Seb Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 My magazine was having an M5 group test today, and while I wasn't needed, I figured I'd come along because it might be slightly more fun than sitting around the office, molesting our 19 year old designer (though is pretty good fun). Weather was perfect, and the day got off to a good start when I was escorting an E39 M5 up to the top of the straight, as the driver hadn't been there before - as we reached the short straight that leads to the long right hander which carries you round to the runway, I saw him creep up on me in my mirrors, so I dropped it to 3rd at around 40 and kept it nailed. He drew level initially, but then started to drop back, all the way to 120 when we backed off. Nice Don Palmer was doing one of his driving tuition days, so I couldn't have any fun while we were taking photos of the cars, but when he went to lunch I decided to have a blast. After two crap-tacular launches where I managed to miss just about every gear in the box, I pulled out my TRAC fuse and went for a top speed run. Carrying around 50mph round the top end of the runway, I saw a genuine 168mph, with room to spare - could have braked later and got over 170. Very happy with that. Unfortunately, the Soop wasn't behaving itself especially well. On one 160mph run, the lens from one of my LED side repeaters got torn off Then, chasing after the new M5, something went pop. I pulled over, and after a frantic search under the bonnet, I saw that one of the caps covering a now disconnected tube on the intercooler piping had blown off, causing a serious boost leak. It had caused the car to stall with still hot turbos... double I gaffer-taped the cap back on and then, not 100m later, it had blown off again, this time disappearing for good. Our snapper pulled off one of the rubber feet from his tripod, and it was a perfect fit for the pipe! All we needed was a jubilee clip (supplied by Matt, the son of the owner of Bruntingthorpe) and the Soop was good as new. Once all the shots were done, it was my turn behind the wheel of the M5, and it's simply awesome It's so comfortable, so effortless and so powerful. From 1/3 of the runway doing around 60, it would hit the limiter at an indicated 168mph a further third of the way down (four up!), and it was fantastic through the corners as well, with excellent body control. The adaptive seat bolsters are fantastic - they make you feel invincible as they push you in the opposite direction to which the g-forces act upon your body. I love the gearbox, despite all the mags slating it for being too jerky and not as good as a manual - it lets you focus on the driving without having to worry about the gears. The HUD is fantastic too, and if you use that solely, you never drop out of the power band, as the green section doesn't start until 4000rpm - this means you're always right in the thick of the torque and just a right-foot flex away from all 500bhp. It's such a spectacular car, and such a great all rounder - it almost seems like good value at £62k... The M5 didn't arrive at Bruntingthorpe with much tread (3mm - I checked), and it left with substantially less... Don palmer sauntered over and asked for a go - this seemed like a good time to get a passenger lap, and he was awesome behind the wheel, truly fearless but in absolute control (most of the time). He gave the tyres their last rights, but the Matt dropped the first clod of dirt onto their grave as he performed a *spectacular* drift around the top corner of the runway, before realising he'd managed to strip a section of tread from one of the rear tyres (285/35 ZR19s with a special compound developed just for the M5!). The last I saw, they'd disappeared with the car to try and see if the wheel off a 7 Series would fit, and I decided it was time to head home. All in all, a great day Photos from my budget digi-cam follow: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merckx Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 Sounds like a fantastic day, nice having a play on the track! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 That tyre is nuts coming apart like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted May 23, 2005 Author Share Posted May 23, 2005 Never seen strips coming off a tyre before! I took the rubber-rasher home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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