So I drove an E92 M3 around a track today...

I did something I've wanted to do for a very long time today, and that was to drive around one of the UK's motor racing circuits. I've been promising myself I'd do it for a while, but then I discovered that MSV (one of the circuit companies in the UK) run courses where you get to drive (and be driven in) an M3.

That seemed fair enough, but then I discovered several weeks ago that they're in the process of changing their E92 M3s for F80 M4s next month. In fact, Brands Hatch and the Bedford Autodrome have already switched to the M4. Only Oulton Park (near Manchester) is still using the E92 M3. Needless to say, that spurred me into action and so I bought one of their M3 ignition vouchers for the princely sum of £99 or about €138.

I don't need to tell any petrolhead why the E92 M3 is a special car, but it's worth pointing out to anyone not familiar that it marks the end of a truly remarkable era, in that it is the last ever M car to have a high revving, naturally aspirated engine. As we know, nowadays it's all about turbos and electronic this and electronic that. It's also significant because it's the first (and probably only) M3 to have a V8 engine.

So, despite the fact I love BMW's inline six cylinder engines, I obviously had to try and drive a V8:D. And what better car with a V8 engine to try than the last 'proper' M car, what with its naturally aspirated, custom designed and custom made engine, with its individual throttle bodies (I don't think they do that any more since they moved to glorified standard BMW engines) and totally unrelated to any non M car engine?

I'll skip all the stuff about the interior and all that kind of stuff - we all know what the E92 is like for comfort, style, interior etc etc, and I'll get straight onto the bit you all want to know - what's is like to drive.

The engine is an absolute masterpiece. I've never experienced anything like it. Short of going to an E60 M5 or something at that level, it simply can't be compared to anything else. It's the most extraordinary engine I've ever sampled. Even a six pot engine isn't a patch on it. The 'M' in this car really did stand for 'motor' as opposed to 'marketing' like the modern BMWs do. The throttle response is incredible, even compared to a regular petrol engine it's miles sharper. It's the way all cars should be. My instructor initially told me I wasn't smooth enough on the power - when you're so used to modern cars (especially diesels) with their sanitised and delayed throttle responses it takes some getting used to. The noise is incredible - as is the power. It just blows anything else I've driven out of the water. It revs, and then it revs some more, and then some more again right up to the redline, and then you get to do it all over again:D:D. And if it's fast normally, try it when you floor it and engage kickdown! And yet, at low revs and lower speeds, it's as easy to drive as a little city car. I was amazed at how refined and quiet the engine is (although you can always hear some V8 burble) at lower speeds and lower revs - I could see this car being very comfortable to do long distances in and the noise would never get intrusive - unless you want it to and have fun of course:D.

The handling is superb, I've never driven such a powerful rear wheel drive car before so I was rather cautious initially. But as I got more and more used to the car, my confidence built up and you can really take this car into bends with gusto and it will corner like it's on rails. The brakes are fantastic, as you'd expect in a car with this much power. I thought I had pushed the car quite hard (much more so than I would push a normal car on the public roads), but if you go to Oulton Park and get the M3 ignition course, you get a ride with a professional racing driver as well - and what an eye opener that was. I hadn't pushed the car half hard enough - there was so much more to give - it can be flung into bends at over 90 mph and it won't bat an eyelid, you can have fun with the back end and get it to wiggle about and drift a little (or a lot) and it never loses control, it's utterly controllable! Anyone who thinks rear wheel drive cars are 'unsafe' because you can get the back to step out hasn't a clue what they're talking about.

Obviously it's an M3 and most rear wheel drive cars simply won't come close, but this car shows so much why BMW's decision to make wrong wheel drive drive is so utterly, utterly wrong. You just couldn't have the fun I had with front wheel drive, end of story.

I expected to be blown away by the engine and the handling, but what I wasn't expecting was to be so impressed by was the gearbox. This car had the M DCT gearbox, and I know it's gotten fantastic reviews and everything, but I'm a traditionalist, I don't like the move away from naturally aspirated petrol engines (trying one of the world's best NA engines hasn't helped in that regard:D), and I don't like the fact that so many cars these days have automatic gearboxes. I especially don't like the fact that BMW doesn't even offer the M5 with a manual gearbox in Europe any more. I'm not totally anti-automatic, I think they work extremely well with diesels, but I firmly believe that in a hot hatch, a proper Porsche not one of those SUV yokes, an M car, and indeed most petrol BMWs that a manual is better, a good manual gearbox makes driving more fun not less fun.

Without the benefit of having driving both gearboxes in the M3, it's hard to know what's best, but what I can say for certain is that the DCT is an absolute beast of a gearbox! I utterly loved it, it undoubtedly made learning the circuit and getting up to speed and building confidence etc easier, there's enough things going on on a racetrack without having to worry about clutches and gears. But the shift quality is superb, smooth as a 'proper' automatic, and obviously being double clutch the shifts are instant. I still think if I was buying an M3 for myself, I'd have the manual, but I totally see why so many people like the DCT, it really is excellent in so many ways.

I'm going to go back again to Oulton Park in a while once the M4s are in service, as I'm really looking forward to seeing how they compare to the M3s, but by God that's going to be hard because frankly I don't see what BMW could have done better with the E92 M3.

As an aside, I was talking to some of the instructors at Oulton Park and was telling them that I deliberately chose to go before the M3 was gone, the feedback from those in the know is that the M4 is much gruntier despite only having another 10 bhp or thereabouts (I presume this is because of the twin turbos giving a lot more low down torque) but they seemed to be fairly unanimous in saying that the E92 is a better car to drive, the steering is sweeter and the M4 is apparently a bit softer than the E92 M3. There was mixed views on the new engine, some said I'll love the engine being a fan six pot engines others said it doesn't sound half as good as the M3's V8. Another thing, the trip computer on my car said the average fuel consumption was 6 mpg - granted the cars have spent all their lives going around a track, but you'd want to have deep pockets to run an E92 M3 - worth every last cent though if you can afford to run one. Now, I'm going to leave and beg, borrow and steal every last bit of money I can so that I can buy an M3 for myself:D.