The best decision the organizers of the Monterey Motorsports Reunion, the annual August gathering of historic race cars at Laguna Seca Raceway during car week, have made is the inclusion of more modern metal. Instead of Trans Am cars of the Seventies being the most modern, the rules now have a class for modern sports cars and prototypes, cars that raced as recently as 2011.
For BMW, that opens up cars from a true golden age, some of the finest GT cars that were ever on track. This year, BMW Classic pulled out two cars to run in that class: the 2006 E46 M3 GT2 and the 2011 E92 M3 GT. And, as luck would have it, BMW asked me to drive the 2006 car.
Developments over the six years that the E46 raced in the U.S. saw it go from backmarker to rule bender to consistent contender. The E46-chassis race cars went through a lot after they were introduced. In 2000, they were uncompetitive, the inline-six at a disadvantage to the 911s that were cleaning up in US sports car racing. In 2001, though, BMW put in the P60 V-8 thanks to a clever interpretation of the rules. The new car dominated the American Le Mans Series so thoroughly that the loophole was closed for 2002, forcing BMW to go back to the inline-six. That engine, the P54B32, is what is in this chassis, the chassis which won the 2004 Grand Am Championship.
Still in the Yokohama livery that it ran in period, the E46 just looks great. Low and wide, the fender flares and wing making it look more aggressive than any 911 on the grid, and there were a ton. It has a six-speed h-pattern dog box, no traction control, and one of the most incredible sounding engines I’ve ever experienced. The induction sound alone is worth the price of entry.
I got to do two races during the weekend, this is the first one. I flubbed the start and wasn’t aggressive enough, but also this isn’t my car and I had no interest in damaging it. Thing is, I was on new tires and quicker than the cars in front, but my disinterest in damaging the car outweighed my appetite for risk. I ended up pushing one 911 into a mistake and I got by. The second one made mistakes under pressure but also made his car extremely wide and raced as if we were going for the win at Daytona. One mistake in the race nearly saw both of us saddled with a huge repair bill.
With that in mind, enjoy. And turn it up.
