Just embrace the moment with the M2
Ordinary road cars don’t feel very good on a racetrack. But the BMW M2 is not an ordinary road car, says
I’ve struggled for ages to create a proper expositionary opening paragraph for this story. By which I mean justification for travelling to Hungary to drive the BMW M2 on a world-class racing circuit, when I’ve already driven the car on both road and track in New Zealand.
The best I’ve come up with is that BMW is determined to showcase its newest (some might say coolest) M-car on a variety of racetracks starting with ‘‘H’’. The Munich maker’s Kiwi division served the M2 up to media and customers at its M Festival at Hampton Downs, north of Hamilton, last month. I went almost straight from that to the Hungaroring Formula One circuit, north of Budapest, for another M-event focused on the new model.
Not satisfactory, I know. But really obvious exposition never is. Better to willingly suspend disbelief and embrace the moment.
This situation has only arisen because NZ has the privilege of being a very small and very enthusiastic market. We’re easy to satisfy from a factory point of view, with just 35 examples of the M2 allocated for the year (26 are sold already), so the first cars arrived very early. I tested the M2 on local roads back in April, then to Hampton in June for the circuit stuff.
To recap on the important stuff: BMW has three levels of M-badged product. There’s M Sport, which is really just executive cars playing dress-up. In the middle there’s M Performance, which involves some fettling by the BMW Motorsport people but stops short of the divine madness this company is capable of.
Then there’s M (less means more in BMW naming convention), which aspires to the ultimate blend of road-legal status and racetrack ability. Proper M-cars are based on mainstream product, but redeveloped to the extent that you have to think of them of standalone models. We’re talking icons like the M3 and M5.
And now the M2 compactcoupe, which is the new entrylevel M-model. It’s based on the M235i (by M Performance), but has a 3.0-litre turbocharged engine, heavy-duty cooling systems, M-specific transmission and chassis components and even unique body panels.
At $114,900 it’s an expensive small car. But with 272kW/465Nm, 0-100km in 4.3 seconds and a computer-controlled rear differential complete with ‘Smokey Burnout Mode’, it’s a true M-machine.
The M2 is also very close in size and concept to the original M3, which is arguably the most famous and accomplished M-car of all time. The current M3/M4 range is now a much larger and more complex proposition. The M2 is something of a return to BMW M’s roots.
Why Hungaroring? Well, it’s a fascinating place: venue for the first-ever Formula One race behind the Iron Curtain and, at the time of its opening, a real anything-youcan-do-we-can-do-better showpiece for the Eastern Bloc. The dreary choices in concrete texture are clearly Communist, but the circuit itself is 4.381km and 16 turns of undulating wonder.
Hungaroring, opened in 1986, also happens to be celebrating its 30th birthday. Just like the M3. Hang on, maybe that should have been my first paragraph. Too late now.
To business. Track days like these are strictly controlled, with participants organised into groups and organisers doing their best to replicate the environment of a major roadworks project with orange cones. The challenge for the keen participant is to seize as many moments of full-throttle acceleration and oversteering pleasure as possible within those tight parameters. The grown-ups shake their heads and explain that the fastest way around a circuit is to take the smoothest lines, but then they also turn a blind eye when appropriate. In their hearts they know you didn’t come to drive an M-car at a world-famous racetrack to sharpen your coneavoidance skills. Life is short and so is the wheelbase of an M2 when you apply full power.
The M2 is tailor-made for this type of bad behaviour. Unlike the larger M4, there aren’t many configuration-buttons to master; just the usual BMW mode-selector that takes you from Comfort to Sport+. You can disengage the driver aids completely, although you’re never allowed to do that in such a high-speed environment. To be honest, for mere mortals it’s not really necessary even on track, because in Sport+ the engine is raucous, the seven-speed twinclutch transmission shifts in brutal fashion and the stability control will allow a considerable amount of slip before it steps in to save the day.
The M2 sounds magnificent: grumpy at idle and racecar-raspy at speed.
The noise is not 100 per cent real (all M-cars now have soundenhancement technology), but it certainly has a more natural aural ambience in the cabin than the M3/M4.
I can’t help but think of the M2 as a bargain, even at $114,900. True, an M4 is a lot more brainy and allows the driver a staggering array of setup options, but for $55,000 less the M2 feels like honest, unpretentious entertainment – albeit still with proper M-credentials and abilities. It’s utterly involving in a way that only a rorty rear-drive coupe can be, and small enough to spin without worrying about the Armco.
BMW M-machines are wonderful road cars, but you do need to take them to a racetrack to properly appreciate what they can do. It doesn’t have to be the Hungaroring. But it’s nice when it is.