M3 on the A33 this morning - was it you?

[Dunk76]

Was it you in a 52 Plate silver M3 on the A33 running up to Reading and the M4 about 11.20am today?

When you haven't shown that pesky three series behind you how a 3er should go , you could at least have the decency to acknowledge the fact

At the very least acknowledge the hoon eh?

Oh, and your car smells like burning transmission oil when being ragged..

Edited by Dunk76 on Monday 3rd September 21:04

[french]

You know I got some ing wr up my arse the other day around there in some crappy 320d trying to bait me.
Why would i bother the reason I am really pissed off with people like you ,it may have been you! I had my 8 year old daughter in the car & there's no way i'll race my car when she's in it, so i have a M3 ,it does'nt mean I have to put up with tts coming behind at 2-3 ft away at 50 -60 mph& endangering her life! Whoever it was turned off just before the rounabout in a balck 320d,if I see him again without my daughter on board Ill be having a word mate.

[cluelesscarnut]

what good will a word do?these people dont get the message.what i do is anchor up and scare the crap out of them when they tailgate me but obviously you couldnt do that with your daughter in.

[Dunk76]

Indeed.

But say you were pootling along a single carriageway behind a van minding your own business, when a silver 3er catches you up. 3er proceeds to sit a safe/respectable distance behind and makes no attempt to goad/provoke any reaction, neither does he look to overtake you or the van.

You turn off onto a bit of road which is dead straight for 1/4 mile and overtake a horsebox - 3er follows about 150yds behind. You then get onto the A33 and into traffic - again, unidentified 3er sits some way behind.

Then arrive at a stretch of Dual Carriageway and you give it the absolute berries - presumably with the intent of showing this 3er what it's all about. However, said 3er isn't quite as slow as anticipated, and in fact keeps up with you along this Dual Carriageway all the way up to some silly speeds - until traffic dictates a more sensible course of action and respective lead feet are lifted. 3er resumes station some way behind.

Would you acknowledge the hoon when you stop at some lights a mile up the road?

Or would you pretend the silver 3er, which turns out to be a B3, simply isn't there?

[Gassey]

quick flash of the hazards is always polite i think

[Pugsey]

Good grief - have we now got to acknowledge every single car that 'keeps up' with us for a few miles on every journey we take lest we be percieved as being rude? I kept up with a white van for miles in the Fezza the other day and he didn't wave once. And I KNOW he was trying because of the clouds of smoke. Or is this just an M3 thing - in which case I may cancel my order!

[Marki]

All this waving stuff is very Gay

[Schnell]

Marki said:

All this waving stuff is very Gay

Indeed.

If you don't know the person, I cannot see the point in flashing/waving to acknowledge the fact that both parties involved have just commited various offences on her Maj's highway.

I'm all for the odd hoon in the right circumstances but self-congratulation of such is a little, well, perverse in my opinion.

[Dino D]

Dunk76 said:

Or would you pretend the silver 3er, which turns out to be a B3, simply isn't there?

So what is that you really want: The guy to jump out and say 'Wow how did you keep up with my amazing M3? What is this slightly diferrent looking 3er?' so that you could go into the long discussion about how you 'could have' bought an M3 but you made the wiser choice and got a more unique, better riding and looking B3 instead?



Edited to say 'IT WASN'T ME'



PS: Maybe he was just a typical BMW driver and never looked into his mirrors once and never knew you were there?

Edited by Dino D on Wednesday 5th September 11:10

[Dunk76]

Dino D said:

Dunk76 said:

Or would you pretend the silver 3er, which turns out to be a B3, simply isn't there?

So what is that you really want: The guy to jump out and say 'Wow how did you keep up with my amazing M3? What is this slightly diferrent looking 3er?' so that you could go into the long discussion about how you 'could have' bought an M3 but you made the wiser choice and got a more unique, better riding and looking B3 instead?

Blast!

Rumbled!

[Dino D]

Dunk76 said:

Dino D said:

Dunk76 said:

Or would you pretend the silver 3er, which turns out to be a B3, simply isn't there?

So what is that you really want: The guy to jump out and say 'Wow how did you keep up with my amazing M3? What is this slightly diferrent looking 3er?' so that you could go into the long discussion about how you 'could have' bought an M3 but you made the wiser choice and got a more unique, better riding and looking B3 instead?

Blast!

Rumbled!

Good to see you have a sense of humour!!! Was worried you might get all defensive and start throwing your toys out the cot like......

But really mate, don't expect many ppl to know what a B3 is. Some might even think you chavved yours up (especially those with bling 19's on their M3's!!)

By the way, what bhp does your B3 have and where does it red line?

[Dunk76]

Dino D said:

By the way, what bhp does your B3 have and where does it red line?

It's quoted is 280bhp

Back in March, mine made 293bhp corrected and 254lb-ft, with a faulty AMM.

It's on the Dyno on Saturday - this time with a new AMM, and fresh air filter, new plugs etc. Hoping on 300+

Redline is 7250

[Olf]

If I intend to exercise the right foot on the particular road you're talking about I always spend the preceeding mile or so studying the cars in the rear view mirror to satisfy myself plod aren't evident.

Then I clog it. If anyone keeps up with me fine, if they don't they don't. I don't really want to make visual love to them either because they have a faster car than me or they don't!

Audi 3ltr avant won the day the other day. Only because he was prepared to do 1.3 which I wasn't.

p.s. When I had the SLK 350 I had my arse handed to me on a plate by a Nissan Sunny GTi-r down that road. I did wave to him as he dissapeared at warp speed away from me.

Edited by Olf on Wednesday 5th September 12:05

[cluelesscarnut]

Dunk76 said:

Indeed.

But say you were pootling along a single carriageway behind a van minding your own business, when a silver 3er catches you up. 3er proceeds to sit a safe/respectable distance behind and makes no attempt to goad/provoke any reaction, neither does he look to overtake you or the van.

You turn off onto a bit of road which is dead straight for 1/4 mile and overtake a horsebox - 3er follows about 150yds behind. You then get onto the A33 and into traffic - again, unidentified 3er sits some way behind.

Then arrive at a stretch of Dual Carriageway and you give it the absolute berries - presumably with the intent of showing this 3er what it's all about. However, said 3er isn't quite as slow as anticipated, and in fact keeps up with you along this Dual Carriageway all the way up to some silly speeds - until traffic dictates a more sensible course of action and respective lead feet are lifted. 3er resumes station some way behind.

Would you acknowledge the hoon when you stop at some lights a mile up the road?

Or would you pretend the silver 3er, which turns out to be a B3, simply isn't there?

none of those as i wouldnt be racing on the road <winks>

[Dino D]

Dunk76 said:

Dino D said:

By the way, what bhp does your B3 have and where does it red line?

It's quoted is 280bhp

Back in March, mine made 293bhp corrected and 254lb-ft, with a faulty AMM.

It's on the Dyno on Saturday - this time with a new AMM, and fresh air filter, new plugs etc. Hoping on 300+

Redline is 7250

Nice....

[french]

could'nt careless what car you have matey just dont tailend cars with kids inside.

The guy I'm on about had a 320d.

on a lighter note,I have'nt seen many of your B3's but yesterday I did see a nice looking Blue one & did find myself looking it over, why buy one of these over an M3 ???thats not meant to be a snide remark but its a genuine enquiry, is it because they are rare?

[cluelesscarnut]

french said:

could'nt careless what car you have matey just dont tailend cars with kids inside.

dont tailend cars full stop regardless who the occupents are

[naetype]

Unless I'm missing something I can't see anywhere where Dunk' says or directly infers he was tailgating.

A bit unrealistic to expect Beemer drivers to acknowledge each other though.... I waved at a Capri giving it some beans the other day and he asked me if I wanted to go for a coffee, which was nice... That is what the nodding fist gesture means isn't it?

[driverrob]

Dunk76 said:

on the A33 running up to Reading and the M4 about 11.20am today?

Don't let the world know about that stretch of dual carriageway with little traffic most of the time and no cameras, where 1.2+ leptons is a lovely, safe swoop down the hill.

[Dunk76]

french said:

could'nt careless what car you have matey just dont tailend cars with kids inside.

The guy I'm on about had a 320d.

on a lighter note,I have'nt seen many of your B3's but yesterday I did see a nice looking Blue one & did find myself looking it over, why buy one of these over an M3 ???thats not meant to be a snide remark but its a genuine enquiry, is it because they are rare?

Having kids myself, I'm well aware of your point - the B3 also attracts this sort of attention. Regardless, I don't tailgate at all, I drive for a living, and know the risks of being on the road all day - tailgating people with better brakes is one way of dramatically decreasing life expectancy.

As for the B3 - aside from the rarity, it's better suspended than any other E46 (at least for daily work) - being softer than an M-Sport or M3. It still has the inherent skittishness of an E46, but it's less pronounced. The Alpina suspension actually works on British roads, rather than the undersprung/overdamped M-Sports.

The engine is the dominator, and a work of engineering genius - lovely leggy long stroke 3.3, giving somewhere over 280bhp at peak, yet 254lb-ft from 2-5000rpm means its as docile as a 2 litre round town. Will return 34mpg+, yet bludgeon the old crate to the bad side of 165mph.

Truly a Jekyll & Hyde car.

It's not without it's shortcomings though - the softer set-up means it runs out of ideas when truly pressing-on on uneven surfaces, and it's not really track orientated. The brakes are stock 330i items, and not really capable of hauling down a car of this weight. It also lacks an LSD.

At 8/10ths, it's inspired. At 9/10ths it's a bloody handful. At 10/10ths it's terrifying. It's one of the most demanding cars I've driven - the engine means you can go bloody fast - the chassis, lack of LSD, and softer set-up means you need your wits about you and does tend to temper things somewhat. Although in truth, the underlying crapness of the E46 chassis isn't really Alpinas fault.

• If* the aforementioned M3 and myself had this blat along a typical A-Road, the M would have cleared off without too much effort - leaving me in what is effectively an M3 engined 330i hanging on for dear life trying to keep up. In fact, I probably wouldn't have bothered...