How fast is a 24v E30 on a road course?

[SkinnyVT]

^seriously, that is the perfect description. Nothing like passing a viper just to have a civic pull up on your bumper.

[mach schnell]

My S52 car weighed in at 2,450 lbs with a 53/47 weight balance. Standard sheet metal body. That was when I still had some AC pieces, ABS, and some other unnecessary hardware. Just wanted to post some solid info.

How did it handle? Understeer noticeably more than an M20?

[rThor432]

How did it handle? Understeer noticeably more than an M20?

I wouldn't say that it understeered more noticably than with the M20-- my car has always been fairly neutral (I drive the E30 back-to-back with an E36..). As with the M20, the understeer can be tuned out with suspension tweaks or the driver mod. I could dial out the understeer no problem when driving it so I would say that it certainly wasn't excessive.

To sum it up, the nose was definitely heavier and felt heavier as a result. The upside to having all of the extra torque on tap is that it is a lot easier to drive with the throttle.

^^All my opinion.

[rammstein]

^seriously, that is the perfect description. Nothing like passing a viper just to have a civic pull up on your bumper.

+1. I had an RX8 and felt really good about passing a Ferrari at NHIS. But then a guy in a beat up MKII Golf was on my ass. Its funny how little the car matters...

[Wh33lhop]

+1. I had an RX8 and felt really good about passing a Ferrari at NHIS. But then a guy in a beat up MKII Golf was on my ass. Its funny how little the car matters...

Your experience is funny but imagine the guy in the Ferrari getting passed by a silly Mazda and THEN a beat up golf like it was nothing, chasing you down.

[dinanm3atl]

It's a lot easier to drive lazy with an M50 than an M20, a vanos motor has tons of torque at pretty much any RPM, and you can definetly "drive" the car more vs having to maintain momentum at all times.

-Charlie

This... That is one thing I have noticed that is a 'trend' of the HPDE setup. It seems everyone wants to mod mod mod mod and essentially be driving a racecar in C Run Group. Passing as many people as possible seems to be the goal. I know many a people that run or ran racecars and were 'fast' but in reality THEY weren't fast. The car was fast. It is how it is now though and the trend seems to continue.

As said though above there is more time to be made up in the corners, braking and setting up coming out of the corners. The straights get eaten up quickly... so drag racing down them isn't going to get your 'speed/time' down that much. At Road Atlanta in my E36 M3 I could sit on the bumper of C5 Z06s all day long. Down the back straight they would pull on me obviously. E46 M3s are no problem.

M20 vs M50... as said is just not that much more power. Suspension, brakes etc will get you around the track quicker. And I agree 100% on driver mod... do more track events. You will become much quicker ;)

[etxxz]

^^ I agree with you but even then, the stock brakes with upgraded pads will get you a long way. IMO, the m50 is not worth the swap. Gives you so little for your money and time.

my experience with the s52 e30 5-lug (m3 brakes, blue pads) is that i can go just as fast as the e46 m3 guys and anything carrera 4s and down on the porsche side. Which one of us can go faster around the track is a different story. You always get good and bad drivers in fast and slow(er) cars. My most intense race/chase was with a new STI on 265 g-force R1s on RRR late last year. ~25 min of me on his bumper and then his on mine. So given similar driving experience my car is as fast as his... and i consider myself a good driver... we all do ourselves, but i like to think i'm better than you... psych!

as you gain driving experience you'll realize how little the car matters at the HPDE levels.. I'm quite happy doing DEs i don't need a faster car.

[JRKOUPE]

lol. that sums it up.

tru dat...

[Charlie]

M20 vs M50... as said is just not that much more power. Suspension, brakes etc will get you around the track quicker.

Gonna throw a wrench on that one.

It's not that much more power *on paper*. Peak HP numbers aren't hugely different, although a Chipped M50 is good for over 200 hp, but the numbers under the curve are hugely different. A vanos M50 has torque everywhere, there is no coming on cam as you have with an M20. There's no hesitation or dead spot around 3500, it just pulls from 1800-2k to 7k with no hesitation.

-Charlie

[mach schnell]

So an M50 E30 would make a good track day car then?

I was also considering a Miata, but I just love E30's.

[markseven]

So an M50 E30 would make a good track day car then?

I was also considering a Miata, but I just love E30's.

The Miata is even slower than an M20... why would you condsider a faster car (M50 E30) and a slower car (MX5) (straight line, that is)? This doesn't make sense.

If I were you I would keep the M20 and spend the swap money on making your car more reliable and/or more track days. ;)

[dinanm3atl]

Gonna throw a wrench on that one.

It's not that much more power *on paper*. Peak HP numbers aren't hugely different, although a Chipped M50 is good for over 200 hp, but the numbers under the curve are hugely different. A vanos M50 has torque everywhere, there is no coming on cam as you have with an M20. There's no hesitation or dead spot around 3500, it just pulls from 1800-2k to 7k with no hesitation.

-Charlie

Certainly the power under the curve is different. Nod goes to the M5X for sure. I worded it wrong. Pure speed from the power isn't that much greater. Just like an E36 M3 can sit on the rear bumper of a C5 Z06 or an E46 M3. Hit the corner correctly and fly out of that corner and you are riding their bumper!

[mach schnell]

The Miata is even slower than an M20... why would you condsider a faster car (M50 E30) and a slower car (MX5) (straight line, that is)? This doesn't make sense.

If I were you I would keep the M20 and spend the swap money on making your car more reliable and/or more track days. ;)

Because I like a good handling car. That's really what this is about.

[kishg]

stick with the m20 and do more track days.

[Emre]

stick with the m20 and do more track days.

This.