RGM’s street BMW M3 klaps Kyalami

7:35 am 0 Comments

309kW and 400Nm and a time of two minutes around Kyalami too slow for you? Well, grab a shot of adrenalin and a gate pass to a mental hospital with the RGM Supercharged BMW M3.

It’s definitely not covered by BMW Motorplan, but the street-going Rob Green Motorsport-developed E92 M3 Coupé, sporting a supercharger, managed to surprise its track-day rivals on street legal semi-slicks at a recent BMW/Porsche Kyalami track day. A lap time of 1:54.03s sees it nipping at the heels of the 335i production cars’ times around the track in full race setup.

RGM says it’s docile enough to drive every day. Yeah, docile like pitbull with its goonies in a vice grip – let go and it will bite you. Hard.

Mental illness in a car-sized pill. 500+kW and 600Nm in a racecar-rivaling streetcar.

Press release after the jump

IRON FIST, VELVET GLOVE
There’s been a change of pecking order in the fast car aftermarket, with Kyalami’s existing lap record for a street-legal forced-induction BMW smashed by a supercharged E92 M3 built and owned by RG Motorsport of Strydom Park, Randburg, on Sunday July 25.

Circuit ace Reghard Roets set the new benchmark early in the morning of a Bridgestone-sponsored BMW/Porsche track day, powering the howling 504 kW/634 Nm gunmetal monster around the Highveld circuit in an astonishing one minute 54,03 seconds. Shod with street-legal Dunlop semi-slick tyres, the supercharged V8 coupe comfortably eclipsed the existing best time, and moved firmly into the league of the likes of the 335i production racers.

“This isn’t a track car disguised as a road car and it wasn’t built with lap records or track usage in mind, which makes the way it coped with this kind of stress even more impressive,” said Roets, who works for RGM when not pushing track cars to the limit. “Despite its pace it remains docile and exceptionally refined in normal driving and the only issue on the day was the tendency for the power steering fluid to overheat after a number of flying laps.”

The car is essentially identical to what any M3 owner could order from RGM, a company which specialises in forced induction installations for BMWs and prides itself in a level of craftsmanship which makes their engine bays a joy to behold. Not only that, but their conversions are underpinned by solid engineering and thorough research and development.

“When we heard about the track day we decided on the spur of the moment to give the car a try,” said Rob Green, managing member of RGM. “It is good for 320 km/h and a 0 – 100 of around four seconds but it also exceeded our expectations around Kyalami, confirming the integrity of our workmanship.”

A feature of the car is the charge-cooled and centrifugally-driven supercharger, which uses a heat-exchanger with a separate cooling system to lower the temperature of the intake air before it enters the engine. This, along with the management of engine electronics via a sophisticated piggy-back computer, enables the powerplant to cope with the dramatic increase in power and torque.