C6 and M3 Turbo - VIDEO and PICTURES

Paradigm_Guy · #1 (**permalink**) 07-18-2007, 04:37 PM

A buddy and I got together last Sunday and took some pictures and a video of us running through some twisties. He posted a thread with some pictures on another forum on Sunday, so here's a copy and paste of that. I'll put the video in a second post below this one.

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I met up with ParadigmGuy today. Oddly, we both drive black sports cars, both work at Fort Hood, and are both named Kurt.

The cars:

Kurt - E36 M3 4-door, 5 speed, Single Turbo 600hp (?)
The other Kurt - C6 Corvette Z51 6-speed, stock 400hp

We met at Chili's for lunch. Before eating, though, Kurt took me for a ride in his E36 M3 with a single turbo. The sheer power of the thing blew me away. I really couldn't think of anything cool to say about it, the power just caught me completely off guard.

This little ride pretty much confirmed my foregone conclusion that my stock 'vette wouldn't have an ice cube's chance in hell, but both of us are car guys so why not have fun anyway? We had some lunch at Chili's. Afterwards, it was off to run some twisties, do some side-by-side runs, and take photos.

The first kill attempt happened as we left Chili's. On the highway, the driver's side corner light on Kurt's E36 decided to take up flying lessons. It narrowly missed my 'vette and shattered on the highway behind us. No kill, but at least now Kurt has a sweet ram-air effect going on! I suppose we could say I won that battle since I missed the projectile and finished the day with all my parts in place. Hey, you gotta take your victories where you can

First stop, doing what these things do best - suck fuel:

Then off to the twisties... at least as twisty as they get in Texas. Kurt knew a pretty good loop, so I followed him out. He had his white tail lights lit up on the way out. Here we are stuck behind a compact car on the bridge. You can see my head's up display on the lower left:

Once we cleared that, I pulled in front of Kurt. He turned on his video camera and we made a twisty run. Not really a "race" of sorts, but more of just having fun on some empty back roads. We hit about 125 or so at one point before doing some heavy braking for the following turns. I was going pretty hard on the straights, and it was obvious that Kurt's turbo M3 had no trouble keeping up at all. I do feel like a jerk for spooking a minivan on one turn. There was plenty of space (once we adjusted course) but that minivan driver had to be spooked by two black sports cars taking a turn at about 80 MPH. There were also a few gravel spots that made for some squirrely braking, but all in all it was good fun.

Now onto the highway pulls...

Here's a photo heading out to the highway:

We lined up side-by-side at about 60 MPH. I was just off my sweet spot in 3rd gear. Kurt let me get the jump since we all knew what was going to happen. I gunned it and took off, maybe putting two to three car lengths on him. After all, my car isn't slow. But then...

WOOOOSH goes a black M3, it just slingshots by as if I were standing still, yet as I look at my speedometer the numbers are rapidly rising. I can only imagine how quickly his needle is rising! And of course, his back tires are chirping and burning rubber the whole way as it fights to keep traction under throttle... simply amazing.

So we try again from 2nd gear. I miss the shift to 3rd because I'm cool.

So we try again from 2nd gear. Once again, Kurt let's me jump a few car lengths ahead, which my car does with ease. The V8 roar sounds good and I just leave him behind... until he decides to punch his gas pedal.

Once again, that M3 just ROCKETS by as if I was standing still. And yet I'm not - I'm flying and still pulling hard, just like a 400hp 3000lb car would. But Kurt's M3 is flying and still pulling hard, just like a 600hp 3000lb car would.

His car is pretty much untouchable, and from a roll his power is in the sport bike territory.

We do a few more pulls just for fun, all the same with Kurt giving me a several car length jump only to be reeled in and passed, but it's still a good time. Kurt tried to bait a sportbike into running, but no game. At this point we realized if we kept doing highway runs from 2nd gear to triple digits, we'd be at the Mexican border in no time, so we turned around and headed back home.

But first, we stopped for photos. Maybe we should have done this first, since our cars were now dusty as hell and covered in bugs, etc. Even still, I think the two cars make a great pair. The photos didn't turn out as well as usual. We were photographing two black cars in the middle of the day, so the lighting was brutal. Kurt might host the video of him trailing me through the twisties if he gets his desktop PC running... really all the video has is evidence to seal the deal against us in court. Just an overly spirited drive in the twisties...

All in all it was a fun day. Kurt's a cool guy and his BMW is awesome.
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Paradigm_Guy · #2 (**permalink**) 07-18-2007, 04:39 PM

The side by side races didn't come out well. As you can see from this video, the camera mount has the camera pointed straight ahead. So the only footage of the Vette at all is for a brief half second, other than that it's just me accelerating.

For those who don't know my car, it's fully built with a T67 turbo. I'm running a TEC3R EMS, 75 lb injectors, Tein SS Coilovers, and numerous other suspension bits. The only stock part is the tranny, which seems to be doing fine.

I normally drive the car around at 15-18 psi (1-1.2 bar), but turned it down to about 11-12 for the twisties. I didn't want to over power anything, which is easy to do sometimes.

At that boost I'm probably making somewhere in the area of 450-500 RWHP.

Enough talking, here's the video, and turn up your volume.

James · #3 (**permalink**) 07-18-2007, 07:29 PM

Both cars look fantastic! For being a fairly stock car - that vette looks great. You can PM me if you like, but I've always wondered about these Mexico runs. Aren't you a bit worried about getting into an accident in Mexico with mediocre (not according to fatass Moore) healthcare?

Paradigm_Guy · #4 (**permalink**) 07-18-2007, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James

Both cars look fantastic! For being a fairly stock car - that vette looks great. You can PM me if you like, but I've always wondered about these Mexico runs. Aren't you a bit worried about getting into an accident in Mexico with mediocre (not according to fatass Moore) healthcare?

Yeah, I'm not a fan of any American cars, but it does look great.

And no, the military has excellent healthcare. The media skews a lot into what will sell.

SketchyD · #5 (**permalink**) 07-19-2007, 09:30 AM

looked like fun. nice looking cars, both.

DomM3 · #6 (**permalink**) 07-19-2007, 09:59 AM

Booth cars looks amazing.
I like the C6 and special the Z06.
Looks good in black.

328isbmw · #7 (**permalink**) 07-19-2007, 01:45 PM

looks great

GERMAN · #8 (**permalink**) 07-19-2007, 05:15 PM

nice cars, im not an american car fan at all, but the z06 is nice. and in all black the regular c6 is nice to.Turbo Cars are nuts period, i got a ride in a modified 2002, 996 911 TT and that car had me full of adrenaline.lol