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Did you hear 330HP mentioned? Regarding your post here...it is hard to imagine that no one has responded to it regarding the use of the 3.2 engine. Either people didn't see it or they just don't want to believe it. Bruce's earlier post about PTG using 3.2 engine assumed that they would get the 3.4 later.

Other evidence to support the 3.2 was a posting some time ago of the BMW production schedule...which showed the car with a 3.2 as well.

: : it would be somewhat disappointing to see just a slightly bored out 3.2 in the new M3 rather than a new 3.4L. Saw your post on the E36M3 digest as well...there you mentioned Tom thought the HP would come in at 330 which is a little less than what has been reported by the mags and dealers.

: : : Today the National Chapter (Wash. DC) of BMW CCA visited the PTG facility in Winchester Virginia. I learned a bunch, and Tom Milner answered tons of questions.

: : : I thought that it was clear that the motor would be 3.4L but I asked Tom a question (in front of 50 people so I was nervous BTW) "So when you get the 3.4L engine do you expect to get much more performance out of it than the current 3.2L?" To this, he said, "What 3.4L motor?". He went on to explain that the confusion about the 3.4L motor comes from the fact that BMW tried to make a 3.4L aluminum block I-6, but due to problems opted to stick with the current block and give it some tweaks and another 0.05L of displacement. He said the new motor will be "3.25L or thereabouts". So it gets a slight bump in displacement, and they also lightened the valve train to help it rev higher.

: : : Here's some other interesting info...
: : : He said that they can race cars that meet LAST YEARS specs (read:1999 production models, E36's) for the first 2 races. After that they will have to convert to the Y2k E46 Chassis. This year, they do not have to carry an extra 175 lbs to "even the field" that contributed to the porsches' success last year. This year they have "restrictions" which means, as he put it, "If you have an 8L motor, you can have a tiny hole, and if you have a 1L motor, you can have a gaping hole." I'm assuming he's talking about the induction system.

: : : He said that they are expecting to get about 440 hp out of the current 3.2L motor for this season and are making some suspension geometry changes, with the help of BMW (as opposed to last year). BMW is working in cooperation with PTG this year, i.e. PTG gets immediate answers to questions, and engineers in Europe provide help using their top of the line CAD systems. They actually email the CAD stuff back and forth. Cool huh?

: : : They will still use the E36 motor even when they switch to the E46 chassis for the March 18 Sebring race, because the E46 engine is not finished yet. They won't see the engine until we see the engine (basically).

: : : Here's the big one....Drumroll please...
: : : Someone asked about squeezing an M5 motor into the PTG M3 cars. Tom got this big shit eating grin and said that they obviously toyed with the idea a bit, but he didn't think BMW would be supportive of that because they don't want to race something that they don't sell (i.e. an M3 w/ a V8). He said that down the line, it could happen but it would have to be something where BMW makes a limited production run of M3's w/ M5 motors, similar to the limited production of the LTW in '95. What he didn't freely admit was what a few of us snoops saw in their engine shop. Basically there are two buildings, one of them is the Engine shop, and it is also home to some of the vintage race cars. There were I-6 motors everywhere in all different stages of assembly. Then a couple of us snooped around a small storage room in the back of the shop, and found a V8 block that could very well have been an M5 motor.

: : : The sad thing is that we never did see an E46 M3 racecar. He said the car went out to get the body work done up on it. We did however, get to see an E46 chassis being prepared. It was just the unibody, with the roll cage, and lot's of extra welding for structural robustness, and durability. Perhaps the coolest change for this year is that they are dropping the round fuel cell in the spare tire well in favor of a more conventional (for racing) rectangular one. To accommodate the bigger tank, the exhaust is being routed, get this, out the side, right in front of the rear tire. I saw it with my own eyes and he pointed it out to us. The chassis was attached at the front and rear to a big stand that rotates 360 degrees, and they flipped the car upside down right in front of us, and showed us where they cut out the metal to fit the exhaust.

: : : I've got some more to spill but don't have time now. I'll report more later.

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