1Addicts forum member “biglare” takes his heavily modded BMW 1M to the race track. Using several parts from ESS, Eisenmann, HRE or Toyo, the 1M shows what can be done with the new “baby-M” when money is no object. Our long-time sponsors and friends over at IND Distribution have also contributed to this project by adding a full exhaust system from Eisenmann.Let’s have a look at the story as described by the owner.
“I finally was able to get the 1M on the track after a few mods. I knew this car was going to be a blast on the track, but I did not expect it to rip it up and be as fast as it turned out to be. The low end torque in this car is just a beast and really helps you power out of the corners, almost too much as you have to ease into the gas pedal to prevent too much rear end sliding. Although, some rear end sliding was fun too!
The added power and torque from the ESS Tuning Stage 1 tune was great on the track. The oil temps were slightly above 250 even during the day of 85 degrees. The car performed flawlessly and the power never faded even during a long 25+min session. The throttle response was quick and sometimes too much, haha! Very please with the ESS Tune and cannot wait to try out their Stage 2 version.
As for KW V3′s I had the settings right in the middle as this was the first track event with them. The car felt pretty close to stock while driving on the street, despite the lowered right height. However, on the track it is a different story. The first thing I noticed was the reduced body roll while cornering and then how the car was just planted to the pavement. I did not change any of the settings, but one of the instructors said they reduce the bump and increase the compression a bit. For me after a couple of sessions I felt very comfortable and could increase my speed with confidence and control.
The tires used were Toyo Proxes1 in 255/35 and 295/35 19′s on HRE P43S wheels. Once the pressure was adjusted properly the tires were pretty sticky and held up well after about six sessions of 20-25 minutes each. I’ll have to see how these tires continue to hold up after the track session for street use now.
The exhaust on the 1M is the Eisenmann Race full exhaust, thanks to IND. It sounds great and is not too loud at all. The cold start is a little loud, but that is because of the higher rpm’s of the engine at start-up. After a few seconds the rpm’s settle down and so does the amplitude leaving a nice deep exhaust tone. The exhaust sounds fantastic inside the car when under load at WOT, but is not too loud. I think it is the perfect balance of tone to confirm that this little rocket means business.
The track at OCRC was laid out in clock-wise fashion over 2.6 miles. There were a couple of sharp turns requiring a downshift to 2nd gear and then all the way up to 4th gear for the long straight with speeds of around 100-110mph. The track was more technical, but when the correct line was used you could really carry some serious speed though some of the sections.
I was surprised when the 1M was hanging tough with a GT2RS and a Turbo by mid-day. Other cars out there included a Carrera GT, Z06′s, GT3RS, Gallardo, GTR, M3, Lotus, and several others. There were only two groups as the attendance on Sunday was much smaller than Saturday, so I picked the correct day to attend for maximum track time.
Special Thanks to IND for getting the exhaust and KW’s to me so quickly, HG Motorsports for installing all my mods and to HRE for getting the wheels built so quickly.”