I have done 2 trackdays in my M5.. Well i say 2.. One was at Bedford the other was at the Ring!!
Bedford was a shakedown for the Ring, I had a instructor to help me at Bedford and it paid off even if I had the suspension in P mode on one lap by misstake. What it did teach me was that the M5 is a big supprise. It feels and can act like a much smaller car. I had alot of fun at Bedford learnt alot.
Went to the Ring and got a 9min7 secs. Tho it was my fastest lap is was not the most fun as the most fun was when I had fun for most of the way with a CSL. After 11 laps i called it a day before me or the car had a moment. But next year i will be going back!!
Forget straight line driving, how are you at cornering at high speeds?
How much of the potential are you getting out of your M5?
I for one car say I get more out of my 325i Touring than my M5, I am not very good at getting the best out of the M5 at all. I think its because I dont understand the lmits of adhesion or how to drive it smoothly.
Are there any websites which can guide you through how to be a slightly better driver?
Great thread! Very thoughtful. My Dad always told me there are drivers and drovers! Unfortunately most that think they are drivers are not!
I do not class myself as being great by any means. But I do what i can!
As mentioned there is a time and a place! and experience/practice is the main factor to improving. Unfortunately limits do need to be broken in order to gauge where abouts it is! This is the fun part, but consequences can be bad!
Don't blame yourself for not knowing the limits of adhesion, I know this might make me sound like an old bore, but getting the best you can out of the e34 M5 is hard because you can't feel what's going on at the front wheels. It's beautifully balanced and the brakes and power are superb though, so you stand the best chance of sorting out your adhesion issues when you find them!
Of course, the public road isn't a great place to learn due to the ramifications of a mistake, so try a trackday or two. Buy some instruction if you like.
I know I'm far from the fastest or best driver, and I know I've got far more to learn than I have learned already.
I would like to think I could drive mine fairly quickly, lots of laps of the Ring helped a great deal, as well as small trackdays in the UK. Practise is the key.
I thought I was a quick driver until trying to keep up with you!!!
Thing is, it is tough to be a consistent limit-taking M5 driver, unless you track your car a lot. Which is very entertaining but very costly, since engine mounts, bushings, brake discs, brake fluid, brake pads and tires all get knackered a lot quicker...
As to utilizing track tires (slicks), it is good to be careful for they are a double edged sword. Since they have tremendous grip, they end up supporting a weight transfer amount which the engine mounts and bushings cannot support. There have been a couple of cases where people utilize track tires for 10-12 laps, only to find out that their hydraulic engine mounts are disembowelled and sometimes, their bushings are smashed (this is where the polyurethane ones are worth it).
The worst of all though happened to a friend of a friend: He was using a 911 with track tyres and his engine failed due to oil starvation. The track tires generated so much grip that the oil pump failed to adequately lubricate the motor.
So be careful!
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1995 BMW M5 Schwarz II Shadowline
Dr. Schrick camshafts
UUC Short-shifter
I would say that I am fairly adept at using the M on public roads at speeds that would have them losing the keys. Am I using the full potential of the car, on occasion but more often not. I have found the limit several times luckily nothing tragic. When traffic patterns permit I can cover ground well. I find for pleasure that a good racing cart and some cones will turn any good size parking lot into my own little track using 1/3 the speed.
Tahnks for your inptu on this one.....I thought I was the only who couldnt drive my M5.
My 325i Touring H&R suspension and is admitedly a bit low but I am very confident at throwing it around. Its fitted with Powerflex bushes and the feeback through the steering is way way better than the M5.
I think my main problem is that I drive the Touring which has very little roll and excelelnt feeback.......then I get into the M5 which has less of these things and I get this detached drivnig experience which doesnt really give me confidence.
The way forward for me is to simply get the M to a few track days, get some instruction and start understanding it.
The 325i can easily be taken to its limits as the lmits arent exactly high. You can thrash the hell out of it and get away with it on fast A roads. Try thrashing an m5 on the same roads and you soon find yourself pishing that brake pedal very very hard!
The 325i can easily be taken to its limits as the lmits arent exactly high. You can thrash the hell out of it and get away with it on fast A roads. Try thrashing an m5 on the same roads and you soon find yourself pishing that brake pedal very very hard!
That's the weight doing it's thing.....
I did three full trackdays this season with the 540i, plus a few more driving other cars. Due to the suspension currently fitted it's not very low, but very hard, and quite easy to chuck around. Since the Bilsteins are absolutly inadequate they will be changed for Koni's this winter, and my rack rebuilt to improve feedback. To my surprise it absolutely eats most E30's on the track, but that may be down to me using two new PZero Rosso's on the front every trackday. Once used on track, they then go to the back. The Ring is much easier on tyres than slower circuits like Zolder, Assen and Zandvoort, and I could do a few days there on the same set. I suppose that's down to simply driving slower there.
For me as a driver, I guess doing all kinds of driving-schools (a must for my business) is paying off. I could use some teaching as far as drifting (and thus recovery) goes, but feel very confident at driving it quite hard. Had one spin at Zolder, due to simply getting tired after lapping for over an hour consistently, and one very sideways moment on the Ring at Hohe Acht, but got lucky and caught it. It's difficult to rate myself as a driver, but as long as I try to learn as much as possible and don't make an idiot out of myself in the process I think it'll be allright. After the last time we were at the Ring we found about twelve photographs of it floating around the net, so I guess it looked impressive.......
This is me in another car, having a blast!
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Dragracing a BMW is like taking Jessica Alba fishing. Some might considering it fun, but think of what they missed....
Hello all, firstly I would like to explain why I bought an M5. I was in the motor trade for many years and literally drove thousands of cars. During this time BMW stood out from the rest, E34's in particular.
I then moved to a European sportscar specialist in Florida and drove hundreds of so called supercars. Only 2 cars stick in my mind, a 600 HP 911 and a box standard 3.6 M5. The M5 was rememberable for all the right reasons. One of them being that it really is brilliant to drive.
Part of my job was test driving various cars on major circuits and again the M5 was the shiner. Despite its long wheel base it seemed to have the feel of a small car. Comparable to a 325 convertible. A bit loose on the rear end and a bit hard up front.
Eventually I bought one and alway took it to the track with me. Initially hard driving seemed to be a little akward compared to fast driving on the road or racing on a track. However this was resolved by really going through the car.
Obviously all the bushings . Springs can look OK , but for 120 quid just replace them because they may have lost their strength.
Leaky suspension , obviousy replace. And one of the biggest no no's is moody wheels. Most of the time the offset is never as it should be which creates havoc on the handling.
Finally, tyres. whats the point if you cant transfer all this to the ground. Go for nice wide rears to get the power down but expect a little understeer. An M5 is built for long fast corners not little roundabouts so this shouldnt be a problem.
Once all this is dome , get it on a KDS machine and make sure everything is pointing in the right direction.
I think after all this you will be suprised just how much grip your M5 will have. Practice on a track if you can afford or a car park if not.
Certainly dont blame yourself as an M5 is a big heavy car with tons of power.
Just make sure it is good as it can be and take it from there.
Last edited by rjack; 16th November 2005 at 07:55.
Thing is, it is tough to be a consistent limit-taking M5 driver, unless you track your car a lot. Which is very entertaining but very costly, since engine mounts, bushings, brake discs, brake fluid, brake pads and tires all get knackered a lot quicker...
As to utilizing track tires (slicks), it is good to be careful for they are a double edged sword. Since they have tremendous grip, they end up supporting a weight transfer amount which the engine mounts and bushings cannot support. There have been a couple of cases where people utilize track tires for 10-12 laps, only to find out that their hydraulic engine mounts are disembowelled and sometimes, their bushings are smashed (this is where the polyurethane ones are worth it).
The worst of all though happened to a friend of a friend: He was using a 911 with track tyres and his engine failed due to oil starvation. The track tires generated so much grip that the oil pump failed to adequately lubricate the motor.
- gone but not forgotten....
- gone and left a lasting impression in my mind!
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