The results are in from Car and Driver's sixth annual Lightning Lap Tests @ Virginia International Raceway (VIR).
BMWs tested in this year's Lightning Lap include the 1M coupe, 335is, X5 M, and Z4 sDrive35is. How did each model fare?
Full feature and many more cars' results are at
http://www.caranddriver.com/features...p-2012-feature
If there is anyone left out there unconvinced of the benefits of a wide torque band, they should take a lap in a 1-series M. At VIR, the 1M uses third gear for roughly 80 percent of the track because its 370 pound-feet of torque are available as low as 1500 rpm. That torque and fairly tall gearing (111 mph max in third gear) meant that we could go through sector four without a potentially chassis-upsetting gearchange. That helped the 1M complete that section in 14.7 seconds, tieing the mid-engined Cayman R and Evora S.
The same can be said for sector five, where we sailed along in the 1M, locked in third. In most other cars, we had to perform a fourth-to-third downshift there. With a short wheelbase and M3 suspension components, wheels, and tires, the 1M turns in crisply, without delay, and remains gleefully free of understeer. When we hopped back onto the torque wave exiting a corner, we were greeted with a healthy but manageable dose of oversteer. This was common but most pronounced at slow corners, such as Turn One and Oak Tree. Most of sector four is performed on the ragged edge of a full-on high-speed D1-like drift.
Lap after lap, the 1M’s brakes erased speed without a fight or any fade. And since it topped out at 133.9 mph on the front straight, there was a lot of speed to erase.
Even if the 1M couldn’t top the 3:05.4 lap its big brother the M3 posted in 2010, it delivers real M performance. And, like a bona fide sports car, it demands respect.
Whistling toward the end of VIR’s 2979-foot back straight at about 125 mph, we jumped on the brakes at a point we deemed plenty early. After lapping the track in several other cars, we had a pretty good idea of when to start braking. On our first flying lap in the Z4 roadster, we thought we were playing it safe. Little did we know that the Z4’s tires have all the braking traction of a greasy sponge. So our braking point wasn’t early; it was late. Real late. We sailed past the turn-in point with the Z4’s ABS furiously pulsing the pedal and promptly ran out of pavement, harmlessly dumping the car into the mud.
That lap was a dud anyway since we hadn’t yet learned how to effectively battle the evil microprocessor that operates the Z4’s seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. The transmission’s so-called “manual” mode—a perfect example of false advertising—is not, strictly speaking, manual. It automatically upshifts at redline and won’t shift when the car is side-loaded, something that happens with regularity on any road course. Worse, when we tried to hold a relatively high gear while exiting a corner—to let the engine’s low-end torque reserve do its thing—the transmission downshifted when we accidentally engaged the gas pedal’s kickdown switch. BMW offers no manual transmission in the 35is model. Combine that frustration with the Z4’s understeer-biased handling, and you end up with a capable, but not particularly fun, two-seat BMW. Rest at
Car and Driver
Despite the X5 M’s flabby, 5289-pound curb weight, we expected it to be fast. And it is. Forget about the Grand Cherokee SRT8. The BMW blows its doors off. This SUV is quicker around VIR than the BMW 335is, as well as the Audi RS4 and BMW Z4 M coupe we ran here in 2007. Hell, it hangs off the rear bumper of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.
We also expected that the brakes would perform well, and they exceeded in that regard by shrugging off a five-lap stint.
But we didn’t see this one coming: The X5 M’s plentiful ground clearance benefitted its lap time. Exiting the “Bitch” corner a *little wide, we dropped a tire off track, which did not faze the X5 M’s chassis even a bit. The four-wheel drive did its job and the left-rear Bridge*stone Dueler kicked up some grass, so we carried on with what ended up being the X5 M’s fastest lap of 3:11.1.
This was not exactly your typical hot lap, even without the agricultural excursion. Like the Jeep, or just about any other SUV one is bold enough to take onto a track, the X5 M feels clumsy at first. The lofty seating position, which feels about as high as the roof of the Cayman R, exaggerates pitch and roll. Thankfully the BMW’s seats are better than most cars’, with beefy bolsters to keep the driver well planted. Once acclimated to the X5 M’s peculiarities, entering the uphill esses at 113.1 mph feels fairly normal, as does blasting down the front straight at 133.9 mph. Rest at
Car and Driver
The 3:10.5 lap a 335i turned at our 2007 VIR event is just another reason to believe that those early turbocharged BMWs made more power than the advertised 300 ponies. After all, the 320-hp 335is is only 0.1 mph faster down the front straight, at 131.6 mph.
Even with the slower-than-expected lap time, the 335is is so committed to chassis neutrality that it might as well be Swiss. From the sharp left-hand Turn Four until the start of sector two, the 335is will change direction as readily with the gas pedal as with the steering wheel.
Our 335is test car was equipped withthe optional seven-speed dual-clutch automatic that is also offered in the M3. This gearbox has proven more problematic for track work than the aforementioned 335i’s traditional manual. The transmission did not resist shifting when the 335is was side-loaded, as it did in the Z4 we ran this year, but the gear display is tiny and is nestled between the gauges, requiring more than a quick glance to ascertain which gear is engaged. And the steering-wheel paddles sometimes did not follow through on a command.
The 335is is a joy to drive, even if this one was simply not as quick as the 335i from several years ago. We would choose the stand*ard manual transmission if it were our money. And maybe that would improve the BMW’s lap time. It would certainly increase the fun quotient. Rest at
Car and Driver