2003/2004 M3 vs. 99 Cobra

My first race in my new car.
I was leaving the golf course and I saw a new BMW M3 convertible leaving the parking lot, so I follow him out to the main road. What a gorgeous car.

He turns right at a yield sign and I see his car lurch forward while I am about 4-5 cars back. I am still in second at about 25mph and I floor it. The road opens up into two lanes and I swing into the left lane still in second gear. I notice the passanger's head in the M3 jerk forward and then back when I am at 5800 or 5900 rpms or so. I finally wind second out at about 75 mph (6800 rpms) and i am at his rear bumper. (i hate my gear ratios-i am getting 4.10s) I slam the car into third and start to pull pretty hard on him. I ended up passing him at around 85 or so.

I dont think I did too bad since he had a head start of about 4-5 cars from 25. I wish I could have seen the look on his face, but I was concentrating too hard on the road ahead.

I have no idea what the new M3 convertibles run. Anyone know?

You have a good car or atleast a fast car um if im right the M3's can go,good job

the m3 verts are mid 13 second cars trapping close to 105mph. i'm assuming your cobra is not stock other wise you would not have past him esp if your 4-5 cars behind.

Nice kill



1987 Ford Mustang 5.0 Gt H.O n im only 15

Yea i dont think its stock (his mustang)

i have all of the recall work done to my car. i have read that 99 cobras with the recall work done are capable of mid 13's as well.

my car is stock minus the cobra R rims that are on it.

maybe he short shifted? :dunno: i do know that he was close to redlining 2nd if he didnt, because he shifted at around 60-65 would be my guess.

maybe it was smgII (gah, i hate smgII)

but, m3's (e46) are FAST from the factory... though i don't really remember stock fast in them. the only one i've been able to go play with is my friends Dinan Stage 2 car... *shrugs*

maybe he just didn't know where the "sport" button was ;)

reguardles, very nice run

Mid to low 13s off the lot, not to hard to drop them into twelves. But the SMGII kinda ruins it I guess. I mean, the SMGII would be good for the car if you used it for track style racing (autocross, curvey highway, stuff like that), but for straight acceleration, you really need the manual tranny. The verts are also a bit slower due to the weight.

Again, teh SMGII is a fun toy, but nto really good for straight line acceleration, no clutch control=not that much fun. Of course, in order to fix taht, just pick up the automatic chip from Dinan, remaps the tranny, pulls out the safety auto upshift, and ups the redline. Planning on getting the one for the 325i for my car.

Of course, rumor as it that BMW is planning on only offering SMGII with the new M5s....my God, if they do, I'll cry. High Reving V10 with a NA 500hp...and a souped up automatic...its evil.

You say SMG... and all I can think of is Sub Machine Gun :icon16:.

Yes, now when you purchase a high performance German Automobile, you also get a free high performance German Assault Weapon, lol. H&K and BMW.

sounds like fun. you probably were at a better rpm range then he was at his time of w.o.t, otherwise you would have stayed the same distance he was ahead of you in the first place and or you were on it a little before he was. too bad you couldn't get him from a dig. that would have been a good race.

with is my friends Dinan Stage 2 car... *shrugs*


::In Vin Diesel Voice::

Not a bad way to spend ten thousand dollars.

The M3 is a fast car, although it's "mythical/legendary" status tends to lead some people to over-rate it. Example, the M3 has one real "weakness" taking it's size and weight into consideration...it's down on torque. Peak hp is very impressive, and the things love to rev, but you had better have the revs up and get it in the right gear or there is little forgiveness.

Also, it is worth mentioning that I have seen two M3's dynoed and BMW left no extra hp on the table when rating this car. As a matter of fact BMW must be using the European formula for calculating hp because both came up just barely shy of their rated numbers using all 17 percent of correction. I say this because BMW is a master of minimizing parasitic drag and 17 percent seems high for an M3. Granted, those dyno's were done in nice, hot, humid Tennessee in the summer, but.....

That said, BMW and Porsche seem to be the two best automakers in the world at using whatever hp they have to the max. Gearing, balance......both are always superb. And, for their hp/tq levels both makers cars are definately faster than average IMHO.

In the end I think a 99 Cobra is probably a faster car than a new M3 vert, and about a match for a M3 coupe if both are driven well. Taking into consideration the M3's torque deficit to the Cobra and that you went from a roll starting at low rpms I am not surprised you got him as this situation would certainly favor the Mustang's wider torque band IMO. In other instances the M3 would have the advantage..and so it goes.

kittedb18bt is your car stock sc just wondring again..........and nice kill on the m3......do you know if it was an e36 or e46........

completely stock minus the rims. the 99 did not have a SC. it was an E46.

i cannot get over the color of the car. from one side it looks like a dark blue, but from another it looks charcoal. beautiful.

syr74 makes a good point. i was around 2200rpms or so in 2nd when i noticed he punched it. also, i did leave this out: we were going uphill mabe a 7-12 degree incline. not a large hill whatsoever.

hey well kudos to you..........you killed a fast car them e46 aint no joke.......good job their mister cobra........