My 2016 X5M Track Day videos, times and impressions

[Korntera]

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Yup, I took mine on the track. I gotta tell you its a hoot when you pull up to tech and people either go or
I just had my break in oil change a week earlier so its a very new car lol. I am an instructor with the BMW club and a few others but this is my first time in an SUV. This was the last of the cars in my profile to track since all the others had been on track at some point(videos on my YouTube channel).

IMPRESSIONS

Acceleration: We all know what its like to 60, however it was a bit slower beyond the 90 MPH range than cars with similar 0-60 times. My Lamborghini which is actually a hair slower to 60 hits 12 MPH faster on the front and back straights. The X5M is very stable at speed and really powers out of corners like you wouldn't believe.

Braking: I tried not to push the brakes to hard since the vehicle is so big and the larger the vehicle the scarier it is to push the limits on brakes when heading towards a wall. Overall they stop VERY smoothly. I had no brake fade but also didn't complete any of the 25 minute sessions as i was scared about them fading on me while driving. I would never have expected the brakes to be so good for such a big car doing 126 MPH down a straight into a haripin right at 40 MPH.

Cornering: While the telemetry is upside down we were able to hit a sustained 1.0G's in the corners and that might even be a bit low since my display is not as stable as it should be so that might cushion a bit of the data. My passenger guessed 1.1 G's before we looked at the data. Car is flat in the corners for an SUV but initial dive into a corner is insane for this big of a rig. Every passenger I took (and there was a line to go for a ride in the SUV lol) said they had never seen an SUV go in any of those directions that fast.

Comfort: Ummm this should be self explanatory but its by far the most comfortable track car I have ever driven and my passengers kept commenting on their comfort as well.

Comparison: Below is a hot Lap video of a 1:33.1 around PIR. For comparison, my stock 05 Lamborghini Gallardo does a 1:31.0 and my track prepped Lotus with slicks would do a 1:29.5 and without slicks would be around 1:33 to 1:34. My 07 Aston Martin V8 Vantage does exactly a 1:33.1 also.

[Korntera]

And a couple of photos on track

[Coelho]

nice!

[Korntera]

Here is the 4K video from the wet laps. Didn't get any 4K from the dry laps. I just uploaded the video so it probably wont' be processed in 4K for another 2-3 hours.

[Ryngo]

This is fantastic. Thanks for the write up. Insane to see our car times equal or close to high end sports cars. It's still quite astonishing to me and I'm 8k miles in! Loved the hot lap. Excellent share. As for that missing power - I hear ya - but I just put dinan in ... It's full tilt ... Brings the right power in right spots. As I'm sure other tunes do as well.

[jcfay]

thanks for sharing. i take it the tires held up well? did you notice additional tire slide as more heat was put into them? And were you full on with the ABS (and into corners)? Really impressive numbers. And I also assume you were in full sport + mode for all parameters? thx

[Ryngo]

just watched again with sound - that's hilarious. I love the cackling - sounds like my cockpit when I'm alone in the car!

[Korntera]

Originally Posted by jcfay

thanks for sharing. i take it the tires held up well? did you notice additional tire slide as more heat was put into them? And were you full on with the ABS (and into corners)? Really impressive numbers. And I also assume you were in full sport + mode for all parameters? thx

Tires did OK, they started getting greasy during the hot lap and I even let some air out to ensure I was at proper wear on the tires. The hot lap was probably around 6 laps into the session. So even during that hot lap video you can hear me say the tires started getting greasy.
I was not into ABS since I didn't want to push the brakes to their limit on that heavy of a car.
Yes full sport with traction control turned off.

[heat'n'cool]

Travis! How did it perform? You were telling me you wanted to do this in mexico...

[jcfay]

Originally Posted by Korntera

Tires did OK, they started getting greasy during the hot lap and I even let some air out to ensure I was at proper wear on the tires. The hot lap was probably around 6 laps into the session. So even during that hot lap video you can hear me say the tires started getting greasy.
I was not into ABS since I didn't want to push the brakes to their limit on that heavy of a car.
Yes full sport with traction control turned off.

Awesome, thanks. How hard were you pushing it on the earlier laps? I guess if I was putting 60% or so into the car for 5 laps, and then pushed it much higher for a hot lap, I'd probably expect it to lose a decent amount of its track ability due to weight, higher center of gravity, etc. So the greasy tires and not using full ABS are totally understandable. The video was awesome. I just wonder what #s you could've hit if the tires were a little less toasty? And one of those pics is great with the dive in - you can see the nose totally dropped down!

Very cool I may need to track this beast some day too!

[Ryngo]

Whats your technology setup that you can record this video with all the graphics and information on the screen?!

[Korntera]

Originally Posted by jcfay

Awesome, thanks. How hard were you pushing it on the earlier laps? I guess if I was putting 60% or so into the car for 5 laps, and then pushed it much higher for a hot lap, I'd probably expect it to lose a decent amount of its track ability due to weight, higher center of gravity, etc. So the greasy tires and not using full ABS are totally understandable. The video was awesome. I just wonder what #s you could've hit if the tires were a little less toasty? And one of those pics is great with the dive in - you can see the nose totally dropped down!

Very cool I may need to track this beast some day too!

It may have been able to get 1 second lower. The tires didn't really hinder the performance as I just felt a bit greasy on one turn. The brakes also would have maybe added .5 second if I was 10/10ths on them. I was pushing probably 8/10ths for 5 laps prior before going for a hot lap since the other laps were behind other cars. When I was running with a Pro 3 race car was running similar lap times, they only passed me when I had to slow to cool the tires a bit, otherwise I might have been slightly pulling on them during the hot lap. Hard to say how hard they were driving but the appeared to drive pretty hard.

Originally Posted by heat'n'cool

Travis! How did it perform? You were telling me you wanted to do this in mexico...

Your on here too! Took me a second to figure out which dealer you were. Duh not a dealer, the other guy with an X5M lol. If the porsche ever breaks just take the tow vehicle on the track much more capable than I would have guessed. Maybe when you come down for a track day(or I come up) we should get both X5M's on track so we can truely see who is the better drive. It will be like an IROC series but in X5M's.

Originally Posted by Ryngo

Whats your technology setup that you can record this video with all the graphics and information on the screen?!

Its a $20 lap timer called Harrys Lap Timer on the IPhone. I have also heard CMS lap timer is good but Harry's is awesome. Take a look at my YouTube for other videos with the lap timer overlay.

[Ryngo]

[/QUOTE]Its a $20 lap timer called Harrys Lap Timer on the IPhone. I have also heard CMS lap timer is good but Harry's is awesome. Take a look at my YouTube for other videos with the lap timer overlay.[/QUOTE]

Awesome. Thank you.

[jcfay]

Originally Posted by Korntera

It may have been able to get 1 second lower. The tires didn't really hinder the performance as I just felt a bit greasy on one turn. The brakes also would have maybe added .5 second if I was 10/10ths on them. I was pushing probably 8/10ths for 5 laps prior before going for a hot lap since the other laps were behind other cars. When I was running with a Pro 3 race car was running similar lap times, they only passed me when I had to slow to cool the tires a bit, otherwise I might have been slightly pulling on them during the hot lap. Hard to say how hard they were driving but the appeared to drive pretty hard.

Wow, that's really impressive. Thanks It's pretty amazing that it handled 5 laps at 80% and then only started to give a bit with the tires. I've gotta track this thing at some point. It'll be an unusual experience, that's for sure (I've only done track time in AMGs, but most recently at COTA and pretty aggressively). Sounds like no issues with oil cooling or anything else? Or were you taking breaks to let the car rest? (sorry for so many questions, just curious as hell )

[Ryngo]

Originally Posted by jcfay

Wow, that's really impressive. Thanks It's pretty amazing that it handled 5 laps at 80% and then only started to give a bit with the tires. I've gotta track this thing at some point. It'll be an unusual experience, that's for sure (I've only done track time in AMGs, but most recently at COTA and pretty aggressively). Sounds like no issues with oil cooling or anything else? Or were you taking breaks to let the car rest? (sorry for so many questions, just curious as hell )

http://www.motorsportreg.com/events/ncc-may-2016-summit-point-main-circuit-hpde-raceway-bmw-cca-national-626111#.VyTkaMj3anO

Come on down! Think 4 of us (non forum) just decided today hat we're going

[techwhiz]

Beast!

[goj]

Who knew your dream sports car could also double as a family hauler!

[m3driv3r]

Amazing man, I am taking mine to autobahn CC on the 21st! Leaving the m3 home this time can not wait!

[E90325M]

I went PIR last Thursday BMW day and just for watching. I heard somebody talking this beast got 1" 19 lap time. Amazing...Seems it buildlt from a motorcycles engine.

[Longboarder]

Jeez love hearing this stuff about the X5M. It blew my mind when I test drove one back in 2013.

I didn't need all the power/handling so just bought the regular X5 back then...but as my tax basis drops to zero I need to think about another one and while the last thing I need is another fast vehicle, I can't get this SUV out of my mind so may pull the trigger.

[MasterP]

did your calipers discolor?

[spuntyb]

That's just bananas. My applause!