The Final Farewell - Stuart's BMW E36 Compact

Jul 2

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Take a long look before it's too late - this E36 compact will be looking very different very shortly.

How different you ask? How about getting stripped back and re-shelled on the next free weekend Stuart has.

It has taken 5 years for this compact to reach its final form. Wearing multiple guises and taking on scars from walls all over the country over the course of its life, 5 years of drifting has shaped this compact to be what it is today.

The current style is Stu's take on the famous Advan racing livery. As a vinyl applicator working with multiple motorsport teams, Stu is no stranger to livery design. As such, he sourced and applied this vinyl himself. You can check out Stu's work at Vyking Graphics.

The base of the car is wrapped with Avery Dennison galactic blue, with hexis gloss black used for the simple but important advan-esque stripes towards to the rear of the car. Gold vinyl has been used for the logos.

Stu has tied the blue/gold colour scheme with his wheel setup. The compact sits on 17" Racing Gold Metallic Advan RG's. Combined with HSD Dualtecs and Wizards of Lock's extended lower arms, the car has an ideal stance.

You can really see the richness of the galactic blue vinyl here. The hue shifts from blue to purple depending on the angle and light - it really is something you have to see in person.

There is a story behind the Jaegermeister sun strip - a story that evolves from an Ibiza stag do. I'll let Stuart do the storytelling.

The compact sports a full Msport kit with Unique Customs skirts and Aero Wolf Skirt canards. Lightly smoked headlights and sidelights as well as windows give the car a balanced look. Neither too dark nor too light. Goldilocks tinting.

As you can see Stuart has opted for maximum downforce with the addition of the front canards, helping keep the front end planted. However, it may be too much so as the front lip you see here got caught en route to the next location and got ripped off. This compact is a bonafide race car.

Powering the compact is an M52B28 planted on some Vibratechnics engine mounts. The M52 also features some hand-me-downs from an M50 - the manifold, rocker cover, and oil filter housing.

The 2.5" Stainless exhaust provides a symphony that takes me back to the days of Lydden Hill's drift days and the swarms of BMW's that would flock there. And if that's not enough for a crescendo-di-compact, the ECU has been mapped to allow for a raised rev limiter.