[Sebring NL]

I'd say use the E34.

The standard E34 shell is lighter than E36 M3 Coupe, a popular racecar project car.

I've been working on several E24 past year, but none of them was cornering like the E28's we run. I find the body shape too weak. Last car I laid hands on was M635CSi , a great example, low mileage, no rust, new shocks, tires, subframe mounts, thicker ARB's etc, and it still didn't handle anywhere near our equal mileage M535i with only Weitac springs and all suspension parts except the shocks being more than 3 years old.

I always dreamed of a 6-racer, but I wouldn't favour it over an E34 anymore.

I think 1300 kilo is rock bottom, anything lower will cost you twice as much. I think DickRS's car weighs 1400 or so. Stock weight on my car is 1670, 3,6 with manual seats and sunroof.

going crazy with CF doors, bonnet, trunklid and bumpers, plus some lightweight wheels, alloy calipers, removing the bumper shock absorbers, welding in a cage ( I'd cut the whole parcel shelf / rear seat backrest area out and attach the cage to the rear turrets) and sunroof delete, I'd say 1250 kilo's should be doable.

 

[Sebring NL]

@ First

My friend, we spoke extensively on the phone about this.

As seen in the BMWcar magazine of november, we have a mint M535i. The car has something of 180.000km on but it feels brand new.
I also have an M535i driftcar, 288000km, ex-car of member Midnightsun. I think he can vouch for the car being abused for much of the last years. The seats etc were worn, gearshift action wobbly, etc. Engine puts out about 150 hp out of 218.

However, if I compare even the 288k car to the best E24 I've driven ( I'd say I ve driven about 10, the youngest one being 8 years old at the time) , none of them comes close handling-wise to them. I am pretty sure the M635CSI I maintain is at the top of its game, all bushings, shocks, ARB's new and uprated from stock. The M535i roadcar has NOTHING uprated save for bilsteins and springs. No powerflex, old OEM ARB's, 6yo tires. This car handles perfectly. Drifting at speeds over 80mph, no sweat. Car feels planted all the time.

The E24's simply feel wobbly, they don't center that well after cornering, you can feel the weight of the car not liking to be shifted around. The E28's seem much more edgy, planted and round into corners rather than ' box ' into corners. Ofcourse, the aerodynamics are beyond crap, but our Alpina B7 ( featured this month in BMWcar) has regularly outran much newer BMW's including coupe's. As far as tires go, on a stock M535i, we run E39 M5 OEM rims with 265's out back ( many members such as Hugo and DickRS have seen this car at ATP PApenburg for drifting) and this is no problem at all. No arch work.

I'd like to try an e24 with a welded cage some time, but for now, no E24 I;ve ever used, and I made damn sure they were up to spec, has ever given me the confidence the E28 gives.

Perhaps I should come down to CA to be convinced

wout