[E90convert]

Hello! I recently purchased a 2018 M2 DCT as my daily driver and weekend racer. I plan to do about 5-8 track days per year with it. I did my first event with this car at Mid-Ohio with NOR PCA. I’ve attended this event in many different cars over the years. The weather was in the 50s in the morning, but warmed up to the 70s during the afternoon. Sun was out, pretty ideal driving conditions.

Course Layout: Club/Chicane
Car parts and fluids are stock except the following: DS2500 pads, Goodridge stainless braided brake lines, Castrol SRF fluid, Apex EC-7 19x9.5/19x10.5 wheels with Michelin PS4S 255/275 tires.

Initial Driving Impressions
Since this car is new to me, I kept it in Sport+ for my first few sessions. It is pretty intrusive on corner exit throttle application. Even when the car is straightened out, it takes a second for the engine to get back to full power. I was wondering if the car really didn’t have that much grip on corner exit, or the Sport+ was just too conservative. Later in the day I turned it to DSC Off and the car became a joy to drive. Corner exit grip was 100% there and you could really feel the LSD working to get you to of the corners faster. The car was very controllable, and I felt confident pushing it harder with every session. My final session of the weekend I ended up with a 1:44.43. Timing was done with a AIM SOLO II.

After getting used to the car, I found that after 4-5 hot laps, the tires would be very hot and feel squishy. Understeer was building and I would typically call it a good session after 10-15 minutes of driving. Further, going into the back straight at 130+ on hybrid pads gets the cooking pretty good. I never had significant brake fade, but I could tell they were getting quite hot probably wouldn’t last much longer. I burned through about 40% of the front pads in 2 days. Street car, street tires, daily driver… I’ll put some real track pads on someday.

Powertrain:
I felt the powertrain was very well suited to the car. I never felt like power levels were too low for the track or the chassis. I did feel a slight drop in power after 4-5 hot laps, and looking at the data logs the IAT’s are getting high around the 150-160F mark. The DCT offered fast and consistent upshifts, never faltering or doing something unexpected. While I did not upshift during hard cornering, I did on occasion. Usually when passing someone off the racing line. There are decent lateral forces on the car during the upshift and there is some shift shock with the BMW DCT. One of my students had a 2021 Cayman GTS 4.0 with a PDK. It has zero shift shock when cornering yet gives a nice kick in the seat on a straight. Impressive transmission and calibration.

Cooling: I am very impressed with the oil, DCT, and coolant systems on this car. The oil stayed around 230F, coolant in the low 200s, and DCT oil around 200F. I would expect the differential to run about the same as the DCT oil. Seeing temperatures this low makes me comfortable with leaving the factory fill DCT oil in there for a longer term. I’ll probably change it eventually, but I don’t think it is needed anytime soon.

Take aways: Great car. I felt if I stayed at the event longer, I could have shaved another 2 seconds off my time by braking later and less. I really enjoyed the thrust and LSD feeling on corner exit. I had a 987.2 before this, and that car had unmatched corner exit grip and balance and steering precision. But I can’t put two kids in the back, so it had to go! Regarding tire wear, I thought maybe I was overcooking the PS4S and really beating on the outer shoulder. Upon measuring tire wear (lost about 2/32”) it was pretty even across the front tread pattern, but the shoulders did show signs of getting very hot. Upgrades planned: Brake cooling, camber plates, and an intercooler, I think in that order. For brake cooling, another M2 member I met at the track recommended to remove the splash shields on the front. I am going to put on some of the GT3 control arm air deflectors as well.

I got another track day coming up at Waterford Hills with RSR PCA. A lower speed, smaller, track. I'll post afterward for that one as well. Then in July, Grattan Raceway in the heat of summer. Should see some good temperatures then!