There are many drivers in the world who have been using Samsonas production for many years. One of them is “Mister M-Cup”, a Belgian rally driver who currently drives a BMW E36 M3 in the Belgian Rally Championship. The man behind this nickname is Franky Boulat. Together with his co-driver Peggy De Busser, they have already won the Belgian M-Cup five times. Their car, which bears the Samsonas flag on the side, is equipped with both Samsonas gearbox and dampers. Franky shares his story about rallying.
Please tell how your rallying career started? Why did you later switch to BMW?
My rally career started in 1994 as a co-driver with my uncle and a friend. When my uncle was not able anymore to drive, I started to drive myself in 1996.
At the beginning of my rally career, I competed with an Opel Kadett 16V Gr. A and Opel Astra 16V Gr A. We achieved several overall podium results with this car and we managed to win 3 times in a row the regional VAS championship in Belgium.
I switched to the BMW E36 M3 in 2008 because I wanted to compete in RWD car. At that time, the BMW E36 M3 was not yet a popular rally car. I was one of the first in Europe to start rallying with this car. The BMW E36 M3 is affordable, reliable, and fast. We won the national RACB Criterium championship in 2013 with this car, this is a kind of Division 2 championship. When the M-Cup started in Belgium in Division 1, we immediately competed with success in this category. Since the start of the M-Cup, we only missed 2 rallies.
Can you tell me more about your BMW M3 E36?
When I bought the car in 2008, it was basically a Gr N car equipped with a standard gearbox. We immediately started to develop the car. The first competition gearbox we installed in 2009 was the ZF 5-speed dog box from Samsonas. I believe I was amongst the first customers in Western Europe to install a Samsonas gearbox. It was relatively unknown at that time but the quality, fun and reliability turned out to be excellent. We immediately had full confidence in the Samsonas products. I met Martinas a little later personally. When the 6-speed dog box was available some years later, we immediately installed this one. The price/quality ratio of these gearboxes is really excellent, we never had any issues. Thanks to the drop gear in the 6-speed, we could compete with short ratios adapted to each rally. With a dog box with short ratios, the car changed into a real race car. We compete on 18’ slicks with an FIA pattern.
When the Sequential 6-speed was developed, we installed this one. We also mounted at the same time a strongly developed S54 Gr A engine with Schrick cat cams, high compression pistons, Autronic ECU, big airbox, big 210 differential, Alcon brakes, … . The car develops now > 400 hp with a torque of > 380. With the sequential 6-speed with power shift the car has impressive acceleration figures. The quality, strength, and wear of the sequential gearbox is amazing, after several years there is hardly any wear. We never had any issues.
Since 2020 we installed also the Samsonas shock absorbers. This was also a very important improvement! Particularly on bumpy roads and potholes, the Samsonas shocks are in my opinion the best available on the market! You hardly feel anything. Since the installation of the Samsonas shocks with hydraulic bump stop, we can easily take all jumps and bumps at full throttle. High-speed cornering as well as traction is outstanding. The car is now fully developed and very fast.
Why did you choose Samsonas production? What was and is your opinion about it?
When I ordered the first gearbox back in 2009, the brand was completely unknown at that time in Belgium. I think I was the first to order out of Benelux. We continued with Samsonas because of the excellent quality and great reliability at affordable pricing. The entire team was immediately convinced. After 15 years of experience, we can tell that the quality of all Samsonas products is really outstanding, at the very best levels, both for the gearboxes as well as the shock absorbers.
We never had any issues with the Samsonas products during rallies. The many titles we achieved are for a big portion thanks to the reliability and top quality of all products. My car has had Samsonas branding for years as a token of recognition to Martynas Samsonas and Eric Qvick. Qvick Motors is the Benelux distributor for Samsonas.
Thanks to the Samsonas products, we have been able to develop the E36 M3 into a very fast and very reliable racecar.
Tell us more about the Belgian rallying scene
Rallying is very popular in Belgium, particularly since Thierry Neuville is performing outstanding in WRC. We had 2 years in a row a WRC rally (Ypres). The level in the Belgian National Championship is at a very high level. In most of the rallies, more than 20 Rally2 cars are at the start. Regularly we have WRC drivers participating (Lefebvre, Roussel, Breen, Loeb, ..) in Belgian Rallying to boost the level. We are proud that we achieved several Top 10 overall classifications and many victories in our class in the Belgian Rally Championship with our ‘good old’ E36 M3.
You won the M-Cup five times – what is special about it?
The M-Cup has been created in the Belgian Rally Championship in 2015. The M-Cup is accessible to all BMW cars. It has proven to be a very big success and is the most popular Cup with an average of over 20 x BMW’s per rally. It consists of a championship of 6 x Rallies and the 5 best results count. The best cars are equipped with an S54 or S14 engine and a sequential gearbox. We see E30, E36, E46, 1-series, and Compact, … all models and engines are allowed, the only limitation is the engine size which can be at max 3240cc. The Samsonas products are very popular in the M-Cup, many cars are equipped with the products. The key to its success is the good ratio of Fun/Speed/Price. The cars are fast, and fun to drive and everybody is helping each other in the Cup. There are even competitors from other countries competing in the Belgian M-Cup (Netherlands, Germany…). You need to be a good driver with a good car to win the championship. We won it 5 times during 8 years championship, we only missed the title 3 times since its existence. My nickname in the Belgian rally scene is “Mister M-Cup”.
What are your future plans?
Unfortunately, we had a bad crash end of last year. The body is heavily damaged and we decided to build a new body, again a BMW E36 coupe. The construction of this new car has some delay, but we hope to have it ready soon and still do some rallies later this year. The entire championship is unfortunately not possible this year. We will of course continue with the Samsonas 6-speed sequential and the Samsonas Shock Absorbers. Thanks to Carosserie Hoefkens and Garage Van Asbroeck, we hope the new car will be better than ever before with a lot of improvements, both on the chassis and engine. We continue competing in the M-Cup because of the excellent fun/speed/price ratio and we hope to win again next year.
