Gordon Peng's E46 M3: Taking the Road More Traveled
There are some cars which leave you giddy like an optimistic high school senior convinced he’ll get everything teenage lore promises he’ll get on prom night. This E46 M3 is one of them. It might not grab all the attention in the paddock, but closer inspection reveals just how Gordon Peng took a sophisticated approach, balancing several aims that might seem incompatible, to building this particular car. That’s why a few laps in this car are enough to leave you with a buzz which lasts the rest of the day, and why Gordon hasn’t regretted a single cent he’s spent on this Mystic Blue BMW.
Prior to building this car, Gordon struggled through two other project cars which, as he is happy to admit, were emotionally driven. Though the C5 Z06 and RX-8 are both proven platforms, they’re slightly underrepresented in modern tuning culture, and therefore, their aftermarket—at least the area of their aftermarkets dealing with road racing—pales to the E46’s. The Mazda lacked the power needed and the Corvette was getting frighteningly expensive with oiling problems and a ravenous appetite for consumables.
Even though it was purchased with 170,000 miles on the clock, the M3 has proven to be supremely reliable.
Plenty of failures and hard-to-find parts forced him to reassure himself regularly until he realized that he was being a little too idealistic—and that this had exhausted him. Not quite disillusioned, he sought out a better-paved path.
After picking up this formerly SMG-shifted M3, he couldn’t help but feel like he’d left his integrity behind. Though the BMW was a proven platform, it didn’t feel much like a personal statement. He soon stopped this quixotic self-expression, looked ahead, and started researching.
His homework paid off. The E46 M3 is not perfect, but it is well understood, and the higher powers before us have championed the chassis in all manner of racing categories, so building this one was merely a matter of budget and time; no more cutting lexan windows and scouring the internet for obscure parts.
The first order of business was tackling “The Big Three,” as Gordon calls them. These are the critical weak points that must be addressed early if an M3 owner wants to track their car with peace of mind: reinforcing the subframe as well as refurbishing the VANOS and rod bearings.
The next was to make it the surefooted car he knew it could be. Turner spherical FCA bearings, Ground Control RTA and RUCA bearings, and Turner rear camber arms took every bit of slop out of the suspension, widened the alignment range, and strengthened the footwork so that he could curb hop without worry.
The result is a car that is more communicative and manageable than most HPDE machines. The way the car can be turned with a brief half-lift off the throttle is inspiring and, due to the way the rest of the car talks to you, repeatable. When the throttle is stabbed in anything but the first two gears, it sits and occasionally squirms a little, but it’s never spiky or unfriendly. It feels light, urgent, happy to change direction, and very planted.
The car gets better at speed, too. The aero makes it stable and assists the braking performance, which is already incredibly inspiring without any aerodynamic assistance. The AP Racing Pro5000R brakes, combined with the BMW's lovely ABS and Ferodo DS1.11 pads, allow for short braking distances without much ABS interference and great stability. Occasionally, a hard prod of the middle pedal will cause the rear to snake, and too firm a stab can beat the weight transfer to the front, but, even then, it stops well. These binders can be trusted.
They offer more than mere mu, too. With the right rate of brake release, the nose-heavy E46 can be pivoted into hairpins. Though there's a tiny bit of understeer in the tightest of corners, it never seems like anything that some pedal massaging can't fix.
Closer inspection give the eye plenty to savor: a CSL replica bumper, adorned with sharp AJ Hartman canards and a homemade front splitter.give this M3 a purposeful appearance.
Though its agility and ease of control are its strengths, its motor deserves some praise. Though basically a stock S54, the fact that he’s been able to strip a few hundred pounds from the car makes the 310-horsepower motor more than potent enough. As it climbs past 5,000 rpm, the engine note, trumpeted through CSL replica headers and a Bimmerworld race exhaust, erupts into a crescendo that is hugely exciting. It’s more than fast enough for most West Coast tracks.
Being basically standard, it hasn’t given him any issue over two years of steady tracking. Of course, he’s made sure it runs cool with the addition of a Koyo radiator and a SPAL electric fan That’s allowed him to address the flimsier parts of the chassis, make the necessary reinforcements, and focus on making this car a beautifully balanced, confidence-inspiring car that’s not quite a momentum car, but it certainly has more grip than grunt.
“I wanted to strike the best balance between interestingly fast and cheap to maintain, which meant I used as few boutique parts as possible.” Only off-the-shelf items and no major failures mean his ~20,000 miles with the M3 have been stress-free. Since it’s light, it’s been good on consumables and it is surprisingly comfortable for a car with a gutted interior. Loud and a little boomy inside the stripped cabin, sure, but semi-cushy compared to most track cars.
What’s next for the car? “A set of turbos like Pam Anderson’s,” Gordon says with a wry grin. “In all seriousness, probably either a Viper or sell it and settle down—whichever’s more economical.”
Not many people would apply that sort of reasoning to something which is so clearly an emotive object, but there’s a method to his madness. Gordon’s managed to strike that balance which both the romantic and the repressed struggle their whole lives to find—it just took him building a couple quirky cars to figure it out.
Engine
Bimmerworld race exhaust w/ custom mufflers
CSL replica headers
SPAL electric fan
Koyo Radiator
Epic Motorsport Tune
Body
Bimmerworld V3 rear wing
Homemade splitter
AJ Hartman canards
Trackspec generic hood vents
CSL replica bumper
Fiberglass sunroof plug
Interior
Converted from SMG
CAE Race shifter
TC Design half-cage
PCI seat rails, no sliders
Recaro SPG HANS
OMP 6-pt harness
OMP 330MM suede
Rothsport QR
Suspension
MCS 2way w/ remote compression canisters, non-remote pin mount rear, 900lb/1000lb springs
Bimmerworld front shock tower reinforcement
Shaolin Temple alignment
Turner spherical front control arm bearing
Turner race rear camber arms
Ground Control race rear trailing arm bearing
Ground Control upper rear control arm bearing
Bimmerworld race wheel studs
Wheels/Tires
AP Pro5000R kits (9668F/9451R), 355mm/340mm
Ferodo DS1.11 pads
Endless RF650 fluid
Spiegler lines
Volk TE37SL 18x10” +25
