LiQUiD iCE

Merging onto Route 28 North near the Dulles Airport, I notice the light behind me turns green and cars start going straight on Route 28. I'm quite a bit ahead, not pushing the car at all, cruising at around 60mph when I notice one of the cars coming up real fast in front of the pack. Its a BMW Z3 (with its top up, my top was down). I wait for him to get closer to me, and I downshift into 3rd, and am in the perfect part of the powerband (right around 6000rpms). I rip through 3rd, and 4th, and am pulling away hard from him so I shut it down in 5th and give him the hazards just to say I'm done racing.

He comes up next to me and waves and gives me a smile.

At the next light there was some traffic so no room to run from a dig, but when traffic opened up, I ran him again ... starting in 4th this time around 65mph (so out of VTEC), and ran up to around the same speed. Same result, no contest ... The S2000 was way out ahead.

I usually don't push my car too hard with racing people, especially on the street. I know our cars are faster than the Z3 3.0, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to walk away from him ... I'm definitely not the best driver around but it didn't take much effort to walk away from the Z3.

I love every moment I'm drivin this car, and this was no different.

Z4EC

Let me clear a few things

- Your top was down; his top was up
- You ran from 65mph in 4th gear, instead of 3rd
- You claimed you pulled away HARD


The Z3 is slightly slower than the S2000, but I think you just met a guy who can't drive for sh!t.

steve c

There is no Z3 3 liter. There is a 2.8.

The Z4 3 liter manual is dead even with the S2000.

Z4EC

How is there no Z3 3 liter?

I'd imagine that someone who owns/owned BMW Z3 coupe/M-coupe would know better than others.

Ray S (Chicago)

Right and wrong, both a 2.8 and a 3.0 were produced (as well as several other displacements).

Z3 3.0

LiQUiD iCE

The first run, I ran in 3rd gear @ 60mph, starting in 6000 rpms. The 2nd run I ran from 4th gear @ 65mph. Don't forget I have shorter gearing than a stock 00-03 S2000, and at 65mph I'm at about 5000rpms. I didn't pull as hard the 2nd run for obvious reasons.

Does top down versus top up make that big of a difference at under 100mph? I'm no physics expert, but I didn't think it would make a huge difference at lower speeds, but I'm not sure where it starts to effect the car in terms of acceleration.

LiQUiD iCE

The car clearly said Z3 3.0 on the back end of it ...

So unless he debadged his 2.8 and put on a 3.0 marker, it was a 3.0...

The Z3 3.0 magazine times I saw said the car is ~5.9s 0-60, and 14.1s in the 1/4 mile ... (Don't know if thats a "good" time or a "bad" time for the Z3)

But assuming the times are accurate I would think the S2000 is a little bit faster or about dead even with perfect drivers and conditions.

Silver_S2000

Nevertheless. Good Kill I've been meaning to run my buddies Z3 (his has the v-6...3.0?)

Mr Clean

Nice to see a legible post in "Street Encounters" for once.

LiQUiD iCE

Well, I'm not an expert on the Z3 models, but it sounds like there are two I-6 engines. (The Z3's don't use V-6s), the earlier year models (1996 - 2000) had a 2.8 liter engine which seems to be quite a bit slower than our S2000s, like a high 14 second, low 15 second car in the 1/4 mile. While the later year models (2001 - 2002) had a 3.0 liter engine which is a lot closer to the S2000 as far as straight line performance goes.

When I was actually on the road and making the original post, I didn't realize there was a 2.8 / 3.0 model and I just knew the stats for the 2.8 model ... So I just assumed my pulling away from him easily was "normal" for that car. Looking at the times now, I'd probably agree that it was poor driver, especially the 2nd run where I got caught out of VTEC.

In any case, it was fun ...