[img]http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b10/byrniezero5/M3test5.jpg[/img] [b]Vital Stats[/b] Power: 420 hp Torque: 295 ib-ft Weight as tested: 3,649 lbs (1,655kg) 0-60: 4.5 seconds 0-100: 10.5 seconds Top Speed: 155 mph (ltd) [b]Braking[/b] 60 mph to 0: 120.1 ft 100 mph to 0: 325.7 ft [b]Features[/b] carbon fibre roof lowers the centre of gravity 6-speed manual transmission (7-speed dual clutch system available, known as the M-DCT) 18" M-Sport alloy wheels with 245/40R18 front and 265/40R18 rear [b]The Drive[/b] Dynasty. No, not the 1980s American television show, but the one that can trace its lineage back to the 70s and a factory in Garchang, Germany. The birth of Motorsport, BMW's in-house performance and racing arm saw the beginning of a devotion usually reserved for the likes of Ferrari and Porsche amongst its followers. The M1, onto the M5 and then to the great grandfather of the car we have today, the venerable M3. From the race-bred E30 version, to the more comfortable E36 and the excellent E46 version, the M3 has been the real-world performance hero for three generations. Now we have the new version, launched in September 2007 and things haven't been universally easy for this car. Many have commented on its lack of steering feel, a muted engine, lack of interaction. Signs, which point towards the new-found demographic for this car; middle-aged Gentlemen and perhaps even female drivers wanting the brand cachet. To be fair, the M3's role as uber 3-series is no secret and to some that justifies the asking price. Can this car live up to expectations at Silverstone? We shall see. [img]http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b10/byrniezero5/M3test3.jpg[/img] Straight away, into Copse corner, the new M3 feels lively. As you aim for the apex, it doesn't take long before the RWD chassis is making you wind on corrective lock before you can continue on your course. The E46 M3 was very much a power-oversteer hero and on first evidence, it doesn't seem to have been eradicated from the E92 version. To be honest, I didn't learn much more about this car in the first few laps other than it excels at playing the hooligan. Pick whatever corner here you like, be it Abbey or Maggotts or Copse, you can pick your line and if you aren't oversteering as you aim for the apex, you will be as you pass it. In this environment, whilst it isn't the quickest way to make progress, it is a whole lot of fun, especially if you can link two corners together and dance from lock to lock. Whilst driving this way, it rarely seems too much and isn't a full-on assault on your talent to keep it in a lurid oversteer arc, before bringing it back into line with nothing more than applying the corrective lock and continuing. At Luffield however, on these early laps where I was taking full advantage of 420 bhp through the rear wheels, it would spin out rather easily, much like at the recent F1 race held there. Whilst it's very progressive through most of the corners here, it is still a lot of power if deployed incorrectly. [img]http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b10/byrniezero5/M3test1.jpg[/img] Jackie Stewart once said on Top Gear, "never put on the power until you absolutely don't have to take it off", whilst teaching James May to drive the TVR Tuscan 2 quickly. It's a great motto and one which is required to get the best from this car here. Unlike the MIni I've just driven, you can't be brutal as the extra power and reversed drive layout won't allow it and you simply won't be very quick. This time, using a focussed approach, the M3 doesn't feel like an arcade game, but more like a dialed-in racer. Into Copse, the nose goes where you want it, allow the momentum from the straight take you in, feel it balance up on its toes and then put the power in as you straighten up. Again, at Maggotts and Becketts, you use the same approach, but where the quick direction change could easily descend into oversteer, it resists with a little corrective tweak of the nose and doesn't. After another long straight (Hangar), Stowe is despatched in the same manor and it continues until the seemingly infamous Luffield. Here, a tiny fraction of attitude from the rear presented itself, not enough to lose time, but enough to stop the nose running wide, at least. It feels very direct on this circuit and anything but anodyne. Whether you want to drive whilst looking out of your side window or be precise and ultimately, [i]quick[/i], then the gauntlet is there for you to tap into it. Trouble is, enjoying that rear-end is almost too much to resist... [img]http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b10/byrniezero5/M3test4.jpg[/img] Of course, if you do aim to replicate the above you'd better be aware that this, being a heavy, powerful car, it will get away from you if too little caution is applied. Even in these perfectly dry conditions, if liberties are to be taken, the tyres are overwhelmed and the car will spin out quickly and whilst the slip angle needed for that to happen is quite lurid, you'd better be in a nice, open area or a crash could be too hard to avoid. Thankfully, the car can be caught if you're aware it is about to happen and you either throw in enough steering angle to get it facing the right way or you rely on the brakes to sort it out for you. Either way, you'll be left sweaty palmed in a cloud of dust, but only one will leave you massively out of pocket. The brakes are there to minimise any chances of collision, but BMW's choice of stoppers haven't always been favoured by the more enthusiastic of owners. The E46 M3 - and its hairier CSL version - regularly get the Big Brake treatment by the likes of AP Racing or Brembo to add that layer of confidence that it originally lacks. In practice, the brakes do work adequately to stop the car without too much drama, but not as quickly as you'd really like to be able to lean on them and extract that bit extra from the car. It seems at odds that items which are merely okay are fitted to the M3, when the lighter, less-powerful 135i Coupe gets 6-pot calipers to give more stopping power. [img]http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b10/byrniezero5/M3test2.jpg[/img] In summary from this brief drive, whilst the car is rather tail-happy if you let it, it rewards a cleaner driving style rather well. There are a couple of flies in the ointment, especially the brakes, you do get the impression this car performs better at a track than in the rear world where its best talents have to remain hidden. Bottom line, if you're a regular track user, this would be a very fun car to partake in. Just budget for replacement tyres and brake pads every time.