Not a kill section!? I know, but...

[Z06socool]

Just to put things in perspective let me say that I do not take up challenges on the open road lightly. Not that many cars are a worth while challenge as I am sure many of you know! However, the other day I happened to stop at a light near my house on a road with no traffic lights nor any intersections for about 2 or 3 miles, and... here comes a beautiful new M5. I love this car by the way, and wanted to buy the M3, but finally chose the Z06 (way more ).

Anyway, he pulls next to me and rev his engine once. I guess I did not need more to be . I know the M5 is fast but I did not know how fast; so this was the perfect setting to find out!

I do not know if he missed his start but I know I did a great one (nearly no loss of traction). I was a full length ahead of him (at about 80mph) and started to pull away steadily. Seeing that, I did let him catch up to me... he did not seem very happy , and we went at it from a roll at above 60mph to about 120mph. Let me say that I was impressed. That M5 did not fade away. This time I only took him by half a car length before we both had to slow down .

My car is bone stock (only have a short shifter), and I think that his car was slightly modified as when he finally passed by me I heard his exhaust that sounded a little bit too loud to be stock. Anyone else had an encounter with this super-fast sedan?

[the rave]

there's a (very good) reason that this site does not have a "kill" section. we don't want to hear about mythical street encounters and certainly don't want to encourage thirteen year olds to spam us with their "racing" exploits.

the odds are 99% that the M5 you saw was Absolutely Bone Stock, down to the tire pressure.

I've had many encounters with super-fast sedans on Race Tracks, where driver skill is what matters. AMG benz's, M5's etc. it's always fun to see a well driven big sedan.

David
take it to the track

edit - someday I'll F'n learn how to type..

[Z06socool]

rave

sorry, I did not mean to entice other people to either post false experience nor encourage reckless driving.

I wish I could go to the track more often, but do not have much time to do so .

I love my car and like to share some of the excitment that I still derive from it in my every [day] driving... I hope that there is nothing wrong with that

[70boss302]

I could be very happy owning a M5, but the cost...........too much! Bill

[2K3ZO6]

Some of those Mercedes are pushing close to 500 H.P. The horsepower race is on bigtime in germany. About time for a power increase in new Z06. I would hate to get passed by some lady on a cell phone in her new AMG Benz.

[Royalshowing]

I felt your posting was well put and not what I call a "Kill", just two adults out in the middle of nowhere having a little fun, we all can use a little distraction now and then. You were not on the interstate or a city street with traffic weaving in and out, trying to kill yourself and others, which "Ricers" love to do. You were very tasteful. I have an Orthopedic Surgeon with a Porsche, that I help keep in business, he loves to "Spank" Corvettes and No he has never tried my Z06. I figure that it would be bad for me to "Spank" a Surgeon, who cuts on me.

[ZO6/Les]

FWIW I had a M5 on order at one time, changed my mind and went with the Z06, never looked back. I have raced a M5 several times in the 1/4 as well as Road Atlanta (I am opposed to street racing, I have 3 sons and believe in setting an example) and in both cases the M5 could not hanh with the Z06.

Don't get me wrong, for a family sedan that har hauls butt, but it is no match for the mighty "Z".

Les
PS: There are tracks near you aren't there? Go to one and enjoy it!

[RandyN]

Hey bud,

No sweat. I have not seen anybody that post here that owns a Z not race some one on the street at some time or another. If you havn't, then good for you.

Now, to the original question. Yes I have raced some M5's. From 60 up. I pulled away. In fact when coming home from Moroso in Palm Beach(with my car stuck in forth gear) I pulled a M5 several times. I just new to cruise at the right RPM. I stayed at 80 mph heading south and left him every time. After getting the tranny fixed I ran some Weston punk in daddy's over priced four door. This time I was able to leave around 60-65 with the mods listed below. I walked away. Easily.

PS I like BMW's. was considering one as a matter of fact. Wife had instructed me to get either a E430 or a 5 series. Went to the local BMW dealer(lauderdale imports) and asked to test drive an M5. He asked me for my social # first. I said F$#% you clown.

Went and bought a Z06 and a Ford F150 at 0% for what I would paid for that M5. So, wifes happy. A toy for two and a vehicle to pick up or take my kids to where ever. Now we have three cars(her LX 470). And I use my truck to tariler the Z.

Hey BMW....I LOVE YOU MAN. THANK YOU. NOW I HAVE A Z!

Randy

[ZO6LS6]

A prime example of youthful indescretion...........

I was running an errand a couple of nights ago, and a teenager w/his babe were going the opposite direction in a C4, when he saw me he immediately made a U, nearly causing a Van to have to lock up.( we are on a long double sided two lane street in a NICE residential area).

Well, evidently he's SC'd or NOS, and he keeps pulling up to me and speeding up...slowing down speeding up.

The Van meanwhile is right on his butt( with brights on, not 2 feet away from his butt).

This area is infested with Cops/traffic/vehicles pulling out.....

Absolutely no way this is gonna happen....but, if I had been stupid......a perfect scenario for a disaster.........

Open road, no one in view....cool.....NEVER in the city, town, especially in residential areas....ever.

What are the M5's running now??..........last I checked it was around 300 HP.....but, that was a while back.

When they want as much for a 2 year old M5, as a new Z....it's a no brainer..........having owned several Bimmers.....the maintenance req'd is enough to send me elsewhere..theses cars seem to SELF destruct after 36k.........( planned parts replacement time)............BIG $$$$$$$$$.

For the money, IMHO, they should be built to better QC levels.....
Absolutely gorgeous when new though........however, MB is fixing to give them a lesson in "How To 101".............

[Dock]

What are the M5's running now??..........last I checked it was around 300 HP.....but, that was a while back.

The 2002 M5 has 394 HP and 368 lb-ft of torque matched to a six speed (automatic isn't offered).

There are quite a few M5 owners that modify their cars, and DINNAN does a nice job with mods too.

Given equal drivers (hard to do) a stock M5 shouldn't be able to hang with a stock Z06 in straight line acceleration. But it's really apples to oranges since the M5 is a sedan (probably the best all-round sedan in the world).

[ZO6LS6]

Dock,
thanks...I KNEW it had to be substantially more than the old 296 HP.......to hang as close as it did above.

[WA 2 FST]

A new M5 with a good driver will run low-13s/106-108mph... from a roll a Z06 should walk away easily. I'm surprised it stayed within a car of him at speed.

Beautiful car, but when the Audi RS6 comes to the US this summer the BMW dealer will have several M5s sitting on the lot.

[Z06socool]

Royalshowing and RandyN, thanx for the posts. I appreciate.

Les, I have looked into some race tracks around my area, but never found anyone to go with me. No real fun to go to the track by yourself... Anyone around New England interested in going with me? Also I am not that much interested in drag racing. I rather do autoX (I think that is what it is called...)

Z06LS6, I understand what you are saying... A lot of people are trying to race me (not because of me but because of the car). I used to have an Audi S4 before and nobody ever pulled next to me and revved their engine (except a few Subaru owners). Since I have the Z, countless people have come side by side to my car and tried to do what you described in your post. It would never occur to me to respond to someone that fit the description you have in your post...

WA 2FST, like I tried to explain, from a standstill I easily jumped ahead of him. Please understand that living around Boston the road conditions are not what I would call optimal (even when dry, the pavement shows residue of sand, gravel and salt because of the snow season). Moreover, due to the temperature often below 32, the pavement stays very cold. Like I have read in many posts on this site, traction of the Z with its original tires is not at its best in these specific conditions. I can only say that I fully agree. These tires are meant for perfect warm conditions and not much else... Also, I believe that I know BMW quite well, and as I mentionned I did not get to take a good look at this M5, but all I can say is that the sound coming from the exhaust did not sound stock at all!

Anyway, I appreciate all of your answers and remarks, and can only tell you that no matter what, this car will keep me smiling for a long long time!

[Zlicious]

You only had a half of car length on the M5 from a 60 roll to 120??
DAMN, what gear were you in?

I didnt think the M5 could keep up with the Z06, maybe i was wrong?

[Z06socool]

Zlicious,

I made another pass on this road (alone this time...). It is near my house, and tried to duplicate the run I did when the M5 was there.

Here are a few things I should clarify. First, I am not from the US and even though I have been here for over 8 years, I still can't give accurate description of length in the "English" system vs. the "metric" system . Second, even though I believe I know what I am doing behind the wheel, I never went through any type of race training (I had fast car for as long as I can remember and also drive a GSXR-1000, though). Third, the Z is my daily driver and I only have 2000 miles on it (commute is only 10 miles round trip, and during the week I have no time to go much for joy-rides ) . I calculated that I effectively drove my Z for 6 weeks now (I bought it early December last year).

All this I guess to apologize for not driving the Z to its full potential yet , and also for maybe not having described accurately the conditions of this encounter... The actual length of the road in question was more like one mile or slightly less (after doing some math and converted "km" into "miles" properly this time) . This is a rough estimate, so do not try to derive too much from this figure...This being said after getting started and being ahead of him, I may have gone up to about 50-55 mph. I eased on the throttle and let him catch up to me. By this time we were doing about 65-70 mph (I cannot say exactly as I was focused on the road...), and it is at this time that we went at it again (by this time more than half the distance of the stretch of road in question had gone by). When I tried to duplicate this run alone the next day, I believe that my top speed before slowing down was just above 100-105 mph (but certainly much less than 120 mph as I first posted). I would say that the whole "race" encounter may have lasted for about 30 seconds.

All I wanted to say in my initial post is that the M5 is a very quick and impressive car. I did not expect him to hold so well next to me. Like I said, I may not have been in the most appropriate gear/speed ratio, but that was not the important message I tried to convey (badly, I guess ) in my initial post. I did not post this message because I was proud to have beaten an M5, but just because I was impressed at how fast the M5 was compared to a Z06. I know that some of you would have given him a better race, but for me it was a first real serious encounter with another seriously fast car. And as I said I do not believe that his car was bone stock due to the sound of his exhaust (I know what a regular M5 sounds like BTW).

And at the end, I still beat him anyway (thanks to my Z) no matter how bad of a driver I may be, and I can assure you that it was not a smile he had on his face that I saw when he finally passed me as I slowed down to make a turn to enter my parking lot

I hope this clarifies this very brief encounter I had with the M5...

So in short, the M5 is fast but the Z is faster . But I guess all of you already knew that...