^^trust me man it's more than possible. I stuck it to an e92 stock and trust me he was going. Sure there will be an overwhelming about of evidence that the Z is inferior but I'll go by what I experience when I'm behind the wheel. In my experience against a manual e92 it was Z: 2 M:0 all the way through 4th.
The M is a beast, what do you expect, but the e92 is no longer a driver's car, it allows anyone the ability to drive fast especially if you get the paddle shift. I come from a mentality where driver input is everything, buttons aren't for me.
On the e46, 2 of my buddies have them and while they can keep up with the Z they can't overtake me. Frankly they'd have to run perfectly and I get a little bit of an error margin, after installing test pipes and making an uncorrected 294whp on the dyno I can tell you for a fact, unless you dumped a lot of money in an e46 M you're not catching me. I love the e46 M but times have progressed, the Z is superior and I'd rather take a full bolt on Z over a full bolt on e46 M. It's still very expensive to get parts for the e46 and the aftermarket for the Z is still growing. Tuning capabilities are still limited, parts such as upgraded throttle bodies and plenums are just be researched.
Z owners, be patient, the VQ motor is wonderful and for the brave few who keep the motor N/A and build it either into a long block or a super high reving short block you'll make 350+ at the wheels. We just need to wait on someone to come out with heads, pistons, rods, and a bigger plenum. It's coming and when someone goes that extra effort the M's won't want a piece of us.
I was going to jump on the F.I. train but I hate being limited to 480-500whp. I bought my Z, she's going to be with me for a long time god willing, I'll wait and build the short block, Nissan already provided me a 9000 tach I want to see if it can be done. Heads, cams, pistons, rods, and advanced tuning on a built block should get you to 9K and more than 350whp at the wheels on a bulletproof motor. I'm willing to wait for that.
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2009 Carbon Fiber/Red 370z aka Trish: Sports Package, Meisterschaft full catback, Fast Intentions Longtube Headers, Injen Long Tube Intakes, UpRev Tune: Sold 
2008 Lotus Exige S Club Racer aka Bella, always leaves me smiling
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