Test Driving the BMW M3 GT Race Car

In these dark economic times, the number of automakers willing to throw vast sums of money at auto racing has dwindled. Honda, Toyota, BMW, and Renault have either walked away from Formula 1 or reduced their financial commitment. Automakers have cut back the cash they have been spending in NASCAR. And in sports-car racing, only Audi and Peugeot are running fully funded programs in the fastest prototype classes, with more prudent efforts coming from Aston Martin and Honda Performance Development, which uses the Acura badge.

Yet, farther back in the 2010 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) field, where the cost of entry is lower, there is genuine manufacturer involvement in the Grand Touring class. These cars actually look similar to what we see on the street. That involvement can be covert, taking the form of development help to top privateer teams, as Ferrari does with Risi Competizione and Porsche with Flying Lizard. Or it can be a full-blooded factory effort, as with the Chevrolets and the BMWs. It can also be something in between, like the Jaguar-backed RSR team.

It’s exciting that the best competition in sports-car racing in North America this year will occur between real-looking cars rather than airplanes with wheels. All six of the cars that run in GT—BMW M3, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, Ferrari F430, Ford GT-R, Jaguar XKR, and Porsche 911 GT3—already look great before the teams add big wings, wide wheel arches, deep front spoilers, and war paint. Dressed for battle, these cars are stunners, none more so than the M3 GT.

According to the rules for Grand Touring–class racing [see below], the M3 has to share a reasonable amount of components with its street cousin. The steel body shell is the same as the regular car’s but with a serious-looking roll cage welded inside. The engine has to retain production castings and the same displacement as the M3’s 4.0-liter V-8, although BMW changed the internal parts, switched to a flat-plane crank, and opened up the ports in the cylinder heads. Output is up 56 horsepower to 470.

The suspension layout is supposed to remain stock, but BMW caught a break from the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO)—it sets the Le Mans (and ALMS) rules— because its strut front and multilink rear setup would have been uncompetitive against rivals that have control-arm suspensions. Hence the M3 GT has specially fabricated control arms at all four corners. The car uses six-piston front and four-piston rear AP brake calipers, but the ACO bans it from using either anti-lock control or carbon-composite rotors. Exotic-looking, 18.0-inch-diameter, forged magnesium Rays wheels are 12.0 inches wide at the front and 13.0 inches at the rear.

The drivetrain itself is substantially different from that of the production car. First, the engine sits lower in the frame and as far back as possible while retaining the stand­ard fire-wall location. Whereas the street car’s transmission is mounted in situ with the engine, the racing M3 has a rear-mounted Xtrac sequential six-speed transaxle. Components such as the generator, the air-conditioning compressor, and the starter motor mount to the transmission rather than the engine. We measured a weight distribution of 49 percent in front and 51 in back, confirming a claim from Jay O’Connell, technical director for Rahal Letterman Racing, which runs the cars for BMW North America, the company that initiated the program and funds it. (BMW Motorsport in Munich developed the car.)

Most of the body panels are bespoke carbon-fiber pieces, including the doors, the hood, the decklid, and the front fenders. All of the aerodynamic add-ons, such as the gigantic rear wing, are approved by the ACO. According to O’Connell, BMW caught another break from the sanctioning body, this time in the power-versus-drag department. The BMW is derived from a sedan-based coupe and thus has a much larger frontal area than the pure sports cars it races against. “We have between 7 and 10 percent more frontal area, and even when the M3s are lowered and widened, we’re still putting a bigger hole in the air,” he says. And this means the M3 is allowed to make more power than its peers, using larger air restrictors on the engine’s intake system in order to ­equalize performance, as dictated by the ACO and the ALMS. With all the lightweight pieces, the car weighs in at 2830 pounds, almost 800 less than a stock M3.

Like most modern racing cars (and ladies of the evening), the cabin is stripped for business, and there’s a lot for the driver to do and take in—enough that BMW gave me a manual to read and digest before driving the car. The steering wheel has a great many buttons on it, including the settings for the traction-control system, the pit-lane speed limiter, the radio, and the turn signals. The dashboard houses the brake balance bar and a digital display that shows revs, lap times, and the car’s vital signs. There’s also a bank of switches to the right of the tall gearshift lever that includes the ignition, the starter, and the air-conditioning controls. And what’s this? A/C? It’s there because a Le Mans rule stipulates that cabin temperatures stay below 83 degrees F unless the ambient is higher, in which case the temperature in the cockpit must match it or be lower. (In the ’80s and ’90s, cabin temperatures in sports-car racing quite often got into the 140-degree range.)

Shifting is simple. Push the lever forward to go down a gear; pull it back to go up a ratio. The clutch is necessary to get rolling out of pit lane but isn’t required on the move. The transmission has a “shift without lift” feature that allows the driver to stay hard on the throttle during upshifts. On downshifts, the electronics automatically blip the gas. The driver shifts when a sequence of lights mounted on the digital dash display goes from green to amber to red.

The driving position is comfortable, if slightly strange, with the seat so far back in the car that your shoulders are almost parallel with the car’s B-pillars. Pronounced bolsters keep the driver’s thighs, hips, and torso in place under hard cornering, in a seat so low that it’s hard to see what’s going on ahead of the front wheels.

When the engine cranks to life, the din envelops the cabin. This M3 doesn’t have mufflers, and when you’re on the gas, the engine sounds like a couple of angry four-bangers at war with each other.

The M3 GT is notably quicker than a stock M3, scooting through the quarter-mile in 11.0 seconds at 129 mph compared with 12.6 seconds at 113 mph for the quickest M3 coupe we’ve tested. With a 0-to-60-mph time of 3.1 seconds and a 0-to-100 time of 6.6, the car’s acceleration is in the same ballpark as the latest 911 Turbo and even quicker than a Corvette ZR1. The engine has a strong power band, and shifts snap off instantly.

According to the data, I’m pulling 154 mph along Sebring’s back straightaway, which doesn’t seem that fast until I have to haul down the car for the ensuing third-gear corner, where the car sticks with 1.7 g, or about 70 percent more than a stock M3. The steering is surgically accurate.

The most impressive aspects of the car, though, are its brakes, its stability and grip in fast corners, and the efficacy of its traction control. As with any race car that generates a lot of downforce at high speeds, the driver can simply mash the brake pedal at the end of long straightaways; however, as speed reduces and downforce diminishes, the driver has to modulate pedal pressure to avoid lockup. The 70-to-0-mph stopping distance of 174 feet is 17 feet longer than an M3’s and 32 feet more than a ZR1’s, but from 120 mph to 0, the M3 GT’s performance is roughly equal to the best Corvette’s, despite not having the benefit of anti-lock brakes. This BMW dares its driver to brake deeper and deeper.

The M3 GT’s powerful downforce is also apparent through the faster corners at Sebring, where the car is as planted as a sequoia. Around the back of the 3.7-mile road course, there’s a double-apex corner that I run at 132 mph, lifting off the gas briefly between the two bends. Factory driver Joey Hand exits at 140 mph. Through the 100-mph-plus Turn One, the M3 hangs on with 1.7 g of cornering force. It would go faster if only I were braver.

Truck Beds -- Dealing With Damage

Truck beds that actually get put to use often end up with one kind of damage or another. It's easy enough to just turn over your pickup to a body shop for repair. The problem with that approach is the price tag. What about tackling a bed repair project yourself? Here are several approaches to do-it-yourself truck bed fix-up.

Replacement Panels

Especially if rust is the villain, complete replacement of the damaged bed floor works best. For many popular trucks you can buy the truck floor in sections. That way you just cut out the bad part and graft in the new. The new panel can be attached with rivets and then puttied in to match the existing panels. A better way is to simply weld in the new sections and then prepare for paint.

Cut It Out

Cutting out all the damaged area is the best way to make sure it, the rust, is truly gone. Then you can fab replacement sheet metal to fit within the cut out sections. Those then get welded in place and you're ready to do the final filling and blending for a finished repair. Of course this requires some skilled work but all but the metal fab work and welding are more a matter of dirty work than skilled work.

Rust Converter

One powerful tool for dealing with rusty metal is chemical rust converter. Made by several companies, these compounds are a paint on coating that actually changes rust to a different material. What you end up with is a primer coat after the reaction takes place. Then just paint on the finish coat right over the prime coat produced by the rust converter.

Sanding

Getting rid of rust requires some serious steps if you don't take the chemical converter route. Simple sanding may often not be enough, since the rust may hide in dips and flaws. That's why the best alternative for rust elimination may be blasting, sand blasting that is. That process air blasts abrasive material to beat back the rust. The problem is that more than just rust gets blasted away. Blasting can blow away even sound metal too.

Touch-up Paint

Luckily, an internet search will probably show that you can get your paint with the proper paint code in spray cans or in small quantities by the bottle. That way when the bed damage is corrected, the painting can be done with correct paint.

Roll On Bed Liners

Covering the damage means the actual repair need not be quite so professional. Any repair should produce a sound rust-free surface. But if you cover the surface after the repair, the actual repair appearance doesn't much matter. That's where a simple roll on bed liner or another bed cover provides the finished appearance to cover the repair.

Truck beds take a licking over time when pickups actually do hauling jobs. Fixing the damage can be left to the pros or you can tackle it yourself. The do-it-yourself solutions may be good enough and far cheaper.

Toyota Tundra - - Make Your Accessories As Rugged As Your Truck

The Toyota Tundra bulldozed its way on to the American truck scene in the beginning of this century and has never looked back. It is generally regarded as the first import to have the type of rough and rugged look and feel that American trucks were known for. The Toyota Tundra parts were genuine Toyota parts, but were put together in such a way that they came close to approximating what the Big 3 American companies were doing. It was successful immediately, although it would take some time for diehards to accept it since the Toyota Tundra parts were not quite as powerful as the domestic competitors' were. As the decade went along, however, the genuine Toyota parts that make up the Tundra proved to be every bit as tough as the Fords, Chevys, and GMs. Since the Tundra is officially recognized as being a rugged vehicle, is it not appropriate to get a few Toyota Tundra parts that can reflect this?

One of the Toyota Tundra parts that can add an appropriate level of ruggedness to your experience is a set of heavy duty floor mats. If you are using your truck to do any type of heavy work, it is likely that you will collect all manner of gunk on your footwear. Even the toughest truck deserves to be kept clean, and with snow, mud, water, sand, and other types of particulate, you will need help to do so. The genuine Toyota parts may not be absolutely necessary in this case. There are plenty of third-party vendors that provide reliable products even though they are not genuine Toyota parts. Third-party Toyota Tundra parts like heavy duty floor mats will protect the inside of your vehicle no matter what the task.

Once you have protected the inside of your truck, you will need to secure the outside as well. Getting Toyota Tundra parts such as sturdy bed mats will make your life so much easier when it comes to maintenance and cleaning. This is another instance where genuine Toyota parts may or may not be a necessary move. Accessories such as these can be produced cheaply from third parties, and they will have the same durability as genuine Toyota parts. The bed mat, made from a sturdy rubber derivative, will protect your bed whether you are hauling giant tree branches or helping your friend move his piano. Again, the major advantage here is long-term maintenance and reduced time spent cleaning.

If you have a Tundra you already know that genuine Toyota parts are high quality, and Toyota Tundra parts are certainly no different. But, you are probably also aware that the standard Toyota Tundra parts, even though they are genuine Toyota parts, may not be quite as rugged as you were looking for. If this is the case, take the time to investigate some of the other available products, such as floor liners and bed mats. These items can add that extra bit of sturdy protection that your truck deserves.

Accessorizing Your Toyota For Maximum Impact

Today's world is one of personalization. We live in an era in which there are a multitude of products and modifications available to us, so that we can get exactly the look and feel we desire. At a time when everything is customizable, we all have the ability to express our individuality to the world through both our personalities and our material goods. Cars are no exception. You can turn your Toyota into more than a simple vehicle-it can be a statement. A statement about you, your values, and your personal style. By choosing the Toyota accessories that combine to show the world who you are, you can truly embrace this new world of choice and expression. The sheer multitude of Toyota accessories available can sometimes overwhelm. Which parts are the ones that will deliver maximum impact? This article will cover three Toyota Camry parts that can add style and expression to your trusted vehicle.

The first accessories we will look at are the Toyota Camry parts called dash kits. These accessories provide a way for you to customize your dashboard. While Toyota Camry parts-including the dashboard-are of top notch quality, they can stand to be spruced up a little. Dash kits come in synthetic or real wood grain, carbon fibers, and various metallic finishes. These Toyota accessories also come in a range of colors. This wide spectrum of options gives you great control over how your interior will look. Upgrading your dash can also lead to more protection and a longer lifespan.

Another great set of Toyota accessories to consider are fog lights. These Toyota Camry parts are not only stylish, they will also express your practical side. Toyota accessories that provide safety include things like weather-ready tires, but fog lights can eliminate one of the greatest dangers to any driver-lack of visibility. Toyota Camry parts such as fog lights come in a few different styles, but they all deliver enhanced visibility even in the worst conditions.

While fog lights are Toyota accessories designed for safety, these next Toyota Camry parts-vertical doors-are almost purely for style. Also known as Lambo doors, these Toyota accessories will enable your doors to open vertically, ensuring that every time you get in or out, you will be expressing your unique individuality. These Toyota Camry parts come as a conversion kit, which you can use yourself or hire someone to do. They are made to be easy to install and generally come with lifetime warranties. If you are someone who is ready to make a bold statement with your vehicle, you should definitely consider the Lambo doors.

These three different Toyota accessories can give your Camry both style and substance. The fog lights are especially geared towards safety, while the vertical doors are entirely focused on style. The dash kit is somewhere in the middle, giving your interior a fresh look but at the same time providing enhanced protection from solar damage. If you are ready to express yourself with style and substance, think about these products for your Camry.

Special Forces Tacomas

Straight from the Showroom to Counter-Insurgency Action

Introduced to the world in the mid 1990s, the Toyota Tacoma is truly an extraordinary vehicle. It was designed to be a rugged pickup truck that could compete with the products from the Big Three: Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors. No one could have predicted that the Toyota Tacoma parts would be so durable, and perform so well, that the United States military would actually prefer them over domestic vehicles. That is correct: the US Special Forces teams serving in Afghanistan use Toyota Tacomas for their missions. This is a true testament to the performance and reliability of these vehicles. The military is known for purchasing Tacomas right off the showroom floor, modifying them slightly, and then shipping them into combat zones. The Toyota Tacoma parts must be quite formidable if they can stand up to this kind of severe terrain and usage. This article will look at some of the modifications that are performed on the Tacoma, and how each Toyota part is available for you to add to your truck.

One Toyota part that was added to the standard Toyota Tacoma parts that are pre-installed on the vehicle was a heavy-duty winch. A winch is a tool that provides power and leverage when using a rope. In its most basic form, a winch consists of a spool, some rope, and a simple hand crank. The user will operate the crank manually and wind up or wind out the rope. Obviously, in more sophisticated winches, such as those in tow trucks, the system is more complicated. There are many Toyota Tacoma parts that can fill this roll, ranging from the simple to the sophisticated. The military was known to use a Toyota part that was quite rugged, in order to operate effectively in the mountainous, unforgiving terrain of Afghanistan. While you may not need the same Toyota part that the military uses, a sturdy winch could help you to get out of mud bogs, or to remove fallen trees from your property.

The next Toyota part we will discuss is a bit of a cheat. I am talking about fog lights. These Toyota Tacoma parts were actually not used by Special Forces in Afghanistan. Instead, they installed infrared lights. This is a bit high tech to be a Toyota part, but infrared lights and fog lights actually serve the same purpose; they are both Toyota Tacoma parts designed to enhance visibility in less than ideal situations. So while you may not need a Toyota part that will allow you to see warm bodies at night, you will need the capability to see in the fog, snowstorm, or other low visibility conditions. For this reason, it is advisable to equip your vehicle with these outstanding products.

In this article we looked at a couple of Toyota Tacoma parts that were used by the United States military in Afghanistan. Each Toyota part added much needed functionality to the already rugged and reliable Toyota Tacoma. If you want to get even more performance out of your vehicle, invest in some Toyota Tacoma parts that will enable you to do more of the things you want to do.

Safety Features of the Toyota Corolla

Probably the greatest irony of the year-maybe of the decade-is the fact that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and other ranking bodies, gave the 2010 Toyota Corolla high marks for safety. The past couple of years have not been good for Toyota's reputation for safety, and the Corolla has not escaped the dark shadow either. There have been recalls due to suspect Toyota Corolla parts, and even the cars with fully functioning Toyota parts have been viewed with supreme suspicion. It seems, though, that other than the Toyota Corolla parts that malfunctioned and led directly to the unstoppable acceleration problems, the car is quite safe. This article will look at a few of the Toyota parts that come with the standard option and that provide noteworthy protection for you and your family.

The first of the safety-oriented Toyota Corolla parts we will look at are the side curtain airbags. These Toyota parts are airbags that stretch the entire length of the car cabin, protecting passengers from smashing their heads during a side-impact collision. These Toyota Corolla parts are a great safety feature because they not only protect during collision, but also in case of a rollover. If there is a rollover, these Toyota parts inflate and form a barrier that keeps occupants from hitting their heads or flying out of the windows, the leading cause of injury in these types of accidents.

The second of the Toyota Corolla parts that enhances safety and that comes pre-installed on the standard model is the anti-lock breaking system (ABS). This system prevents the steering mechanism from freezing up during sudden breaks. It could be said that the Toyota parts most crucial to safety are the breaks. When traveling on icy or otherwise dangerous roads you want to have Toyota Corolla parts that will be able to bring you to a complete stop. ABS can help inexperienced drivers who may not know how to properly break while maintaining control of the vehicle. They can also help experienced drivers who are caught off-guard by, say, a deer that runs into the road. The Toyota parts that comprise the ABS are crucial for the safety of your passengers.

The last Toyota Corolla parts that we will discuss are the active head restraints. These Toyota parts sound almost like some type of medieval torture device, but, in fact, they can prevent a minor rear-end collision from turning into a case of whiplash. These Toyota Corolla parts are designed to protect your neck from damage by filling space between them and the head rests. They may not save your life, but they can save you a trip to the doctor.

These are just a few of the many Toyota parts that are designed to protect you and your family from suffering during an accident. Even though Toyota's public image has taken a huge hit in the recent past, they are still safe vehicles. If you are thinking of purchasing one, know that these three parts come pre-installed on the Corolla.

Is the Mulsanne a New Breath of Life For Bentley?

Is the Continental a New Breath of Life for Bentley?

Bentley, crafters of exquisite automobiles since the turn of the twentieth century has caused controversy with its continental series because of its relatively low price tag for the luxury car market. Many pundits have argued that it is the iconic car maker’s exclusiveness of price, backed up of course by its peerless engineering and luxurious coachwork, which has made Bentley the icon that it is. It has often been said that driving a Bentleys is the equivalent to flying Concord, that its performance was above and beyond the rest of the pack and its interiors were first class all the way. Bentley have broken with a long tradition of top specification with a price tag to match with the continental series and it has left many people wondering if the company is undergoing a crisis of identity.

Owning a Bentley has always been synonymous with having the kind of financial clout that is the exception rather than the norm, its status and image have always been amongst the very highest. Names such as Aston Martin and Rolls Royce have the same kind of reputation, and all of these have adapted to the changing car market by holding onto the exceptional quality and price tags attached to their brand. Is Bentley breaking from this, albeit, very exclusive pack?

The continental is still a luxury car, coming with a hefty price tag of $150,000, but can it truly hold a candle to Aston’s DB5, their equivalent model, it would seem not. Some fans of Bentley have also voiced their concerns over the direction the company is taking in regards to its market position. Some have voiced specific concerns about the perceived value of the higher end models if the Continental series is expanded. The Continental is still a serious car, boasting the sort of engineering you would expect from a Bentley, it performs well and looks stunning, especially the convertible model, but for the rich this is always going to be a second car, perhaps for running about town. If this is the direction the company is going to take over the next few years are we going to see its market position being eroded, perhaps down to the level currently enjoyed by Mercedes or BMW? Many hope not as the Bentley holds a really soft spot for many of the people who have owned one, its elegance and quality of engineering, as well as its smooth driving and handling have made it a firm favorite for many years amongst luxury car owners.

It does not come as a surprise to see Bentley launching a new flagship design that revives the Mulsanne label, and will eventually substitute the Arnage. The automobileis anticipated to be on sale in the course of the year 2010. Coupe and convertible options are anticipated to follow gradually as replacements for the Arnage-based Brooklands and Azure.

The new automobile will certainly preserve the legendary 6.75 L 8 cylinder motor, although greatly improved to fulfill the new European emission levels . To accomplish the particular CO2 and pollution levels decrease in addition to enhanced energy usage, the greatly enhanced engine is certainly lighter in weight and includes cylinder de-activation and adjustable cam phasing.

The new Mulsanne is additionally significant because it is the very first flagship automobile to be separately developed by Bentley in almost eighty years; the previous being Bentley's legendary eight litre version in 1930. The actual cost of the automobile in the uk will begin from £220,000, which includes taxations as well as delivery expenses. It is known every single vehicle will require almost nine weeks to construct and clients will possess a range of 100 plus color options, twenty one carpeting colors, nine wood veneers as well as 20 plus inner surface buckskin hides, and be able to stipulate a customized color pattern.

The Mulsanne underlines Bentley's desire to return to it's roots of top notch automobiles and thus, enhance and protect the brand.