Star Road

Appearing soon at tracks around California: this E46 M3.

This car belongs to my good friend Chris, who I’ve known since elementary school. We started building computers and wrenching on cars in high school, which means we’ve been sharing those hobbies for almost 25 years.

Back then, he drove a Civic EX, while I drove a Civic Si of the same generation–the start of a coincidental trend of us driving the same or similar car. The big difference between us, then and now, is that while I preferred to get my VTEC fix on the twisty NorCal backroads, Chris has always been about going to the track.

Man, I always regret not buying these photos. I don’t know what I was thinking at the time. Anyway, this is Chris and me on track in 2014 with our Scions. After I bought an FR-S, he bought an FR-S. It’s not like we were trying to own the same car; we just had the same taste.

And when I was setting my sights on a World Rally Blue BRZ while I still had my Boxster, Chris bought one before I did.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, what is it when two people independently arrive at the same conclusion?

After that, he went back to an FR-S, although the reason was entirely pragmatic: having been a Toyota technician when these cars were new, he had the software that would talk to the FR-S. Even though they are the same car built in the same factory, the Subaru-branded BRZ is locked out of using all of those Toyota tools.

Perhaps the final evolution of his FR-S featured a 5×114 conversion, canards, and a TRD front lip. At this Thunderhill West track day, I was now using his old 5×100 wheels.

This is where the E46 comes in: it’s a cheap and efficient way to unlock the next tier of track speed. This one already has some track experience and the requisite mods to go with it. Overall it was just a bit tired, but Chris is not afraid to get his hands dirty.

A fixed carbon fiber sunroof plug is one of the many mods it came with.

You can’t miss the beefy negative camber on these cars. It might look a bit out of place, but that’s what these cars want.

With a classic straight-six that revs to 8000 in a very capable chassis, you would think this is where it would be time for me to pick up an E46 and keep the car copying trend alive. Unfortunately, I’ve driven a few E46’s and they just don’t do it for me on the street. But Chris doesn’t need this car to be any good on the street, because it’s just going to be driven on the limit at the track.

Oh, but it is lovely to cruise around with the rear windows popped open. Whatever happened to these?