M235i Hits the Track Again

Tom
Update by Tom Suddard to the BMW M235i project car
Nov 20, 2014

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Oooh, apexes. Just another day at the office.

While we had the scales out, we weighed the BMW. 3427 pounds–not bad for a modern car.

It seems sort of wrong, but we just can’t keep our BMW away from the track. After its first track test, we had a set of data to use as a baseline. But more reference points are never a bad thing, so we brought it along to our test day at The FIRM in Starke, Florida.

It was fun, but our SVT Focus, also at the test day, was a slightly more fun car to fling around. Lots of power and creature comforts do have their drawbacks–weight and complexity. Then again, the Focus doesn’t have a turbo. The M235i does.

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Comments
Grtechguy
Grtechguy UltimaDork
11/20/14 10:16 a.m.

hmmm.. ^^^ that's new (the not a suscriber thing)

2002maniac
2002maniac Dork
11/20/14 10:41 a.m.

Interesting that it's faster than the 818!

tuna55
tuna55 UltimaDork
11/20/14 10:46 a.m.
Grtechguy wrote: hmmm.. ^^^ that's new (the not a suscriber thing)

And rather smart, eh?

tuna55
tuna55 UltimaDork
11/20/14 10:46 a.m.
2002maniac wrote: Interesting that it's faster than the 818!

Isn't that incredible?

yamaha
yamaha UltimaDork
11/20/14 10:54 a.m.
tuna55 wrote:
2002maniac wrote: Interesting that it's faster than the 818!
Isn't that incredible?

Not really......one was built in a shed, the other was bred in bavaria to outdo said thing that was built in a shed.

And it isn't surprising that the svtf was the most fun to drive, those things are amazing for a fwd car.

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Associate Editor
11/20/14 12:13 p.m.

Oops, sorry about that guys.

The BMW wasn't faster than the 818. We ran a slalom during the 818's runs, which is why the BMW was faster. Someone added that last line about the times without checking the lap time file's course layout notes.

With five cars and a feature story going on at once, things were pretty hectic out at the track. Sorry for the confusion.

MrJoshua
MrJoshua PowerDork
11/20/14 12:43 p.m.

In reply to Tom Suddard: must have been the Dynamic Score that threw you off.

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Associate Editor
11/20/14 12:45 p.m.

Yeah yeah yeah...

It was just an understandable error in proofreading. I'm sure whoever added that sentence thought "huh, I wonder why he didn't mention that it was the fastest around the track?"

jsquared
jsquared Reader
11/20/14 4:01 p.m.

Why does it have the subscribe link when I'm already a subscriber?

irish44j
irish44j PowerDork
11/20/14 5:27 p.m.

Bring it out to rallycross, then we'll really see how fast it is ;)

you know you want to.

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