dazzle316

Impreza P1 vs BMW M5 Hey there guys...i found this story thought you would like to read it.- by The Black Cardinal, 27, male Topic: Car Racing - Street August 6, 2001 A tale from across the pond to show that it's not just you sons of Uncle Sam who get to hog all the fun on the government funded racetracks ^H^H^H^H I mean public roads & motorways (I believe you call them interstates over there?). Just in case you think us Brits can't race, let me give you a tale of how a German autobahnstormer met it's match at the hands of a tweaked jap super-saloon with trick suspension tuned by UK World Rally Championship set-up gurus Prodrive (they do all the work on Subaru's Impreza rally cars). Anyway I was cruising down to London on the UK's longest motorway, the M1, a nice wide 3 lane road, and it was about 2am so not much traffic about. I'm in my Subaru Impreza P1, a 4-wheel drive 276bhp hot turbo version of the Impreza that does 0-60 in 4.6s and 0-100 in 13 seconds flat. You guys in the states have to make do with the Impreza 2.5RS due to strict emissions controls (guys sort it out - go down to the local environmental protection agency office and STRANGLE THE KILLJOY B*STARDS - the USA is the home of 500bhp muscle cars and top fuel dragsters, what the hell are you guys doing let the tree-hugging hippy do-gooder f*cks spoil your tyre-shredding fun?), but luckily in Europe and the UK we get versions tuned up much harder. Ok, 276bhp that's not so much is it? No, not for a petrolhead that knows their stuff. But the Impreza is not about straight line speed, it's about handling, traction, going round corners at speed, especially in the wet. That's why they won so many rallies. And this day it is pretty wet, and I am cruising at about 95mph when i notice some lights approaching behind me. I slow down as usual in case it is an unmarked police car, but it just goes flying past. As it got near I notice it is a BMW 5 series, but there is a front spoiler and aggressive stance compared to the normal 525 crap you see on the M-ways. I suspect an M5 or more likely a bodykitted 5 series. As I get closer I see the registration plate and almost burst out laughing - the guy's plate is "M5 FAT". Ok this guy is either the biggest faker around or he has the goods, so I decide to find out. I come up behind him, he's doing about 110, so I accelerate hard then flash the headlights to say I want to go past. Sure enough he responds and floors it, but I am ready and have a slight advantage...but then within a few moments he just LEAVES ME behind. Sure enough a gap opens up and I have to reach 130 before matching him. Well, what do you expect? An M5 has 400bhp and does 0-100 in 11s, so I am seriously down on horsepower. Ok, that's never stopped me before when I used to drive 100bhp hatchbacks - you just have to rely on other things. Things like *****, driver skill, light weight, cornering grip, knowing the road, and so on. And I happen to know this road very well - about 5 miles ahead there is a sequence of about 4 or 5 long sweeping S-bends, and I know from experience that you can take them at at least 135mph in a BMW 3 series. I figure the M5 will do it faster, but the Impreza is a great cornering car even as standard, let alone the P1 with a rally-derived setup with Eibach springs and Bilstein shocks, plus the conditions are wet favouring 4 wheel drive, so I feel confident of a big scalp tonight. Unless he is a gutsy driver, he'll back off. Even if he is good, I think the Impreza - with its low weight, and flat-4 engine giving a low centre of gravity, will have a good chance of outcornering the heavy M5. So we are cruising at about 130mph, both cars are well within their limits at this speed in a straight line. Then the M5 starts to pull away, so I accelerate, and notice the speedo is at 140mph. My girlfriend is in the car and I notice her reach up to take hold of the grab handle - she knows from experience what is about to happen next. I tell her to take my hand-held GPS receiver out of the car - I know I may hit my fastest ever speed tonight and I want it recorded so there is no doubt. A couple of cars appear up ahead, the BMW slows to about 110 to pass them - good I think, at least he is not some maniac. But now it is empty again, the field is ready for 2 gladiators to do battle. He accelerates hard and pulls away a bit, we go to 120...130...140...and he keeps pulling. My speedo is now reading 150...155...160...holy sh*t now it's off the scale...it would be 165 now if they had bothered to put more figures on - I guess they didn't expect anyone to hit that speed in the UK with a top speed limit of 70mph. The wind noise above 145mph is deafening...and this car is meant to have a top speed of 155mph, how come it says I'm doing over 160? "Hey love what's that GPS reading now?". 157 she says. Whoa my speedo is out by 7-8mph! I look at the tacho and it reads 7400rpm - that means 400 to go...jesus I'm not even flat out yet! The M5 is not getting away - I know it has a top speed artificially restricted to 155mph, so with 157 and some in reserve I should be able to catch it...unless he's removed the speed-limiter. Things are going to get interesting, I think to myself! Ok so now I really put my foot flat to the floor, 7500rpm, 7600, 7700...until finally I am flat out in top. The M5 is getting reeled in slowly but surely, the speedo is off the scale. What's the GPS honey? 163.8 - shiiiit! Ok so it is a cold night - good for a turbo engine - but all the same I am shocked. Ok we've got him now, I think to myself...but then I notice we are no longer catching the M5...the distance is staying the same, about 75 yards...and, no I don't believe it, he starts PULLING AWAY. **** ****!!! The crafty old Beemer driver's had his speed limiter removed! And I know my BMWs - derestricted, the new M5 will hit 180mph...I have no chance! My road kill is turning round and killing me - I'm about to be blown into the weeds by some arrogant CEO in his Germanic Ubersaloon! This can't be happening!!! But suddenly I notice the Teutonic tank starts to move into the middle lane with a slight dab of the brakes, the red lights shining bright in the darkness. Oh boy, now it's getting serious - he's seen the S-bends up ahead, the wicked curves that I've never taken faster than 135, and which have arrived way quicker than I expected, not being used to doing this kind of speed on the public road. Ok, this is it, I think to myself. I'm way down on power, he's 200 yards ahead, but I know the road, and I have one of the best handling, most stable high speed cornering cars this side of a 911 turbo. In a quick flashback I remember an article in Evo magazine where they tested the P1 vs a 550 Maranello - and the P1 cornered quicker. As long as the road wasn't straight, I had a chance against the 400bhp V8 monster...but only if I had the ***** to take the esses flat out - I knew that was the only way to do it. Do or die, the moment was upon us. Brit vs Kraut, brains vs brawn, guts vs brute force, just like in the Battle of Britain in 1940. I could see the M5 was hesitating, slow in fast out I assumed him to be thinking. I kept my foot planted and started reeling him in. The first corner you can take fast, it's the second that is harder, it tightens slightly which can catch out the unwary. As we past the first apex I lift...slowly, making sure not to unsettle the rear end - at these speeds every driver input is magnified 5 fold - back off too sharply, or some other rookie mistake, and you could end up sideways at 150mph staring a crash barrier in the face. Coming up to the trickier tightening 2nd corner, I dab the brakes slightly and drop down to an indicated 145 - about 138mph real. The M5 doesn't brake though, and pulls ahead a touch, and then he realises the corner is deceptive, that he has gone in too fast. To his credit he doesn't brake, he tries to make the bend, and for a moment I think he's done it, until the tail starts to snake out. Holy ****, he's going to spin at 140mph! The tail goes wider, it's now out about 25, maybe 30 degrees - I keep to the right in the outside line, hoping he doesn't spin. I can't avoid him at this speed if he loses it! I see the front tyres on the M5 turning to the right as the driver winds on the opposite lock - and hope he doesn't overdo it and fishtail right into my path, because I'm committed to the bend now and to lift off would be suicide. But the BMW just sits there for a hundreds yards, two hundred yards, perfectly balanced in an utterly neurtral slide, before he slowly but surely brings the tail back into line, inch by inch. F*CK ME! This guy can drive, no doubt about it! I never thought I'd say this about a BMW driver, but I have to give him respect, most people would have panicked in that situation and lost control - the guy had guts I'll give him that. But sometimes just guts aren't enough, and now we're coming up to turn 3 and I know his car cannot outcorner mine. Maybe his confidence was a bit shaken, maybe the M5 just couldn't disguise its extra weight, maybe the Impreza was just too good, maybe I just knew the road that bit better, or maybe it was just the wet conditions, but what was to come was a demonstration that horsepower is by no means all. From indicated 140mph I floored it in top, and slowly started to reel him in. Into a smooth flowing right hand bend, the speedo creeps up...145...150...155...now it's reading 160, my girlfriend starts screaming a little, because we're about to switch back into the 4th bend, a long and very fast constant radius left hander. The M5 is still in the middle lane, but I'm catching him...now we're drawing level as the speedo goes off the dial again, I keep the foot planted to the floor, making sure not to back off, and keep very smooth with the steering. I'm half-expecting a slide, but it doesn't come, even as the speedo goes off the dial. Finally I am flat out, passing the M5 as I reach the apex of the bend, I want to look the driver in the eye to let him know I've beaten him, but at this speed I don't dare take my eyes of the road for a second. I keep it planted, and the car feels magnificent - absolutely stable, no roll or slide to speak of, it feels like 130mph in a BMW and 110 in a normal car. We come to the final turn and I am now about 30-40 yards ahead, my confidence in the car is higher and I take it flat out, drawing further away from the M5 he is just left behind with no answer. The curve straightends out and I keep it planted for about 1/4 of a mile just to savour the feeling of travelling flat out in top on the public highway, almost 100mph above the legal limit. The M5 is now catching me slightly, using all its 400 horses to best effect, and now I can hear the bellow of its majestic V8, but I don't care. The point has been proven, the scalp has been taken, another roadkill on the highway to hell - 5k of suspension mods, a very good, stable rally-bred chassis, and a bit of old-fashioned commitment has beaten the best that Munich has to offer, and both of us know it. I back off and let the M5 pass - but he draws level instead for a moment. I look across to see him staring back, a look on his face which is half disbelief and half respect, before he finally pulls away. I slow down to 70, thinking I've used up my luck for the next few months. I've gone to the very limit and come back - and I don't want to push it again any time soon. Ironically, I get onto a residential road soon after, and 2 guys come past me at 50mph while I am sticking to the limit - they both get flashed by a speed camera. A couple of minutes later I pass a cop car. I was safe, despite doing 140% more than the legal limit just minutes earlier. Fate was smiling on me that day. I've never gone that fast before, and I've never gone that fast ever again. I'll never forget it though - the most memorable road race of my life

mrmadcap

Wow!!!

What a fecking hero!!

dazzle316

Just what I thought, or a **** lol

yabbadoo4

iTrader: (8)

or a good storyteller.

cuprajake

iTrader: (11)

Ever heard of a paragraph?

My god that's hard to read

SkullFudge

I can't be bothered reading that book.

dazzle316

Copied and pasted mate, sorry about that lol

dazzle316

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/rac...vs-bmw-m5.html

Hope that's better lads

steveyorks

I have literally shovelled people off the motorway who drove like that. And some that didn't but got hit by those that did.

djr

What a Kn*b

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

What part of the m1 has those bends? The watford end has a roundabout!

Cockney Wideboy

iTrader: (2)

I raced and won on the public highway the other day and we got to silly speeds...it was the A6 near bakewell...this guy came past me..caught me by supprise and I wasn't having it so I gave chase...maximum attack...and as per the Impreza vs M5 fairytale I had the underdog machine...he was more aero dynamic...better handling...

But I wasn't letting the lycra wearing road cyclist beat me on my mountain bike...he was well pissed when I overtook him back and showed him a clean pair of heels...according to my speedo I broke 30mph on the flat...

dazzle316

Lol quality

Oldun

.....and then the 'P1 driver' woke up, because he had to go to work in his Ranault Kangoo van, ready to be that outstanding 'white van man driver' and sit on every performance car's tail.

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

Couldn't be bothered to read it all, did he die in the end?

guinnessman2001

Just one question.

Was this on an Xbox or PS

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Well written load of bolax, we all know the P1 would have shat it's bottom end all over the M1 holding those speeds for any length of time.

About 90% of them have had a rebuild.

Maz

iTrader: (34)

The P1 wasn't being driven by Baron von Munchausen was it?

jonnyricer2

iTrader: (9)

I dont no if id do that with my good lady in the car!!good story all the same!!

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Boom!

oliVeR6

What a total Peenarse!
Not only is he 100+ horses short (yes I know hp isn't the be all and end all) but he has an extra body in the car as well... hmmm!
Bad enough doing that on a public highway (before anyone say's it I know I'm no saint and not going to deny occasionally I've gone over 70) but those prolonged speeds + racing another vehicle + having his gf in the car.... total tool.
I just hope the reality of it was he tried to race an M5 and it blew him off straight away so he went back to tootling along telling his gf how he would actually have been able to beat him "if he wanted to" or he simply woke up from a being a dream hero!

N_Scooby

iTrader: (2)

What a load of cr@p.

I hope his Girlfriend kicked him in the Bollox for being a retard.

bighead

iTrader: (1)

good read, but a bit optimistic /wishfull thinking there

Richy P1984

And then he woke up, the end