Finally managed to get a morning of lapping in after ~4 months of ownership, and completely confirmed I made the right decision going with the GTS instead of a M2C. The GTS is an absolute riot on the track.
A few observations:
- Bring Gas: averaged 6.2MPG, fuel starved after ~57 miles. This was intentional due to the alignment concerns.
- Get Camber Plates: my front alignment was flawed, -1.4* due to the strut brace limiting the camber plate movement, going back with the explicit instructions to remove the brace during alignment. My home track eats left front tires, and even overbraking by 10-15mph in the high-speed right corners I definitely started chewing up the LF shoulder in ~60 minutes.
- Bring Water: the water injection tank level alert started chiming before I ran out of gas. Super annoying/distracting when the car chimes at you every corner for your last 2 laps.
- Turn off DSC: MDM was useful for the first session or two to familiarize myself with the car's behavior and to sort out tire pressures, but I dropped from 2:08.xx to 2:03.xx simply turning off DSC. Max positive toe(~0.13*) helped keep the throttle oversteer in check, but you could happily drift this thing around every corner if you wanted.
- CCBs pedal feel leaves something to be desired: felt very unpredictable, but that might be a seat-time thing. They sure do stop quick, and zero fade issues. Front tires overheated/spiked in pressure before the brakes.
- Get harnesses:
I hate that USDM GTS' didn't get the European seats. I'm confident I'll drop ~2-3 seconds with a harness. Trail braking is a nightmare sliding in the seat, and several corners I'd struggle mid-corner to start throttling-out because of the lateral Gs.
- Sport+ throttle is perfect: It is borderline unusable on the street, but it is absolutely perfect for medium/high speed tracks. I was in 3rd -> 5th gear, and the throttle sensitivity was perfect for trying to throttle steer the car a bit towards the end.
On the street the GTS feels kind of like a muscle car, because you can't safely exercise its capabilities in the corners. On the track it is still a bit like a missile trying to straighten out corners to bury the throttle, but it is definitely capable of holding its own with momentum lines through corners. Related, there was a guy flogging an E39 M5, it was awesome watching him sling that boat through the corners and try to put his power down.
My car is now in storage until January due to my home track being closed for winter break. I'll update my post about camber settings once I get out to the track again with a correct alignment + pyrometer + have more than 1 tank of gas.
Obligatory track-day photo. This was after the first session, pulled the front splitter out for sessions 2 and 3.
https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/at...1&d=1574108927