The BMW M5 and the BMW M5 Competition are some of the best products to come out of the M division in the last 10 years. That may seem like a bit of an exaggeration but it’s true. The current generation M5 has already been added to the history books as the first ever M car to come out of the box with an all-wheel drive system. That system alone helped give the M5 a level of performance not seen from any other M car.
What makes it even more interesting is that the M xDrive system can be switched off, turning the M5 into a proper rear-wheel drive monster. When you’re holding 625 horsepower under your right foot, you might want to be sure you know what you’re doing, especially if you’re out on the track. That’s probably why the guys from Evo decided to put together a short guide about how you should go about driving this beast on the track.
From the get go, Steve mentions that there are a couple of different ways you could enjoy your 625 horsepower car on the track. One would be to turn off all the electronic nannies that keep you in check and let loose on the track. If you do that, you won’t be terribly fast but and will be pushing your luck in every corner. It’s not necessarily wrong to do that but if you want to get the best lap time, you should probably make use of all the electronics on board because they are there to help.
As for Steve’s own setup, he went for the engine in Sport Plus mode, the Transmission was set to S3 (which is the most brutal setup) while the Chassis (meaning the suspension stiffness) to Sport only, because the surface of the track was rather bumpy. As usual, you should adapt to the situation at hand. The steering was set to Sport Plus mode too while the DSC was kept on because, as Steve puts it, it works brilliant and allows you to have fun. There’s a lot more he shares about how the car should be set up, but I’ll let you see it for yourself, in the video below.
