Took my C55 to a track a few days ago. This is the 2nd time I've taken my car to the track with a local BMW internet club. So most of the other cars there were BMW E46 3 series (a good number of M3's).

It was VERY fun. Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm faster this year compared to my first time last year.....and nothing beats the satisfaction of chasing down and then passing some BMW M3's (even some modded ones). That alone was PRICELESS. Most of the M3's at the track were not stock, as many of them had upgraded suspension, brakes, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, wider and stickier tires (some even had R-compounds). I think I surprised a lot of the BMW crowd with my "4 door family car" with 2 baby booster seats in the back......LOL.

Some events from yesterday are worth mentioning relating to me.

1) At one point, a stock looking M3 was trying to chase me down right behind me. He came into the corner too fast (trying to out brake me) and then spun off the track onto the grass and damaged his rim/tire. More than one M3 owner had trouble closing the gap to me. I could see them in my rear view mirror pusing really hard at times, and going into corners too hot (trying to out brake me) or trying to go hard on the throttle too early exiting a corner and making mistakes. I suspected this type of behaviour was going to happen as they would want the opportunity to outshine a AMG car on a curvy race track.

2) After I chased down and then passed a M3 (with modded suspension and tires), the owner of the M3 came up to me immediately afterwards and requested a ride in my C55. I think he was a bit shocked at how I was so much faster than he was on the track. On the track, I was able to go faster than 3 different M3's (some were modded, while some looked stock). All together, 2 different BMW M3 owners requested rides with me in my car. Both were surprised and impressed with the handling ability of my stock C55 compared to their M3's. Like many other BMW fans on BMW internet forums, they did not expect the C55 to handle so well on a race track. They were especially impressed with the fact that the C55 did so well with its narrow stock tires and no LSD.

Having said all this, there were some much more experienced drivers with seriously modded M3's who were clearly faster than me. All in all, I think I held my own with this mostly BMW crowd. There were a few stripped down track specific cars which were very fast. There was even a M6 there, and that thing just blew me away in the straights. A modded Mini Cooper S with R-compound tires and a very skillful driver was probably one of the fastest drivers that day.

Here are some pics of some of the cars from the event: