Goodwood Festival of Speed

[johnny73]

Saw the Beast for the first time in the flesh yesterday only a few pics I'm afraid.

First Impressions when viewing the car stationary:

Love the interior you feel IMO much more cosseted than in the M5 and the Piano Black trim looks great.

Car look fabulous from front and rear, understated but agressive.

Indy red not my cup of tea at all although liked the red interior.

Shame this amazing engine is topped with cheap looking plastic, makes it look a bit ordinary.

Real issue I had was one I have been concerned about ever since I saw the first pictures. The wheels are ok, but the main problem is the huge gap between the tyres and the wheel arches which is a lot greater than in an ordinary 6er with 19" wheels. Just doesn't look right to me. Personally I think that they should produce 20" inch wheels with a lower ride height to get the right look. Anyone else agree?

Not quite sure what to do now. I am even considering aftermarket wheels and lowering set but would really prefer not to do this as I think it may affect re-sale value, warranty and with all the complicated electronics involved I would be worried about changing the factory set up. Your thought appreciated.

On a positive note when the car was going up the hill and round one particular corner it seemed incredibly "planted", lower to the ground(is this because ride height is lowered on a sport setting perhaps?)and seemed to go through the corner flatter and quicker than most of the supercars including the Maclaren SLR.Sound was like muted F1 car, amazing!

Other highlight including 3 SLR's were Morgan Aeromax, new AmV8(sounded awesome) and F430.

[Ronan]

I'm with you on aftermarket wheels.. I always stay within the manufacturer's range. I had notnoiced the increased gap, ( I have my regular 645 with the 19" teardrops until I get the M6 next years.) One way to handle might be to hang on to the original wheels and buy an aftermarket set, and imply refit the originals when you are ready to sell the car.
I also dislike unfilled wheel arches, but am inclined to wait and see if BMW comes out with something to fill the gap. If the M6 19" wheels are not filling the gap it can only be because of much lower profile tires, since by definition the wheels are the same size as the regular sixer 19s. You might want to consider tire options.

[CobraJet]

Johnny,

I see what you mean about the color. It looks like a rust shading.

Do you think it's the same color as the press releases shows below with different lighting? Do you think the color below could be an Imola Red?

Thanks for the report from the Festival.

[johnny73]

I had thought of this, but some of these sets, for instance larger 21" Hartge's involve alterations to the wheel arches and bumpers, something to avoid in my mind.

I hope BMW do come up with something larger as I really am unsure about fitting aftermarket wheels and suspension. Although I remeber Gustav saying that in a interview with one of the top guys from BMW M-Division he said larger wheel options were not being considered.

It is a shame because I love the car and am only unhappy with this aspect of it.I don't think that by getting higher profile tyres this would solve the problem for me as the wheels already look too small and this would only be exacerbated by "taller" tyres.

Do you happen to know if ride height is adjusted with the different damper settings? Could this be why the problem didn't seem to be half as bad when the car was rolling?

[johnny73]

Originally Posted by CobraJet

Johnny,

I see what you mean about the color. It looks like a rust shading.

Do you think it's the same color as the press releases shows below with different lighting? Do you think the color below could be an Imola Red?

Thanks for the report from the Festival.

Hi Cobrajet

No it is definitely Indianapolis Red in both, it is just the light that makes them different.

[Wolverine]

Personally, I think you are absolutely nuts to consider altering the suspension charachteristics of one of the most highly developed and tuned suspensions in the world. The engineers have worked years to give this car the proper balance and handling with the OEM wheels, tires and springs. You will simply trash this by just 'lowering' the car.

You could probably get away with 20" rims and tires without changing anything significant in the suspension setup though. I'd be careful to keep the same rolling diameter and weight, then theoretically the car suspension shouldn't see much difference. The lower sidewalls will make the ride a bit stiffer though, so you will be changing things slightly. I may do this on my M5 depending on the look I get with my 19" BBS wheels.

Making a major alteration to the suspension by owering a car this sophisticated is just nuts IMO though.

[MEnthusiast]

Thanks for sharing the pics and comments. I agree with Wolverine on the suspension. I don't know if the system adjusts ride height, but I would be very cautions when making changes.

One other thing to consider is BMW in their press materials tout the light weight attribute of these wheels. Unsprung weight is something like 3.5x as meaningful as sprung weight. I think BMW says the M6 wheels weigh 4lbs less than an E60 M5 wheel. So thats 16lbs x 3.5= 56lbs. Thats a fairly substantial weight reduction. So just swapping to the M5 wheels would be a penalty. My advice is if you like the car but are not 100% sure on the wheels- get the car and live with it for a while. As time wears on there will be those making aftermarket parts and you will know more about the car.

[bernhtp]

My guess is that the OEM wheels are extremely expensive and functional. I would not dream of changing them.

Tom

[johnny73]

Thanks all, just confirming my gut reaction that changing them is the wrong thing to do.


Will stick with originals and see if bmw come out with anything new

johnny73

[Gustav]

Thanks for the report! Put it under updates on m6board.com.

Smore mroe pics:

Goodwood Festival