4.6IS On Board Lap Of Nürburgring
 

Hey Guys,

Took my car round "The Ring" last September.

Finally got round to uploading a video on Youtube.

BMW E53 X5 4.6IS On Board Lap Of Nordschleife Nürburgring Bridge To Gantry 10th September 2012 - YouTube

This was my first ever track day and when watching it back I find parts in the video where I wish I kept the throttle down instead of letting off. This could be down to me not knowing the track I suppose but mann its soooo long.

Does anyone have a experience of The Ring?

Anyone have track experience in general can you give me any tips/advice about my driving. Did I take the right lines etc?

Thanks
James

EPIC!!!

Did you leave the trans in auto mode or were you shifting yourself?

Thanks man!

I left it in Auto but Sport mode. I found the gear changes sluggish so I used the kick down a hell of lot which I wasn't sure if it would cause excessive wear to the box.

When I go back I'm thinking maybe I should try manual tiptronic to see if that's faster?.....

Wish I lived closer to your James!! The track that is close to me is NOT EVEN CLOSE to being that nice! Awesome video, keep em coming!

Thanks man appreciate it!

You should come over one day! You can hire cars there you'd love it.

I wish I lived over there! That way I could actually afford to fill my gas tank up :)

Wow... that engine sound is unbelievable!

Thanks ukrcan!

It's had the centre resonators removed and an X-Pipe welded in their place.
It also has just some cheap custom made mild steel back boxes but I plan on going stainless as they are starting to rust.

I would use manual mode next time. You can hold lower gears that way and avoid the "kick down" that you are talking about. These boxes are notoriously weak, and with the distance and speeds on the 'Ring... I would think about babying the transmission as much as you can.

Driving a new track is always challenging. Keep working on your lines, and try to stay on the throttle through the corners rather than letting off completely. Throttle modulation will help keep the big truck stable.

Either way, you're driving on the Ring so you don't need a lesson from any internet racers (me).

I would use manual mode next time. You can hold lower gears that way and avoid the "kick down" that you are talking about. These boxes are notoriously weak, and with the distance and speeds on the 'Ring... I would think about babying the transmission as much as you can.

Driving a new track is always challenging. Keep working on your lines, and try to stay on the throttle through the corners rather than letting off completely. Throttle modulation will help keep the big truck stable.

Either way, you're driving on the Ring so you don't need a lesson from any internet racers (me).

You have to know how to work the system tho... for example, I paid 3.71/gal. yesterday for premium ( 92 octane ). In order to get that deal, I had to use a speedway gift card that takes off 8 cents / gallon for premium and drive 10 minutes down the street into the "not so great" neighborhood. Otherwise, I would have had to pay 3.89 gallon at the station at the corner.

And we all know how thirsty our X5's are!