E89 Z4 Motorsport Debut in Classic Adelaide Tarmac Rally

K

kevnoel

Member
Folks,

I ran my Z4 in the tour category of the Classic Adelaide last week... it's definately all it's cracked up to be, and I can absolutely dispute any comment about this model being "soft"!!!! Even though mine's the s-drive23i, I was easily able to keep a 370Z and Jag XK8 behind me!!!

I'd love to hear from anyone who has competed in the new Z4, as I am pretty certain (as are BMW), this this is the first time a new Z4 has been entered in an FIA sanctioned motorsport event anywhere in the world!!

9CA3812.jpg

Here's the full album of photos...

http://s684.photobucket.com/albums/vv208/kevnoel/Classic Adelaide Nov 2009/?albumview=grid

Cheers,

Kevin
 
Congrats on being the first to compete in a Z4 [knew it was coming], can you share any prep work done...
 
Nice! :thumbsup: Your right though! I don't know where they get this "soft" from? Better suspension set-up for the road yes, but not soft (unless it's compared to a car that knocks teeth out!!)!
 
Breaker said:
Nice! :thumbsup: Your right though! I don't know where they get this "soft" from? Better suspension set-up for the road yes, but not soft (unless it's compared to a car that knocks teeth out!!)!
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Beats me!... We ran the car in "Sports +" mode most of the time, but knocked it back to "Normal" on a few stages which were twisty and bumpy... lots of fun tho'
 
ChuckB said:
Congrats on being the first to compete in a Z4 [knew it was coming], can you share any prep work done...
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Bugger all to be honest! The tour category allowed us to run the car in "as-delivered" state, and with minimal safety gear. I had to add a fire extinguisher, which tucked in nicely behind the passenger seat. Aside from that it just went through an end-to-end underbody check to make sure everything was tight. Also did a complete fluid change, which I'll do again next week. The car only had 9500Km on the clock when we started, and it did 1100Km over the 5 days of the event. Lots of fun, I must say!!
 
How did you find the car through the Adelaide Hills?

I used to live off Gorge rd in Adelaide and have quite a bit of experience driving in the hills (in a Lotus and a tubocharged MX5 to name a couple) so would be very interested in your impressions of the 23i! You must be a very good driver to fend off the new 370Z in a stock 23i! How was the turn in & mid corner feel/control of the new Z4? Was the power/response on corner exits decent? I dont live in Adelaide anymore so will not get a chance to test the Z4 myself there....
 
grizzly said:
How did you find the car through the Adelaide Hills?

I used to live off Gorge rd in Adelaide and have quite a bit of experience driving in the hills (in a Lotus and a tubocharged MX5 to name a couple) so would be very interested in your impressions of the 23i! You must be a very good driver to fend off the new 370Z in a stock 23i! How was the turn in & mid corner feel/control of the new Z4? Was the power/response on corner exits decent? I dont live in Adelaide anymore so will not get a chance to test the Z4 myself there....
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Hi Grizzly, I was very impressed with the car overall.. not quite sure about the "good driver" bit though ... I actually think 34 years in motorsport and local knowledge helped more!!... The guys in the 370Z, made a lot of comments about the Z4... they actually prefered the Z4's paddleshift change and thought it was more intuitive (they had the 7 speed auto).. apparently the 370Z was a real handful, and was hard to steer well through the twisty stuff.. I must say that they had the "legs" on the straights, but with so much of the course being twists and turns, it balanced out pretty well..

I found the cornering behaviour quite acceptable, although I did find the suspension in Sports+ mode a little too firm for sections like those from the Cudlee Creek through to the bridge, before the climb up to the dam. I found that with the hard setting I was getting a little oversteer by mid-corner, so I ended up using the Normal setting for the real twisty sections and Sports+ for the smoother wider sections. I also played with tyre pressures over the four days to work out what worked best. Once I got the hang of it all, I found it very predictable, and response was spot on once I worked out that the engine really likes to work in the 5500 - 7000RPM range. I did some research before the event and read that the 2.5L works much better in the upper rev range, and it has a lovely exhaust note to go with it!

I've decided to get the car out to Mallala to do some proper testing in the New Year, so I'll post any further info after that..

Cheers, Kevin
 
Thanks for the detailed reply! I agree with you on the firmer suspension settings not suiting parts of the Hills. I had some adjustable shocks on the MX5 and I used to pull over on some runs to quickly set them softer as I felt the firmer settings would cause too much instability and oversteer in some rough corners which resulted in overall less traction. The new Z4 sounds really impressive by your account. I think the N52 engine would sound superior to the N54 in the upper rev range.
 
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