Enough to make you a beamer

COLLECTOR’S ITEM: NOT MUCH TO CHOOSE FROM COMPETITION, BAR A BOOST FOR THE EGO With extra horsepower on tap, M2 CS is 0.41sec faster than its ‘lesser’ sibling.

Only 30 of BMW’s M2 CS vehciles made their way to South Africa and BMW SA decided to pull a clever marketing move by numbering them and putting them on auction to a select guest list, thus making them instantly highly collectable.

Thankfully, they also put one into the road-test fleet for us petrolheads to experience away from the track and in our case, allow us to strap our Racelogic VBOX test equipment to the car and see how it performs against the clock.

This car has been stacked against Porsche’s 718 Cayman GT4 in a mortal battle by most publications around the world.

The Porsche is quicker around a track, with a time of 7 minutes 28 seconds, compared to 7 min 42 sec around the benchmark, Nürburgring.

Thanks to the lack of oxygen on the highveld, the naturally aspirated Porsche with its manual gearbox gets solidly beaten by the twin turbocharged and quick-shifting BMW in a straight line.

However, comparing the GT4 to the M2 CS is like comparing racing around on a PlayStation to doing hot laps in the physical car.

So, I am going to compare how this ultimate M2 stacks up against its lesser sibling in the form of the M2 Competition.

What do you get for about R500 000 more for a R1.8 million CS over a Competition model?

On the outside, you get a bunch of carbon fibre reinforced plastic in the form of a newly designed bonnet, roof, front splitter, boot spoiler, exterior mirror caps and rear diffuser.

A tweaked 331kW/550Nm S55 powerplant rides on an M Adaptive suspension and 19-inch alloy wheels that can be wrapped in sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres (our test car had Pilot Super Sports fitted).

Optional carbon ceramic brakes can be fitted instead of the standard M Sports and a muted sports exhaust attempts to let the world know you have arrived.

Aesthetically, the M2 CS is right up there in terms of appeal.

On the inside you get more carbon fibre on the centre console, and optional Alcantara thrown in for good measure.

Lightweight M Sport seats look the business.

On the road the M2 CS makes proper use of the extra horsepower on tap and does a very quick 3.99 sec 0 to 100km/h (4.40 sec M2 Comp), while going through the 1km mark at 242km/h (235km/h M2 Comp).

Top speed is electronically limited to 280km/h.

Bottom line, this is one seriously fast pocket rocket. Is the M2 CS worth the extra money over the M2 Competition?

In straight-out technical and speed terms, no.

But as a sought-after collector’s car, you know it is the one you want.