I am positive it is crossed your thoughts earlier than: “What if X automaker made Y automobile?” Whether or not it is an all-new mannequin, a cross lower of a number of, or just a key tweak to a beloved traditional, these little what-ifs might elevate nice vehicles to legends in our minds.

For me, there is a fixed ticker reel of those types of concepts. What if GM constructed a midsize body-on-frame ZR2 SUV? What if Porsche had constructed a manufacturing facility 996 Turbo Dakar? What if Toyota had one way or the other mustered the monetary would possibly to incorporate a useful top-down digital camera in my 2024 4Runner? (Unfathomable, I do know)

From the GRAUSLICK YouTube channel‘s newest challenge, one other query: What if BMW had constructed an E36 M3 CSL? 

I’ve thought this very thought earlier than; I owned a number of E36s once they have been dirt-cheap commodities discovered principally rotting on the less-than-fashionable used-car tons lining Spokane’s seedier byways. These vehicles of mine inevitably had their suspensions hardened, engines heartened, and many of the civility wrung out of them for the only real objective of turning autocross runs a couple of quarter-second faster (or, when you ask my spouse, for slamming her thoracic backbone right into a high-quality powder). 

However think about if BMW did that from the manufacturing facility?

Picture by: BMW

After all in America we bought the E36 Light-weight, which is a model of that concept, sans the wonderful Euro engine that pumped out greater than a significant quantity of horsepower past the “LTW.” Nor did the American automobile function the second-best consumption noise in all of BMW’s historical past (I am speaking in regards to the Euro E36 right here, with its particular person throttle our bodies. First on the checklist: an E30 M3 with a carbon airbox). 

And Europe bought the E36 M3 GT, which had the wonderful Euro engine, however was merely a bit extra attractive and particular than the mainline automobile, not one explicitly dedicated to “lightweighting,” because the Porsche dorks name it.

Picture by: BMW

Fortunately there is a channel on YouTube that goals to reply the query. You’ll be able to take a look at some foundational facets of the challenge from an earlier episode right here. In it, the GRAUSLICK workforce addresses the E36’s gas system and dashboard, topping off their purposeful wanting, track-focused inside.

Or you possibly can hop into the center of the challenge like I did and see how their S54 engine is assembled and fitted to the automobile, plus some 3-D scanning executed to construct light-weight inside panels, as in true BMW CSL kind, this construct will do with out fineries like radios and full HVAC. 

As an E36 dirtbag for all times, I am watching this challenge with eager curiosity. Uncooked, light-weight E36 M3s really feel equal in character and ferocity to Porsche’s now-vaunted 996 GT3s. And with S54 energy added to this one—and bulked up with some efficiency goodies—it ought to be a really particular M3 certainly.