BPMSport F80 GTS Tune review

[Hobokenviper]

I recently flushed a BPMSport GTS tune on my F80 6MT and had some additional coding done by Mike Benvo so I figured I would share my view of the effect it has had on my car.

The package included:

GTS Engine tune
GTS Steering
GTS Diff coding
Euro MDM
Rev Matching in Sport+

Firstly, the increase in power and torque is just phenonmenal and the power delivery is quite smooth pretty much in all throttle response settings.

For street driving, I have found that with the significant increase in torque, throttle modulation especially in S+ is key to keeping the car from spinning up the wheels even in gear 3 and in some cases 4 which was a surprise to me. On wet roads, the wheels will spin even shifting from 4 to 5 so I have had to adjust my driving style somewhat.

For street driving, I have throttle in S+, steering in efficient and MDM on. The throttle response fantastic and the car will allow quite a bit of slip angle before any intervention by the stability control system. With the higher torque output, its easy to have the tail of the car step out and drifting the car is somewhat easier. For me, holding the drift is easier with steering in efficient than in sport or sport +

Now, for driving on the track, this is where the mods come to life unmistakeably. I found that accelerating out of the turns on the track was very rapid and I had to shift gears rather quickly because the car was approaching the rev limit and power peak very quickly. On the straights, the car was frighneningly fast approaching the end of the straight at over 140 after in gear 5 - no opportunity to get to gear 6. Also, the closing speed on overtake was substantial and passing was a breeze.

The torque poses new challenges in managing the car in negative camber turns especially over the hill blind turns. Feathering the throttle was the only way to keep the car on the track as the car unloaded at the top of the hill into the turn. With the Euro MDM intervening very late, throttle management and avoiding oversteer was the only way to keep the car planted on the track. I found that the steering setting to Sport was the best setting for me when it came to the feel of the road and especially when it came into rotating the car in rapid succession of corners. I was able to better detect when the car was on the edge of its grip. Overall, my pace increase after the mods got me to lap about 4 seconds faster on a 2.3 mile road course compared to my pace pre-mods. Over a 15 lap session it adds up to a minute faster than before and yes I enjoyed lapping my friends

One final thing, I have difficulty heel-toeing the F80 especially on the track. The engine tune included an option to enable Rev Matching in Sport + which made a substantial difference on the track. I believe this option is only available through BPMSport engine tune and I would highly recommend it if you are having any difficulties with heel-toe. Without this option it is very easy to load the engine when downshifting under braking.

I want to thank the BPMSport team for a fantastic upgrade for my car and I want to thank Mike Benvo in particular for having made the process of coding the GTS Steering/Diff and Euro MDM very easy (he handled the coding himself) and throwing in a few awesome freebies while he was at it.

[TopJimmy]

I'm glad you had a good experience with Mike. My situation there made me feel like I was being a pain in the ass to him. I guess you got him on a better day than I did.

[Jamongkad]

Awesome post! Did the additional coding for GTS Steering/Diff and Euro MDM come at an additional cost?

[TopJimmy]

Originally Posted by Jamongkad

Awesome post! Did the additional coding for GTS Steering/Diff and Euro MDM come at an additional cost?

BPM did make me pay separately for coding.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Thank you for sharing

[RElias21]

I've always heard good things about BPM, but this is the first I've seen re: the F8X platform. Thanks for the feedback!

Just to correct one point, however, the BPM tune is def NOT the only tune that allows you to turn on Rev-matching in S+.

At least BM3 allows that as well.