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BMW X1 (F48) and X2 (F39) Forums General BMW X2 Forum (F39) Home from Oktoberfest, got to track my m35i

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      10-17-2019, 03:06 PM   #1
billnchristy
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Home from Oktoberfest, got to track my m35i

We just got home after spending Tuesday, Wednesday, and this morning at Oktoberfest in Greenville SC.

Tuesday we toured the factory then did a half day M performance class where we:
Rat raced 2 m850i around a wet oval with traction off
Lapped M4s
Lapped m240i in an autocrossy style timed event
Ran X5s in an off road course
Hot lapped with a pro in the M5 comp

Wednesday we did a time, speed, distance rally. Cool having a car number.

This morning we woke up, drove 53 miles to the Michelin test track, drove 12 laps in a lead/follow with our car, then drove 53 miles back to the hotel and then 130 home, averaging 33.3mpg. Versatile much??

The Michelin drivers were in M5s and we were the second car. My group had us, a rental Nissan and an older M5. The format was to stay within 3-5 car lengths from the next vehicle and the driver would slow the field down if you couldn't keep up. I did well, the poor Nissan Sentra couldn't keep up so we kept having to slow until the last lap he just said screw it. I did my best to keep up and didn't do bad, but that thing is a rocketship out of corners.

I must say our little car is super agile on the track and very confidence inspiring. I forgot to turn traction control off but it didn't feel like it interfered, not sure if our cars beep and scream at you if you activate stability/traction?

The poor M5 in our group had to keep his hood up and kept having overheating problems, our little girl soldiered pretty hard. After the last lap when I turned it off the fans stayed at full speed for a good couple minutes. It sounded like the engine was running but it was just fans.

I am afraid the bug has bit, that was a blast!

The Michelin guy said he was going to burn off any competitors tires. My Contis left quite a bit of tire on my rear quarter.
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      10-17-2019, 03:10 PM   #2
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That's awesome! I "track" regularly with my current M3 but am migrating into a blue x2 m35 and love feedback like yours. I just hope this handles better than my Focus ST. I guess time will tell! You're on A/S too!
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      10-17-2019, 03:52 PM   #3
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It feels similar to the m240i as far as handling goes to me. It doesn’t understeer very much but near the limit I got it to push a slight bit. It takes some work to get the contis screaming. Here’s the track map, we did the long course.
https://michelinpg.com/track-2-road-course/
I honestly feel more confident in the x2 than I did in the m4. I think part of that is they were being beat up constantly and had some brake fade issues.
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      10-17-2019, 04:35 PM   #4
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Awesome!
Here's a stupid question. Has anyone lowered the m35i to further improve handling performance? Your tire gap looks pretty big...
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      10-17-2019, 05:17 PM   #5
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Honestly there is so little roll It might not help that much. I do have the 19s vs the 20s
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      10-17-2019, 09:10 PM   #6
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Awesome! So, did you get any Oktoberfest beer with this?

Quote:
Originally Posted by billnchristy View Post
our little girl soldiered pretty hard. After the last lap when I turned it off the fans stayed at full speed for a good couple minutes. It sounded like the engine was running but it was just fans.
Electric water pump and fan. Cools the engine even if it's off. Nice, huh?
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      10-17-2019, 09:17 PM   #7
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Yes, considering the m5 had to open his hood each round.

I brought some barrel aged tripels from a local brewery home and had some helles last night.
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      10-17-2019, 09:28 PM   #8
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This sounds totally fun! I had the chance to push my car a little bit over a short closed course and could not get it to break traction.. it handled pretty light and the exhaust sounds great!
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      10-17-2019, 09:32 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by billnchristy View Post
It feels similar to the m240i as far as handling goes to me. It doesn’t understeer very much but near the limit I got it to push a slight bit. It takes some work to get the contis screaming. Here’s the track map, we did the long course.
https://michelinpg.com/track-2-road-course/
I honestly feel more confident in the x2 than I did in the m4. I think part of that is they were being beat up constantly and had some brake fade issues.
Interesting! I definitely find the X2 to be very close to neutral, very nicely. If you disabled stability control, you might have found it behaved quite differently, I doubt it would let you get much rotation with it on.

Question, the track doesn't look like it has any reducing radius corners. Correct? In fact, it looks a little bit ... regular. 26 feet of elevation and the corners are similar. What was your top speed on the straights?

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      10-17-2019, 09:55 PM   #10
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95 limited by the Sentra. He said they can average 90 by themselves. The m5 rarely had to brake at the speeds we were going. I wasn’t comfortable enough to try that.

The two short course connection turns and the one after the second were pretty tight and the last turn was certainly tighter than pictured.

It is a tire test track and he said it used to be the truck test course before they appropriated it.

A cool part is the curbs were painted denoting turn in, apex, and track out zones.
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      10-18-2019, 08:12 AM   #11
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Sounds like a great first experience. Thanks for sharing!
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      10-18-2019, 08:38 AM   #12
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Definitely baby steps but I am glad to report she is sure footed and confidence inspiring.
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      10-18-2019, 12:07 PM   #13
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Nice man! I’m going to take mine to the AutoX soon. See how it does. They haven’t even classified them yet though. On a side note: they don’t even make coilovers for our car yet. I’ve called around to several well known companies and they’re waiting to see if there is a market for them.
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      10-18-2019, 01:26 PM   #14
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It’s like being a libertarian.

Should do great at autox, stay in sport shift to keep revs up and you’ll have no lag issues.
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      10-18-2019, 02:12 PM   #15
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AutoX is more about the brakes than the accelerator. But to do well, it's all about the classification. Many really great cars end up as dogs when they get stuck in a high class. Of course, it's still fun as heck to flog them around!
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      10-19-2019, 11:41 AM   #16
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We know the brakes are good
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