Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt338
I tracked mine once about a month or two ago. Car is a '16 535i M Sport with DHP and IAS on OEM 19s with run flats. Did 5 laps of Palm Beach Int'l Raceway here in Florida with an instructor.
Car is definitely heavy, no getting around that. That said, it did well. Didn't feel as big as I expected. I wasn't out for that long but the brakes never faded. Was actually braking after the instructor said to and it had no problem slowing in the allotted space. Changed direction quickly and confidently; on the longer, slow, tighter corners I was really impressed. Each lap I took them faster and faster and the car held its line each time. Way more fun than I expected it to be. I've only briefly driven other 535s with the standard M Sport suspension so can't really compare, but I have to assume the DHP made a nice improvement to the handling on the track.
I tried a lap with automatic shifting but even in sport + the transmission felt lazy and was too prone to upshift (a weird complaint based on how it behaves in normal street driving). Regardless, you'll definitely need to be shifting your own gears for it to be responsive enough.
Now with all this said, I'm not sure how competitive it would be against, well, just about anything else someone would want to drive on the track. If you're just looking to have more fun than you can on the road, highly recommended.
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That's good news about the brakes. I have already ordered drilled rotors and upgraded pads but I really don't feel the need to do any sort of big brake kit as this isn't a dedicated track car.
As a concession for being somewhat forced to opt for a larger daily use vehicle I found the lightest possible F10 and waited a long time to find a bare-bones manual transmission version of the 535i. It comes in just shy of 3,700 lbs. without me in it. With the H&R springs, H&R sway bars, and Koni adjustable shocks I think it handles quite well.