Alex Audi’s BMW E46 M3 GridLife Race Car
Kory Thibeault
Many of us track & race enthusiasts love to go fast. We like adrenaline, we enjoy competition, and we like (sometimes hate) wrenching. But at the end of the day, what brings us back to the next event or race? Why do we keep spending thousands of dollars to "go fast"? Sometimes, we don't always ask ourselves this question. Alex Audi's perspective is something any motorsports lover can appreciate.
"The track is a common ground where I've forged many lifelong friendships; it's also where I get a fix for my crippling addiction to that special strain of nirvana only found behind the wheel of a race car." It's a two-part answer.
GridLife
Everyone has good races and bad races. We win, we lose. Years pass, and we will look back at an old photo and ask ourselves, "Where did I finish in that one"? And sometimes we can't even remember if we won or lost. But we remember the silly and long late nights fixing our cars at the track with fellow competitors, laughing over that close race you had with your best buddy, or looking back on a fun evening bench racing at the local eatery near the track. That's the bond that gets created through memories. The track is a community, no matter what series or discipline.
As Alex describes, driving is a transcendent state. For most of us, it's therapeutic. When you get in the car and leave the grid, all the external noise in the world goes away—the thoughts and stresses about work and life are silenced. All you have to worry about is the corner in front of you. Once you experience that pure bliss on track, it's hard to stay away from it.
Alex found his way to this crazy sport through his family. "I have been obsessed with cars for as far back as my memory will take me. One of my older brothers, John, used to take me with him to NASA Autocrosses in his MK2 GTI when I was just 11 or 12. My stepdad had a 986 Boxster that he'd do PCA track days with, and I remember going to VIR for the first time at 13 years old- it was that weekend when I realized what kind of car guy I wanted to be.
Alex Audi Archives
It's well known that teenage boys are itching to go fast, "Once I got my learner's permit, I convinced my mom to let me do my first Auto-X. I guess my dad drew the short straw because he ended up as my passenger that day. It all snowballed pretty quickly from there. My stepdad purchased an Avus '95 M3, which was caged a few weeks later. My brother sourced a couple of donors to start a SpecE36 build, we installed a two-post lift, and our garage became a workshop… A family sport was born."
As an avid member of the online car forum E46Fanatics during its heyday and learning to drive in his mom's 323ci, naturally, Alex became infatuated with the E46 M3. "I had a couple of lucky breaks flipping cars in high school. That, along with a $3,000 loan from a family friend, made a high-mileage, ragged-out example of my dream Laguna Seca Blue M3 attainable. I sought out that platform because I believed it could serve as the ultimate dual-duty track weapon".
Alex Audi Archives
Alex got into NASA MidAtlantic's High Performance Driver's Ed program and cut his teeth, developing his skills behind the wheel. "I have a tremendous amount of gratitude for the mentorship that I received from the organizers, instructors, and volunteers in that region. They drilled the basics of track awareness, car control, and passing to an extent that I just don't see from most organizations these days." Eventually, my mother made the rather wise observation that I was keeping pace in my "street car" with my stepdad and brother in their fully prepped race cars. She offered to write the check to cage the M3, install fire suppression, and put a halo seat in. All of a sudden, I had a race car, enough experience, and no good reasons not to sign up for the next NASA comp school."
Since then, Alex has poured his heart, soul, and some more dollars into his Laguna Seca Blue M3. "March 2024 marks 13 years that we've been together,” Alex says.
Kory Thibeault
Specs:
2003 BMW M3
Laguna Seca Blue
Engine:
VAC rod bearings & bolts
VAC high-volume oil pump
Agency Power headers
Rogue El Diablo muffler
Epic Motorsports tune
Beisan Vanos rebuild
Drivetrain:
Diffsonline M-Variable 3.91
Bimmerworld diff cooler
Rogue Engineering SSK
Body & Aero:
CF hood
CF CSL trunk
CF CSL diffuser
GT4 front lip
Buildjournal undertray
CarBar custom chassis mounted APR GT250 wing
Suspension & Brakes:
KW Motorsport 2-way coilovers
Turner swaybars
Stoptech ST60 BBK
Tires:
275 Nexen N'Fera Sport R for Gridlife
275 Hankook RS4 for Lucky Dog
275 Toyo RRs for NASA
Wheels:
18x10 et25 Enkei NT03s
18x10 et25 Apex ARC-8s
Safety & Misc:
Piper Motorsports cage
8-gallon JAZ fuel cell
GridLife
When developing a car, there are countless lists of mods one can make. We often ask ourselves where we should go next and what part of the car we should invest money in. Alex has two different suggestions. "I drove and raced the car for ten years before I could afford a proper splitter and wing- it was just fine, and it taught me to be comfortable driving at the limit. When I put aero on the car, it felt like a physics cheat code. I wouldn't encourage learning with it like I wouldn't encourage learning on racing compound tires."
His second piece of advice revolves around stopping power security. "This isn't a paid endorsement for Cobalt Brakes… That said, most people probably aren't braking late, hard, or smooth enough. Take it from someone who has crashed at the end of VIR's back straight (twice); anything you can buy that gives you confidence, control, and consistency under braking is worth its weight in gold. I was using expensive, aggressive (big-name brand) pads until the 2023 season. I got turned on to the Cobalts, which gave me the confidence to drive deep into the braking zone, especially in high-speed, high-risk areas."
Kory Thibeault
Alex has competed in a variety of series with his M3. He got his start with NASA and credits them for a lot of what he has learned. "It's a great community of supportive people," Alex says. He also went to great lengths to modify the car for a Lucky Dog Endurance race at Sonoma last year. "Lucky Dog is a fantastic value proposition for getting more seat time, emphasizing camaraderie throughout the weekend by sharing a car with friends and a team. There's no "I" in Lucky Dog". But when it comes to his favorite place to race, GridLife is the sweet spot for him.
GridLife
"GridLife is where you go racing when you're like Goldilocks and the first two bowls of porridge are too hot or too cold- Gridlife is just right, for me at least. The atmosphere in the paddock is electric; it feels as close to professional motorsport as I might ever get, and it's competitive without sacrificing the fun factor. All of the GLTC drivers seem aligned on the goal of going out on track, dicing it up, and not banging doors."
Kory Thibeault
For the future, Alex says his car needs to lose some weight to be more competitive. "Either the car or I need to go on a diet and lose 200 lbs. Otherwise, it's in its final form. When people ask what my dream car is, I still tell them I already own it."
Alex has plans to diversify his driving resume more in the future and experience new forms of motorsports in addition to wheel-to-wheel racing. "I'm unsure if that means offroad, endurance, rally, hillclimb, drifting, or even short track. If it has four wheels and a steering wheel, odds are I'm interested in trying my hand." It doesn't matter the form. Racers are racers from the dirt to the pavement, and the community and passion are present in all forms. You can find your nirvana jumping through the desert, sliding around cones, or racing wheel to wheel on a bull ring. It's what keeps us all coming back.
Alex would like to thank the sponsors that made his 2023 GridLife Laguna weekend possible: Fivetran, Sigma Computing, Stackless Data, dbt Labs, AR Motorsports, Cobalt Brakes, APR Performance, Buildjournal, Bimmeronly, CarBar, and Voss Racing.