C320 Auto vs 330i Auto - Race Results

[Turbo6]

As promised, an update to the race with the 330i BMW.

After having done mods to my C320 (K&N filters, DeCAT pipes, Pulley Kit and ECU Remap) I could feel a marginal improvement in the car. But this improvement fades away very quick because your mind absorbs that as the new standard.

I have raced the same 330i before over a standing 2mile race, he beat me by 6-7 cars...twice!

So this Saturday night pass, my buddy and I decided to have a rematch. The distance was again 3km (+_ 2 miles) of long straight and quiet highway. We raced in the early hours of Sunday morning, with the wind behind us, a very slight breeze, nothing serious, it was a fairly calm and warm evening/morning.

We line up and I disengage the traction control, one foot on the break and depress the accelerator halfway. The rear tyres go up in a ball of smoke and I lift off. Okay, warmed up and I roll a bit forward onto a clear but grainy piece of tarmac. Good grip there, I know. The Beemer does the same, a quick 4 to 5 second burnout to warm up the rears and he pulls up next to me.

The silent count down begins, I watch him, he nods, and we're off. I get a good start and lead the Beemer thru 1st and 2nd gear. 3rd gear, I know he is going to pass me and start opening that gap. But no. Not this time. He pulls up next to me and and I outdrag him in 3rd gear. Now the extra revs make sense. The Beemer changes to 4th and falls a half a car back, yet I am still in 3rd. I edge him, its close as I kick over to 4th, and slowly he closes on me again in his late 4th. He closes up nose to nose as the road dips ever slightly and I decided to force a 5th gear change. In order to do that I have to lift off slightly out of the kickdown, so that I can get some help from the downhill in 5th to get my revs up again.

The Beemer now next to me changes over to 5th before me. That puts me another bonnet ahead. I lift off slightly and the tranny finally selects 5th (our V6 4th gear is way too long on the auto) and now the Beemer leads me by a bonnet. We stay that way for just 50-60 yards and then the V6 gets into its territory again. I close the gap and as I know I will...I begin to pull away. A half a car, a car, then the Beemer jumps into the slipstream. Usually at 5'800rpm my speedo sits a tad over 250kph, but now she's passing the 260 mark at 6'000rpm. The Beemer now falling behind, by 3 to 4 cars. I can see that she will rev more but by now, the wind noise is just too much as the wipers are now promising to pry themselves off the windshield. We cross the win line and I lift off. Wow! Never hit that kinda speeds in a Merc before.

We slow down, my buddy gives me the thumbs up, we cruise up to our usual hangout and have a chat. Seems I gained +_ 10 cars overall compared to stock.

Before I did the mods, the 330i used to beat me by 6-7 cars, which he opened up in 3rd and 4th gears mainly and maintained all the way to the win line. By the time I begin to close in 5th gear, the race was alwasy finished, me STILL 5-6 cars behind. But now, I lead him all the way. He reckons the only reason he could stay with me was to stay really close to me. He is very impressed with the improvements on my car and plans doing his car now.

See why a want a C32? ;)