So I took my 'new' e36 out for its first track weekend this past weekend and wanted to do a little comparison between my two cars as I frequent this track (Sebring) a lot. The idea was to take my two all-time best laps and overlay them to see if there were any areas of the track that one may excel over the other.
It turns out my for my pre-fastest E36 lap I was following an E46 M3. I just realized the F10 was also in the F30 clip. This is the same owner of the E46. All cars are pretty much stock, though I think the E46 has a little more additional HP over stock. Exhaust and a flash IIRC. However, he has 190k on the engine. My F30 specs are in my sig. The E36 is stock with camber plates, Kosei's, and 130k on the engine.
Verdict
My M3 seems to be able to carry more speed through the corners. I'm not sure if I should be surprised by this, but it is what it is. From a driving experience I think the LSD makes a huge difference on corner exit. I've always had problems getting power down with the F30.
The other thing that struck me was how much better I felt the F30 rotated. Maybe I just feel it more because it's a bigger car, but I just couldn't get the M3 to rotate around the hairpin like I'm used to in the F30. One caveat is I do have a ton of more seat time in the F30.
Speaking of seat time. My e36 times continued to increase as the weekend went on. I think it was a matter of getting more confident with the car. OTOH, with the F30 my times continue to improve but the slope has decreased after 6 days on this track. For example, my first session average was 5 seconds off my previous F30 session. By the end of the weekend things were about equal. I guess time will tell.
In summary..
F10 Toasts all (duh)
F30 hangs with e36
E36 beats F30, but not by much. Traffic was probably a factor too
E46 toasts E36 & F30
A side note is I'll readily admit the E46/F10 driver is faster than I. However, not enough to dust my F30 like he did
Also, this should be considered a 'same car same driver' comparison for F30/E36. The E46 business is more for show. Mainly demonstrating the HP difference in the straights.
[u2b]http://youtu.be/3pCjdQ2NihQ[/u2b]