Press "Enter" to skip to content

Author: Carter

This site contains Ebay partner affiliate links, which may earn us a commission at no additional cost to you.

Motorsports Monday: 1988 BMW M3

Published February 16, 2015 by Carter

Remember 2007? I know, it doesn’t seem that long ago, right? Yet, back in 2007 you could take a pretty nice E30 M3 and turn it into a race car, and no one would scream at you, call you bad names, or think you insane. That’s because back in 2007, though many appreciated the E30 M3 it wasn’t the superstar of the German car market that it is today. As a result, it was still reasonably common to see E30 M3s turn up at the track, and properly built they were still the match for many newer cars. A friend of mine moved from a 2002 to a M3 in the early 2000s; after an engine rebuild, he needed break-in miles on the motor, so at a Lime Rock Park event he tossed me the keys. Out on track, it took me approximately 3 turns to instantly feel comfortable. The poise and balance of the E30 was amazing, and though I couldn’t use the upper range of the S14 and had to lug around one gear up from where the car should have run I was able to run down many E36 and E46 M3s without much difficulty. Coming off track, the owner was all smiles and laughing – “Imagine if those other M3 guys knew you were running a gear up!” he laughed. Today, E30 M3 racers may be one of the cheapest ways to get the M3 feeling – but while even the most nicely prepared ones were at most $20,000 – $25,000 only a few years ago the market surge has reached even non-street legal cars:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 BMW M3 on eBay

Read Our PostMotorsports Monday: 1988 BMW M3
1 Comment

Motorsports Monday: 1997 Audi A4 1.8T quattro

Published February 16, 2015 by Carter

This past weekend, thanks in no small part to the atrocious weather pattern that seems to be sitting over my head in New England, I missed an opportunity to head to Warner Lake in New York and do some ice driving. While my participation in these events has generally involved instructing students and having a lot of sideways fun, the Audi events I attend are usually run in conjunction with a ice racing organization. If you think Audi quattros are top dog, then you need to see the heavily modified sprint cars on studs running around the ice. They put anything you could drive on the road to shame. But presuming you actually did want to drive there, older Audis are still pretty attractive options to have an ice racing car. First off, they’re good on the ice – especially the older generation cars with less electronic interference. Secondly, they’re generally pretty cheap and mostly reliable. Along with older Subarus, they seem to make up the brunt of cars that head to the ice. Of course, finding a decent older Audi quattro these days isn’t always easy. One possible solution is to look towards the glut of cheap A4s that litter these shores.

I was recently having a discussion about this with my cousin. We both owned 4000 quattros as our first cars, and both are nostalgic about having one, but coming by a decent one can be difficult and the reality is that they’re pretty slow out of the box. The A4, in comparison, isn’t much quicker out of the gates thanks to a heavier chassis; but unlike the B2 they’re plentiful, parts are easy to come by, and select one with the 1.8T motor and you can turn the wick up quite a bit. Plus, near us there’s an A4 for sale every day of the week for less than $2,000 – most of them in pretty reasonable shape, amazingly. But instead of building an ice race car yourself, maybe it’s easier to just buy one that someone else has already built:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1997 Audi A4 1.8T quattro on eBay

Read Our PostMotorsports Monday: 1997 Audi A4 1.8T quattro
Comments closed

Motorsports Monday: 1986 Porsche 911 IROC RSR Replica

Published February 16, 2015 by Carter

For some time, one of the most popular race car trends with Porsche 911s was updating them; for the most part, people would take 1970s and early 1980s 911s and dress then in 964, 993 or in rare cases even the 996. With prices the way that they are on early 911s today, that may seem sacrilegious to many! So it’s not hugely surprising that with the surge in prices of early 911s – in particular, some of the rare racing models – increasingly instead of updating many modifying the venerable track tools have instead started to backdate the cars to earlier looks. Without a doubt, one of the most popular looks in the 911 scene is the RS and RSR models from the early 1970s – a time that really defined the Porsche legend as the defacto street to track weapon. Today’s example is one such backdated car; starting with a 1986 911, the builder selected the early 70s RSR look with IROC body panels. But the transformation of this 80s icon is more than skin deep, as underneath we find a 964-sourced 3.6 flat-6 good for 250 horsepower:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1986 Porsche 911 on eBay

Read Our PostMotorsports Monday: 1986 Porsche 911 IROC RSR Replica
Comments closed

Coupe Week: 1995 Audi S2

Published February 14, 2015 by Carter

For many people, the third generation Audi Coupe wasn’t quite the match for the car that it replaced. Launched in 1988, even Audi would seem to agree; it continued to produced the original Quattro through 1991, alongside its seeming replacement. While the looks of that replacement – the 20V turbocharged S2 – were considerably more sedate than the Quattro, it was nonetheless a handsome car. Though the iconic flares and chunky styling was replaced by a more rounded look, there were many advantages to the newer cars. First off, they were considerably safer with a stiffer structure and passive safety systems to protect drivers and passengers (anyone else remember the seatbelt pretensioning “PROCON-10” system?). Additionally, the smoother styling meant the car was much quieter at speed than the Quattro ever had been. The drivetrain was nearly identical to the end of run “RR” Quattros, right down to the new Torsen differential in the rear with electronic lock. And unlike its predecessor, and though few people remember, there were three versions of the S2 available; the oft-emulated Coupe, the highly desirable Avant, and the quite rare sedan of which only around 300 were produced. But as this is Coupe Week, we’re taking a look at one of the 2-door variants, of course!

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Audi S2 at Classic Park

Read Our PostCoupe Week: 1995 Audi S2
3 Comments

Coupe Week 10K Friday: CL600 v. 840Ci v. Corrado SLC v. TT quattro

Published February 13, 2015 by Carter

Time for another 10K Friday roundup, and this time I’m focusing on Coupe Week for the theme. That results in a diverse selection to choose from; from a turbocharged 1.8 inline four right through a twin-turbo V12, we have front drive, all-wheel drive and two rear-drivers. Three are automatics with one manual and ten years separate the oldest to newest; yet these are all two-door cars that fit into the $10,000 budget price range. I wanted also to include a Porsche, but wanted to cover models that we hadn’t seen in other posts and the closest I could get in a 911 was in the mid-teens, so we’re down to four choices. Who wins this crazy competition?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2003 Mercedes-Benz CL600 on eBay

Read Our PostCoupe Week 10K Friday: CL600 v. 840Ci v. Corrado SLC v. TT quattro
11 Comments