My mod philosophy is in this order:
- Driver comfort/safety
- Grip
- Enhancing driver talent
I don't add power to cars (never say never though, right?); for fear of impacting reliability since I drive long distances to tracks.
With the seats/coding/cage/harness and race pads ready, I did a few track events to get a feel for the car at speed before I just start throwing parts for maximizing grip without know what I'm addressing.
Quick takeaway: I made a really good choice coming from the E46 M3. VIR with the PCA chapter was really great as always.
Area of improvement: I noticed that the rear is nervous under threshold braking though. I stumbled across a thread on this exact topic and daap113 offered a verified solution to this. I had the coding session during this Winter, so I haven't had a chance to try the changes (braking settings, GTS diff and steering) safely, but I'll looking forward to more confidence in braking zones after long straights.
So I have my race wheels waiting in the garage and double adjustable suspension has been ordered. Once I've got these in place in a few months, I'll then move to step 3.