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Some observations.
Because Day 1 was exceedingly wet and cold, I got a very quick lesson on how the Z4M behaves in less than ideal situations. You can be doing everything perfectly and still get in to trouble in the kind of conditions we had but it really gives you (pardon the term) a crash course in your car's dynamics and near-limit behavior. In the dry weather, I'm probably not good enough to get to its limits but in wet weather I was certainly getting there.
Grip in the wet was acceptable. Sometimes intermittent but actually acceptable. I was running street tires, the Potenza RE01Rs, so I was obviously better off than some of the R-Compound running cars. Traction controls stayed on and I never went beyond 75% of brake application. I definitely WOT'd it, though. The traction control was shockingly not intrusive. I am a notoriously smooth driver on the track so that could be a factor but only a few times did the light come on and when it did it never was too aggressive with its efforts. Braking was interesting. At about 60-65% application, I was able to get decent performance in the brake zones. If I went any further a portion of the brake zone was spent dealing with ABS coming on. Generally, the car tracked straight and didn't get to squirrely. In some of the downhill and/or unloaded braking zones, the ABS would come on and the car would slide off line. Wee!! But the car never got entirely out of hand.
One thing that was impossible given the conditions was any attempt at trail braking. The car just hated trail braking in the rain. For the Fast Left (Turn 10?), I usually pop the brakes on for a moment right when I'm turning to get the speed down a bit and rotate me in to the turn. In the dry, this is an extremely fun way to take the turn. In the wet... not so much. I tried this at a lower speed, obviously, and the car's back end came around completely. I was able to save it with some throttle application and counter-steering but when I gave it another shot the same exact thing happened again. The guys on Top Gear probably just would have stuck with the slide and even things out but I was on a track with other people and corner works so I didn't feel it was appropriate to get all drift-master-flex on everyone. Not that I can even pull that sort of maneuver of, but you get my point.
Overall, the car was quite impressive even in the rain.
So fast forward to the dry day. It was still quite cold (maybe about 50?) but it was dry and by the second practice run I was getting some good heat in the tires and brakes and was able to really open it up. The car, as expected, is a beast. Smoothness is essential if you want to go around the track in a metered and even-keeled manor. However, with a bit more aggression in your right foot, the car is impossibly fun. The second session of the dry day was my chance to really see what the car does when I push it. Granted, my pushing was probably only barely approach half this car's potential but it was nonetheless a thrill. Unlike my 330Ci on the track, the power the Z4M is intoxicating. And even with a full stock suspension setup, it turns-in politely, attacks the apex with confidence and tracks-out quite neatly. If I was abrupt on getting on the gas at the apex, the back end slid a bit but the 50/50 weight distribution gives you an odd confidence in where you'll end up.
As mentioned, at the end of the second session on day 2 I started throwing misfire codes on cylinders 1 and 6. I believe that both times it occurred as I was entering the Bus Stop which requires significant braking and a downshift. Not sure if that's related but it was consistent. One thing with this car is that you need to be super smooth with the downshifts or the car gets upset. I'm not the best heel-toe driver but messing up downshifts in the Z4M is ugly. The tires chirp, the ABS comes on -- overall, unsettled.
But despite the issues I had at the end of the event, my first track days in the Z4M were great. I'll be returning the The Glen at least 2 more times this season and hopefully I'll make it to some NHIS events with COM, too. Oh yeah, this event was with COM Sports Car Club. Excellent group of people and excellent school.
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