Versus 996 GT M3 CSL
BRISK LITTLE SHIP, BMW’s CSL, no question. Light, quick, agile, built for road or track and one of the most impressive production pieces to come from the Bavaria Motor Works house. But equally sharp is Porsche’s 911 GT3 Clubsport, the latest in a fast, volatile bloodline of Stuttgart racers built specifically for speed.
Both focused, hardcore, stuff-comfort track stars, each over 200 big ones and rarer than sushi, the big question remains: surely a modest M3, albeit modified, couldn’t take it to one of Porsche’s meanest, most demanding rego-wearing track cars?
SHORT STORY: THE BMW E46 M3 CSL IS DANGEROUS TO KNOW
Time to tell. There’s a CSL and GT3 parked on the dummy grid of Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway. Tester Jesse Taylor, a devout M3 maniac, slots himself into the menacing grey CSL like a kid on Santa’s knee. Dean Evans, always keen to argue a point, picks the Porsche as his weapon of desire in the firm belief it’ll be the chosen one. Time to enter the Matrix.
Sure the CSL is great, but the Porsche has it all over it in hardware. Check the specs, the 911 GT3 has a larger engine, tops the Beemer by 15kW and 5Nm, there’s more rubber on the road, a
