My first track day in my E46 M3

[cobra]

It took 14 years of ownership to take my M3 out to the track, but I finally took it out there this past weekend. I figured I'd share my experience from how it went.

To start off I was pretty nervous. All the rules, all the fast cars, etc. Until now all I have ever done is a couple autocross events, which really wasn't my thing because it was an all-day affair for 10 minutes of driving. It has been years since the last one of those, so the extent of my sporty driving has just been on the street.

The track was Buttonwillow CW13 which is a pretty common layout and popular track. It was a perfect day, high in the 50's.
My M3 is pretty much stock, except for:
-Coilovers with 400/630 spring rates
-BBS 18" RGR's
-PS4S 245/275 at 35psi hot
-I was running stock brake pads but with Redline RL600 brake fluid

Overall the day was a success and my best lap was 2:13 with a passenger and DSC on. I knew I wouldn't be setting any records but instead tried to improve my driving skills. Here are some takeaways:

-Driving with DSC on provided a nice safety net, but doesn't teach throttle control and makes the car feel very disconnected. I had it on for my first 2 sessions then turned it off once I got comfortable and it was SO much better.
-The suspension felt good but had an understeer bias. I think I would try bringing down the spring rate in front or run a square setup to balance out the handling.
-The stock brakes were pretty bad since they were so inconsistent from turn to turn and smelled so bad, but they never gave out or anything. That is certainly be the weakest link of this car.
-It's amazing how 333HP feels plenty fast on the street, and then like not enough on a track. I was floored most of the time just waiting for it to accelerate. That said, the brakes and driver skill were still the limiting factor. This is evident by the number of miatas that passed me
-Porsche GT3's are absurdly fast. They passed me like I was stopped.
-Not knowing how to heel-toe downshift proved cumbersome. Definitely something to practice.

Some questions:
-What tire pressure should I be running?
-What are your techniques for braking into corners? Do you brake only when going straight or taper off towards the apex?

[simonnim]

Most tires will react differently so it's difficult to determine that is the right PSI. For examples, I've ran RSRR's and they ride better at 36+ PSI (at least my driving styles) and I've had RT660's feel good at 29 PSI. It's also ideal to have a temp prod to check inner, mid, and outer tire temps after a session to see where your tire is heating up which will help you visualize what the tires are doing on the turns.

But, seat time is the best thing. It'll teach you more about what the car can handle, and you.

Welcome to the expensive hobby!

[Estoril]

Some questions:
-What tire pressure should I be running?
-What are your techniques for braking into corners? Do you brake only when going straight or taper off towards the apex?

Your Instructor ought to be advising you on both of these questions. They are in the car and have infinitely better insight in that car, at your skill and experience on that day in that weather. Strangers on the internet lack lack the first answer and will only give you generic answers to the second.

[cobra]

Your Instructor ought to be advising you on both of these questions. They are in the car and have infinitely better insight in that car, at your skill and experience on that day in that weather. Strangers on the internet lack lack the first answer and will only give you generic answers to the second.

Agreed. Mostly just curious about generic guidelines.

[S54330Ci]

Good job getting out there and good luck with future track days. I remember my first track day. I was still absorbing information two days later. Unfortunately this activity is a disease that has no cure (other than to get back out there). Pace yourself on the upgrades as once you head down the rabbit hole it is hard to back out.

Your experience with the Miatas is not unusual. These cars, when in the hands of a skilled driver, are deceptivly fast. They are actually a great car to learn car control and track skills with as they are easy to control at the limit. Cheap to run, drive and maintain as well.

[cobra]

Good job getting out there and good luck with future track days. I remember my first track day. I was still absorbing information two days later. Unfortunately this activity is a disease that has no cure (other than to get back out there). Pace yourself on the upgrades as once you head down the rabbit hole it is hard to back out.

Your experience with the Miatas is not unusual. These cars, when in the hands of a skilled driver, are deceptivly fast. They are actually a great car to learn car control and track skills with as they are easy to control at the limit. Cheap to run, drive and maintain as well.

Aside from some better brakes, I don't really plan on doing any upgrades since my driving skills have a lot of room to grow, and it would be nice to have a baseline to measure the improvement from.

I can see how it can get very expensive. The tire cost alone is brutal!

[S54330Ci]

Some questions:
-What tire pressure should I be running?
-What are your techniques for braking into corners? Do you brake only when going straight or taper off towards the apex?

A tire pyrometer (as previously mentioned) will tell you if you need to raise / lower your hot pressures. Ideally you will want to take temps as soon as you are off track. 35psi hot might be OK for the PS4S, however the tire might benefit from a pound or two more when hot. I would not go lower than 34psi however.

Braking techniques vary, but typically you want to get your braking completed before turning into the corner. Trail braking can help rotate the car by keeping more weight bias over the front wheels. Not every corner will benefit from trail braking. Your instructor can help here.

You mentioned understeer bias. Likely you are on the brakes too long, pushing the nose of the car into the corner, therefore transferring too much weight to the nose of the car and increasing understeer. The E46 chassis is quite well balanced even in stock form. Typically at any track you have sign boards indicating how many feet (meters) left to the corner. While these are good reference points for starting your braking, they are also useful in giving you a reference point as to where to release the brakes.

When turning into the corner look forward towards the apex marker (assuming the organization has these laid out) and not out beyond your hood. Your hands will follow your eyes and get you to the apex sooner. This is a typical rookie mistake that is easily corrected and will result in better corner entry and exit.

[Obioban]

Congrats! You've found a new addiction to drain your bank account.

Dedicated track pads are pretty much a necessity after your first event. Stock (or any street friendly) pads are not up to the task.

Tire pressures are going to be right up your alley, as they're mostly data based.

Get a pyrometer. If they're hot in the middle, too much pressure. If they're rolling over too much (indicator on tire), too little pressure. If they're hot on the outside, not enough camber. If they're hot on the inside, too much camber. Etc etc. Any generic advice (including from instructors, who in my experience don't know any more about car setup than your average forum member) isn't going to be as useful as that. Get one of the ones with a probe you stick into the tire, as the surface of the rubber cools down absurdly fast. Ideally probe without a cool down lap.

After a couple events, you're going to need tires with more heat capacity. Street tires just don't hold up well after you get some pace under your belt, and Michelins are not a cheap replacement.

[rGTIedge]

Good on you! Buttonwillow is both a fast and extremely technical track. Hell of a choice for your first track day!

Edit: Removed because I was wrong

[S54330Ci]

Good on you! Buttonwillow is both a fast and extremely technical track. Hell of a choice for your first track day!

Didn't see it mentioned, but you can also add more tire pressure and/or stiffen the rear suspension a bit more than front to help induce less understeer/more oversteer. Cheap way to test/fine tune balance.

I would caution you about making any suspension modifications without solid advice from someone who knows the E46 chassis inside and out (no offense to rGTledge). Making a change at one end of the car can induce unexpected consequences at the other end. You need to take a wholistic approach to suspension tuning. It is not as easy as just turning a dial. The S54 engine has enough power and torque whereby you can induce oversteer in nearly any corner (assuming you are in the engine's power band) thus countering understeer.

I would focus on car control before any suspension modifications. If your local track has a skid car training (such as this company does https://www.prodrive.net/car-control...driving-course) I'd highly recommend taking such a class. It will mega improve your on-track capabilities.

[trackjunky]

A lot of great advice here. It sounds like you have a great attitude going into this and welcome to the sport! Hold off on mods and focus on seat time. Get a square tire setup and they should reduce the understeer. A car's handling characteristics can be contributed by a combination of driving technique and hardware setup. Focus on the driver mod first. A stock car is highly capable as is with a set of track brake pad and track brake fluid. Street tires (300tw) provide a lot of audible feedback and is a lot more forgiving, stick with street tires for as long as you can to instill some good driving habits.

[bigjae46]

Yes, brakes but also camber plates and rear camber arms to help the tires last. Even if it's a DD - a little more camber with less toe is fine for both street and track. If anything, you'll find the tires will last longer by getting closer to zero toe.

As for braking - it is the most difficult and consequently the last thing people master.

First, you need a mindset shift. Brakes are not just for slowing the car down - they move grip onto the front tires. When you turn in at the end of a braking zone, you should still be on the brakes. As you increase turning you need to decrease braking. Doing this maximizes the traction of the outside front tire through the turn. Slight understeer indicates that you have some slip angle in the tire which is what you want. There are some turns where I stay on the gas while left foot braking when I turn in to get some grip on the front tires. Releasing the brakes reduces front tire grip as the suspension goes through its rebound stroke...but also increases rear end grip.

Second, be smoother and faster on the brakes than the throttle. The brake is not a boat anchor and its not a pedal you just mindlessly stomp on - it is a tool that you use to get grip to where you need it.

Trail braking - once you know which way the track goes...you should be doing it. As an instructor I don't necessarily work on it at first because there are some other pressing things like seeing flag stations, reacting to issues, passing, vision, smoothness...but it is something I call out if a novice does it.

Trail braking is such an advantage. I try to trail brake to the apex in most turns coming off a straight. In some cases I'm accelerating a full second while others are decelerating. Then I carry more speed all the way to the apex.

If you want to be fast in an E46...drive it like a Miata. Miata's don't threshold brake very often if at all.

[cornerbalanced]

As mentioned above, concerning your braking question, trail-braking is important to learn as you progress as a driver.

Regarding when to brake, when to stop braking. For me it really depends on the corner itself, in the canyons with super sharp corners I’ll tend to brake heavily before I start turning in, to then feather on throttle as I turn in. On more forgiving corners, I’ll trail brake farther into the corner’s apex and roll on throttle towards the apex itself rather than the turn in. All depends on the situation in my opinion…you’ll also need to be carrying more speed than you otherwise would because you’ll be braking later, so this is perhaps best ‘perfected’ when you’re more comfortable on track.

When trail braking properly, even in the canyons, I’ve noticed significantly less steering input is needed, through throttle input you’re able to effectively pull the car through the corner. The E46’s chassis lends itself particularly well to trail-braking imo.

Heel-toeing on track is also a must, with practice you’ll get the hang of it quick. The E46 is a super easy car to heel-toe, but with the pedal placement—think less of it as heel-toeing and more as rolling your foot from the brake pedal to the gas, with half of your foot on the brake pedal and half of your foot on the gas pedal. I personally found this to be easiest.

Re-pressures: completely depends on what kind of tires you’re running. I typically set pressure at 28psi (COLD) on 200-TWs and bleed them down to 34ish when hot.

As for brakes, good fluid (SRF is a godsend) and good pads are a must. Stainless lines help too. I know a couple dudes with E46 M3s on stock calipers/rotors running consistent sub-2s at buttonwillow.

[pMak26]

333hp is plenty. I'm faster than just about every pcar or corvette out there with the 333hp. Soo much more to it than that top speed # at the end of the straight

Lots of good advice in here so all I'll say is, Enjoy!

[Nate047]

Right on man, glad you had fun and want more. I have tracked my mostly stock E46 M3 at BW CW13 as well and I feel your pain haha.

These cars need a few things for sure, good brake pads and something a little more suited to track days than a PS4S tire for starters. If you want to go small steps at a time, and not overhaul and change how the whole car feels on the street, I would just get some track day brake pads (I have some PFC 331/332 pads I can sell you if you want, brand new never used) and look into a set of 18x9.5 or 10 wheels with some 200 tread wear ties. I would also suggest having the car corner balanced by someone like Chewerks, West End, Evasive, or Johnson's Alignment. All those guys can advise you on a baseline alignment to get started.

If you want to go a little further, the stock style RTABs are flexible and can make the car feel unsettled, reducing confidence. That's a pretty easy upgrade. The stock seats leave a lot to be desired, you can get away with doing something like a Cobra Nogaro and keep all the stock belts and airbags, with no safety concerns. Feeling held securely in place by a good seat will give a big boost of confidence and shave seconds off your times as a beginner/intermediate driver. Learning how to tune your dampers is also a good skill to have, not sure if your current setup is ideal or not but I wouldn't go changing it for no reason without trying to optimize what you have as best as possible first. This is a pretty good link with general info about how to setup and diagnose suspension:

https://robrobinette.com/S2000KWV3Tuning.htm

Lastly, don't trip about the Miatas lol. There are some RIPPERS out there who have been doing this for decades, there will always be someone faster than you in a "slower" car.

edit: to add one more point, I wouldn't just throw parts at the car and expect to go faster, of course driving skill and technique, and confidence will do you WAY more benefit. However, the parts I have mentioned will help and are just very basic track day mods. If you don't have a certain base level of potential in the car, you're just going to be more frustrated than needed, cooking your brakes, not being able to focus on driving, etc...