E36 318i vs. E30 318is

[the.marks]

Just to set up the story, I drive an E36 318i (auto) and my friend drives an E30 318is (5 speed). At the time he just recently bought the car the previous month, his car doesn't have any mods with cheap tires that came with the car and I only have some suspension work done also rollin' on 18" wheels... We're almost dead even.

Story:
One day my friend and I were bored after class and wanted to canyon it up (mostly him, not me). We had nothing better to do so we went to Turnbull Canyon in CA (a good easy road with nice turns if you haven't been there before). Just remember I was following him... So we're coming from the Hacienda side towards the Whittier side, from that direction we're mostly going downhill. Well, the whole way down I was constantly on his tail, probably about a car behind him. Need to remind you, my car is an auto and i'm mighty new to this game and he has more canyon experience than me. When we got to the Whittier side he was pretty impressed that I was actually keeping up with him.

He would usually pull away from me before a turn and I would catch back up out of the turn. Maybe because he likes going in hot and throw the weight a little bit more, and I like coming in somewhat safe and mash on the gas out of the turn. We were BOTH wondering how the heck I was keeping up with him because usually he would tear me up in the canyons or be way ahead of me, to the point that I'm almost one turn behind him sometimes.

To make matters even more interesting, I had my girlfriend in the car and he didn't have any passengers at all. When we went back up to go home, it was still bothering him but when we got to the top at the beginning of the "course" he wanted to go for another round. Well I wanted to go all out, so I asked my girlfriend if it was ok to roll with him so she could see what the difference was. So a second time down I'm still about a car behind him and he still can't shake me. There's this one part of the course, almost towards the end, where there's niiice sweeping S-turns. I felt like passing him up to see if i could, so I set up and checked if the close was clear on the other lane (reminder: a two lane road during the day time). So, I pass him up on the outside of the turn and take the lead. Of course my girlfriend got freaked out that I did that but still my friend was amazed that I actually kept up and passed him also.

To this day we both are still wondering how this was possible. I've only gotten into this type of racing in the matter of months and he's been doing this for about a year or two.

[Gr00v3]

yeah, he worked me sick...

i need to get some good rubber on my 14"s

[the.marks]

we gotta take it to GMR now!!! the course we both adore...

not until it opens up again and you have better tires.

[BS87]

Tell him to get some sticky tires, do a little suspension work... that E30 will hug the corners 10x better.

[BetaTested]

That's really weird. The e30 is a few hundred pounds lighter, and those 18s should slow the e36 down a whole lot. Maybe the PO of the e30 beat the heck out of the engine? Also, the auto wouldn't have a crippling 24lb fly wheel, it'd have a torque converter, dunno if it's lighter or not. The suspension might have been what helped, along with the cheapo rubber being a negative factor on him.

I'm still working on putting an m42 into my 320i (e21) it's not gotten done from a lack of spare time and dedication, when I have the time, I'd rather collapse and sleep instead of work on it, heh.

[the.marks]

Tell him to get some sticky tires, do a little suspension work... that E30 will hug the corners 10x better.

In due time my friend will get those mods done... Even still my friend, Gr00v3, with the E30 is a monster up in the canyons. I think I'm just getting a little bit better. I learn really quick... sometimes.

[TrunkImpaired]

Sounds like ya'll had fun, just don't push your limits too far in a canyon. I stuck a car in the ditch when me and a friend were trying to see who could take an S turn the fastest.