[MR.]

I read his page (which is the most crap looking page with wonderful information I've ever read), and there is definitely an angle to his story, but I am not convinced yet...

The main problem which I have with the story written on his page is the fact that he talks about motorcycles. OK I know he states it's also for car engines, still most of the story is related to motorcycles, and as far as I know they are not turbocharged like a M2 and do have differences in their behavior, rev range, etc. (but feel free to correct me if I am wrong, I am not a motorcycle expert)

Secondly, his story does not touch on the point of warranty and internal computers checking how you are driving your brand new car! I can start pushing like he suggests but if I violate what is written in the manual I might be in trouble with my warranty. Not everyone's dealer is so friendly!

Thirdly, he does not discuss the impact of the car dyno at the end of the production line or the engine dyno at the end of the engine production line. If the first 20 miles are so important, what is the impact of the dynos at the factory or even the truck driver moving the car on a truck or a ferry. Oh and let's not forget the dealer driving it around as well when they do their PDI.

Additionally, I think that the story of the user manual is one which offers a lot of room to play. Especially, because other sports car brands say different things when it comes to their engines. Of course, they might use different production and testing techniques, still some of them allow more room to play!

I think I really think that putting a considerable amount of load on the engine when it is warm will not harm the engine as long as you graduale built up the load over the kilometers. I cannot believe that putting an immense amount of load on a brand new engine is smart! Definitely not when we a control box is checking my braking and throttle behavior. There are too many sensors in a current engine.

In the end I feel that staying in the middle grey area is the best thing to do. Just drive the car normally, make sure it warms up completely before you are going for it, stay under the 5,500 rpm mark in the first hundreds of kilometers (because that could well be a measuring point for the engine telemetry) and give it more push more kilometers you drive it. This might be a lot better than pushing it on these short runs possible inflicting a marker in the car's computer, which the dealer sees when it does the service.

I would prefer staying at the safe side then trying something which is unproven on your particular car, written by a guy somewhere in the U.S. with an opinion (which I do request) and might bring more harm than happiness. And as my tuner with 40 years experience in the racing, tuning and production of road and racing cars said;

"Everyone has his own opinion about the break-in period, and they all think they are right. We use good oil and molykote A, and run brand new engines with low load and variable RPM for hours and hours on a dyno. For new cars from a production line it can easily be totally different due to all kind of circumstances impacting the breaking in period before the car is handed to the owner. Just do what you think is right for your particular case. In the end, the manual is your leading guide to keeping your warranty when something does go wrong."

MR