XRT_si

iTrader: (2)

Thought I'd share what I did yesterday as I certainly found it interesting!

I've been in and driven some fast cars over the years but this experience changed my perceptions of what a car is capable of, it was just incredible. I've read DTM cars are about as close to Formula 1 as you can get in a 2-seater and you can see why; they are essentially full carbon chassis cars with double wishbone suspension all round, 480bhp NA V8 engine revving to 9000rpm, sequential 'box, full carbon brakes, massive amounts of aero, DRS etc... Very, very advanced cars. They are actually quite heavy, minimum weight is 1100kg so straight line performance wasn't exactly phenomenal, but the braking and handling was genuinely insane.

I've never felt anything brake so violently, the forces under heavy braking are like being pushed against a wall - hard. And no matter how much you try your neck swings forward each time!

But the cornering ability was even more impressive. You can feel the difference the aero must make as I didn't think it was possible to go round a corner like that. It literally just went where you wanted it to go virtually no matter what the speed. At one point, I glanced over at the speedo as he went into a fairly tight sweeping corner and it showed 200km/h - which is 124mph! And it just held on! He didn't lift, just turned in!

Driver was Daniel Juncadella who is a test driver for a Formula 1 team I'm told. He was pretty handy! Bruno Spengler was also on hand, ex-DTM champion. He took me out in a road car and he can drive.

Anyway, couple of pics/vid:


Inside is a little cramped!




Couple of vids, starter motor was loud!

St3V3_C

Awesome. How, where?

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Wow sounds like you had fun. What do you do for a living.

Fil

I do love a bit of dtm.

Such a cool day out there as above how comes?

XRT_si

iTrader: (2)

It was in Barcelona, on a test track/facility there. I write for a BMW based car magazine and was invited out there for a tyre test type event, this was one of the activities they laid on for us to do at the same time.

salsheikh

you lucky sod, the day sounded awesome

doctor stavros

Daniel Juncadella is this years reserve driver for Force India

Lambchop

iTrader: (1)

Wow that's a super cool experience to have

bigchez

Awesome day out but using a merc DTM car isn't exactly helping promote BMW

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Lol I was gonna say something similar like that.

XRT_si

iTrader: (2)

I also pointed this out, but to be fair, it was for a tyre designed for all cars but largely aimed at BMW/Mercedes etc...

Ben26

Do u need a donkey ???


Im available. : )

tbtstt

I had a good look inside a BMW DTM car at Brands Hatch and they are unlike any other Touring Car: they are just so far removed from the production version.

Having seen them on track, a passenger ride must have been serious fun!