Comparison of M3 CS (2018) vs. M3 Non-ZCP (2016)

[pfl]

Hi everyone,

I took my recently acquired M3 CS to the track and wanted to share some of my observations between this car and the 2016 M3 I drove with some data captures on both cars:

2016 car:

• M3 - No ZCP (No competition package) - No EDC (No adjustable suspension)
• Stock wheels
• Birdgestone RE71R tires (265 fronts - 285 rears on stock 19s)
• Traction Control mode: MDM
• Power levels: OEM and JB4 Map 1 (OEM data is from a friend with similar track history as me)
• Gas: 91 Octane California
• Alignment: OEM

2018 car:

• M3 CS
• Apex SM-10 wheels (18x10” ET25 front and 18x11” ET44 rear)
• Nitto NT01 (275-35-18 front - 305-35-18 rear)
• Traction Control mode: MDM
• All else stock on the car including pads, rotors, fluid, etc.
• Gas: 91 Octane California
• Alignment: OEM

Below are my observations both from data and feel of both cars. I'm open to hearing what the community's thoughts are and learn from you:

I have ran the Autoclub Speedway course for a few years now and am familiar with its slightly different setups of playground area as well as T10/T11 and those do make impact on the lap times. At the times of running the 2018 M3 CS, the track layout was slightly slower than when I ran the 2016 M3 (By roughly about 0.5 second)

Acceleration:
The 2016 M3 w/ JB4 Map 1 had the highest max. speed on the front straight at 155.05mph. Following that was the M3 CS with 154.70mph and then the '16 M3 on stock tune at 150.50mph. M3 w/ JB4's time however was only 0.4 sec faster than same car (2016) with OEM tune. This was very apparent to me as the car would lose traction very abruptly due to the rush of torque. M3 CS however was very poised and rarely lost traction (All cars were ran with Sport+ for Engine and Suspension, Comfort for Steering, and MDM for traction control setting).

Cornering:
Here is where M3 CS showed a noticeable difference in my opinion. Now I do not have any experience with the Competition Package but I believe, it seems like the Competition Package is also much better than stock M3 settings so the CS may or may not be a large improvement over Competition. The CS was very compliant over bumps and berms, as well as the turn in on CS was very sharp in comparison to the 2016 (non-ZCP) M3.

High speed banked turn handling:
This is where I cannot really compare the cars yet. The reason being that it had been roughly 2 years since I drove the 2016 M3 on this track (although I have ran this track many times since - just not in another M3) and therefore I did not have the seat time to push the car through the NASCAR bank much. As it shows in the graph, my min. speed in M3 CS was 119.5mph where in the Non-ZCP M3 it was 125.5 and 127.6 respectively. The CS can do as much if not more once I have more seat time in it. In this banked corner, CS lost 0.6 seconds and yet still managed to do over 1 sec faster lap time by end of lap. For a reference, below is a history of my carried min. speed through the same turns in a few different cars:
- 2015 GT-R on NT01 tires: Min speed 136.27 mph
- 2014 911 Turbo 991.1 on Trofeo R tires: Min speed 130.32 mph
- 2013 458 on Trofeo R tires: Min speed 131.00 mph
- 2016 M3 on RE71R tires: Min speed 125.5mph
- 2018 M3 CS on NT01 (first track day on this car): 119.5mph

Transitions:
There are a few turns in Autoclub that require the car to smoothly transition from side to side and not take too many rebounds to settle since another input needs to be given for the upcoming apex. M3 CS was able to transition in a noticeably shorter time and "be done with last transition's effects" than the regular M3.

Summary:
In summary, I feel that M3 CS is noticeably (to me) different in certain areas:
- Better front end grip
- Better chassis control under braking and in transitions
- The power level of CS is slightly less than JB4 Map 1 on top end and with a much more usable mid-range that doesn't upset the rear wheels on exit. This really helped on the track.

These are my observations. I'm looking for your thoughts and to learn from the folks here.









Thank you

[CanAutM3]

Different tires and track layouts, so it is difficult to draw conclusions from the data alone.

I think you might have reversed the legends for the red and green bars, where the green is the JB4 and the red is stock...

[pfl]

Originally Posted by CanAutM3

Different tires and track layouts, so it is difficult to draw conclusions from the data alone.

I think you might have reversed the legends for the red and green bars, where the green is the JB4 and the red is stock...

Thank you again! Fixed.

As for layouts, yes, it was slightly different so the difference in that sector cannot be taken into account.

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by pfl

Thank you again! Fixed.

As for layouts, yes, it was slightly different so the difference in that sector cannot be taken into account.

I do agree with many of your subjective comments. I feel there is a substantial improvement in handling with the CS. From what I have read, the CS has been specifically tuned to run R-compound tires. DSC/MDM, EDC, EPS, ABS, DCT, e-diff and the combination of the suspension hardware components have all been optimized around the use of R-comps, which I believe is what makes the greatest difference when on track.

I was able to squeeze one track event with my M4cs before the season ended and was able to beat my previous 2015 M4 all time best lap by 1.5 seconds without even trying that hard. I was just doodling around getting to know the car and when I looked at the lap times at the end of the session, I was like whooly crap . And this is with the exact same track layout and mods for both cars: Apex EC-7 18X10-18X11 wheels, NT01 275-305/35R18 tires, GC camber plates, lowering springs and Pagid RSL-29 pads, so it is a true apples-to-apples comparison. And I am sure there's more time to be gained by focusing and pushing a little more.

PS: Your legends still seem off in the OP between the base and JB4...