Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert
Do you have any actual track time to show those characteristics to have a significant impact on performance? Lap time from a variety of tracks with a balanced straight and corners will give good indication whether or not these characteristics make a difference.
I have heard these sentiments from journalists, who have unique driving style and come from different background. Not sure is whether the short wheel base and slightly higher center of gravity do actually impact track time by a significant amount compared to the 335i. Based from we have seen there's not a huge performance difference between the 135i and 335i. 135i may lean and understeer more, in the end the result is similar. We all have seen tout, rigid, small cars make good times with some man handling.
Carbon fiber roof helps, in reality I think its more of a gimmick than a main component to M3's handling capabilities. There are better bang for buck in terms of improving 135i's performance than CF roof, first being removing the standard moon roof.
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No I have never taken my 2 335i's or a 135i to a track.
However, physics and automotive design dictate those points as factual.
Further, as you stated, many automotive journalists have tested both the 135i and 335i coupe on several tracks, and as you stated, they are pretty even (the 335i wins some, the 135i wins others) but what is not even is their comments regarding balance and driveability. The 135i almost always gets comments about understeer and not as planted as the 335i.
The reason for a lot of that is the points I made.
The reason for the fact the 135i in many ways can equal the 335i coupe's lap times is the fact it's 150 or so pounds lighter, that cancels out much of it's short comings of center of gravity, weight distribution, shorter wheelbase, and skinnier tires.
Consider this: How much quicker around a track do you think a 335i coupe would be if they removed 150 lbs of weight from it?
Or vice versa, how much slower do you suppose it would be if they raised it's weight up, gave it skinnier tires, and shifted it's front wheels back and inch or two?
Again the simple reason the 135i can pretty much match the 335i coupe in track times with it's short comings of the above points is because it also has 150 lbs less weight to carry around offsetting most of those points.
I agree, bang for the buck the CF roof is not the biggest deal and the cost would probably be $1k plus for that. The sunroof adds ~44 lbs to the roof of the M3, the CF roof drops another ~22 lbs over the non CF roof.
So, the difference in weight of a M3 with the CF roof and one with a sunroof is ~66 lbs. All of which on the worst possible place for handling, braking, and acceleration.
So if you are a track junkie, saving 22 lbs with a CF roof may well be worth it, and clearly if performance is top priority, the option to NOT have a sunroof is even more important.