m track day, circuit of the americas

[digwm1]

hey guys, just came back from a M track day at COTA and just thought i'd post some pics and share some thoughts on my experience:

so just to preface, the schedule looked something like:

-drivers meeting to prep the drivers and talk about the schedule

-0 to 60+ to 0 drag racing in:
1) 550i M
2) M6 coupe
3) M6 cab
4) X6 M

-short autocross (17 second avg) course in m2's (3 laps per driver, 2 drivers per car)
-lead-follow m3 (2 hot laps per driver)
-lead-follow m4 (2 hot laps per driver)

-instructor hot lap m3

dinner (or lunch for morning session)

and now onto some pics and sorry in advance for only having pics from my phone:

first the track!


the rise on the main straight is simply amazing and the rest of the course is of course a blast to drive as well. tons of technical sections and TONS of speed (was doing 140+ down the back straight). was a blast and the m crew actually lets you drive the cars pretty damn hard, which was awesome. i was afraid the lead-follow sections would be pretty watered down but nope, minus only being allowed to run in mdm mode, you get to blast the cars at full throttle and speed the entire time; the instructors give you plenty of pace up front to keep you floored trying to keep up (and i'll be the first to tell you, they're quick, insanely quick, and smooth.. as i mentioned above there was an instructor hot lap that we got to ride along with at the end of the day, and wow, that was a learning experience)

second the m2's!!:






first, just wow, i absolutely the way these things look, ESPECIALLY that black one (ok i'm probably biased a little with my bsm), i just couldn't get enough of that one, just absolutely beautiful..

next, so my main two reasons for flying out to austin was, one, cota obviously, and two, to test drive a m2 and have a comparison point to the 1m. after busting the car around the short autocross track with dsc off (shh we weren't supposed to have it off ) i can without a doubt say i prefer the way the 1m feels as an entire package. simply more visceral/raw/inputs are heavier

things i liked about the m2 though:
1) wow the car is quick, i can see why these cars are faster than the 1m on road tracks. the car just doesn't snap oversteer like the 1m does. tons of control out of the corners and it just rotates on a dime, absolutely lovely the way the car blasts around and out of tight corners, the steering helps here too, for some reason, the m2 was just way easier for me to keep the car neutral, its like the car's zone between understeer and oversteer was increased for a more forgiving car

2) the m perf steering wheel and shift knob (forgot to get a picture of this thing but it was fat, it was like shifting with a dct lever )

3) the looks

4) exhaust sound (which by the way i could only hear, over the pumped cabin noise, at a standstill with windows down <-- this kinda of sucked), but burbles are awesome

things that put me off about the m2:
1) steering, while insanely controllable and incredibly easy to point, just feels weird... i can say the same of the m3 and 4, the steering just feels like a tighter mercedes e-class, with that weird feeling like the rubber on your front tires rotate too easily on the surface they're on.. man i can't pinpoint that feeling, the cars are just missing that gross but visceral feeling like when you're turning the steering wheel while parked and you can feeling that disgusting feeling of your front tires just being tortured into the ground

2) pumped noise, why bmw? WHY????

3) squished cabin feeling, it feels not unlike sitting in a lexus is, where the car just kind of engulfs you as you enter and you feel a little claustrophobic

4) light clutch, not a fan

conclusion:
other than the aforementioned though, would i buy an m2? hell yess, but i'd probably wait for the m2 s55* (edited haha thanks @M3 Adjuster), just cause

m3/m4's:





awesome cars, just some observations:

1). i was actually surprised that the m3's headroom was actually not that unlike the 1m's. i was thinking there'd be more space up there, but nope
2) the m3's/m4's were awesome on the track, steering was like i said above about the m2's not quite to my taste but i think how controllable the car was, the s55's torque, and just how awesome cota was, made most of my qualms about the car irrelevant during the moment
3) i guess its the longer and wider wheelbase + tires, the car is super forgiving and was pretty confidence inspiring, even when over-rotating, the car was super communicative and there was plenty of time to add correction

main thing that really bothered me: the gas pedal. there's this weird thing with the m3's and 4's were you go WOT and your foot is absolutely planted and then randomly there's like this stage 2 to the pedal that unlocks and you get to push it an inch further, maybe this has to do with the settings we were running in the car? that was absolutely throwing me off the entire time and was absolutely not something i enjoyed about the cars

minor notes on the other cars:
550i M, launch control <- insane, a blast, brakes.. meh
m6's best sounding car of the day, brakes, nice
X6M brakes.. wut? pretty damn good for how heavy the car is

oh and final thoughts and the surprise highlight of the day:

awesome event for the price, was an absolute blast to check out COTA and all the instructors and staff were awesome to hang out with, super accommodating, and were a blast to learn from

and..



the food was great! overall a great trip and would highly recommend, if not just to visit COTA

[M3 Adjuster]

Very good observations about the

1) steering - Yes... BMW Electric steering still SUCKS ASS. The M2 is the most improved version... and of course if you OWN the car.. you will accommodate (one can accommodate just about anything) but still.. you have ZERO sense of road feel.

2) light clutch- yep..M2 clutch is super light..

3) " i can without a doubt say i prefer the way the 1m feels as an entire package. simply more visceral/raw/inputs are heavier "


OMG YES YES YES.. this is SO true.

Everything in the M2 is so FEATHERWEIGHT - (well except the actual chassis itself ... ) Clutch.. the shifter in the 6MT manual (looks like they had DCT only for you I presume).. , the steering .. ALL lack TRUE feel and HEFT.



the meal... Salmon AND beef.. nice.!

you will want to edit the S54s to S55 when referring to the M3/M4 above

[digwm1]

Originally Posted by M3 Adjuster

Very good observations about the

1) steering - Yes... BMW Electric steering still SUCKS ASS. The M2 is the most improved version... and of course if you OWN the car.. you will accommodate (one can accommodate just about anything) but still.. you have ZERO sense of road feel.

2) light clutch- yep..M2 clutch is super light..

3) " i can without a doubt say i prefer the way the 1m feels as an entire package. simply more visceral/raw/inputs are heavier "


OMG YES YES YES.. this is SO true.

Everything in the M2 is so FEATHERWEIGHT - (well except the actual chassis itself ... ) Clutch.. the shifter in the 6MT manual (looks like they had DCT only for you I presume).. , the steering .. ALL lack TRUE feel and HEFT.



the meal... Salmon AND beef.. nice.!

you will want to edit the S54s to S55 when referring to the M3/M4 above

AND, in true german fashion, bratwurst and sauerkraut, on the plate in the back!

and hahaha thanks @M3 Adjuster, you are correct, wrong engine hahaha. though that'd be awesome in itself as well

and you are also correct in your assumption that the m2's we drove were dct's, the model white m2 pictured above was a manual that we got to sit in and yeah the light clutch was throwing me off, and it was surprising how light the car drove for how heavy it actually is. after driving today in the 1, it actually felt heavy compared to when i drove the m2

and thank you for the appreciation points guys!