North Star

Damn, that thing is SICK!!!!! Like I just stated in the 335i milage thread, these cars (335i and M) are beginning to appeal more and more to me with each passing month!

Mr.E.G.

you're on the right track. to say that it uses "m3 body kit" isn't exactly accurate as a matter of specifics (since it's a custom aero setup that only resembles the m3 as much as necessary to satisfy the marketing purposes of a factory backed race team). The term chassis gets a little screwy here. some manufacturers will consider a regular version and an upgraded version (say civic ex and civic si as an example) as having different chassis in the sense that in their assembled form they are different, but the two cars may very well be based on the same frame or body if you will.

manufacturers love to throw around terms like "based on" and racing organizations muddy the water further by saying "based on" and so forth to mean all kinds of things. for example the speed source mazda rx8 is "based on the production rx8" and what they mean is it's a freaking tube frame car that just so happens to look like an rx8. lol.

anyhow, in the past BMW motorsports has built homologated chassis for the the ALMS (and other series as well) and it comes in body in white form meaning that teams that wish to race the cars dont walk into the dealership and buy an M3 and then gut it, they buy a car from bmw motorsports which comes unassembled for the most part but with a complete (and completely badass) roll cage. whether or not BMW uses a regular 3 series chassis or an M3 chassis could easily be answered by knowing whether or not there is a difference in the bare unibody. if the m3 chassis has some significant differences then that;s likely what they are going with. however, if the only real differences are in removable parts then it's likely they are just using the base chassis in it's primitive state effectively meaning that it's a 3 series chassis irrespective of trim level.

and yes you are totally right about the suspension. the alms gt2 class allows for custom control arms and uprights and obviously custom spring/ damper setups. it still has to retain factory configuration (no converting it to an inboard suspension design for example). you must retain the factory suspension pick up points.

i personally feel that the ALMS GT2 class represents the ultimate form of GT racing. they are all true blue production cars and they all run with the same rules and the only form of equalization really is the use of engine restrictors and minimum weights based on displacement, and with teh exception of removing material to add roll cages and whatnot, the chassis has to remain uncut with the exception of being able to swap out anything that unbolts (which in teh case of the ferrari f430 is freaking everything lol) and to cut away material for fender flares. now compare this to the speed world challenge where you get minimum weight requirements based on the individual car, certain exceptions for suspension modifications for some cars that other cars dont get, etc. etc. The alms pretty says "here is the same set of rules for everyone may the best team win" and i like that.

this year is going to be and exciting year for the ALMS gt2 class. there is going to be so many cars. There will be a couple ford gt's, some corvettes, and some other stuff i'm forgetting. it's about time we get to see some corvettes in the class.

furthermore, having spent about an hour drooling and obsessing over the e46 alms m3 i cant wait to see this thing in person. BMW really puts a ton of engineering into their rollcage designs for the body in white cars they build and this one has some distinct differences between the last ones which i think is fairly indicative of the advancements in the increase in strength and torsional rigidity since teh last chassis. in the e36 they had major cage components back to the c pillar and the e46 version did not due to the increase in chassis strength, and now this one comes out with the front butresses isolated from the a pillars and i cant help but think that is because they found a way to make it just as stiff without tying the tow together.

good stuff.

p.s. im very tired so sorry if i just wrote a bunch of run on sentence jibberish. expect a revision tommorrow morning. lol.