June 2020
Bedford GT track report -
First of all what a car! I wasn't expecting that with only a handful of carefully picked mods to make a very near full weight road car quicker than my old non-compromised E46 M3 track day car.
Chassis is now so composed and confidence inspiring, had such little dry running so I'm still yet to get use to that. Ran KW's recommended Rebound & Bump setting all day and didn't feel the need to adjust them. Ran a lot less of an aggressive geo setting compared to my old M3.
DCT transmission in traction fully off mode is faultless, hear raves about the copy "GTS" software but I feel that's totally unnecessary, and also voids warranty. The diff could do with being a bit more aggressive but again that could just be down to coming from a 12 plated Gripper LSD.
Obviously there is less involvement in driving compared to 3 pedals but in no way boring, the things you can do with this box is mind blowing, had a bit of a fast-ish slide going on knocking the top of 3rd gear and clicked it up into 4th midway through and my passenger had no idea that change even happened. Also being about to short shift up midway through a bend to really get the power down is again no drama... really something I need more seat time to get the most out of.
Brakes - something that is vastly criticised on M car's performed much-much better than I expected. The only OEM part left on mine though is discs, calipers and ABS but now you can stomp on them in confidence, even if you've left it too late or pressed too hard the ABS gives you a very good pedal feedback.
Tyres - bit of a sore subject for me as I stupidly left them on too high of a PSI to keep the TPMS happy and took a lot of life out of the centre of the tyre, more so on the rear, first track day back in 6 months so just kept on hammering in the seat time and having fun, managed 200 miles on track.
AR1 and onto 18" wheels made a good package and I even managed to keep it on track in heavy rain with standing water.
SRM2 by
M2 ClubSport, on Flickr
PR_200606_MSVT_BA_1095 by
M2 ClubSport, on Flickr
PR_200606_MSVT_BA_0867 by
M2 ClubSport, on Flickr
PR_200606_MSVT_BA_0313 by
M2 ClubSport, on Flickr
PR_200606_MSVT_BA_0210 by
M2 ClubSport, on Flickr
Sorry footage isn't the best ... first time using a helmet cam
Somehow managed to do two 2:44.59 laps back-to-back
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