Le Mans 24hr Race - M5 Trip - Lots of Pics - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

AndyS · 21st June 2002, 16:18

WARNING - Large Pics Follow !!!!! (I can't be bothered to reformat them !!!)

Hi all,
been a long time since I last posted (I think the last time was my engine rebuild pics). Anyway, last weekend some friends and I took a trip to Le Mans to watch the 24hr race. My Le Mans blue M5 has now had in excess of 20 faults and is now with BMW in Bracknell. Faults include front wheel speed sensors, engine firing faults (entering limp home mode 14 times at last count), cat failures, suspension faults, wheel arch problems, very lumpy running in the morning, complete shutdown of engine at high speed, etc, etc.

Anyway, BMW UK leant me one of their press car M5s. The car is Carbon Black 2002 with black extended leather, all options and alcantara headlining. The car arrived 2 days late to the dealer from Thorne - the BMW distribution site. This was due to our very own F1 driver Mr Montoya borrowing it a week earlier. It needed a new clutch and 4 new tyres. The brakes look new too. Apparently he'd been using at a BMW corporate event at Silverstone.

The car looked great when I picked it up from my dealer, however on arriving in Le Mans we noticed that the rear passenger wheel was pointing towards the centre of the car - not straight on. The following pic shows this quite well:

Looks like our F1 friend smacked a curb

Le Mans was great, temps ranged from 28-38 degrees and I managed to get some pretty good pics:

Beasty in Le Mans:

Morgan cars with Charles Morgan:

The Morgan was one of the sweetest sounding cars out there.

Audi Number 1

Audi Number 2

Team Corvette with some Engines:

Team Corvette with a SERIOUS clutch:

A couple of cars racing - would you believe the shutter speed of this one is 0.002244 seconds - and it's still blurred!!

At the Finish in the pit lane:

Podium - I think Audi won.....

There are a few more pics in the http://www.btinternet.com/~andrew.sheekey/pics/ directory. If you want more let me know.

BTW - going for the Dirty M5 prize :

Regards, Andy.

TCM · 21st June 2002, 16:37

Wow, those are some great pictures Andy. How did you get so close to the cars? Sorry to hear about the problems with your M5 but I am sure everything will work out in the end. I have always wanted to attend Le Mans, how was the race itself, boring, exciting, tiring, etc? Do they have screens set up around the area to see action on other areas of the course or do you just get to see what is happening at your spectactor point? Thank you for sharing your great pictures, those Le Mans cas are ubeleivable.

James A · 21st June 2002, 16:38

Excellent pictures, thank you ! What in the world is going on with your car and all the faults, is there any way they are somhow related? I hope BMW can get it all sorted out!

KRM · 21st June 2002, 16:44

Thanks for the pics, Andy! Interesting to read that the M5 BMW lent you is the one Montoya used. Sounds like it took one hell of a beating needing all those new replacements you mentioned.

farcknorf · 21st June 2002, 20:09

I'm amazed by the quality of these pictures ! Do you use a digital camera ? By the way hod does it feel to drive Montoya's car ?

Adam · 21st June 2002, 20:37

Excellent pics!

Boy i would love opne of those corvette engines!

polvoronn · 21st June 2002, 20:47

awesome pictures! Thanks for posting them

MAVERICK · 21st June 2002, 21:00

Sounds like Juan had to switch off the DSC...just to have a little bit MORE fun.

Thanks for the pics. and story, Andy. Sounds like your car is definitely a lemon and BMW should give you another M5 for all the trouble. Do they have lemon laws in the UK?

EBMCS03 · 22nd June 2002, 10:55

VERY nice!! thanks for the pics!

tfung · 22nd June 2002, 12:00

cool pics!

CM5GO · 22nd June 2002, 23:37

That could be the dirtiest M5 I have ever seen!