Got to tear up the new BMW 335i twin turbos yesterday at Autobahn. We had a group out there
09-22-2006, 04:23 PM
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Got to tear up the new BMW 335i twin turbos yesterday at Autobahn. We had a group out there
that PDI instructed and I did the lead/follows session with my group.
First, the good:
The car displays virtually no turbo lag. The acceleration feels on par with Janica's S4, it's extremely balanced on the track (I could not induce oversteer pushing them to about 8/10ths) and the stock brakes showed no fade whatsoever after a pretty hard 30 minute session. I must say, I was quite impressed. I was hitting 115 on the front straight of the north track. On top of all this, they have run flats on the car! Yes, run flats. With race rubber this car would rock! Very nice car. The backseat room is quite a bit larger than the previous model and of course the interior amenities are excellent.
Now, the bad news:
Each and every car overheated and shut down. Hmmmm, how's that? Yup! The oil temperature on every car shot to 300 degrees and the cars shut down. We learned that early on and instructed every driver to watch it closely. Driving amounted to about 5 hot laps, 2 parade laps, and so on. Never saw anything like it yet. Talk about a fatal flaw on these vehicles. Can't wait to see this happen to the general public and see how BMW responds. I guarantee you we were not pushing these so hard that no one will ever experience what we did. In fact, one of the ABCC members took a car home with him and on his ride in to the track, aggressively I might add, overheated it and shut down on him.
Every car has an achille's heal. I guess this is it.
One of my students blew chunks yesterday. I must say, that's an experience. No, he wasn't in my car but he was following me. He was doing real well too. Once we got off the track he pulled into the hot pit area, took off his helmet and blew all over the steering wheel, his shirt, pants and footwell. The guy must have eaten a lot for lunch.
Fun day!
Oh, and I bought another vehicle. More on that later.
First, the good:
The car displays virtually no turbo lag. The acceleration feels on par with Janica's S4, it's extremely balanced on the track (I could not induce oversteer pushing them to about 8/10ths) and the stock brakes showed no fade whatsoever after a pretty hard 30 minute session. I must say, I was quite impressed. I was hitting 115 on the front straight of the north track. On top of all this, they have run flats on the car! Yes, run flats. With race rubber this car would rock! Very nice car. The backseat room is quite a bit larger than the previous model and of course the interior amenities are excellent.
Now, the bad news:
Each and every car overheated and shut down. Hmmmm, how's that? Yup! The oil temperature on every car shot to 300 degrees and the cars shut down. We learned that early on and instructed every driver to watch it closely. Driving amounted to about 5 hot laps, 2 parade laps, and so on. Never saw anything like it yet. Talk about a fatal flaw on these vehicles. Can't wait to see this happen to the general public and see how BMW responds. I guarantee you we were not pushing these so hard that no one will ever experience what we did. In fact, one of the ABCC members took a car home with him and on his ride in to the track, aggressively I might add, overheated it and shut down on him.
Every car has an achille's heal. I guess this is it.
One of my students blew chunks yesterday. I must say, that's an experience. No, he wasn't in my car but he was following me. He was doing real well too. Once we got off the track he pulled into the hot pit area, took off his helmet and blew all over the steering wheel, his shirt, pants and footwell. The guy must have eaten a lot for lunch.
Fun day!
Oh, and I bought another vehicle. More on that later.
09-22-2006, 04:34 PM
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great write-up daveykid. I had the same issue with a certain car shutting down at the ACCC ADD
After about 10 minutes, the trans would go into limp mode and not allow me to shift(auto). After another 5-8 minutes the car would immediately give only 30-40% throttle and i would coast around the track at 40 mph. Kinda ruins the fun!
Yeah, I heard that too.
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09-22-2006, 08:36 PM
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We noticed the oil temp thing on Wednesday when I was there... 5 laps and they're pegged.......
... BMW or ABCC should consider secondary oil coolers on those things if they want them to survive.
Unreal that they would overheat in street driving ..... sh!tty.
Unreal that they would overheat in street driving ..... sh!tty.
