[HK4]

Excellent analysis. Looking forward to my experience soon!

[khanyam4]

Nice! LFG!

[stevehifi]

Excellent review from an avid owner.

Can you explain how you got -2deg camber ? I assume the only adjustment is toe in the front so not sure how you coaxed more camber.

[blackmamba3]

Originally Posted by PeregrineFalcon

Thanks for great and very informative post!

Regarding brakes, one more reason they were so good and didn't overheat could be the fact that this time they have made actual air duct that goes from the front part of the car strait to the brakes for cooling?

I think you're right! Not only are they a cool visual element to the front of the car but surely functional too, especially on track!

[blackmamba3]

Originally Posted by stevehifi

Excellent review from an avid owner.

Can you explain how you got -2deg camber ? I assume the only adjustment is toe in the front so not sure how you coaxed more camber.

As you can tell just by looking at the front wheels, the car comes stock with some pretty serious negative camber, much more than on the F8X cars. Stock was -1.9 (left) and -1.5 (right) but the shop was able to adjust the control arms to get -1.9 and -2.0 after the alignment. Not bad for a stock car without camber plates!

[blackmamba3]

Originally Posted by Nkr15

Cant wait to join the GGC chapter once my car is delivered!!

You absolutely should! If you're on Facebook, be sure to join the local "Norcal G8X" group too. Good luck with the new car!

[cfm56d7b]

Terrific and accurate review. The new G80 M3 is a winner. Thanks for sharing!

[stevehifi]

Originally Posted by blackmamba3

As you can tell just by looking at the front wheels, the car comes stock with some pretty serious negative camber, much more than on the F8X cars. Stock was -1.9 (left) and -1.5 (right) but the shop was able to adjust the control arms to get -1.9 and -2.0 after the alignment. Not bad for a stock car without camber plates!

Impressive, do you happen to know if the front lower control arms have an eccentric bearing that is adjustable?

Also do you happen to know the size of the front wheels? Are they 19x9.5"?

[Ikester19]

Thanks for sharing a great review

[M5ZRH]

Thank you for sharing such a detailed write up.
Although 150lbs does not sound much it raises a key question on the weakest link: tires.
With a continuous increase in weight they have much more to deal with and with potential overheating.
You can get bigger brakes, have a stiffer chassis etc but the contact patch with the track cannot be increased proportionally. BMW seems to have done once again an amazing job but at some point you cannot go against the laws of physics.
Instead of adding power, sports cars manufacturers should maybe think of focusing on reducing weight.

[flanast]

Would love to see you follow up this review with another once you are able to time your laps. Butt dynos are not always accurate.

[jmg]

Thanks for the review! I frequent Big Willow and I would be curious to what your corner speeds at each turn was, especially 8 and 9. -2.0 is not a lot of camber for that track and with the extra 150lbs I'm wondering how the outside of the driver front tire held up? Even with -2.7 I would see some decent wear from 30+ laps. How fast was the front straight?

I'd also like to see a timed streets of Willow lap. It's a shame your timer wasn't working, a cheap smartphone app like Harry's or RaceChrono would have done the job quite easily.

[///Motivated]

Originally Posted by flanast

Would love to see you follow up this review with another once you are able to time your laps. Butt dynos are not always accurate.

I don't know the OP, so only making a point, but the butt dyno IS often wrong. I'd be curious to see if it felt planted because the lap times were slow, or if the brakes didn't turn colors, because... the lap times are slow. The stopwatch don't lie!!!

[GOLFFRR]

not wasting anytime! great write up.

[erictrainer]

Originally Posted by stevehifi

Impressive, do you happen to know if the front lower control arms have an eccentric bearing that is adjustable?

Also do you happen to know the size of the front wheels? Are they 19x9.5"?

Yes they're 9.5. The beauty of this car is that Imran@Evolve already fitted the rear 10.5 to the fronts and it seemed like there was still plenty of room left. If this car can run 305 squared on 11s this will be a track beast.

[uniqueMR]

Thank you

[Bosozoku]

Great seeing you and the G80 on the drive last month!
See you at the GGC Laguna event this year, right!?

I think the two issues that M GmbH faced when creating the the F80/2 were:

1. They were stuck with the base F30/2 platform as a starting point.
2. They weren't allowed to radically re-engineer the chassis because of cost.

I once drove an ex-boss' F30 330i and despised it. BMW went too far toward the cushy
car-for-the-masses end of the spectrum with that generation of 3/4 Series.

And if M were allowed to completely fix the handling with a serious redesign, the cars would have
ended up with a $10k higher sticker, which may have hurt sales.

Engineering is about doing the best with what you're given to work with, and the F80/2 was
the best that M could do with the base car, engineering budget, and price target.

[BMthusiast]

With a little blackwork it looks more Bavarian to me.

[adc]

Originally Posted by Bosozoku

Great seeing you and the G80 on the drive last month!
See you at the GGC Laguna event this year, right!?

I think the two issues that M GmbH faced when creating the the F80/2 were:

1. They were stuck with the base F30/2 platform as a starting point.
2. They weren't allowed to radically re-engineer the chassis because of cost.

I once drove an ex-boss' F30 330i and despised it. BMW went too far toward the cushy
car-for-the-masses end of the spectrum with that generation of 3/4 Series.

And if M were allowed to completely fix the handling with a serious redesign, the cars would have
ended up with a $10k higher sticker, which may have hurt sales.

Engineering is about doing the best with what you're given to work with, and the F80/2 was
the best that M could do with the base car, engineering budget, and price target.

A lot of assumptions there.

You have no idea what the engineering budget was for these two generations of M cars...

You still cannot excuse them putting a common 8at in the car.


You're forgetting that tires make incredible progress across the years. The F80 came out with PSS, and now I have PS4S on it, the increase in traction over the PSS is not subtle especially in the wet. And they're not even "BMW spec" Michelins, still they improve over the PSS in all aspects.

Since now I run tires similar to the G80, an engine tune which puts me in the neighbordhood of the G80 ZCP, I'd be very curious to see if there are any real life differences on the street.

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by adc

A lot of assumptions there.

You have no idea what the engineering budget was for these two generations of M cars...

You still cannot excuse them putting a common 8at in the car.


You're forgetting that tires make incredible progress across the years. The F80 came out with PSS, and now I have PS4S on it, the increase in traction over the PSS is not subtle especially in the wet. And they're not even "BMW spec" Michelins, still they improve over the PSS in all aspects.

Since now I run tires similar to the G80, an engine tune which puts me in the neighbordhood of the G80 ZCP, I'd be very curious to see if there are any real life differences on the street.

Both sides of the aisle make assumptions.

[calbears]

Originally Posted by blackmamba3

As you can tell just by looking at the front wheels, the car comes stock with some pretty serious negative camber, much more than on the F8X cars. Stock was -1.9 (left) and -1.5 (right) but the shop was able to adjust the control arms to get -1.9 and -2.0 after the alignment. Not bad for a stock car without camber plates!

Final spec was -1.9 and -1.9 front

[adc]

Originally Posted by calbears

Final spec was -1.9 and -1.9 front

My (2018) F80 came with -1.6 and -1.4.

1.9 is not sufficient for track, you need -2.5 and above.


Hmm, I'll amend this, that's what you need on previous generations up to E36. I doubt the geometry on the new car has changed that dramatically to make the car happy with just -1.9, but I could be surprised. I guess we'll know once the fast people start tracking it.