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Most E30 M3 owners are aware that the Evolution III model came with an adjustable front splitter. The
Evo III splitter, and its associated Venturi undertray, is a beautiful piece. It is well documented
that it decreases front end lift, and when properly installed in conjunction with the Evo III rear wing
it can produce a faster cornering E30 M3 (
click here
for splitter theory).
There is of course a penalty in the form of increased drag
down the straights. So it helps to have more horsepower than the factory 2.3 L engine provides before
increasing downforce with aerodynamic add ons.
Although the factory Motorsport Evo III splitter is extremely nice, it is also possible to make your own splitter. Jimmy Pettinato has done just that, and this write up documents his results. |
I have started building my replacement E3 style splitter for my track car.
I'm not sure if I told you, but I cracked my original one putting the car on
the trailer going to Lime Rock for the very last track event of the season. A
very stupid mistake on my part. Nothing to do with the strength of the
splitter. I am actually impressed with its strength. It actually broke away
just perfect. Just before it caused damage to the more expensive bumper
cover. It couldn't have had it work out better if I had a destructive testing
lab do the research for me.
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,,, for guys
who have track only cars it's a cheap, functional part,,, now it's not for show
cars like the pristine Henna car on your website,,, but the track guys might
find it pretty useful. It really works very well, it's very strong and best of
all it's very cheap and quite replaceable. I shudder to think how bummed I
would be now if I did the same thing to a real E3 splitter!!! Instead I am
only out a few hours of fabrication time and $38 for another piece of Acrylic.
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Also FWIW this whole project started off as an experiment to see if I could
-or- would see any benefit in buying a real E3 splitter. Well this one worked
so well and was so "disposable" I choose to keep it and not buy the real
thing. After all its a track car, not a show car...
Some info: The material I used is 1/4" thick black Acrylic plastic. Purchased from an industrial plastics house. ABS might be even better but my plastics guy does not carry 4' x 8' x 1/4" black ABS stock. The Acrylic is strong , light and will not shatter if broken going agro, it just breaks off into pieces as I have illustrated. Its also quite easy to work with. |
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