M4 Roadster Scores On The Track
Reverend Dave Rally Report #3:
Since there were so many amazing vehicles at the rally you'd think it wouldn't be hard getting seat time in any car you wanted. Not so dear readers. The particularly hot cars were rarely seen in the staging area they came in and left so quickly. You had to wait like a hawk for the ones you really wanted to get in. Luckily, as popular as the new M4 was, it didn't elude my right foot for long and it is now one of my new loves.
Screw the Bangle haters, I love the looks of the regular Z4. It doesn't hurt that the base model is still a fantastic roadster too. Now with the M treatment (330 hp inline six, 18 inch wheels, 0-60 in 4.3 seconds) it is one of my favorite rides of all time. And it doesn't hurt that any M vehicle will make you feel like a stud on the track.
I don't pretend to be a race car driver or know how to hit every corner perfectly but I can still get cars going pretty fast and test out braking and cornering at some pretty considerable limits. In the M4 I had the cleanest manual shifts of the day. I don't normally applaud BMW's sticks either, they feel too tall to me, but this set-up was just right.
I did drive it with the top down and if you've ever driven a convertible at speed it adds a bit more of a rush than in the hardtops. The wind attacking your eardrums gives the heart that much more too consider while allocating blood to the rest of the body. And that rate was accelerating as fast as the M4. It's fast. I'm not going to say how fast I was going, but it was the fastest of the day.
However, I didn't take the carousel as fast as I could have because I'm just not comfortable with completely loosening the backend of a car that isn't mine, at that kind of speed (and on camera). But it was still sickeningly fast and gripped better than I give it credit while on the track. If I had taken it out again I would've probably attacked that carousel faster. Damn. OK so I have a new dream car.
Related:
Huh? The GTI Really Is Fast [internal]
Reverend Dave Rally Report #1 [internal]
Video of BMW M Roadster Junket Drive [internal]