My 3400-Mile Ramble--Richmond, Atlanta, New Orleans, Texas, Savannah, New York
So I decided to take the Beast on a big roadtrip with my wife and dog this Summer. The last big ramble before I move into the world of FI and track suspension with the ESS kit and GC track/school coilover setup. We started in Richmond, VA, where I house my Beast, and took I-85 to Atlanta for the first stop, after which we went through Montgomery, Alabama on our way to spend a couple nights in the French Quarter. The stretch of highway on I-65 between Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama was the most deserted and high-speed friendly I saw on the entire trip. After a couple of nights of debauchery with my best friend from W&L and his wife in New Orleans, we took I-10 to Houston for a night, then to La Grange, Texas, to see my family. We then trekked back through New Orleans to Savannah. The stretch of highway between New Orleans and Tallahassee was also VERY deserted, VERY flat, and VERY high-speed friendly. Finally legs of the trip were back to Richmond, then I just couldn't part with the Beast, so I brought her up to NYC with me and paid the outrageous parking fees for a week or so. Topped off the trip with a night on the town in NYC with some former NFL cheerleader colleagues of my wife then a visit with Ray a/k/a "Kelster" in which he and I swapped cars for a bit and concluded with a fill-up with 100 octane at a gas station just over the GW Bridge from Manhattan.
Was pulled over once during the trip, but just received a warning because I don't think the cop had his radar on AND he clearly liked my car, demonstrated by his caressing my rear spoiler as he approached my window! Didn't see any other E39 Beasts on the road, but did have a nice long run with a de-badged E60 M5 that was clearly modified. We stayed even up to a certain point I will decline to identify, after which he pulled at least two car lengths on me. I think 0-60, I probably would have walked him, based on what I saw, but at high speeds, it was no challenge...at least until after Labor Day, when the Beast gets FI.
Car ran beautifully, though it did almost overheat when I was running it hard in 100 degree Texas heat. I have decided to add an oil cooler using the European oil filter mount that has connections for an oil cooler off the bottom (copying T-Trim 540's setup). That and the RMS charge cooler should help when I go FI. Also, my V1's range is clearly negatively impacted by the UGDO location, so I probably will cannabalize my map light so as to push the head of the V1 out of the front of my headliner, as someone on the Board has done, IIRC.
No strippers on this trip ala Raza, but still a Helluva lot of fun. Here are some pics.
In the first pic, there is only one thing more beautiful than the car, and it's not my dog.
Second pic, right before I rolled over 150k. Note the arrows indicating the fog light check warning because of my 50w fogs. Argh!
In the last pic, note the BMW cargo net that worked pretty well to keep the dog in the backseat while on the road. Connected the hooks to the outer rails of the headrests and the bottom hooks to the inside front seatbelt sockets.
__________________ The Beast
2001 E39 M5 LeMans Blue with Black/Blue Sport Interior and Titanium Trim, ESS Supercharger, RMS In-Plenum Intercooler, RMS Plenum Plates and "Shorty" Velocity Stacks, Dinan TBs and Headers, CNS Catback Exhaust, Evosport High-Flow Cats, Dinan 3.45 Differential, GC Coilovers (550 Front/325 Rear), Dinan Front and Rear Swaybars, Dinan Monoballs, Dinan Wheels (18 x 9 Front/18 x 9.5 Rear), Bridgestone RE050 RFTs (275 Front/285 Rear), UUC EVO3 SSK with DSSR, Voltphreaks VPR-S40P Endurance Battery (14 lbs.), Setrab 16-Row Oil Cooler, Dinan Under-Plenum Heat Exchanger Removal Kit, Vorsteiner Double-Sided CF Hood with Open Vents, CA CSL-Style CF Trunk Lid, Zionsville Super Duty Cooling System, OKD Plasma Ignition Coils and Plug Boots, Smoked Hella Tailights, Clear-Corner Hella Euro Headlights, CA ACS-Style CF Front Splitters, Custom Stereo Using Stock HU, PLX Digital Gauge, V1/S1 Mounted in UGDO Location, Recaro Sportster CS Seats, Schroth 4-Pt Street Harnesses, and Various Other Bits and Pieces
Coming Soon!
Stoptech "Trophy" Brakes, TC Designs Roll Bar, TC Designs Rear Sway Bar Brackets, Aquamist HFS-6 Meth Injection with Custom CF/Aluminum Trunk-Mounted Fuel Cell Designed by Howerton Engineering, XRP HS-79 Hosing, Rogue Stage 3 280mm Clutch with JB Racing LTW Flywheel, Dinan Differential Subframe Reinforcement and Dinan Foglight Deletion Kit.
Current Performance Mods: Dinan Exhaust cans (Thanks Timmay77 and btmlinedan), Brake duct mod with "Black Chrome" custom rings (Thanks Timmay77 and Diny), Dinan RSB with BeastPower brackets (Thanks Firehire, MFreakin5 and btmlinedan)
btw peter, noway in hell should you be able to have your car parked over the curb as seen in image 1 LOL!!!
o and welcome to the kewl kids klub LOL! ill be inching at 175k by time this years over!
Remember, I have Dinan Stage 3 suspension that was not installed correctly, so my ride height is 15"+. GC track/school setup going on next week, along with new spindles, so that will preclude me from parking over the curb like that in the future, lest I lose my ACS CF splitters!
Amazing that we took essentially the same photo at 149999. We went to the same car-geek school, LOL.
--Peter
__________________ The Beast
2001 E39 M5 LeMans Blue with Black/Blue Sport Interior and Titanium Trim, ESS Supercharger, RMS In-Plenum Intercooler, RMS Plenum Plates and "Shorty" Velocity Stacks, Dinan TBs and Headers, CNS Catback Exhaust, Evosport High-Flow Cats, Dinan 3.45 Differential, GC Coilovers (550 Front/325 Rear), Dinan Front and Rear Swaybars, Dinan Monoballs, Dinan Wheels (18 x 9 Front/18 x 9.5 Rear), Bridgestone RE050 RFTs (275 Front/285 Rear), UUC EVO3 SSK with DSSR, Voltphreaks VPR-S40P Endurance Battery (14 lbs.), Setrab 16-Row Oil Cooler, Dinan Under-Plenum Heat Exchanger Removal Kit, Vorsteiner Double-Sided CF Hood with Open Vents, CA CSL-Style CF Trunk Lid, Zionsville Super Duty Cooling System, OKD Plasma Ignition Coils and Plug Boots, Smoked Hella Tailights, Clear-Corner Hella Euro Headlights, CA ACS-Style CF Front Splitters, Custom Stereo Using Stock HU, PLX Digital Gauge, V1/S1 Mounted in UGDO Location, Recaro Sportster CS Seats, Schroth 4-Pt Street Harnesses, and Various Other Bits and Pieces
Coming Soon!
Stoptech "Trophy" Brakes, TC Designs Roll Bar, TC Designs Rear Sway Bar Brackets, Aquamist HFS-6 Meth Injection with Custom CF/Aluminum Trunk-Mounted Fuel Cell Designed by Howerton Engineering, XRP HS-79 Hosing, Rogue Stage 3 280mm Clutch with JB Racing LTW Flywheel, Dinan Differential Subframe Reinforcement and Dinan Foglight Deletion Kit.
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