# Le Mans Blue E90 M-Sport - 2 May trip Report (let's try again)



## turpiwa (Jun 13, 2005)

Having issues getting anything to work.

I'll try a few photos again and if it works this time then I will add notes later.

BIMMERFEST keeps freaking out on me and telling me I am trying to upload 77 images!

No go guys. It says again there is a token missing or something. I'll find somewhere to upload them.


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## turpiwa (Jun 13, 2005)

*UPDATE - link to photos and a You Tube Video*

Ok guys - here is a link to the photos
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=17j24p9v.4vlusmnj&x=0&y=1pjn3t&localeid=en_US

And here is a link to a little video I put on You Tube! It is rough but...


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## revlimit (Feb 7, 2005)

Nice pics and car. Thanks for sharing.


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## STE92VE (Jun 12, 2006)

Car looks great...enjoy the rest of your trip!


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## turpiwa (Jun 13, 2005)

Here's what I tried to type the other day

This is Day 1 

So, LeMans Blue is excellent - I am happy with the choice.

Highlights today

1. Le Mans
2. Great mountain driving through to St Moritz - the long way
3. Car is great - run in period sucks!
4. Did 400 Miles today

'Challenges'

1. Someone was taking delivery of a black 5 series (a 'local' i.'e.' European) must have been short on boxers and picked up my bag from the Welt and drove off with it. They managed to track him down - he had parked out the front and gone to the gift shop and was about to leave, luckily!The Welt staff were great - so aplogetic - they said it had never happened before - typical!
They were shocked that I was so calm! It was a good opportunity to get my phone paired and I figured that BMW would be better at re-imbursing than the airlines. Besides I only brought a couple of pairs of jeans and shirts + essentials - much to my wife's disgust. I was determined to only carry on.
2. The engraver was broken so I couldn't get my key chain engraved (gee - I didn't have to think of something corny to put on there) unless I hung around for 2 more hours which I had no intention of doing (see chellenge # 3) but they gave me a free pen! 
3. I downloaded the route from my stick that I had created on BMW_Routes and the NAV system decided to throw an error about guidance not functioning - for that route or any other destinations I (and several BMW staff) entered.
So, down to the workshop in the bowels of the Welt where they reset it. This took me into the additional 2 hours that I hadn't intended on spending at the Welt - nice as it is.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, later on in Austria I was adding my next leg manually and thought I would create a new trip and do multiple legs at once. Well, that caused the same lock up and I thought I was going to be without the Nav for the trip - ERROR, Guidance not functioning. 
So, I had to resort to the Google Print outs as a backup.
Off I went and I tried it again of course. I tried to run the Start Guidance with the same result but this time just left it instead of turning off, rebooting the car etc and it worked. What I figure is that we hadn't given it enough time to think and build the route before canning it. I did have about 17 waypoints on the route so maybe that was it. It worked well the rest of the day - so good to go!
4. As I headed out of Munich I wondered why I was not being guied by freeways - kinda just occurred to me after about 30 mins as to why was I working my way through Munich traffic (although it wasn't bad). Seems the default is Avoid Tollways and Freeways. 
5. Started raining out near steadily out on the way toward Salzburg then got worse and suddenly was hailing! I was looking for an overpass or petrol station to hide under but it stopped before they were the size of baseballs!

So, it was about 12 Noon when I got away from the Welt. I hadn't used my $15 food credit and had resigned myself that I wasn't then I realized I may as well go grab some lunch and munchies to take with me. I picked up 2 Weiss Beers (one is being drunk now while the other cools on the window sill) a pretzel, cinnamon bun thing and a bottle of coke - good to go.

I love the M-Sport - it is nice. Car drives like a - well like a BMW!

Day 1 - a tad behind schedule but close!


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## BCR (Mar 2, 2009)

Damn that looks good. Really needed to see the new m-sport e90 in le mans blue and this pretty much cemented it as my color of choice.


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## turpiwa (Jun 13, 2005)

BCR said:


> Damn that looks good. Really needed to see the new m-sport e90 in le mans blue and this pretty much cemented it as my color of choice.


It's nice - real dirty at teh moment though.
Not much point washing it - seems to rain at least a few hours a day.
The Ring on Wednesday - I hope it is dry for some of the time there!:thumbup:


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## turpiwa (Jun 13, 2005)

I just arrived at the Ring. Sitting In the paddock pub having a beer. Not going on the track u ntil tomorrow - assuming it is still open to the public and nothing has changed. 
As soon as I got out of the car I smell racing fuel and can hear the bikes on the track - or what I assume is the track. Not really sure which direction to look for it 
The weather is pretty misrable. Any last minute advice from you guys who have been here and driven the track?
Went past the 1200 miles today. For he most part I have adhered. A couple of 5000 RPM stints at 145 mph but for the most part I have been good. Gave it a few good bootfulls on some of the twisty back roads oN the way here and like what I felt.


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## BuckyBeav (Apr 6, 2009)

Nice pics! Glad to see a Le Mans blue E90 in pictures...looks awesome! Love how the color changes in the light. Now to continue waiting 2 months until I pick mine up...


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## JackMac (Mar 10, 2006)

Beauty of an E90 M Sport you have there! 

A friend was at the Ring last month. He is a CCA driving instuctor, and he told me that the elevation changes really threw him off more than anything else. Also, little or no runoff area at the turns makes you drive more cautious through them. Such a big track, takes time to learn it, more than you will probably have in one day.

Hit those apexes and have a blast!


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## FrankAZ (Feb 19, 2009)

*How to know which options you actually have?*



turpiwa said:


> Went past the 1200 miles today. For he most part I have adhered. A couple of 5000 RPM stints at 145 mph but for the most part I have been good. Gave it a few good bootfulls on some of the twisty back roads oN the way here and like what I felt.


'Dandanio', also of this parish, has a sport package which includes the increased speed limiter option (150mph vs. 130mph). Dandanio is reporting that his limiter is still spoiling the fun at 130mph and is speculating that the 150mph option is programmed prior to redelivery. That seems backwards given the driving opportunities US. vs EU.

It seems that you have the full 150mph available to you. Interesting.

Are there any other 'festers with the (M-)Sport packages who've experienced a 130mph limit during ED? Proven 130mph+? Had something change on redelivery (professional driver, closed course, yadda yadda...).

EDIT: Reading a confused series of posts on these forums and (shhh) elsewhere it seems that the limiter may not be 150mph if the tires are not rated. BUT, why would BMW specifically identify a increased speed limiter as a package ingredient and then not fit the appropriate rated tires, and end up not fitting the option so the car is not as advertised? Seems illogical.

That brings me to the bigger question:

On collection at BMW Welt is the car accompanied by a break-down of all the packages, sub-package options, and other options which have been actually built? Something which would indicate that the car has been assembled with, and is intended to have, the options purchased/specified. I could trust a computer-generated print-out from the assembly line, but if I only had a photocopy of my original PO I would want to verify everything myself and frankly crawling under a car to look at suspension components I couldn't recognise the differences in anyway would be pointless.


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## L Seca (Apr 22, 2005)

turpiwa said:


> I just arrived at the Ring. Sitting In the paddock pub having a beer. Not going on the track until tomorrow - assuming it is still open to the public and nothing has changed.
> As soon as I got out of the car I smell racing fuel and can hear the bikes on the track - or what I assume is the track. Not really sure which direction to look for it
> The weather is pretty misrable. Any last minute advice from you guys who have been here and driven the track?


1. Try to get some ride-along laps with someone if possible, before you drive.
2. If it's wet, be really careful at the Hatzenbach/Hocheichen section - notoriously slippery.
3. Watch your mirrors and keep right when being overtaken. Use your right blinker to let others know you see them coming.
4. Keep a level head, and enjoy the Green Hell!


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## adc (Apr 1, 2003)

Congrats! And thanks for the pictures & report!


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## IrvRobinson (May 10, 2006)

Your car is stunning and so are the pictures.....thanks for including me,you're really going to love the PC !


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## chaz58 (Sep 11, 2007)

Nice pictures! Nice car and nice color you picked out too!

I like this picture of yours (and if you are lucky you'll be able to get a picture like this of mine on the 'Ring


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## turpiwa (Jun 13, 2005)

I'll add some commebts from th eother days later - lets skip to the best bit!

Today was a buzz. I did 12 laps of The Ring - no rain - dry all day, even with a few sunny bits.

I did actually go aff the track once- just into the grass for a second. There was a crash and I was slowed right down - and was looking out for trucks and peopel and things and just didn't take the corner. I do have video of it but that is not the video I am going to share 

I did manage to set up my little Flip attached to the rear vision mirror and will upload it to Facebook. It is about 9 mins and 45 seconds long so feel free to fast forward through the boring bits - although trust me there really were no boring its from the seat I was in.

There were actually quite a few crashes today - and mostly race setup cars.
There are also some real idiots out there who should know better - like passing on the right when the line has already been established - I had a Porsche come screaming down my right hand side with a Ferrari glued to his rear - came from no where and the Porsche literally had to to go off into the dirt to avoid getting side swiped.
It is not a place for the faint hearted.

There is every possible car out there - and bike. There was a family in there B-class Merc. Mum, Dad and the kid in the car seat. A guy was going around on a scooter. Porsches are definitely the majority though.

One of the most amazing things I found with this track is the constant loading and unloading of the suspension - it takes a couple of laps to get into the rythm. You really need to be concious of braking when you need to accelerating at the right times and being smooth so the suspension isn't loading and unloading - which equals instability. After my 1st lap I was thinking - jeez did I buy a Buick!!! 
Had a few good runs with some E46 M3's - they couldn't get away - I used them to show me the track. A trick I picked up pretty qquick was use the other cars to show you where to stop and where to go - when running on your own it takes nerves of steel or just plain stupidity to barrell over these hills and not want to brake because you think there is a nice fast sweeper on the other side - but you just aren't sure....
Another thing I did was use the nav system on about 400 ft I think to remind me what is coming up - that really only helps with the tight ones - the others are still a bit deceiving.

Well, it's all over bar the shouting - packing up to head off tomorrow. I am dropping the car at Harms in the morning then off to the airport from there.
Next time I see the car will be at for pickup at the PDC when I am also going to do a 2 day M-School!

(will add the video link after it has uploaded)


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## adc (Apr 1, 2003)

Awesome, can't wait to see the video! 

Congratulations, it sounds like you definitely got your $'s worth on this ED, with so many Ring laps...


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## STE92VE (Jun 12, 2006)

Very accurate account of what driving on the ring is all about. That's why I decided not to partake on this ED with the wife's car. She usually yells at me for doing certain things on the LIE and I didn't want to invite further harassment while driving on the ring.

Maybe next time...


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## kloh (Mar 28, 2009)

Great report on the Ring. I'll be doing the same in August...can't wait.

BTW, the video you posted up here cracks me up. Were you holding it while steering? Makes it look like you're swerving everywhere, but I'm sure you're not, right? 

Engine sounds awesome though.


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## turpiwa (Jun 13, 2005)

STE92VE said:


> Very accurate account of what driving on the ring is all about. That's why I decided not to partake on this ED with the wife's car. She usually yells at me for doing certain things on the LIE and I didn't want to invite further harassment while driving on the ring.
> 
> Maybe next time...


I agree - I would never take my wife on the Ring!!!! I would end up jumping out of the car. I always tell her I have 2 systems in teh car - a Naviggation System and a Nagivation System!


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