Amigo's - I was wondering if some of you can answer a question I have, My brother Mike owns a 02 BMW M5 which he has truly mastered, I use to race him every chance I got when I had the AMG - on Roll ons the cars appeared to be equal, but he always had the edge in handling and performance overall. Even in straight line driving the cars appeared to be matched I always felt he could win, his beast just seemed to pull harder. Regarding my 03 Targa, Understanding that my Black Beauty is not designed for off line performance, would the race and or match regarding roll ons (60 - 100mph) and off the line numbers be close ? or will he again simply pull away ? what has been your experience if any ? Thanks in advance....

 

My friend has an M5 and we play around a bit sometimes. You'll be about even with him in the straights and stomp him in the twisties.

 

He will pull away.

 

On a track where you can hit high speeds the p-car should have the advantage because it isn't electronically limited like the beemer.

 

Well in perfect conditions your targa should pull slightly...

2002 Porsche Targra
Weight : 1415kg / 3120 lbs
Power : 325 bhp
Power to weight ratio: 104 bhp/ton

BMW M5
Weight : 1795kg / 3957 lbs
Power: 394 bhp
Power to weight ration: 99 bhp/ton

Off the line it's all about how you launch.

Handeling hands down the Targa has a significant edge.

 

i don't know how much faster the 02 M5 is but a neighbor of mine and i raced for about a 1/4 from a dead stop in his 01 M5 and i had more than 4 car lengths on him

 

That has been my experience too racing an M5

 

I raced my buddy with my old Dinan S2 M5 against his 01 996C2 and was able to pull 2-3 car lengths on him...I would say stock to stock they would be about even...as said tho in the twisties its all over
Evan

 

Well, Amigo's as soon as I break in my baby, I will update you all on my progress against my brother - all the credit to Mike, he is one hell of a driver. This should be good...

 

you know i got to thinking about this thread some more as well as my Pcar, when i first bought it , i was just sure it wouldn't even outrun a mustang, but it seems now after me driving it for almost 8000 miles, "very hard" of course, that it has about 50 more hp than before, wonder how much the computer does adjust to your driving? guess i need to dyno the thing and see if there is a noticible HP increase or it's just the engine being broke in and not being so tight

 

i've given chase to m5s and been chased by e39 m5s at de's and test days, and i think it's a very formidable car. i was consistently quicker over one lap, but if i was behind one, there was no way to pass unless he let me by.

 

you might ask hamman7-he appears to be driving an m5 and canyon runs the car.

 

Against a stock M5, the 996 has a significant handling advantage.

In a straight line, the M5 will beat a 996, unless of course you have the X51 package. As speeds get higher and weight plays less of a factor, the M5 will keep pulling on the 996 because it has a lot more torque and horsepower across the powerband.

Against my M5, your stock 996's would most likely lose given equal drivers.

Why? Because I have a very expensive electronically adjustable damping coilover suspension, and upgraded swaybars, as well as software tuning. This suspension by AC Schnitzer was specifically tuned on the Nurburgring and has proven to increase cornering speeds significantly.

The weak point of the M5 are the brakes, this is what makes them awful on the track. Tire wear is also pretty bad due under repeated hard cornering due to the weight. A trick suspension only exacerbates this problem.

Obviously, against a GT3 or GT2, no road going sedan has even a chance.

 

Hamann7, Thanks for your input - I also agree with your findings. Well It looks like Mike Wins again. :-( But I Still Look Better :-)