M140i Track day!

This isn't a normal piece we would write about for Nforcd's blog page, its normally much more about new products and so on. However, we were so blown away by the performance of our M140i that we felt people might be interested. 

First thing we should start with is track days, if you have never done one before I can't recommend it enough. Ideally in your own car however if you don't have a car to track then there are other options. 

We have only used Blyton race track and for the full day events. Super easy to book onto, super easy to get to. It's a great track for anyone but especially beginners. Its on an old airstrip, so the run off room is crazy! You would have to be driving way beyond your limits to do any damage. The whole experience is safe, theirs no messing around with safety but, that doesn't get close to stopping the fun. 

Every time we have been you drive into the parking and its full of fully built race cars. With everything from sponsors to role-cages, 70% of the cars come on a trailers and leave on a trailer. We hunted pretty much everything down in the M140i, the only things that were quicker was the Lotus's, a stunning GT3 RS and a clio... Yes a fully stripped clio was taking on the Lotus's! Great fun to watch.

The M140i came into its own on track. The handling mods worked to there extreme and it was good to see how capable the car is. If you were planning on doing the same and tracking your M140i BMW here is some trips from us and some mods which change the game.

Tyre pressure and over all check over. This is something that cant be missed. You put your car under a hell of a lot more pressure than you think on these track days. So check the coolant, the B58 is know for drinking coolant when you aren't looking, so make sure you check before you go. Tyre pressure is worth deflating a little as the tyre's get really warm and therefore are under more pressure. Check your oil and tyre's just to make sure all is good and ready to go! Expect to use a lot of fuel to keep your eye on that and make sure you fill the take before you go.

Now onto some modification! The first thing I would suggest is brakes. Yes you read that right! Brakes. They get super hot on track and honestly you will cook the stock ones in a handful of laps. We would recommend some quality steel lines to reduce the brake fluid from boiling over like the Goodridge lines we stock them for all cars but, is a must on these. Finish that off with some high temperature boiling point brake fluid. Then for brakes its worth at least upgradig the pads to some EBC pads we would recommend Yellow or at least Red. For the disk we would recommend matching up the EBC pads with EBC disks, as they were designed to go together. This will mean you can stay on track longer and with less fade and more fun!

Next thing! Handling, the M140i aren't know for there outstanding handling infact, they are pretty shocking standard. However there are some things to do to turn it up a bit. First thing the BMW OEM underbrace best bit is BMW thinks your cars already got one... Which is great on the insurance and great on the track. The underbrace connects the car up so much better and make the car feel much less floaty at high speeds and high speed cornering. The M performance limited slip dif came into its own on track, great to help put the power down in and out of the corners. The M3/4 Control arms were amazing, the steering felt so much more connected and direct, the car turned when you wanted and where you wanted. I felt the original ones feel like you almost have to convince the car to turn in. The power flex inserts are something we took for granted on track as they are just so good. But the modification which came into its own on track was the Bilstein B14 coilovers. On the road they are slightly to harsh for my linking but on track they blow us away. They were spot on. Amazing! However I can see why people pay the extra and go for the B16s on track, it would have been amazing to just increased the damping for the track day and then lowered it for the drive home. However still a must for on track!

Well that's finishes it off. The M performance back box with the 5" sport cat was brilliant to add to the drama. The MG flasher stage 2 kit was spot on for putting down the power!

We wouldn't need any more power for that track. Possibly on a higher speed track it wouldn't go a miss, but on the straights there was even less cars which could keep up.