it was a 318is with NOS and was the slowest car I had ever driven. Sorry Jay, it was. It did handle very well though and looked the part. I was not impressed with the driving experience, although I knew that wasn't a car to base all BMWs on. So before a buddy brought his M3 over for a quick shoot, I started to look back and try to pick my brain a bit about my introduction into cars. Car and Driver and Motor Trend magazines; the Mecca of automotive information before this pesky internet/blog thing.
I could not remember a time when I looked into a magazine and was wowed by a BMW, with the exception of the M1. I don't know why either.... I mean, I loved every car back then and was especially into the sedans and Euro cars that could put a smack down on the latest and greatest supercar. Example- To this day I still want a Lotus Carlton. There is your homework. Look that up and be impressed. Before the photo shoot, I had seen my buddies M3 but I always just thought it was a nice car with a cult following of BMW people who are more obsessed with them than the Honda ricer crowd. Start internet bashing in 3,2,1.........Boom! Keep reading, it gets better.
The Techno Violet car shows up. This is a daily driven 98 model with quite a few mods to it. Lots of Dinan parts to it; Dinan Exhaust, Dinan Suspension, Dinan Cold Air Intake. There are also a few more mods to make this car a very fun track day car. By no means is it perfect, but it is used. That's what I LOVE about it. My buddy Michael and his wife show up and park the car. We had plans to have another M3 show up (E90), but that fell through. I am glad it did in a way. Of course having more Cars In My Driveway is my goal, but with the E36 model in the driveway, looking stellar in the fading light, I started to understand a bit about this BMW thing, as I call it. I have always enjoyed this body style a lot, but never really LOOKED it over in person. As I said before, I never really had the BMW experience till now. It was starting to grow on me a bit, and I started to reminisce about those wonderful days of car magazines. If you are a car buff, you know what I mean- those days of getting the newest page turner, dreaming of how and when will it be your turn to own this car or that car. It was a time where we would actually READ and not sit glazed in front of a computer looking at what some amateur blogger just said. Wait, what? Nevermind that. I love the 80s/90s and most of the performance cars built then. They have led the way for what we have now, and call them old school if you want, I know most of you still want that Testarossa or Diablo, or if you are like me, the Lotus Carlton or Audi URS4.
James May from Top Gear on a recent episode said it right. You can have more fun in a less powerful car because you can drive it to its limits. That's what makes racing fun! Driving a car to its potential. Face it everyone, we are not Allan McNish or Michael Schumacher. Put us on a track in a 500 horsepower, rear wheel drive car, and I know for a fact we would not drive it to its full potential. Granted we most likely will run faster laps, but we would be on a knifes edge trying to keep it on the track. And a brown stained seat is what you would get if you had snap oversteer or came face to face with a tire wall. Which brings us back to the M3 here. After snapping a few pics, I started to think to myself that this car would be a serious track car for the weekend even in stock form. (although I told the owner to keep it a nice daily driver versus a track car lol) You could beat the car, still have fun with the man pedal, and probably turn into a better drifter after a few sharp corners. Isn't that the point of going out and having a fun track day? Enjoying yourself while beating on a car? I know most of you have been karting and those things can be wicked fast! What do you do when you get in them? Not let go of the gas.... I know, you don't have to explain. I do the same thing. That's what this car represents to me. I am extremely glad it was brought over and thank you to the owners for letting me write about the car. All of this has turned me into a BMW fan, even without riding or driving the car. That's the phenomenon I was referring to I guess.
Thanks to everyone (BMW fans) who stayed with it and kept reading. Hope you all enjoy the write ups and more cars to come soon!
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