Tom Tang began his racing adventures with a Honda S2000, but switched to BMW after the Honda met its demise in an accident at Sonoma Raceway. “The class at that point had become highly competitive, and a lot of the front runners were S54-powered BMWs, either E36 cars with engine swaps or E46s,” he says. “I had the idea of building a BMW since I was racing against a bunch of them, so I built an E36 with an S54 in it.” That car successfully competed in both sprint and endurance events, winning in the NASA Western Endurance Racing Championship.
Tom Tang will be taking on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for the third time in 2026 and we’ll be with him along the way, reporting on his preparation and planning here on BimmerLife.com, followed by a report on the big event in BimmerLife magazine. In this second installment, we focus on Tang’s very special and very modified E46 M3.
Tang planned to race the E36 in the 2021 edition of the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, but a teammate crashed the car. That led to building the E46 M3 he races today. “I wanted a newer chassis, so I bought the 2002 E46 M3,” recalls Tang. “I bought the shell from a friend who was building it into a drift car. We turned it into an endurance racing car that was originally made for the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. We started the build in the middle of 2021, and it was ready for the 2022 season. It was a different ethos when it was made for endurance racing. It had a lot of the original panels and we didn’t care so much about weight—it was made for toughness. That car was awesome and we finished third in class and ninth overall in 2022 at Thunderhill. After we finished that year, I decided I wanted to do something different and take a swing at Pikes Peak.”
The engine block and cylinder head. In the background you can see the Flossmann carbon fiber body kit pieces.
Tang and the team at Trackspec Autosports took the E46 down to a bare chassis and rebuilt it from the ground up in 2023, with the goal to compete in the unlimited class at Pikes Peak in 2024. Unlike endurance racing, the build ethos for the Pikes Peak Hillclimb involved making the car as light as possible and giving it a lot of power. Most of the original panels except for the pillars and the rear quarter section were replaced with carbon fiber, with a body kit inspired by the E46 M3 GTR race car provided by Flossmann Auto Design in Germany. That kit, which also improves downforce, dramatically changed the appearance of the car and also helped it get down to a weight of 3100 lbs. with Tang in the seat, along with fuel and nitrous.
Yes, this car uses nitrous to make extra power to get up the mountain, which helps make up for the power loss as it gains altitude and the air things. Tang first used nitrous in the 2025 Pikes Peak Hillclimb, along with a new engine that was built between the 2024 and 2025 events to make more power. Built by Steeldust Machine, the S54 motor features a Rotrex supercharger but also has upgrades including custom valves and pistons, along with titanium springs and retainers. In its current setup, the engine makes a whopping 654hp and 435 lb.-lb. of torque, with the nitrous adding another 100 to each of those figures.
Nitrous tanks take up a lot of space in the cockpit.
Of course, adding a lot more power also requires more cooling. This required rebuilding the front end of the E46 using a tube-framed design to fit in all the cooling equipment, which includes an Active Autowerke intercooler and a CSF radiator. The brakes are StopTech C43 Competition brakes and also incorporate Motorsport ABS. “I use the same calipers and rotors front and rear to make it easier to carry spare parts,” said Tang. “The rear calipers have a smaller piston diameter to maintain the right brake bias.” Tang partners with Toyo for tires and will be using a one-off hand-built prototype slick at this year’s event that are made specifically for Pikes Peak.
A look inside the engine bay also reveals the tube-frame front end to fit in all the cooling equipment.
Another key upgrade to Tang’s M3 is the JRZ PROactive dampers, a fully active setup that also allows the driver to change modes while driving, which is important on a circuit like Pikes Peak that changes dramatically from the bottom to the top. “This is what allows us to have the car as fast as it is,” said Tang. “Our car is not making nearly as much horsepower as some of the other cars, but it puts power down really well.” Aiding significantly in putting all that power down is a Drexler rear differential.
Other upgrades include a Drenth six-speed sequential gearbox and a Tilton triple 5.5” disc clutch with a lightweight flywheel, both sourced from VAC Motorsport, as are solid engine and transmission mounts. The BMW runs on Ignite Racing Fuels Ignite Red blend, which is rated at 114 octane.
All of the work and expense put into this car was done to help Tang reach his personal goal – to get up Pikes Peak in under 10 minutes. In part three of Tom Tang vs. The Mountain, we’ll give you more details about the circuit itself, which may be the most challenging race circuit in the world.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy Tom Tang]
