N54 vs S65 on the Track

[persian54]

Originally Posted by Longboarder

Yeah thanks I saw the Oct 13th Big Willow event ad and wish i could go but my M3 will be in peices at that point as shortly it will be going through a transformation for the Shift-S3ctor Airstrip Event.

By the way I don't know if you ran meth in your FBO n54 - it's worth 50 HP on the street but over 100 HP on the track. I have logs where meth is flowing or not flowing and boost drops to basically 14psi peak and 10psi redline on the track without meth given the high IAT's of sustained boost. With meth it hits the target of 19psi peak tapering to 16psi at redline in even the most brutally hot conditions.

Anyway I look forward to meeting you at some point as I plan on tracking the M3 by December.

wow can't wait to see what you do with the M!

How about the N54 ?

meth was the one thing I didn't do

This is a few years back and meth wasn't what it is today. I got rid of the 335 before meth really came "out"
Most shops I knew at the time didn't want to install them etc etc

[klammer]

Originally Posted by Turkeybaster115

These were taken by me, when I was riding in an E90 M3, after only 3 laps at the track:



However the guages installed by IND, read:


So what exactly is the difference in oil temps?

Just as a response to this, I put more faith in the stock temp than the gauges, which I've had a few problems with, but don't care enough to fix. The gauge goes almost to 275 under normal driving when the stock is saying 210 and the right of center hash on the stock temp is 255 if my basic math skills are right and that's where the car is on most track days. Am closing in on 60 track days on this engine and it's a total champ no problems

[M3 Esq.]

At my last DE a modded 335i made it one lap in the first session before he had an engine fire. Big time scary.

On the other hand the fellow next to me in the paddock (same DE) was running a 335i in the advanced group with Dinan software and oil cooler upgrade.

[VCMpower]

Great "real world" opinions, thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by persian54

I took my Z4 35i out to the track over the weekend.


I have to note that...although the Z4 is a better DD than the M...it's a POS at the track compared to the M.

Yes, in a straight line, the stock Z4 is faster than a stock e93 M3 (from the few drags I've done), and with a tune it's faster than a stock e90-93 M3, and even a slightly modded one.

But that's about it...no LSD, crappy runflats, crappy power curve, no high end power.

And although I love the N54, I reallllly hated it yesterday; really Unpredictable compared to the S65 (given that it's a FI car vs a NA car, that's completely understandable and expected, but nonetheless it didn't drive as smoothly as I'm used to).

I'm also not a fan of the gearing... 2nd is a crappy gear that made the car too unpredictable, if i hit the wrong rpm it would shoot up and I would need to make sure I didn't go off since I would end up going sideways (I turned the traction off at times), and not enough power in 3rd...

But what really bugged me the most is that the car kept cutting power (yes I know this is cause of the heat, but it's still an annoyance).

Mid session I would basically be flooring it (in 2nd or 3rd) and the car would have no power at all. Felt slower than a N52.
I would need to pull off the track and have the car cool down before I could go back again. I even did the "run your heater" method to help push the heat out of the engine bay, didn't really help at all.

I had a lot of fun though, which is the key :P

But I will never again say that a N54 equipped car (Z4 335i 135) is anything like a M. I don't care how fast it is in a drag or on the street.
It is not a track car at alllllll.
I do miss my 335i at times (though that one was heavily modded and most likely wouldn't get heat stroked like my stock Z4. But you do need to note the Z4 is like 500-600 lbs lighter..).
We recently got a new 2011 Z4 to replace this 09 that I'm returning in mid August....and I love the way it drives, but I don't think I'll track it.

At least not until it gets much cooler, and probably on a small track like Horse Thief Mile.


I just wanted to share my experiences and make a small rant and comparison :P

[persian54]

I should note that this post was about my 09 Z4

I tracked my 11 Z4 and it actually fared better

It didn't heat up as much and the car was smoother
Considering the engine, transmission, and such are the same... I'm not sure why...plus the 11 has 19in runflats while the 09 had 18in

the 11 does have M sport pkg, but IIRC, that's just the body parts and little emblems.

Overall, it's a fun car to drive on the track, but nothing to get crazy times in.
my best in the Z4, iirc, was 1.33 at SOW CCW in 90+ heat. 4 seconds slow than my M3 time.