I had the rare opportunity to do a third gear pull against a mostly stock (Stromung exhaust only) Z4MC. The results were surprising.
Starting from ~65 mph, the Z4M immediately put a car length on my supercharged Z4, due to it having much better midrange. However, as the rpm climbed and boost built up, I clawed back the distance I was down and slowly pulled ahead. By the top of third and into some of fourth, I was about a car length ahead, and it probably would have stayed that way if we would have kept going.
I confirmed with the other driver that he didn't shift early. In fact he commented on how he heard me shift first. I would have to say that in a straight line from a dig, these cars would be about equal, depending on how long the race was. Due to the gear ratios being the way they are, and power delivery like it is, I think an M would have the advantage in the lower gears, and the supercharged Z4 is faster in the upper gears. Around town the M will be faster, because you have to have the rpm over 5k to make the supercharged Z go anywhere quickly. Once it's there, it has more top end than a Z4M.
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