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contents

OCTOBER 2017 VOL 48 , NO 08

COVER STORY 28 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS At ﬁrst glance, the 911 GTS seems like nothing more than an option group for the 911 S. We put a couple hundred miles on two different examples around California and Nevada to see what bigger turbos, new suspension tuning, and a host of other small touches can do to yet another variant of Porsche’s stalwart sports car.

FEATURES 38 The New Romantics Alfaholics specializes in restoring and modifying classic Alfa Romeos for discriminating customers. We go inside the business and find out how it all began before we take one of its coveted GTA-Rs for a test drive. 46 A better Bimmer? You’ve seen this Dinan M4 in a previous issue of ec. This time, it’s back with more power and a few more tricks to impress us with. We loved it the first time, but as we’ve said in the past, power is not what the M4 is missing. With a balanced performance being such a tough tightrope to walk, can Dinan add power without sacrificing driving enjoyment? 54 Brabus Brute Brabus has been known for making extremely fast Mercedes-Benzes for 40 years. We drive the latest in a long line of left-lane luxo-liners, based on the S63 Cabriolet. 62 The Journey—BMW 540i In a new series of articles, we take BMW’s latest 540i on a road trip from Washington, D.C., to Ithaca, New York. Not only do we explore the roads and the car, but also the very idea of how autonomous driving fits in with the traditional idea of traveling for pleasure.

46 6

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

FIRST LOOKS/DRIVES 12 Porsche GT2RS We are on hand for the unveiling of Porsche’s craziest 911 yet. At the historic Goodwood Festival of Speed, celebrities, royalty, and the craziest car fans around all gathered to see the 700hp, $300,000 GT2RS tear up the drive for the ﬁrst time. 14 Mini Cooper Countryman Plug-in Hybrid For cars like the Mini Countryman, the move to hybrid powertrains seems like a no-brainer. Electriﬁcation brings needed torque to shrinking gas engines while also allowing the majority of owners to commute on electricity alone. The question is, can anyone make the value proposition work with all the added complexity?

TRACK AND TRAVEL 20 Club Life Can you really say you can afford a super car if you can’t also afford a place to drive it? California’s Thermal Club is located outside Los Angeles and promises car enthusiasts not only a place to lap their cars but to provide everything they could want all in one place. We run the tracks, check out the facilities, and daydream about buying a house at this exclusive club.

TECH 70 Project M3 Our e36 gets some much-needed attention. We rebuild and upgrade the brakes and suspension to not only try and bring down lap times, but also to prolong the life of the car. See the differences you can make just by upgrading the very basics.

DEPARTMENTS 10 Parts and Labor 76 Gear A roundup of the latest in accessories

EUROPEAN CAR (ISSN 1056-8476), OCTOBER 2017, VOL 48, NO 08 Published nine times a year in Jan/Feb, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, and Nov/Dec by TEN: The Enthusiast Network, LLC., 261 Madison Ave., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016-2303. Periodicals Postage Paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices. Copyright © 2017 by TEN: The Enthusiast Network Magazines, LLC. All rights reserved. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 707.4.12.5); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to european car, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235. Printed in the U.S.A. Subscription rates for 1 year (9 issues) U.S., APO, FPO and U.S. Possessions $23.94. Canadian orders add $9.00 per year and international orders add $18.00 per year (for surface mail postage). Payment in advance, U.S. funds only. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission. This book is purchased with the understanding that the information presented herein is from varied sources for which there can be no warranty or responsibility by the publisher as to the accuracy or completeness.

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parts and labor

If you work really hard, you can afford a nice car to drive to work. I have several friends who in the last year or so have bought older Mazda Miatas. Not an unusual thing to hear from any car enthusiast who has a group of friends who are also car enthusiasts. The Miata is probably the best enthusiast bargain the world has ever known. It works for everything from a weekend toy all the way up to a dedicated race car with its own racing series. It’s lightweight, communicative, cheap to maintain, some are nearly free to a good home, and most important, it’s fun. My biggest issue driving a Miata is that at 6’2”, I look like a bear escaping from the circus. The other real issue I have personally is that as the editor of this magazine, I should buy something from a European manufacturer, right? Easy enough— affordable to buy and maintain, fun to drive, lightweight—the Europeans invented cars like that. The problem is, while the original sports cars all came from Europe, they stopped building them decades ago. I still wholeheartedly believe that the best automobiles in the world come from Europe. The best sports car in the world is the 911, full stop. The best affordable performance car is the GTI. The best performance sedan is tougher with the best coming from Audi, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, or Mercedes—listed in alphabetical order as to not pick favorites. Those are all new cars. What if you want something, like the Miata, that is a fun, affordable toy? Suddenly that doesn’t exist. You can’t touch a 911 without having a total sum of roughly 40 grand. Yes, you can buy something for half that, but you better be ready to spend the rest on keeping it running over the next couple of years. You could buy a naturally aspirated 944. Not as expensive to maintain as a 911, but when you plunk down $8,000 for a decently driveable 944, you better have at least another ﬁve grand saved up for a clutch, water pump, timing belt, and whatever secret gremlin is causing the previous owner to sell the car. This isn’t a love letter to the Miata—far from. I like driving them, but I wouldn’t ever buy one. This is more of a look at the skyrocketing price of owning older European cars. I have a 14-year-old Volkswagen MK4 GTI 1.8t that you’ve all seen in previous issues. I like the car, a lot. It gives me nearly as much pleasure to drive as I would get from a Miata. I am, however, looking at the amount of work and ﬁnancial investment needed to get the car where I would like it, and I’m starting to hesitate. Keep in mind, I don’t pay retail, either. Right before I took this position, I sold my 1981 911SC that I had had since I was a college student. While in college, I did almost all the work on the car myself; I had found catalog sellers (we’re talking pre-Internet dark ages here) who offered parts at prices that were cheaper than what my friends were paying for replacement parts on their Hondas. It was very affordable—well not the engine rebuild, but that’s for another time. My MK4 GTI is going to cost more to maintain and lightly modify than what it cost me to maintain and build a 911 for track days. There are several different facets to the over-arching problem. First, there’s a small sweet spot for used cars. If we get much older than 1990, the car requires

“I still wholeheartedly believe that the best automobiles in the world come from Europe."

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nearly a full restoration to deal with rust. Even if it isn’t structural rust, yet, it will need to be addressed, which generally means a full respray. Keep that thought in the back of your mind. And, consequently, this along with parts availability are the main things that keep me from even considering something like a MK2 GTI or a Corrado anymore. At the other end of the spectrum, if you buy a car much newer than 2005, it is likely too complicated for you to work on yourself. Unlike the older cars, all the parts are available, but the amount of specialized tools, computer equipment, and in some cases training needed to keep the cars running properly is soul crushing. So you are left with anything from 1991 to 2004. There are still some good cars in there, but, like I am finding with my own MK4, the cost of ownership is still very high. My MK4, like most cars of the era, has clearcoat issues. Right now, it’s just the roof, but it will inevitably spread to the hood and then eventually to vertical panels. I have checked into repainting the car and I am looking at $6,000 on the low end and going up into the teens if I would want to do something as ridiculous as change colors. OK, part of this might be geography. California probably has higher rates than most states, but how far am I willing to send my car for paint? I was in a shop last week and there was an older Audi A8 in for service. The entire front half of the drivetrain, subframe, suspension, et al., was sitting on the floor. I asked what was going on, “oil leaks.” The owner of a car worth somewhere between 10 and 15 grand is going to end up with a $2,500+ bill to replace gaskets. I look at cars like that all the time on eBay and think “how much car that is for the money,” but they are so affordable to buy because they’re financially crippling to own if you have even small problems—like oil leaks. This is the sort of thing that makes me want to go lease something cheap and hand it back every couple of years. Sadly, I’m not satisfied with that. Maybe this isn’t a love letter to the Miata or me complaining about the price to keep cars, but more of an admission of guilt. I have a serious car problem and I have a feeling most of you reading this do as well. I feel better having gotten that off my chest. If you’ll excuse me, I am about to go make some more bad decisions with my GTI.

Michael Febbo, Editor european.car@enthusiastnetwork.com

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first drive

2018 Porsche 911 GT2RS—First Look THE FASTEST 911 TO DATE

Words James Tate Porschephiles will no doubt quickly point out that despite being the fastest, most powerful road-going 911 Porsche has ever built, the 2017 911 GT2 RS has never been anything but insane. But it really is worth noting that the latest one is no exception. It packs 700 hp, is rear-wheel drive only, costs $294,250, and has a bright red alcantara roof liner. Plunking down another $31 grand gets you the Weissach Package, which shaves nearly 40 pounds thanks to magnesium wheels (responsible for 25 of those 40 pounds), and a liberal smattering of carbon ﬁber throughout. (Seriously—the carbon appears in places like the antiroll bars and endlinks—and of course, the roof. If you’ve opted to go Weissach, the carbon-ﬁber hood and roof showcase the material in double unpainted sections, which appear as stripes. Not that the standard magnesium roof wasn’t good enough… On the topic of lightweight things, it’s also worth pointing out that Porsche has done a spectacular job of avoiding the weight bloat that’s traditionally associated with each new model iteration—this thing is said to weigh 3,241 pounds with a full tank of gas, and that’s exactly why it pegs 60 mph in 2.7 seconds. Porsche doesn’t get enough credit for this, so to them we say, “Bravo!” With bigger-than-911-Turbo turbochargers providing 80 more horsepower than

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

TECH SPEC

2018 PORSCHE 911 GT2RS BASE PRICE

its predecessor, the GT2 RS will continue the blast until it hits 211 mph. Whether or not yours has magnesium wheels, it’ll have giant footwear—265/35R20 rubber up front, with 325/30R21 in the back. And all four steer—sort of. The GT2 RS has rear-axle steering, which should help with turn-in and eradicate any understeer (which, in this car, was probably your fault in the ﬁrst place). Also out back is a titanium exhaust system that weighs around 15 pounds less than that of the 911 Turbo. It looks like there are a couple of negatives. Like the more docile 911 Turbo, the car is only available with Porsche’s seven-speed PDK transmission. The thing is, though, you can’t handle this kind of horsepower with your left foot and your right hand the way a computer can automatically. Not even

close (just ask Ferrari). You want 60 in 2.7 seconds? Congratulations, you own a double-clutch transmission. And besides, there are plenty of manual transmission-equipped Porsches available. So, like we said: It looks like a negative. The second bummer is real, though—continuing the tradition, the European version of the Weissach package is better, including a titanium rollcage that we don’t get, thanks to stateside safety regulations. If you’re creative, you can order your own in the States. If you’re buying this car, cost is of no concern. Outside of that, the 2017 GT2 RS succeeds in bringing utterly over-the-top levels of performance to the street—and hopefully if you’re buying one, new lap times to the track. It’s not cheap, but should it be? If you order now, you’ll drive it early 2018.

$294,250 PRICE AS TESTED $325,250, including Weisach Pack LAYOUT rear-engine, RWD, two-door coupe ENGINE 3.8L, 700hp/553-lb-ft, twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve ﬂat-six TRANSMISSION seven-speed dual-clutch CURB WEIGHT 3,241 lb. WHEELBASE 96.5 in. LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT 179.1 x 77.9 x 51.1 in. SUSPENSION MacPherson strut (f); multi-link (r) WHEELS & TIRES 20x9.5 (f), 21x12.5 (r); Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 265/35 (f), 325/30 (r) 0-60 MPH 2.7 sec. (mfr.)

first drive

2018 Mini Cooper S E Countryman ALL4 ADDING ELECTRICITY EQUALS TONS OF TORQUE AND DELIGHTFUL DYNAMICS Words Dave Humphreys

Not wanting to be left behind by its BMW relations from Munich, Mini has introduced its first massproduction electric vehicle in the form of the Cooper S E Countryman ALL4. That’s a bit of a mouthful, but it is also a lot of car. It’s the biggest Mini you can buy, and thanks to its additional electrical components, it is also the heaviest. This plug-in hybrid joins the expanded Countryman range that has seen the standard and Cooper S versions recently joined by a high-performance John Cooper Works model. While this is Mini’s first massproduction electrified vehicle, it’s not actually the first. Back in 2008, the Mini E was unveiled, the first fully electric vehicle from the BMW Group, preceding even the BMW i brand. Mini produced more than 700, leased and driven by private users in what was in reality an extended field research study. Since being returned, most have been recycled, but some remain in use within the

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

company. In a nod to that car, Mini has used the same yellow color accents to differentiate the “S” badging from that of other Cooper models. That’s one of the few visual cues, however, as the styling of the front and rear bumpers mimics that of the regular Cooper S; though if you look closely, you’ll only find a single exhaust at the back of the hybrid version. A chromed side scuttle detail incorporates the yellow E symbol and, on the driver side, this opens to reveal the charging port. We’re normally fans of Mini’s characteristic styling flourishes, but on this car the large chrome shields look plain cheap, especially when you consider the charging port is hidden discreetly behind a similarly positioned body-colored flap on all other BMW plug-in hybrid models. Nonetheless, to just about anyone on the street, this looks just like another Countryman, and that is sure to be one of its appealing factors. Like all Minis, you can choose from a mind-boggling variety of

color and trim combinations. In the cabin, only minor changes signify the electric capabilities of the car. If you happen to miss the yellow Cooper S ﬂashes on the kick plates as you get in, the yellow Start toggle for the engine should catch your eye. The center console also has a switch that allows you to choose from one of three distinct eDrive modes—Auto eDrive, Max eDrive, and Save Battery. These are in addition to the usual Green, Mid, and Sport driving modes selectable using the rotary dial around the base of the gear selector. As Mini has located the 7.6-kWh battery pack beneath the rear passengers’ seat, the height of the seat has been raised an inch. This reduction in headroom shouldn’t be too much of an issue for passengers of average height, as the Countryman is already tall at 61.3 inches. Boot capacity also falls victim to the car’s battery packaging, with 14.3 ft3 of space available compared to the usual 15.9 ft3. There are still

separate under-ﬂoor storage areas in the boot, which are useful for storing the charging cable. Flip the starter switch and, like most electric vehicles, nothing happens. The bespoke instrument dials do away with the traditional tachometer, instead giving you a power meter with a needle that indicates “Ready.” The driving position and gear selector are the same as in other Minis, and selecting Drive allows you to pull away in near silence. Driving through the city, there is only a faint whirr from the electric motor as the Countryman dodges its way in and out of heavy trafﬁc. Even at low speeds this Mini feels agile. There’s less road noise than expected, too. One of the negative side effects of electric power is that it highlights any rattles in the cabin and places more emphasis on road noise, but the Countryman’s interior is well insulated. Unlike the BMW i3, which has a lot of hard surfaces that amplify sounds, the Mini feels comfy and relaxing inside.

first drive

Its default setting is Auto eDrive, and this will favor using the car’s electric motor as long as the battery is charged anywhere from full to as low as 7 percent. In this mode, it can drive up to 50 mph after which the combustion engine spins into life. The 1.5L turbocharged three-cylinder gasoline engine suits this setup. It doesn’t have as pronounced a thrum as is often typical of such configurations, but it feels torquey. Even without the battery assistance, it produces 162 lb-ft, and combined with the motor, that figure rises to 283 lb-ft. The Max eDrive mode allows for pure electric driving, and Mini claims that an electric driving range of up to 26 miles is possible. For the Countryman to feel really frisky, you need to get out of town and click the drive mode around to Sport when in Auto eDrive. This sharpens up the throttle response, reduces assistance to the already sweet steering, and allows you to use the most from both power sources. With the combustion engine sending power to the front axle and the electric motor powering the rear, the Countryman can really fling itself out of corners with relish, and even though its increased curb weight sees it tipping the scales at around 3,700 pounds, it hides its mass well. This is partly due to much of that weight being located low down in the chassis. The weight distribution is a 46:54 in a front-to-rear bias, so the front end isn’t too overworked in the bends. In fact, it’s only under heavy braking that you become aware of the car’s mass. Given that the suspension has been tuned to compensate for that extra weight, the ride quality is very good. The springs don’t feel overly still and damping rates prevent it from feeling busy even on less well-surfaced roads. More often than not, plug-in hybrids tend to focus more on battery technology than on the fun element, but Mini has lost none of the driving character it is known for with this model. 16

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

TECH SPEC

2017 MINI COOPER S E COUNTRYMAN ALL4 BASE PRICE $36,800 LAYOUT front-engine, AWD, ﬁveseat, ﬁve-door crossover ENGINE 1.5L, 136hp/4,400-rpm, 162-lb-ft/1,250- to 4,300-rpm, turbocharged, 12-valve i3 ELECTRICAL MOTOR 88hp, 121-lb-ft, synchronous electric motor COMBINED OUTPUT 224 hp, 283 lb-ft TRANSMISSION six-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT 3,659 lb. WHEELBASE 105.1 in. LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT 169.2 x 71.7 x 61.3 in. SUSPENSION McPherson strut (f); multilink link (r) WHEELS & TIRES 17x7.5-inch light alloy (f/r); Pirelli P Zero 225/55 (f/r) 0-62 MPH 6.8 sec.

If you’d prefer to conserve your battery capacity, the Save Battery function runs primarily off the combustion engine and limits use of the electric drivetrain. It employs the starter generator to replenish the battery’s charge in addition to what is recovered through the car’s regenerative braking. This setting will still use the electric motor in certain sections of road, but won’t allow the battery’s capacity to drop below its current state. The system can do this up until the battery reaches 90 percent charge, though clearly it’s not the most efﬁcient way to do so. Perhaps the Cooper S E Countryman’s best trait is just how effortless it makes the whole plug-in hybrid experience feel. The way in which it alternates between power sources goes largely unnoticed and when you do want to have some fun, there’s adequate performance to satisfy the majority of drivers. Useful, too, that it can be recharged via a public charge point or home wall box in as little as two and a half hours. Even if you don’t have a dedicated home charger, you can recharge the battery via a regular household wall socket, but it will require more time. Petrolheads may not be able to avoid the onslaught of PHEVs and electric vehicles in the near future, but this Mini at least shows that they can still be plenty of fun to drive. 17

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HOT LAPS INSIDE THE THERMAL CLUB’S PRIVATE TRACK FACILITY

Words and Photos Bradley Iger 20

Since opening its doors in 2012, Thermal Club has largely

catered to race teams and well-heeled gentlemen racers. Open year round, the 344-acre facility offers members a true automotive paradise in the form of not only world-class road courses but a full tuning shop, ﬁne dining, and other luxury amenities. Now the club is looking to broaden its clientele, expanding beyond professional teams and hosting the West Coast operations

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

of the BMW Performance Driving School by offering plots of land for members to build living spaces within the facility, as well as pre-built, 10,000-square-foot homes replete with massive 15-car garages to store all of their track toys. Some of these villas are built directly into the sound wall surrounding the road courses, offering members a chance to soak in the on-track action from the luxury of their own private balcony or bedroom windows.

“Our goal is to have a country club that the entire family can be a part of and give our members a place that feels like home for a day at the track or a long weekend getaway,” says Thermal Club founder Tim Rogers. “Each time I visit The Thermal Club, I am pleased to see the progress of our world-class motorsports facilities, amenities, landscape, and the membership making up our club.” And despite being one of the newer private tracks in the country offering

on-site living quarters and resort-style amenities, with 80 members already on board and BMW’s substantial long-term commitment to the facility, Rogers says that Thermal Club is already turning a proﬁt, several years ahead of their initial projections. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take a whole lot of convincing to get us to head out to Thermal Club’s facility just outside of Palm Springs, California, to experience this private automotive playground for

ourselves and get a better sense of everything the club has to offer would-be members. THE COURSES

Along with a karting track and a large skidpad that can be used for at-limit handling exercises, Thermal Club boasts three distinct road courses, all of which can be tied together for a 5.1-mile lap. Designed by Alan Wilson, the man behind the track layouts for Barber Motorsports Park, Gingerman

Raceway, and Autobahn Country Club among others, Thermal Club’s courses were designed with ﬂexibility in mind in terms of track conﬁgurations and the varying skill levels of their members. Even though it started out catering mostly to pros, it was always meant for a wide range of drivers so the tracks are able to cater to vehicles ranging from vintage sports cars to modern Formula 1 cars. “The trick is to make it challenging for everyone while

keeping all of our members safe,” says track operations manager and former Ferrari Challenge driving coach Jeff Rodrigues. “When a member says the Desert Circuit is too difficult— which is the most technical one of our three courses—we know we designed it right.” Thermal’s roster of renowned instructors on staff also ensures that members can get training and tips with full telemetry analysis as their skills progress. 21

Our track time consisted of several stints on a track configuration, which combined the North Palm and South Palm circuits, switching off between 987-generation Porsche Caymans on Toyo R888 rubber and F80-generation BMW M3s outfitted with Pirelli PZero racing slicks. Clocking roughly three miles per lap, this configuration boasts long straights, fast sweepers, lowspeed technical sections, and enough elevation change to keep us on our toes pushing harder lap after lap. While the facility is happy to rent those Caymans to members, Rodrigues is quick to point out that they encourage members to run what they brung, whether that’s a bone-stock production vehicle or an open-wheel single-seater. “We see a lot of members starting out with street cars and moving up to purpose-built race cars over time,” he explains. “Radicals, Wolfs, and production-based GT4 cars are becoming increasingly popular here.” 22

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

BEYOND TRACK DAYS

Aside from the resort-style amenities of the facility, the living spaces offered on-site set Thermal Club apart from typical tracks. Eight predetermined member villa ﬂoor plans are currently available ranging from 5,500 to 15,000 square feet for those looking for a turnkey solution. But members also have the option of designing their own version within speciﬁed guidelines, like architecture that’s consistent with the contemporary designs found throughout the facility. Garage sizes start at 3,600 square feet and go up from there. When I was there, 17 villas had been completed while 24

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another nine were under construction; eventually, 214 on-track villas are planned while an additional 54 units are available off-track. Members are allowed to stay in these residences for up to 90 consecutive days at a time, and the facility itself is gated and patrolled 24 hours a day. Thermal Club also boasts a state-of-the-art tuning shop available to perform maintenance, repairs, modiﬁcations, and restoration on member vehicles. The Trackside Garage features a car wash and detail area as well as vehicle storage space. The Tower Building provides a lounge, trackside viewing deck, dining, and also houses the timing and control center for the track itself. And in keeping with the resort theme, Thermal Club also has a ﬁtness center, spa facilities, and a Kid’s Club, the latter of which features a game room, movie theater, and other activities to keep the youngsters entertained when they’re not tearing around the karting track.

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What's On Demand This Month? SEPTEMBER 22 LIVE! Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, Mazda Raceway LS Auto Mundial Best Driver's Car FIM Motocross World Championship, France Motorsport Mundial SEPTEMBER 23 LIVE! DTM Championship, Red Bull Ring LIVE! FIA Formula 3 Championship, Red Bull Ring LIVE! FIM Speedway World Championship, Sweden LIVE! VLN Endurance Racing, Nürburgring SEPTEMBER 24 LIVE! ADAC GT Masters, Hockenheim LIVE! British GT Championship, Donington Park LIVE! FIA Formula 3 Championship, Red Bull Ring LIVE! Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, Mazda Raceway LS SEPTEMBER 25 LIVE! European Le Mans Series, Spa Mobil 1 The Grid SEPTEMBER 26 Dirt Every Day, Episode 69 SEPTEMBER 27 Goodwood Revival, Goodwood, UK GP Confidential, Post Singapore + Preview Malaya GP SEPTEMBER 28 HOT ROD Garage, Episode 57 Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, Sachsenring SEPTEMBER 29 Auto Mundial Motorsport Mundial Roadkill, Episode 70 SEPTEMBER 30 LIVE! Blancpain GT Sports Club, Catalunya, Spain LIVE! Euroformula Open, Monza LIVE! International GT Open, Monza OCTOBER 1 LIVE! Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, Barcelona LIVE! Blancpain GT Sports Club, Catalunya, Spain LIVE! Euroformula Open, Monza LIVE! International GT Open, Monza OCTOBER 2 Ignition, Episode 184 OCTOBER 3 The House of Muscle, Episode 12 OCTOBER 4 Modified, Episode 5 OCTOBER 5 Ferrari Challenge Europe, Silverstone FIA World Rallycross, Germany OCTOBER 6 Auto Mundial FIM Motocross World Championship, Great Britain Motorsport Mundial OCTOBER 7 LIVE! Euroformula Open, Jerez LIVE! FIM Speedway World Championship, Poland LIVE! Virgin Australia Supercars, Bathurst 1000 LIVE! VLN Endurance Racing, Nürburgring OCTOBER 8 LIVE! Euroformula Open, Jerez OCTOBER 9 British Touring Car Championship, Silverstone Engine Masters, Episode 27 GP Confidential, Post Malaya + Preview Japan GP Mobil 1 The Grid OCTOBER 11 Head 2 Head, Episode 95 OCTOBER 12 Put Up Or Shut Up, Episode 4 OCTOBER 13 LIVE! Formula D, Irwindale, CA Auto Mundial Motorsport Mundial Real Road Racing, Scarborough Gold Cup OCTOBER 14 LIVE! DTM Championship, Hockenheimring LIVE! Formula D, Irwindale, CA LIVE! Intercontinental Challenge Series, Mazda Raceway LS LIVE! Pirelli World Challenge, Mazda Raceway LS OCTOBER 15 LIVE! FIA Formula 3 Championship, Hockenheim LIVE! FIA Formula 3 Championship, Hockenheim LIVE! Pirelli World Challenge, Mazda Raceway LS OCTOBER 16 Ignition, Episode 185 Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, Hockenheim Real Road Racing, Scarborough Gold Cup OCTOBER 18 GP Confidential, Post Japan + Preview USA GP Modified, Episode 6 OCTOBER 19 Ferrari Challenge Europe, Imola Roadkill Garage, Episode 23 OCTOBER 20 LIVE! Virgin Australia Supercars, Gold Coast 600 Auto Mundial Motorsport Mundial OCTOBER 21 LIVE! Virgin Australia Supercars, Gold Coast 600 LIVE! VLN Endurance Racing, Nürburgring OCTOBER 23 LIVE! European Le Mans Series, Portimao British Touring Car Championship, Brands Hatch Mobil 1 The Grid OCTOBER 24 Dirt Every Day, Episode 70 OCTOBER 26 HOT ROD Garage, Episode 58 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, Sandown SCHEDULE KEY: Racing Original Programs motortrendondemand.com * The program information provided is subject to change.

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Along with the yearround testing done by teams competing in Pirelli World Challenge, Ferrari 488 Challenge, and other series, Thermal Club also hosts a number of races throughout the year, including Lotus Cup and Pirelli GT3 events. The facility has also developed its own class-based racing events that pits cars that normally race in one-make series against one another, and a mixed-make sports racer class is currently in development as well. MEMBERSHIP

As one might expect, this automotive paradise doesn’t exactly come cheap. Membership has a one-time, up-front cost of $100,000 for individuals and $250,000 for corporate accounts, plus annual dues of $20,000. It’s worth noting that individuals can share their membership 26

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

privileges within their immediate family, while businesses can do so throughout their companies. However, Thermal Club membership comes with another (not insigniﬁcant) stipulation—all members must be property owners within the Thermal Club, which adds the cost of a villa or the construction of a custom on-site home into the mix as well, and prices for the villas start at $2 million—and up. Still, for those who can afford what this exclusive club has to offer, Thermal’s facility proves to be a thoroughly thought-out and complete vision of automotive utopia for track rats, one that’s particularly compelling for those who seek a turnkey experience away from it all that indulges its members in luxury when they’re not going 10/10ths out on the road course.

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As I’m sure we’ve all seen while windowshopping the Porsche website, there are a

total of 22 different 911 variants—that was at the time of writing this. It’s probably gone up since. I won’t even get into the sedans, SUVs, or mid-engine cars. The 911 you see here is the latest variation that wedges in between the Carrera S and other higher-performance models. It is the GTS, which is in some ways a performance package for the regular-ole 911, and moves it closer to a Turbo or even something like a GT3. This isn’t the first GTS, but it certainly deserves a new conversation. When I drove the 991.1 GTS, Porsche had me take the car from L.A. out to Rosamond to lap the car at Big Willow, a fast-sweeping racetrack that allows highstrung sports cars to really stretch their legs. That GTS was powered by a highrevving, 430hp 3.8L flat-six. This new 991.2 GTS has switched to the same 3.0L twin-turbo flat-six found in the current base and S model 911s. As with the power bump from base to S, the GTS uses bigger

turbochargers to get its 450 hp. The 20hp difference between the new 991.2 and old 991.1 GTS doesn’t sound like much. The big difference, however, between dot-1 and dot-2 cars is the personality of forced induction, which feels different on the road, given that the old engine makes 325 lb-ft of torque at 5,750 rpm, while the smaller forced-induction engine is more of an early riser, producing 405 lb-ft as low as 2,150 rpm and carrying that number all the way up to 5,000 rpm. The question you should be asking is, do I want a truck-like torque curve in a sports car? The answer is a resounding, “It kinda depends.” And I will cover that in great detail a little later. For this trip, Porsche decided renting a racetrack for the GTS would have been a bit too cliché. After all, if you really intend to track your car on a regular basis, you should be buying a GT3, or a GT3RS, or even a Cayman GT4 Club Sport (it’s not the craziest idea). Instead, we ﬂew to Reno, Nevada, to then drive up to Truckee, California, a peaceful ski

town bordering beautiful Lake Tahoe. It gets more complicated as not only did our drive encircle Tahoe, but we also spent time on the famous Virginia City Hill Climb Route. It’s somewhat of a substitute for a track, while being more in line with how owners will likely use these cars. The GTS is available in all the regular 911 variants, so if you want a coupe in rear or all-wheel drive, you can do so. You can have a Cabriolet in rear or all-wheel drive, or a Targa, with the one caveat being the wonderfully complicated Targa is still only available with all-wheel drive. I still can’t quite grasp the desire to own a high-performance car in anything other than a coupe, but I guess if you can swing a car like this, you can also afford great hair that deserves to be on display. Someone at Porsche must share my feelings, as all GTS cars use the wider body of a Carrera 4, but only the coupes get the higher-performance and ever so slightly lower PASM Sport Suspension, while Cabs and Targas get standard PASM.

All of the cars, however, get the more aggressive front bumper and a rear spoiler that deploys higher than either the base or S Carrera. While it does claim greater downforce, Porsche doesn’t give an actual number. On the outside, GTS buyers also get standard SportDesign Mirrors, Bi-Xenon headlights with Porsche Dynamic Light System, satin black center-lock wheels off of the Turbo, as well as some shiny black exterior trim pieces to help distinguish it from other 911s. Mechanically, there is the aforementioned PASM Sport on coupes, Porsche Torque Vectoring differential, standard Sport Chrono Pack, Sport Exhaust (with decreased sound insulation), and don’t forget the “GTS” stickers on the doors. All of this was explained to us sitting fireside, sipping cocktails in an outdoor lounge filled with Scandinavian furniture—for the record, that’s how I imagine all of you are reading this. Our host hotel is a quaint, rustic log cabin roughly the size of a shopping mall. Although we’re well into spring, Porsche arranged for a nice snow flurry the day before our arrival. It made for some great scenery on the way in, luckily without hampering the next day’s drive. Nearly every breakfast item on the hotel restaurant’s menu includes some

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

combination of bacon, maple syrup, and flannel. I order the yogurt, which comes with granola, fruit, and a look of disappointment from the bearded cooking staff. It’s OK, I do my part for Porsche lightweighting, too. Like all of the current widebody cars, the GTS is big; the silver paint on our Carrera4 is none too slimming. It looks big parked in the valet and it feels big on the road. Luckily, most of the roads in this area are plenty wide, but I’ve found in the past that driving one of these on some of my favorite roads in Southern California proves nerve wracking as those rear fenders, which require an extra 1.73 inches of real estate, tend to fill up a standard lane pretty handily. What helps shrink down the car, at least perceptually, is the optional rear-wheel steer system. I’ve had mixed feelings about it in the past; I can assure you, it’s gotten better as Porsche has spent time on continual development with every new model. Our caravan of test cars roll out of the circular drive framed by decorative snow early in the morning; Porsche had planned an extra-long drive route. The roads around Lake Tahoe are similar to something you might find around St. Moritz or Zurich, just lined with liquor stores selling cheap sunglasses and beach

umbrellas. In the short off-season, Tahoe’s roads are free from tourists either on their way to ski slopes or to put boats in the lake. For the most part, I was able to drive along at whatever pace felt appropriate— that wouldn’t land me in jail. Buying the GTS earns you the privilege of choosing the $4,130 GTS Interior Package; as privilege never comes without a price, it also requires the purchase of the $3,850 Alcantara Package. For the almost eight grand, you get contrasting stitching, carbon-fiber interior trim, Alcantara wheel, shift boot, and armest along with some embroidered logos on the headrests—great for subtle social-media selfie bragging. You also get a red-faced tachometer, which I would try to find a way to skip. It sounds like a big chunk of cash and—let’s be honest, it is, but you deserve it. Overall, the interior is 911 excellent, just with racier materials. Right from the start, everything is where you think it should be, and like all 911s of the past, the headroom allows for proper upright seating, there is plenty of room for bigger people, and material choice and build quality are excellent. If multimillion-dollar fighter jets were flown by the people paying for them, I would imagine the cockpits would look more like this.

"Overall, the interior is 911 excellent, just with racier materials."

There is a section of Highway 89 that traces the ridge above Emerald Bay high above the water. One turn in particular is a 180-degree hairpin without guardrails with a steep drop-off to the outside and the perfect place for photography. After several sweeps of that same corner, I was able to get the GTS right up to its limits. It lets go at the back ﬁrst in a very predictable and smooth way. The rear-engine weight bias is still obvious, but with a 305/30-20 tire outback being wrangled by a torque-biasing differential, it’s simple to keep it in check. It doesn’t scream allwheel drive, but it feels more automated than in a base Carrera that would require a bit more discretion of the right foot and a little faster hand on the wheel. Suddenly a big difference in personality becomes apparent. The roads start to open up as soon as you drop out of the south side of the lake. The pine trees become scarce and you ﬁnd yourself in the high desert heading east. On some long, narrow straight sections, it’s possible to open up the car. The GTS has power at any rpm. Even at 2,500 rpm, it pulls hard. Unlike a lot of current turbo engines, it still builds power at the high end. So many cars now with huge torque numbers run out of breath not long after 32

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

5,000 rpm, but the GTS keeps building up until 6,500 rpm, a thousand short of its redline. The old GTS spun up to 7,800 rpm, but for some reason, it felt higher and the 7,500-rpm horsepower peak made for more of a crescendo. I’m sure the aero of the GTS is better than the base car, but it would certainly take back-to-back drives at high speeds to really know for sure. I can tell you, the car is amazingly stable at any speed attainable by non-lunatics on U.S. roads. Even with reduced noise insulation, the GTS at 70 mph is quieter inside than a 993 coasting down a hill at 30 mph with the engine off. We stop for lunch in Gardnerville. The Overland Restaurant and Bar is famous for its Piggy Poppers, which are like jalapeño poppers, but wrapped in bacon before being breaded and deep fried, the perfect accompaniment for a tri-tip hoagie. Some may see this as gratuitous excess, but I’m not sure anyone pulling into the parking lot in a $155,000 sports car is capable of making that call. I had a Cobb salad. During lunch, I asked Porsche PR why anyone still buys a 911 S, after the launch of the GTS. Apparently not everyone wants all the performance options included in the GTS. Why buy an S, if not for the added performance?

TECH SPEC

2018 PORSCHE 911 CARRERA GTS BASE PRICE $121,750 base Carrera 2 GTS PRICE AS TESTED $128,980 well-optioned Carrera 2 GTS in text $155,845 well-optioned Carrera 4 GTS in text LAYOUT rear-engine, RWD/AWD, four-seat, two-door coupe ENGINE 3.0L, 450hp/405-lb-ft, twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve ﬂat-six TRANSMISSION seven-speed manual seven-speed dual-clutch CURB WEIGHT 3,200 lb. (est.) WHEELBASE 96.5 in. LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT 178.3 x 77.9 x 50.6 in. SUSPENSION MacPherson strut (f); multi-link (r) BRAKES six-piston calipers, 13.8-in. rotors (f); fourpiston calipers, 13.0-in. rotors (r) WHEELS & TIRES 911 Turbo S Centerlock 20x8.5 (f), 20x11.5 (r); 245/35 (f), 305/30 (r) 0-60 MPH 3.9/3.5 sec. (man./PDK)

After lunch, we jumped into a red Carrera 2 GTS for comparison. We take the scenic route out of Gardnerville, through Genoa, brieﬂy back onto more mountain roads, before dropping back into Carson City, the state capital of Nevada. The Carrera 2 GTS isn’t glaringly different than the Carrera 4 GTS earlier in the day. The front may feel slightly lighter, but you couldn’t tell if placed in a car blindfolded. Accelerating out of the tightest of corners, you can feel the difference, but you have to be pushing, hard. After a traffic-jammed Carson City, we started toward Virginia City, what was once a 19th century mining town, now home to fudge and taffy emporiums neighboring saloons that certainly sell more T-shirts than whisky these days. On the way up, instead of the major road, we use the Virginia City Hill Climb route of Occidental Grade, a 5.2-mile climb, ironically passing the Storey County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center, right at the top of the road. Luckily, we only saw it from the outside. 34

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

We took several passes at the famous route, ya know, for science. The Carrera 2 GTS never really struggles for grip, when pushed, it just doesn’t feel quite as well balanced as the C4. With all the extra rear width, big tires, and everything happening out back, the front end feels less involved. It is hard to pinpoint if it is the power going to the front wheels, or if just adding some heavy luggage in the front of the car would balance out the sensation. Either way, if I was buying a GTS, I would definitely lean toward the C4. Either car will fly up the hill in a manner that should earn you a spot in the previously mentioned detention center. The brakes, like all 911s, are race car–level powerful and provide nearly as much feedback and confidence. The C2 I was driving was equipped with the seven-speed manual, and while I will happily sing the praises of PDK, I was smitten with the three pedals. It isn’t Cayman GT4 good, but Porsche engineers were forced to create a bit of a Rube Goldberg machine to manually shift what is essentially a PDK stripped of its robot.

With the exhaust valves open, it crackles and pops like all modern performance cars, but doesn’t seem quite so obnoxious as some others. The engine sounds good, like a real 911. The beauty of it, even with the bigger turbochargers, is the linearity of the power delivery. Like the smaller turbo cars, it never develops that big wallop of torque that ruins cars like the M3 and M4. It feels like a really big Porsche ﬂat-six, like if they would have built a 5.0L at some point. That is the beauty of this engine: While you have all the torque down low, it isn’t delivered in a way that makes you drive the car differently. With all the technology on this GTS, from torque vectoring to rear-wheel steering and the active suspension, not to mention the power, I am traveling at speeds that would leave the base Carrera in the weeds. The question is—am I having any more fun? And that is a tough 36

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

one to answer without also asking the question of how much performance do you really need for the street? I can’t answer that one for you. Some of it comes down to what you will use the car for. If you are buying a Porsche with the intention of doing track days, you have to consider the 450hp GTS isn’t far off of a 500hp GT3 in terms of price. The C4 I started the day in was $155,000 as equipped; a GT3 has a base price of $144,650 with no options. I have said in the past, more than once, that if I were buying a 991.2, it would be a base car with a manual, very modestly optioned. This GTS has made me rethink that. I’ve never been one of those guys who would be afraid to pull into Cars & Coffee in a base car because people might think, “He couldn’t afford the good 911.” Anyone who can swing any 911 is clearly doing OK and will impress everyone at their high school reunion. The GTS is a more cohesive package than the S. Although you can easily call it the Value Performance Package–equipped S, it works and feels natural. If it came down to it, I think I would still buy the base car, with just a couple of carefully chosen options to keep it as simple as possible. As happy as I would be, there would still be nights I would lie in bed wondering if I should have just stretched a little more and bought the GTS. Either way, I think it would be a manual transmission.

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EUROPEANCARWEB.COM â&#x20AC;¢ 10/2017

They say you should never meet your heroes. When I ﬁnally got to drive a 105

Series Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV in the early ’80s, I realized there was more than a little truth in this old adage. My ﬁrst GTV drive left me torn between joy and disappointment. The bark of the charismatic engine up front and the gurgle of its twin Weber carbs was pure aural delight while the 130 lusty horses pushed this pretty little Italian coupe along as rapidly as I had expected. However, it was clear that the Alfa’s grip on the tarmac was not in the same league as its punchy 1,962cc twin cam. Whilst it had lovely steering and sweet, responsive handling, its road-holding fell noticeably short of some of its contemporaries—I won’t even mention modern cars. Fast-forward to 2000, and British Alfa Romeo enthusiast Richard Banks—who had bought, sold, tuned, and raced countless 105 Series Alfas over the years— decided to set up a company specializing in their revival and improvement. The “Alfaholics” name seemed wholly appropriate as a love for old Italian cars can easily be as self-destructive as other notorious vices. After several years in the business, Richard found alfaholism is apparently genetic as well; his two sons, Andrew and Max, joined him in the family business motivated by an addiction for classic Italian beauty. The cornerstone of Alfaholics is a mail order business selling OE parts for classic Alfa Romeos. As demand for tuning and racing these cars increased and became more serious, in-house designed performance improvements for the classic Alfa Romeo models slowly found their way into the Alfaholics mail-order catalogue. The restoration and road and race tuning of customer cars to concourse standards followed, but as Max explained, “To maintain our quality standards, we will never restore or build more than 10 cars a year.” Engine tuning parts for the Nord twin-cam engine—which power all the 105-Series cars in 1300, 1600, 1750, and 2000cc form—follow traditional lines. But while Alfaholics still provide OE and tuning parts for these engines, their more recent conversions focus on the later TS Twin Spark engine from the Alfa 75, which is a relatively easy swap and offers far more tuning potential. In historical terms, the production eight-valve Alfa 75 Twin Spark engine was actually developed from Alfa Romeo’s GTA race motor, itself a heavily revised version of the Nord. Using the TS as an upgrade for a 105 Series car is thus coming full circle.

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM â&#x20AC;¢ 10/2017

If you are wondering why Alfaholics did not use the later 16-valve Twin Spark, the cheaper-to-manufacture Fiat B family modular iron-block engine starts life with a weight penalty. Fitting its 16v head onto the earlier alloy block is mission impossible since the cams of the later engine are belt-driven while the eight-valve uses a chain drive. By 2015, Alfaholics had extracted a reliable 225 hp from the eight-valve 2.0L Twin Spark in GTA R 240 guise. However, the next step was the critical one in terms of output, cost, and complexity. Since it had to remain naturally aspirated and bulletproof, the logical option was to go down the time-honored largerdisplacement route, with bore and stroke increased from the stock 84.0x88.5 mm to 87.0x94.0 mm, netting a 2,235cc or 2.2L displacement. The engine uses forged lightweight CP pistons using a flat-top design with a trick bowl arrangement providing an 11.0:1 compression ratio. Carrillo rods marry them to a custom billet steel crankshaft in which the rotational inertia is minimized by a clever counterweight design, while a single mass flywheel is half the weight of the original. The larger engine meters air and fuel through Alfaholics’ own CNC-machined manifold and individual throttle bodies. The system looks as great as it functions with integrated fuel-injection rail and carbon-fiber intake trumpets. Unlike a passive carburetor setup, a MOTEC ECU controls this engine’s combustion. On the other side of the ported, polished, and gas-flowed big-valve cylinder head, the engine’s spent gases exit through a lovely set of long-tube headers crafted from marine 304-grade stainless steel and mated to a free-flow sport exhaust. The chassis dyno shows gains of 10 hp and 8 lb-ft of torque for the

exhaust system alone. The end result is a solid 240 hp at 6,950 rpm, accompanied by 200 lb-ft of torque at 5,000 rpm, all of this from an undersquare engine with a robust torque curve that also thrives at high revs. A high-capacity radiator and twin-row oil cooler manage the extra heat produced by the high-output engine and the black crackle finish rocker cover is another custom Alfaholic’s touch. At this point, the eagle eyed will be asking why the car wears a GTA-R 290 moniker? Alfaholics decided the powerto-weight ratio would be more telling than horsepower, thus 290 refers to the horsepower per ton of this 1,830-pound flying machine, which was previously dubbed GTA-R 240 when powered by a 225hp 2.0L. Incidentally, the original 1.6L Giulia Sprint GT of 1963-1965 tipped the scales at 2,100 pounds, but with the arrival of the 2000 GTV in 1971, curb weight swelled to 2,300 pounds. The Alfaholics GTA R 290 is based on the lighter, and we think more characterful-looking, 1967 “step nose” GT 1300 Junior, this example of which Max acquired a decade ago as a well-used 200,000-miler. Max has tuned, tweaked, and honed the car with engine, suspension, and body modifications designed to make it go harder and better, but in a way that befits the spirit of the original. So far, he has put 80,000 miles on the rebuilt car, with hundreds of laps on various British and European race circuits, including the Nürburgring. With quality and reliability sharing center stage with enhanced performance, the fully developed parts were then added to the international mail order business that is Alfaholics’ primary mission. The Alfaholics 170-pound crash diet consists of carbon-fiber bonnet, boot, and doors, along with a lightweight interior. Other parts required for this weight reduction fetish were the lightweight door cards, drilled boot hinges, and drilled door catch plates. This car even has titanium front suspension control arms, wheel nuts, and bolts, which slice around 7 pounds off each front corner. Body-shell stiffening is always good for handling, especially when a car wears grippy modern rubber. To this end, the Alfa benefits from a custom-designed Safety Devices bolt-in six-point full rollcage with removable sidebars, which significantly bolsters structural rigidity and provides occupant safety during its regular racetrack sessions. Alfaholics also commissioned 20 percent thinner 4.0mm glass to save a total of 6 pounds high up in the car. An added plus is the fact that the new laminated front windscreen has an integral heating element. 41

TECH SPEC

ALFAHOLICS GTA-R 290 PRICE AS TESTED $260,000 (est.) LAYOUT front-engine, RWD, two-seat, two-door coupe ENGINE 2.2L, 240hp/200-lb-ft, DOHC 16-valve I-4 TRANSMISSION ﬁve-speed manual CURB WEIGHT 1,830 lb. WHEELBASE 92.5 in. LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT 161.0 x 62.0 x 50.0 in. (est.) SUSPENSION dual control arm (f); live-axle (r) BRAKES six-piston calipers, 11.8-in. rotors (f); two-piston calipers, 10.5-in. rotors (r) WHEELS & TIRES Alfaholics 15x7.0 (f/r); Yokohama AD08R 195/55 (f/r)

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

A nice set of alloy wheels can always make or break a car, but when you are dealing with a classic, you have to be very careful to keep things looking period correct. Alfaholics decided that the factory 14-inch GTA style was optimal and had it re-cast in a 15x7-inch size to suit modern rubber. On Max’s car, these are shod with sticky 195/55-15 Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R tires. That extra inch makes all the difference both visually and technically. The slightly larger wheels and lowered ride height give the car a squatter and more purposeful stance reminiscent of the period factory GTA racers, even if with a slightly more modern tilt. The larger wheels and tires also require the Alfaholic’s reproduction pressed aluminum 1967 Homologation GTA rear bubble ﬂares for clearance, which also allow an increase of 15 mm in the rear track. Keeping the much more powerful car tied down nicely are the most extreme components from Alfaholics’ menu of suspension upgrades. Swapping out the big, heavy, factory springs for smaller diameter coils that mate to the OE lower control arms with an adapter signiﬁcantly reduces unsprung weight.

Another key to curing the Alfa’s wayward handling lies at the rear, which Alfaholics ties down with several modifications. The first of these replaces the factory cast-iron upper reaction arms with its own aluminum pieces fitted with spherical bearings that allow the axle to articulate properly over bumps, without unwanted geometry changes. Rose joints allow the axle to move vertically but not laterally, which all but eliminates the “will it, won’t it?” sideways movement that saps driver confidence in fast bends, especially ones with bumps. In conjunction with an aluminum T-bar, lightweight trailing arms, adjustable dampers, and meticulously tested camber and toe settings, these alterations transform the Alfa’s handling and grip. A lightweight driveshaft and rifledrilled halfshafts take power from the gearbox to the rear wheels via a mechanical limited-slip differential. With a 70/30 percent locking action under acceleration and braking, this slippery diff is set up for progressive ramp action and has a lower than usual 30-pound pre-load. A side effect of the larger wheels is the space to fit modern brakes, which are controlled by twin master cylinders with no vacuum assistance. These use 300mm vented floating front discs clamped by Alfaholic’s billet aluminum four-piston calipers for road use or a six-piston version for the track. For fanatics of low unsprung weight, the Superleggera version features an even lighter version of these six-piston calipers, mounting bells and brackets that save a further 3.3 pounds per corner. At the rear, 267mm discs are clamped by new alloy billet calipers each 3.0 pounds lighter than the stock iron ATE item, while the Superleggera version shaves off a further 0.9 pound per corner.

CONTRO L A N D P REC IS IO N HAVE N E VE R B E E N S POR T I E R Superior wet and dry braking performance

Precise and responsive steering at high speeds

Very good controllability, especially while cornering

The side bars of the rollcage are a bit of a physical hurdle to be crossed before you can drop into one of the figure-hugging, four-point harness-equipped Recaro seats whose leather covering features a periodwoven pattern. The team at Alfaholics is made up of hard-core drivers, so a lot of attention has been paid to balancing the control weights. Thus the clutch, while beefed up to take sustained track abuse, is also very progressive in its action and weighted for a good perceived partnership with the accelerator. The light, positive, and satisfying gearshift action tells you the long gear-lever in your hand is the window to a piece of precision machinery, requiring just a deft finger and wrist movement to find each ratio. The close-ratio gearbox features heavy-duty bearings and drilled and scalloped gears with rifle-drilled shafts to lower inertia. The synchros are OE Alfa 44

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

pieces reinforced by Alfaholics. Blip the lightweight aluminum accelerator pedal and the revs rise and fall rapidly. With its low weight and strong torque, the GTA-R 290 can be driven around in a fairly high gear without protest from the drivetrain, while the strong torque curve allows you to make good progress with the rev counter needle never exceeding 5,000 rpm. When you want to get a move-on, the long-stroke motor is happy to sing for its supper. The lightweight internals and ﬂywheel help the engine soar to 7,000 rpm with gusto; the rich, multi-layered soundtrack and old-school mechanical feel of the controls conspire to deliver a driving experience that is deeply satisfying on several levels. The updated chassis ensures that handling, grip, and the powerful engine are all reading from the same page, and the car feels like one piece when braking,

turning in, and exiting a bend. The rear axle feels properly tied down, working nicely in concert with its incisive front end, and the little red car changes direction instantly, dancing to its drivers’ tune with a delicacy and lack of surplus inertia that underlines the “light is might” concept. The heavy steering effort at low speeds is a function of the stocky modern rubber and 4 degrees of castor, double that of a stock GTV. For those who drive around town a lot, the electric power steering option, built into the original steering box, will transform the car on the road. That said, Max personally prefers unassisted steering on track. While Max’s fast road and track-biased GTA-R 290 is more hard-core than most of the cars Alfaholics will create for its handful of lucky customers each year, rollcage apart, it is still a perfectly civilized and fun road car. Max lapped the Nürburgring in 8 minutes 15 seconds with the car in GTA R 240 form and weighing just shy of 2000 pounds. This time already puts it on par with much more powerful modern machinery, and in its latest lighter and more powerful 290 guise, it should be signiﬁcantly quicker. The original Alfa GTV did not fully live up to my expectations even 30 years ago. However, by merging 1970s character, feedback, and communication with 21st century levels of precision and dynamic ability, Alfaholics has created a modern classic I really do covet.

SOURCES

Alfaholics alfaholics.com Recaro recaro-automotive.com Yokohama yokohamatire.com

AUDI S3 NEUSPEED RSe10 19x9.0 MICHELIN SUPER SPORT 245/35R19

NEUSPEED, under the same family ownership and management, has been tuning and producing high quality performance parts for Volkswagen cars since 1975. In 2004, NEUSPEED discovered a new manufacturing process years before other big brand companies jumped on the wagon and charging double our price tags. This process is called Flow Forming and the results are light weight with similar strength characteristics to fully forged wheels without the cost. The combination makes NEUSPEED wheels incredibly desirable and popular with its innovative styling for the Audi and VW motorsport and street performance market. NEUSPEED now has 9 designs, and still growing, to cover all different aesthetic preferences. Sizes range from 17x8.0 to 20x9.5 speciﬁc to Audi/ VW platforms.

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EUROPEANCARWEB.COM â&#x20AC;¢ 10/2017

Since the M4’s debut in late 2014, BMW

has found ways to hone and improve upon its somewhat lackluster formula. There’s the Competition Package, the hardcore GTS model, and the forthcoming CS, a configuration that’s said to be something of a split between the two. But Dinan, the preeminent tuner of all things BMW, wasted little time setting to work on the M4. Within a year of the factory model hitting the street, Dinan had its M4 S1 ready for enthusiasts seeking something more potent. It offered a boost in power, refined handling, and visual flare to go along with a measure of exclusivity—and we were impressed. That was nearly two years ago, though, and those subsequently released factory packages have upped the ante to some degree. Now 38 years on, Dinan has become synonymous with serious BMW tuning. It offers aftermarket upgrades with a similar level of quality and attention to detail as the factory equipment, while injecting even more performance and distinction to the equation. The outfit also serves as a technical partner to BMW Motorsport in the Rolex Grand-Am Daytona Prototype series. It’s continued to prove its worth by contributing to the team’s back-to-back championships and two overall wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, successes that bode well for the company’s ability to design and manufacture high-performance upgrades for its road cars. While it’s not a reinvention of the company’s tuning strategy for the highperformance coupe, this latest iteration of Dinan’s ultimate M4 package—the S2— promises to improve upon it in enough meaningful ways to justify a new badge. But the proof is in the pudding, of course, so we headed out to the winding stretches of tarmac in the Angeles National Forest just northeast of Los Angeles to find out for ourselves. “As with all our vehicles, the idea behind the M4 S2 is a holistic approach that offers a complete package,” says Dinan’s Dan McNiff. “Our intention is to provide the best possible iteration of the vehicle in both power as well as handling.” While it might be easy to dismiss that as marketing speak, the upgrades applied to the M4 S2 touch upon nearly every aspect of its performance, yielding a car with a decidedly more hard-edged character than when it left the factory and objectively more capable as a result. Nowhere is that difference made more obvious than in the M4 S2’s suspension tweaks. As with the S1, the M4 S2 incorporates Dinan’s coilover kit, which retains the factory dampers whether they’re adjustable or fixed. Dinan describes the kit as being honed from its motorsport efforts but dialed in for street use with the intention of reducing brake dive, body roll, and squat under acceleration while 48

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

offering reasonable ride quality during everyday use, provided owners opt to keep the ride height within the recommended speciﬁcations—most people will ignore that last part, resulting in a car that handles worse. Those coilovers are supplemented by Dinan’s tension strut ball joint kit, which is designed to reduce the deﬂection that’s inherent to the factory rubber bushings in the thrust arms by replacing them with machined aluminum housings and new ball joints, as well as its sway bar set and rear suspension link kit, the latter of which differentiates the S2’s suspension tuning from the M4 S1. Designed to address the stock M4’s susceptibility to rear steer, the rear suspension link kit replaces the toe links’

curved alloy rod and rubber bushings with a straight billet aluminum rod and Teﬂon-coated machined steel rod ends to reduce the suspension’s tendency for excessive toe change under hard acceleration and braking. The front trailing links are given a similar treatment to address the factory setup’s tendency to ﬂex under load. Combined with camber plates that allow for up to 2.5 degrees of negative camber and just over a degree of positive camber adjustability, Dinan’s suspension tuning efforts are undeniably comprehensive. But in an effort to maintain a semblance of the factory car’s balance among the various aspects of its performance, the M4 S2 also features a number of tweaks under the hood.

TECH SPEC

DINAN BMW M4 S2 BASE PRICE $75,645 PRICE AS TESTED $88,927 + install and tires LAYOUT front-engine, RWD, four-seat, two-door coupe ENGINE 3.0L, 548hp/549-lb-ft, twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve I-six MODIFICATIONS Dinan: carbon-ďŹ ber cold-air intake, highperformance heat exchanger, stainless steel exhaust and Stage3 Dinantronics tuner TRANSMISSION seven-speed dual-clutch CURB WEIGHT 3,600 lb. (est.) WHEELBASE 110.7 in. LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT 184.5 x 73.6 x 54.0 in. SUSPENSION strut (f); multi-link (r) MODIFICATIONS Dinan: coilover kit, front tension strut-balls, rear links, antiroll bars (f/r) BRAKES four-piston calipers, 15.0-in. rotors (f); twopiston calipers, 14.6-in. rotors (r) WHEELS & TIRES Dinan forged wheels 20x9.5 (f), 20x10.5 (r); Pirelli P Zero Corsa 275/30 (f), 305/30 (r)

Like the S1, the M4 S2 benefits from a more aggressive-sounding low-restriction exhaust system that’s coupled with a high-flow cross-pipe. On the other side, a carbon-fiber cold-air intake gives the engine bay some additional eye candy while providing more air at cooler temperatures through its less restrictive design. The S2’s setup improves on that of the S1 by the use of its Stage 3 tuning system, designed to not only take advantage of the new intake and exhaust components but the S2’s new heat exchanger as well, which addresses the limitations of the stock cooling system with 60 percent more volume and 19 percent more surface area than its factory counterpart. Dinan says the new heat exchanger allows the charge air to be cooled by an additional 6-degree average across the rpm range compared to the stock unit, and it contributes to the M4 S2’s peak output figures of 548 hp and 549 lb-ft of torque, gains of 123 hp and 143 50

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

lb-ft over a stock M4, and 18 hp/45 lb-ft over that of Dinan’s M4 S1. “The stock cooling system heat soaks after only three pulls and allows the engine air intake temperatures to rise significantly,” McNiff explains. “The ECU must then reduce engine power to prevent detonation. With the Dinan heat exchanger, the vehicle will not heat soak, even after seven pulls.” It doesn’t take more than a few seconds of driving the M4 S2 to realize that this is a significantly different beast than the factory M4. With this tester’s fixed dampers, the S2’s ride is admittedly firm around town, though well within the acceptable range for most performancefocused drivers. Those willing to tolerate the more significant impacts over low-speed bumps will be rewarded once they get out to a good stretch of road with a suspension that feels far more connected and steering that feels much more precise and quicker to respond.

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Combined with the copious grip offered by Dinan’s optional wheel and tire package, which uses Pirelli Pzero Corsa rubber on forged alloys measuring 20x9.5 inches up front and 20x10.5 inches in the rear, the M4 S2 simply feels more composed and inspires more confidence at speed. The suspension tweaks help ease some of the shortcomings of the M4’s steering, too, providing more immediate turn-in and significantly reduced body motion without entering into the realm of mid-corner nervousness that can result from overly stiff suspension tuning. Simply put, this M4 feels more at home on twisty mountain roads than any modern BMW I’ve driven, and that includes the Dinan M2 S2. The powertrain upgrades seem to yield less obvious benefits, though. The tone of the exhaust remains subtle when cruising and totally free of cabin drone throughout the rev range but can be harsh and dissonant at wide-open throttle with sudden swings in volume. There’s also some sense that those substantial horsepower and torque gains over stock should be more noticeable, but what ultimately seems 52

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

to be made most obvious is the turbo lag below 4k. However, where many turbocharged setups give nearly everything they have to offer in the midrange, the M4 S2 actually feels at its strongest toward the top end, encouraging you to wring out each gear to get the last bit of performance out of that inline-six. Dinan considers the M4 S2 a complete package of modiﬁcations designed to work in harmony with one another. The marketing guys are quick to point out that all of these upgrades are available individually, allowing owners to do these upgrades incrementally or forego certain

aspects of the S2 package entirely, if they so choose. For those looking to knock it all out in one fell swoop, the S2 package rings up to $13,282 before installation. That includes the engine and suspension upgrades along with Dinan’s aluminum pedal set, serialized plaque, and requisite branded badging. The optional wheel package will add another $6,550 to the mix, while carbon-fiber mirror caps, a front splitter, and spoiler from BMW will cost you another $2,205. Although that’s not an insignificant amount of coin to add to the bottom line, the fact that these upgrades can be done á la carte makes them significantly more accessible, and Dinan’s warranty of up to four years and 50,000 miles speaks volumes for the company’s confidence in its products. While there might be less expensive ways to coax performance out of a stock M4, a heavily tuned car that doesn’t behave like one is a virtue in and of itself.

SOURCE

Dinan dinancars.com

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM â&#x20AC;¢ 10/2017

Since its founding by Bodo Buschmann in 1977, Brabus has only dealt in super-

latives; the labels “most powerful” or “fastest” have been attached to so many of its cars that we’ve literally lost count. The latest offering is the 850 6.0 Biturbo Cabriolet, built on a car no sane person would consider slow—the Mercedes S63 AMG Cabriolet. Its headline numbers of a 350-kph(218-mph) top speed and 850 hp allow this car to lay claim to the title of “world’s fastest and most powerful fourseat Cabriolet. We are forced to wonder how many owners will find three people willing to ride along to that speed, with or without the top down. For the first time in its 40-year history, Brabus presented the car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the behest of its lubricant technology partner, Motul. Brabus unveiled the 850 6.0 Biturbo Cabriolet in the paddock on the day before the race, before later taking part in the official drivers’ parade. It was a fitting public debut for a car whose power and torque shaded all but the LMP1 race cars on the starting grid that weekend. When I visited Brabus in May 2017, some months into its 40th anniversary year, the 850 6.0 Biturbo Cabriolet still stood out as the most spectacular car amidst a flurry of new models such as the latest E-Class sedan, estate, and coupe. It was therefore a no-brainer that it would

be the car to focus on for the Brabus 40th anniversary. Brabus has had a predilection for black or dark blue cars from day one. I remember my first visit to Bottrop back in 1984 when we went out in Bodo’s 500SEL and a 190E, both dark blue, of course, on a dark and dank early winter’s day. Even with a tripod and a graduated tobacco filter to put some color into the miserable gray skies, the images were not exactly award winning. Ever since, shiny black Brabus cars have been the bane of photographers’ lives on motor show stands where the hotspots and shadows produced by harsh overhead lighting do no one any favors. Today, however, we are on location at the Dinslaken, Schwarze Heide Airport, home base of the Extra Aircraft Company, and the weather could not be any better for al fresco driving. Here, the shiny metallic black convertible with its lipstick red and black interior looks like a million bucks standing on the tarmac next to an Extra 330LX. A two-seat tandem aerobatic aircraft, whose 200- and 300-range siblings have a long history of success in international aerobatic championships like the Red Bull Air Races, the 330LX is a racehorse of the air. Bred to be lithe, it features a steel fuselage with a titanium firewall, carbon-fiber composite tail structure, and carbon-fiber wings.

Powered by an air-cooled Lycoming AE10-580-B1A ﬂat-six engine, the 330LX has 315 hp. In single-pilot aerobatic conﬁguration, its MTOW (maximum takeoff weight) with pilot and full tank is just 820 kg (1,808 pounds), giving it a power/ weight ratio of 2.6 kg/hp (5.7 lb/hp). The 330LX can pull an eyeball-popping +10 to -10 g in turns and has a dizzying roll rate of 400 degrees per second, while its never exceed speed (Vne) is 220 knots, which translates to 253 mph or 407 km/h. On the face of it, the Brabus 850 6.0 Biturbo Cabriolet is encumbered by its hefty 2,200kg (4,850-pound) kerb weight and will be lucky to approach 1.0 g in lateral acceleration during steady state cornering. However, with 850 hp on tap, the resulting 2.59-kg/hp (5.7-lb/hp) power-to-weight ratio equals that of the Extra, and represents a huge gain over the 3.61 kg/hp (8.3 lb/hp) of the plain, vanilla 585hp S63 AMG Cabriolet.

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

"Powered by an air-cooled Lycoming AE10-580-B1A ﬂat-six engine, the 330LX has 315 hp." This impressive thrust-to-weight ratio is effectively expressed through the standard ﬁt 4Matic drivetrain, which plays a big role in this open-top behemoth’s ability to blast to 62 mph in a gravity-defying, but probably conservative, 3.5 seconds and to 125 mph in just 9.4 seconds. Top speed is electronically capped at 217 mph due to tire limitations, but these are already major league supercar numbers in anyone’s book. That said, the Extra has a Vr (rotational or take-off ) speed of just over 60 mph, after which it can claw itself skyward at up to 3,200 ft/min. Presented with these statistics, Walter Extra, the founder and owner of Extra Aircraft and a dyed-in-the-wool g-force

junkie, told us that when he sells his company and retires, his Ferrari 458 could well give way to a “sensible” car like the Brabus 850 6.0 Biturbo Cabriolet! So how does Brabus extract well over three quarters the output of the legendary Bugatti Veyron’s 8.0L, quad-turbo, W16 powerhouse from a mere 6.0L bi-turbo V-8? The answer is—not easily. Out of the box, the M157 bi-turbo V-8 has a displacement of 5,461 cc from an oversquare bore x stroke of 98.0 x 90.5mm, for 585 hp at 5,500 rpm, and 664 lb-ft (900 Nm) of torque from 2,250 to 3,750 rpm on a 10.0:1 compression ratio. Output is transferred to all four wheels via AMG’s Speedshift MCT seven-speed wet-clutch automatic.

TECH SPEC

BRABUS MERCEDES-AMG 850 6.0 BITURBO CABRIOLET BASE PRICE $177,395 (MSRP MB S63, stock) PRICE AS TESTED Have your people call theirs LAYOUT front-engine, AWD, four-seat, two-door convertible ENGINE 5.9L, 850hp/1,069-lb-ft, twin-turbo DOHC 32-valve V-8 TRANSMISSION seven-speed single clutch auto CURB WEIGHT 4,850 lb. (mfr.) WHEELBASE 115.9 in. LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT 198.6 x 83.0 x 55.8 in. SUSPENSION multi-link (f/r) BRAKES six-piston calipers, 15.4-in. rotors (f); singlepiston calipers, 14.2-in. rotors (r) WHEELS & TIRES Brabus Monobloc F 21x9.5 (f), 21x10.5 (r); Continental SportContact 5 255/35 (f), 295/30 (r) 0-60 MPH 3.5 sec. (mfr.)

The 5.9L Brabus 6.0 conversion is a major re-engineering job that involves changing or modifying just about every major engine component. The foundation of this work is optimizing clearances in the engine block for the long-throw, billet steel crankshaft, which is mated to matched and balanced lightweight forged pistons and balanced steel connecting rods. This results in 5,912 cc from a bore x stroke of 99.0 x 96.0mm, with a 10.1:1 compression ratio.

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

Intake airflow, combustion capacity, and exhaust gas extraction are priorities for any powerful engine, so the air intake system was completely redesigned and now features big free-flow air cleaners in new housings that seal to the underside of the hood when closed. The new intakes draw air through a ducting fitted to the underside of the hood, which uses highpressure air from the front of the car. As with all very high output turbocharged Brabus motors, this engine features gold heat reflective sheathing for the intake and charge-air pipes. The factory turbochargers are replaced by larger Brabus commissioned units with larger turbine wheels, fitted to modified exhaust manifolds. The cylinder heads are ported, polished, and gas flowed on state-of-the-art computerized machines to maximize combustion efficiency. On the exhaust side of each head, the expelled gases move away even faster thanks to lower back pressure from the 75mm-diameter downpipes, 200-cell metal catalysts and stainless steel sport exhaust. The exhaust features driver-controlled butterfly valves that tone down the acoustic signature below even the stock exhaust in its “Coming Home Late” mode but open up to deliver the full power and glory of a NASCAR V-8 soundtrack on the open road.

Stop and Stare!

The BRABUS reﬁnement program for the new Mercedes-Benz GLE 63/ S. Carbon Aerodynamic Enhancements • BRABUS 850 with 625 kW/850 hp; 1.069 lb-ft* Light Alloy Wheels 18“-23“• BRABUS SoundXtra • Valve-Controlled Sports Exhausts • Suspension Modules Leather Interiors • Start-Stop Memory • Entrance Panels • Interior Accessories and more ...

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BRABUS USA +++ GTC - German Tuning Corporation • 1711 McGaw Ave, Irvine, CA 92614 Phone 949.229 1770 • info@brabus-usa.com • www.brabus-usa.com BRABUS Miami +++ F355 Automobile Technic LLC • 16560 NW 10th Ave, Miami, FL 33169 Phone 305 563-5555 • info@f355miami.com • www.f355miami.com BRABUS Germany +++ BRABUS GmbH • Brabus-Allee • 46240 Bottrop • Germany Phone: +49 2041 777-0 • info@brabus.com BRABUS China +++ BRABUS Flagship Store Beijing • Goldenport Motor Park, China Phone: +86 10 84 34 00 00 • info@brabus-beijing.com BRABUS Dubai +++ BRABUS Middle East LLC • Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE Phone +971 4 339 28 20 • info@brabus.ae • www.brabus.ae HIGH PERFORMANCE AUTOMOBILES Official technology-partners

BRABUS London +++ Excalibur Park Lane Ltd. • Avenfield House, 118-127 Park Lane • London, UK Phone +44 207 629 7020 • contact@bobforstner.co.uk • www.bobforstner.co.uk Member of

With the appropriate ECU mapping to optimize fueling, spark, and boost pressure applied to this enlarged displacement motor, output is 850 hp at 5,400 rpm, underpinned by a simply astounding 1,069 lb-ft (1,450Nm) of torque between 2,500 and 4,500, which even surpasses the 922 lb-ft (1,254 Nm) produced by the mighty Veyron engine. As this is shared between four wheels, the normal electronic limit of 811 lb-ft (1,100 Nm) imposed on rearwheel-drive Brabus models can be set signiﬁcantly higher. Uprating the AWD chassis to handle

this power is down to the Brabus electronic lowering module that drops the ride height by 15 mm. The wheel arches are ﬁlled out by 21x9.5- and 10.5-inch Brabus Monoblock “Platinum Edition” forged alloys, shod with 255/35-21 and 295/30-21 Continental tires, behind which sit the massive factory ceramic brakes. For fans of Brabus special interiors, the eye-catching red and black trim of this show car is not easily forgotten, but is just one of hundreds of possible tailored trim combinations a customer can select. Far more subtle are the bare carbon-ﬁber

front spoiler, air intake guides, door mirror covers, rear diffuser, air outlet guides, and trunk lip spoiler that are visually masked by the shiny black paintwork until you come quite close. On fast country roads under a blue cloudless sky, the 850hp Cabriolet is in its element. With its exhaust valves closed, it wafts along on light throttle, playing the cossetting flagship Mercedes S-Class Cabriolet that is at its core. However, on full throttle in Sport mode with the exhaust valves wide open, all hell breaks loose and the big convertible shoots off the line, its mountain of twist pinning you back in your seat as more than 2 tons of metal, glass, leather, and carbon fiber hurtle toward the horizon. The speedometer needle races around the dial, the road narrows, and the countryside fades into a blur. At the same time, a very big bent-crank V-8 noise seems to pressurize the air in a bubble around you, and the sensory overload becomes overwhelming as wind noise joins the party. For me, however, the al fresco driving experience is best savored at more normal speeds when the Brabus 850 6.0 Cabriolet is playing cultured steer with attitude. With the promise of fire and brimstone under your right foot there for the asking when you need an adrenalin spike, this is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde roller coaster ride of the highest caliber.

SOURCES

Brabus USA germantuningcorporation.com Continental Tire continentaltire.com 60

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

the journey

Words and Photos James Tate I somehow squeezed two road bikes and luggage for two in BMW’s 540i xDrive for a

700-ish-mile round trip from Washington, D.C., to Ithaca, New York. Any excuse to get out of the capitol city this time of year is a good one—the swampy weather will make you wonder why you relocated to the East Coast to begin with. Ithaca, meanwhile, is as pretty as… well… Northern California is year round. Lots of sunny days and a crisp breeze that makes for ideal biking weather. Theoretically, I’ve got the ideal car for the haul—the 540i has all of the M Sport’s best equipment for driving enjoyment, and when I’ve hit the wall on the bike, it’s also loaded with all of BMW’s latest in driver aids and semiautonomous systems. It should

all but drive itself up to New York, and the long drive will give the systems a chance to shine—or not. We’re living in a time when innovation is on an exponential curve, and we’re in the process of sorting which innovations are useful and which are bogus. And we’re pretty obviously innovating faster than we are sorting. But as long as computerization has taken over for road feel, we may as well be. Like a few manufacturers, BMW has been dabbling in gesture control. There’s the ability to sweep your foot under the rear bumper to open and close the trunk, sure, but in the cockpit there’s more. Here, gesture control can be used within a virtual 1.5-foot-or-so cube of airspace to control the volume, mute the stereo, answer/hang up the phone, change camera angles, and a few other things. You point and twirl your finger in the air to raise or lower the volume, and you zap at the unit with two fingers to quickly mute and unmute. Note: If you should find yourself twirling alone in the car at a traffic light, you will be looked upon strangely. It’s worth noting that about 2 inches farther up from the virtual box is the volume knob, which can be used to do the same things—as can the volume buttons on the physical right (logical wrong) side of the steering wheel, also upon which your hand would theoretically have already been resting. So think of the new gesture control as a novelty item that you can use to show your passengers that you’re just that little bit better

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

than they are—like backlit doorsills, which should really just light the price of the car (instead of “BMW,” maybe just say “$82,360,”), but that’s really getting outside our scope. And, besides, this car doesn’t have them. There are LEDs backlighting the interior of each forward tweeter and midrange Bowers and Wilkins speaker, but while my instinct is to laugh at this, too, they somehow work. The machined aluminum overlays are beautiful, and the lighting is an appropriate way to highlight the fact in the dark.

There’s no good way to get out of D.C. if you’re going north. No matter what, you’re on surface streets for a solid half hour, trying to predict the spontaneous moves of legendarily bad Maryland drivers as you wait for the highway to appear. I meet the interstate just in time for rush hour traffic. Through the duration of the trip, there’s at least a laugh and at most a frustration with many of the state-of-theart systems, but one shines bright enough that I’m getting excited typing about it now: the “Stop & Go” and “Traffic Jam Assistant” functions of the adaptive cruise control. This usage of the existing onboard radar and camera systems is nothing short of glorious—a triumphant achievement in the usefulness of car technology, truly. Normally I’d find my blood pressure reaching vein breakage zone in this sort of traffic—here, I push a button, ignore it, and focus on the conversation. The brief interstate stint dissolves effortlessly, and from here the route is mostly highway, but small highway— spotted with antique stores, fireworks outlets, Corvette convertible drivers, and adult novelty emporiums. Every 50 miles or so, the speed is relegated to 30 miles an hour through XYZ main street. Each new boulevard could be the last one, dotted with historic houses featuring five or six small American flags instead of the one giant one, and white painted front porches festooned with pristine rocking chairs. The route even takes me right through Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A park ranger will give you a truly excellent guided tour— for free, but this time I’ve got about an hour to remember one of the most significant events in American history before continuing up the Appalachians. Leave each town and the entertainment options quickly become sparse—for lease billboards with faded paint barely covering an ad and a phone number from the ’90s and the occasional promise of a “real” lumberjack breakfast just ahead. But the roads are 64

good enough to make you wonder why you ever take the interstate. Not just for the Americana you take in, but for the roads themselves— Pennsylvania’s Route 15 could easily be an autobahn in your favorite European country as it snakes through the

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

Appalachian Mountains into New York. The road meanders steadily upward in wide arcs; you’re pushing ﬁve or ten degrees into the steering wheel more often than you’re holding it straight. The Bimmer is an utterly willing companion, even without the

perfectly weighted steering of past 540i that came before it in the 1990s. Holding a steady speed between the occasional clumps of traffic is effortless, and when slowdowns do appear, the cruise control reacts accordingly, matching the speed of the car in front.

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control to allow for a bigger gap, the problem is minimized. My blood pressure soars, though, as every self-involved jackhole (and I’m the one in the $80,000 Bimmer) behind quickly takes the opportunity to jump in front of me. I suspect this system works a lot better in Germany…

the journey

SERENTIY NOW!

Except, like most cars I’ve driven with similar systems, the adaptive cruise control won’t “close the gaps,” as I keep saying to my co-pilot; even on its tightest setting, the car leaves just enough room for things to get dangerous. It goes something like this: long, two-lane highway, very common in the East Coast. Left lane gets congested due to lack of lane discipline up ahead. It can stay that way

for some time until everyone is able to dart around the daydreamer, using the right lane. Until you can, though, you want to hold your position in the left lane, as there are always opportunists from farther down the line who will try and zoom up the right lane and cut left at the last minute, often dangerously, always infuriatingly. Here, the adaptive cruise control leaves just enough space for that driver

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

to do so, causing the BMW to jam on the brakes when they do. As an alert driver, I know what that person’s plan is and can close the gap or back off the gas in advance, allowing them space to get in without potentially causing a pileup. In any case, my copilot is quick to point out that what I’m calling “closing the gap” is in fact a racing term. On the road, it’s just called “tailgating.” Adjusting the cruise

The shining panorama is vast; giant arched concrete bridges span gaps in the range and the road laces steadily up as far as the eye can see, trucks are visible as one-pixel reflectors tractoring up the long grade far ahead. In the 540, you’re hard pressed to remember you’re on a grade at all. It’s pretty clear why BMW likes to use this engine so extensively in its portfolio—there’s never, ever, the wish for more torque. Acceleration is effortless across the rev range no matter the incline, with peak torque of 332 ft-lb available at 1,380 rpm. This thing will get to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, and for all of my complaining, there’s just no denying the effortlessness of it all on a trip like this. As the afternoon reaches its late peak, the sun beats down. When automatic temperature control first came out, it simplified things. You set the desired temperature and the car, more-or-less, maintained it—no more hassling with the dials yourself. But now you can set the intensity with which your automatic climate control maintains your desired temperature. You can change the temperature and the flow of what air goes where, and in addition to having dual zones, there’s a “no, but seriously, though” setting deep in the menu that changes the relative temperature to be sure you’re getting that cold air when your passenger doesn’t want it—and vice versa. Do you think you want mostly body air? Maybe a little more on the feet, typically? Try as I might, I just can’t seem to get all of the settings to equate to a comfortable temperature for the drive. You’ll kill me for saying it, but I think I want the three simple dials from the $6,000 used Honda Fit I used for the trip last year.

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the journey

Same thing with the wipers—they’re automatic, of course, but you’ll just need to ﬁnd the right speed of automatic you want. Isn’t that what I was doing before automatic wipers? And even if it’s technically different, isn’t it exactly the same amount of effort? And you know what worked a lot better than a super-smart car that loves to second-guess my every throttle input? Yes, a cable attaching my foot to the throttle body. But I digress, because as I complain, I cruise in a giant 2-ton luxury sedan with all-wheel drive and 335 hp—and I’m getting 27 mpg. The march of progress is undeniable, even if a few eggs have to be broken in the process. And besides, none

of these Luddite gripes are BMW-speciﬁc. For the most part, the Active Lane Keeping Assistant is great to use—the occasional touch of the steering wheel ensures an almost autonomous cruise down the highway. The occasional exit or unexpected lane seems to throw it off, though, causing disconcerting heading changes toward offramps and—sometimes— into gaps in medians. It’s a double-edged sword whose beneﬁt is greater than its cost for most drivers. It’ll stop you from doing idiotic things—if you’re yelling at the kids in the back seat, it will keep you in lane and tell you when you’re straying. But it’s best to pay attention because 15 percent

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

of the time, it likes to half-take exits, even when it can “see” both sides of the road. Ithaca and the surrounding areas are incredibly picturesque—if you’ve been, you’re thinking “duh” as you read. Thick swaths of greenery ﬁll either side of the road and a water crossing of some sort happens often, by an intimate old covered bridge or by trussed and cabled modernity. Even in June, the water below hurries to smooth the bed, crashing around the myriad rock outcroppings that still hold ground against the season’s spillage. When it’s time to park and dip a foot in, I have to concede to the cool factor of a couple more systems. You know that cars can park themselves, but were you aware that cars with electronic gear selectors (that is, when you move the stick, there’s not a physical connection to the transmission) can do the shifting from drive to reverse, too? Here, you just push the park button, wait for the car to ﬁnd a spot, stop the car, and hold the button. In seconds, you’re parked. Though this may seem like a very small step from the previous industry

standard that included manual shifting, in practice, it’s a big leap forward—not necessarily for convenience, but it helps the whole system make sense. This car even comes with a remote control that you can use to start ’er up and pull forward or backward into spaces. Perhaps this is another one that’s more useful to the driver in Europe’s tight metropolitan conﬁnes, but it may make a heck of a lot of sense for valets operating out of tight parking garages in Manhattan. Either way, it sure is a great way to show your friends you’re better than them. Maybe you consider some of these features to be gimmicky, but there’s no denying the usefulness of others. When equipped with the $1,800 Driving Assistance Package, the $1,400 Driver Assistance Plus, $750 Remote Control Parking, $190 Gesture Control, and the $1,700 Driver Assistance Plus II, The 2017 BMW 540i xDrive makes a compelling case for technological dominance, and all-wheel drive just means you can automate through the winter season, too. But I think I’d spend the money on another road bike.

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tech

PROJECT E36 M3—PART 4 BETTER BRAKING AND HANDLING FOR TRACK AND STREET AT THE TIME OF WRITING, I have owned my e36 M3 for a little more than a year. Seems like a long time in some ways, but a single year is not much time in the grand scheme of a project car. So far, I’ve addressed a couple of things like tires for daily duty, routine maintenance items under the hood, a couple of nice power-adders from Dinan and I’ve tracked the car twice and driven about 9,000 miles. Doesn't sound like a lot of changes for a year’s worth of work, right? Strange as it may sound, I’m happy I got a long time to drive the car in largely stock condition. I have a pretty good grasp on how it acts by now, what the shortcomings are, and after collecting all the parts I need, it’s time for a major update. There are two main areas where my e36 M3 falls short in stock trim. First is the braking system. Around town, the stock (and admittedly worse for wear) brakes are “ﬁne.” But on track, they’re really not ﬁne, and I don’t want to push my luck any more than I already have. I’ve decided to shy away from big brake kits, at least for the time being. The stock brake size is not the issue; it’s simply a matter of needing new, well, everything basically. The second area

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

in need of major attention as you probably guessed is the suspension; worn-out shocks, trailing arm bushings, and other related rubber items underneath the car all need to go ASAP, and while I’m at it, I’ll hopefully address an inherent understeer. It’s amazing the car handles as well as it does considering most of the suspension is original equipment from 1999 and how worn some of these parts are. Braking is the ﬁrst real major overhaul

Words Nate Hassler Photos Nate Hassler and Doug Oakes

this car has seen. To get things started, I sourced a set of used factory brake calipers and brought them to Chris Aguilar of Velocity Powder Coating in Riverside, California, for a complete refinishing. The powdercoating process was a bit mysterious to me going in, and I’m glad I got to see the procedure from start to finish. The process to prepare and powdercoat my brakes took only a few hours. The first step of the process is to clean and strip down the parts to the bare metal. Chris does this by using an acid bath, followed by a quick bake to get out any remaining deep-set contaminants, and then the preparation process is finished off with mediablasting. I went with a nice gold color to give some contrast against the Hellrot paint and silver wheels. The powder is applied using an air gun similar to painting, then the parts are

baked for 10 to 12 minutes at a temperature of more than 400 degrees. After the brakes have cooled, we added a bit of flair. I wanted to make the small ///M logos in the castings black to stand out. Chris was able to pull this off by applying a small amount of black powder by hand in just the areas we wanted to coat. Back in the oven for a second bake to cure the black logos, followed by a final clearcoating layer for extra shine and protection. The third and final bake for the clearcoating is the last step, and we were done. Not too bad! Chris says the real key is to make sure your parts are clean and fully stripped of the original finish in order to get a long-lasting result. Now that I had the calipers ready, it was time for the real party. I reached out to local M car guru Marc Norris, owner of Bavarian Workshop in North Hills, California. Marc has been wrenching on German cars for decades, and since he’s an authorized Dinan dealer, I knew I was in excellent hands. Marc and his team were able to squeeze me into their busy schedule; when I showed up and got all my parts unloaded, he looked excited to dive in. The Bavarian Workshop

team made quick work of my massive suspension and brake overhaul. The parts list here is pretty long, so I’ll go through it in sections and touch on what the beneﬁts are for each part, starting with the brakes. Rebuilding your brake calipers is always a good idea when dealing with an older car because it’s a relatively easy process and the parts are affordable. In addition to the freshly powdercoated calipers and carriers, we replaced the O-rings, pistons, bleeder screws, pad clips, bolts, and guides that hold it all together. I ordered the lion’s share of the OEM (or OEM-equivalent) parts from BimmerWorld, a company founded by race driver and BMW authority James Clay. I also opted to go with its stainless steel braided brake lines—BimmerWorld assembles these lines, including an insulating wrap on the rear lines that helps further protect the lines and I presume keep the temperature reasonable on the driver side near the exhaust. The biggest beneﬁt of stainless brake lines over factory lines is increased protection from road debris and, for our purposes, track debris.

Brake calipers and carriers, used, dirty, not good.

After the acid bath, a bake and mediablasting.

The ﬁnal results, looking great!

About to get the party started… 71

tech

New toys, LOTS of new toys.

Performance Friction (PFC) Direct Drive V3 two-piece front brake rotors. Extreme quality, purpose-built design, the perfect rotor for stock-sized calipers.

Fresh front lower control arms and Powerﬂex street compound rear bushings, a welcome replacement to the 18-plus-year-old original equipment. 72

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

Front rotors come courtesy of Performance Friction (PFC); the company’s new two-piece Direct Drive V3 rotor is the nicest and most well engineered stock size front rotor option on the market. The V3 rotor is a two-piece design, so it’s serviceable, and the V3 ring-based attachment method is lighter (and faster to replace when needed) than the previous methods employed by PFC. High-carbon alloy construction makes these rotors particularly strong and light. I have paired the Direct Drive V3 rotors with PFC’s 08 Compound brake pads, a good all-around track day or endurance racing pad. With smooth initial bite and a long lifespan, these pads should be good on the street as well. Noise levels are the only thing I’m slightly unsure of; there is a chance I will end up keeping these as a track day pad and running another PFC compound for everyday around-town use. To finish off the braking upgrades, we have gone with PFC’s RH665 brake fluid, a racing fluid with the highest possible dry boiling point of any DOT4 fluid. This will be great for track days and will act just like normal fluid on the streets. One final touch was a BimmerWorld wheel stud conversion kit, because wheel bolts are inconvenient. Trying to line up holes, hold the wheel, grab the wrench—that's the kind of thing that makes track days feel like work. Suspension-wise, I knew there were only a couple of real choices for me, considering what I was looking for in a street/track coilover. KW Suspensions is my brand of choice, having had a set of V3s previously; I opted for the Clubsport this time around. The Clubsport coilover includes two-way adjustable dampers, track-focused spring rates with adjustable spring perches, and adjustable front upper mounts, allowing for easy and precise changes to camber settings. The fit and overall build quality I’ve come to expect from KW are top notch; fitting and adjusting these dampers is really

a painless process. It does take some time to get any new damper set up to suit your preferences, but once I have figured out my settings for this car, I doubt I’ll be tinkering with them frequently. Instead of reusing the stock rear shock upper mount (a known weak point of the e36), I upgraded to a set of sturdier Powerflex rear upper mounts. The Clubsport coilovers include a pair of strut-mounted sway bar endlinks, but we opted to go with a set of BimmerWorld adjustable endlinks to give some extra thickness and adjustability to bar angle. We paired the coilovers with a set of ST Suspensions’ adjustable front and rear sway bars. ST Suspensions is a division of KW, so the quality and fit of these bars are excellent. The front bar has a 1 3/16-inch (~30 mm) diameter and features three settings to adjust stiffness, and the rear bar measures 15/16-inch (~24 mm) and has two stiffness settings. I’m a little unsure how the e36 will react to bar stiffness with the increased diameters, so I went with the softest setting on both the front and rear to start with. Changing the bar stiffness is fairly easy—you just need to move the endlinks between the holes to stiffen or soften. The car needed new bushings almost across the board, and since I will be tracking pretty regularly, I wanted to upgrade to something a bit more aggressive than stock. I did as much research as I could on my own and came to the conclusion that you can’t guess what a car will feel like based on reading forums. Not surprising that 10 people have 10 different opinions on what’s best. Weird, right? This is where James Clay and his team at BimmerWorld stepped in again and helped make my decision easier. James has had a very long career racing and building BMWs, so when he recommended a combination of the Powerflex street compound (purple) and racing compound (black) for various parts of the underside, I simply took his advice. In total, we replaced all the bushings on the front control arms (as well as the arms themselves—the ball joints are not serviceable so the whole arm annoyingly must be replaced), subframe (front and rear) differential, rear control arms (upper and lower, and we replaced the lower arms with adjustable Powerflex units), rear trailing arms, and we also replaced the tie rod ends with factory units and took the opportunity to weld in two chassis reinforcement kits from BimmerWorld. The rear trailing arm bushing pocket reinforcement kit is intended to strengthen the area around the mounting points for the arms by adding an extra layer of steel. The second area we chose to reinforce on James’ recommendation is the rear sway bar mounting points. This is a known weak point for an e36 with upgraded sway bar; any car seeing significant track time should have this area reinforced. Better safe than sorry. The subframe of the e36 M3 is reinforced from

the factory on all cars from ’96-’99, so we left that alone. On the rack at Bavarian Workshop, Marc and his guys began to disassemble the underside of my car and I took the chance to pick his brain and attempt to soak up as much knowledge as possible. Marc has built a lot of impressive BMWs over the years, including a widely recognizable S14-powered 2002 recently featured on Jay Leno’s Garage. Marc is quick to point out that he is not a “2002 guy” per se, but there’s no such thing as bad press, now is there Marc? Not that there’s anything wrong with being a 2002 guy anyhow. Marc currently owns a number of cool M cars, including an E30 M3 he is restoring, a Fire Orange E92 M3, and the recently completed and widely drooled over fully OEM-spec E46 M3 Touring. When I say OEM-spec, I mean it. Motor, transmission, interior, bodywork—including fender flares, suspension, exhaust, wiring, emissions equipment… Everything. I began to drift into a pipe dream of a California BAR–certified S54 swap in my own car, but first things first: suspension and brakes. There weren’t too many surprises as the car began to come apart. There’s a bit of “character” in the trunk area from a minor rear end accident, which I have known about all along, but Marc gave me some advice on how to align my bumpers a bit better when the time comes for the paint and body portion of the build. As if that will be anytime soon… Other than that, everything was there, worn as we expected, and installing the new parts went smoothly and quickly. The pieces that were the worst for wear were the front control arms and ball joints, tie rod ends, sway bar endlinks, rear trailing arm bushings, and rear upper control arm outer bearings. It looked like everything underneath the car was original aside from brake pads and rotors; so needless to say, I was in for a big upgrade.

As we neared the end of the install, Marc did a quick eyeball alignment so I could drive home. I was super happy, the car looked great, and I couldn’t wait to drive and feel the difference. I bedded the brakes on the way home but had to take it pretty easy since the car desperately needed a proper alignment. The next day, I headed out to see Darin and Chris Nishimura at West End Alignment to get everything dialed in. I, of course, went with a full corner balancing and alignment because of how many parts had been replaced. The beneﬁts of corner balancing with the driver in the car cannot possibly be understated. Chris got me to a perfect left-to-right and front-to-rear balance within the course of just a few hours. Chris and his dad, Darin, are the go-to guys in the L.A. area for race car alignments and corner balancing, and I asked them to set me up for aggressive street driving and occasional track use because I don’t want to just kill tires around town. The ﬁnal settings are 0 toe and about -2.5 degrees camber in front and -2.0 in the back. I may revisit these guys after a few months, but I felt (and Chris agreed) that it would be wise to start here, test, and then make changes later. Now that I had alignment handled, I was practically losing my mind, itching to drive the car hard. Thankfully, and as luck would have it, KW Suspensions was hosting a track day shakedown at Willow Springs two days later. What are the odds? Talk about the perfect chance to properly feel the car out. First impressions are important, and I’m happy to report that everything felt pretty good. In fact, scratch that. Everything felt really good. Yes, the KW Clubsport suspension is stiffer than stock. Yes, there are moderately increased levels of NVH from the bushings. Yes, the brakes squeal a little bit. But, hot damn, the car feels like a new beast! It’s stable, sturdy, and no longer wayward at speed like it would occasionally feel before.

Powerﬂex rear subframe bushings, front and back—should be a massive improvement over stock.

Yeah, we were a bit overdue on this servicing.

Old, worn-out stock equipment versus new hotness from KW Suspensions.

PFC Direct Drive V3 front rotors in place…

Assembling the freshly powdercoated brake calipers is a fairly quick and straightforward process.

Front brakes fully assembled (minus wheel studs). 73

tech

Final assembly of the brakes and suspension. Powerﬂex control arm bushings in place

KW adjustable upper mounts, installed with the Dinan strut tower brace in place.

Close up of the rear spring perch; no clearance issues back here. These are also very easy to adjust.

Tragically, I had to strap my old, tired, stock wheels on top of these beautiful new brakes. We’ll approach that subject very soon.

Chris Nishimura taking initial measurements before getting started. Chris and his father Darin do things the old fashioned way, and it works wonderfully. These guys are busy, so don’t expect them to squeeze you in last minute. Marc doing a quick eyeball alignment so I could drive home.

Nailed it. Cross weighting.

The brakes are a night and day difference. Entering Turn 3 at Streets of Willow, a downhill braking zone, I was a bit timid on my first few laps, but by the end of the day I was going deep and with absolutely no fade. I cannot explain how much better the car feels now. Of course there are still some areas that need attention, but the good news is there are just a few things to focus on now, whereas before it was basically, you know, everything. The biggest downfall of the car now is the wheel and tire setup. While the Yokohama S.Drive tires are perfectly fine for aroundtown driving, they are not designed for track use and therefore they gotta go. I will also be looking into a lighter wheel and going with a square sizing setup, meaning no more wider in the rear than the front. These new wheels and tires will help alleviate the understeer that has decreased but is still present. I also need to spend some time tuning the damper settings and the sway bars, and I may consider slightly more aggressive camber settings. The right setup is in there—it just needs to be massaged out. That’s half the fun of it, isn’t it? Next up, I’m hoping to address wheels and tires, setup adjustment, and another trip to the track. I went 1:34.xx at Streets of Willow without fine-tuning the setup, and my last time at Buttonwillow was an unimpressive 2:13.xx before the major update. Let’s see what I can pull off with a more properly sorted car!

SOURCES Final corner balanced and aligned setup. Looks great to me, even on stock wheels.

On-track action from the KW Suspensions Shakedown day at Streets of Willow. Massive improvement over stock! There are still some shortcomings, but that’s all right. It gives me something to work on still. 74

EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

Bavarian Workshop bavarianworkshop.com BimmerWorld bimmerworld.com KW Suspensions kwsuspensions.com Performance Friction Brakes pfcbrakes.com Powerflex USA powerflexusa.com ST Suspensions stsuspensions.com Velocity Powder Coating velocitypcco.com

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WIDEBODY LEVANTE German refinement specialist NOVITEC introduces the all-new widebody Maserati Levante. In addition to the unique bodywork with its sporty yet elegant styling and the leather and Alcantara interior appointments, the NOVITEC Maserati features 22-inch wheels with dimensionally offset Y-spokes and an available 494 hp courtesy of NOVITEC’s N-TRONIC tuning module that modifies the original computer’s fuel and ignition maps as well as its boost pressure. Here, the top-of-the-range variant is an upgrade for the twin-turbo six-cylinder engine that’ll do 0 to 100 kmh in just 4.8 seconds and with a top speed of 272 kmh, making it one of the fastest SUVs available. Outside, the arched fender flares add 10 cm to the Levante’s width at the front and 12 cm at its rear. The eight-piece aero kit also includes rocker panels as well as extension components that mold its flares to the original front and rear bumpers, which are designed to integrate the included front spoiler and spoiler blade and its rear

diffuser. All of this, along with the carbon-ﬁber hoodscoop, has been wind-tunnel-tested for optimum efﬁciency and increased downforce at higher speeds. Ride height is also adjustable by way of the included NOVITEC control module that’s compatible with Maserati’s original air suspension and is good for a 25mm reduction. Retail: Varies novitec.com

A SMARTER JUMPSTART Mychanic’s Smart Booster Cables take the guesswork out of jump-starting and make the whole process safer at the same time. The specialty tool company’s Smart Booster Cables feature an LED voltage meter that indicates battery voltage in real time and a reverse-polarity indicator that alerts users if they’ve made an incorrect connection. Now, make sure that battery’s the problem before making that jump, and with the reverse polarity indicator, you’ll be alerted by a beep and a ﬂash instead of arcing or sparking should you connect the cables backward. Mychanic’s Smart Booster Cables are made up of 12-foot-long, medium-duty, six-gauge cables that are tangle-resistant for easy use and storage. Retail: $24.99

PISTON RING HELPER You’ve decided to rebuild that bottom end of yours—now make sure you do it right. Gapping those piston rings properly is essential to whether or not that engine of yours will achieve its power potential and minimize oil consumption. And now all of that’s easier with ARP’s precision Piston Ring Squaring Tools. Here, each ring can be positioned absolutely perpendicular to its bores thanks to the specialized tool that registers against the block’s deck. It’s a process far more accurate than using a piston or other device that can rock within the bore and place those rings at unwanted angles. ARP’s Piston Ring Squaring Tools are precision CNC-machined from 6061-T6 billet aluminum and black-anodized for long-lasting protection. They come in six sizes, with ranges covering bores from 80 mm to 122 mm. Each size is prominently engraved on each tool for ease of selection. In addition to in-block gapping, ARP’s squaring tools can be used in conjunction with the company’s bore-speciﬁc Tapered Ring Compressors to make piston-ring gapping on a bench even easier. ARP offers Tapered Ring Compressors in more than 125 different sizes to accommodate virtually every popular SAE and metric bore. Retail: $75.11

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EUROPEANCARWEB.COM • 10/2017

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SMARTPHONE DATALOGGER AutoMeter’s DashLink lets you harness the accuracy and precision of AutoMeter gauges in an advanced hardware and software package that provides instantaneous feedback all with the help of your smartphone. The plug-n-play, virtual dashboard display system plugs into any OBDII-equipped vehicle and pairs with most Android- or iPhone-based smartphones for easy monitoring and logging of just about everything your car’s OBDII electronics are already aware of. From monitoring vehicle and engine performance to tracking fuel economy levels, reading and clearing vehicle trouble codes, and managing check engine lights, the AutoMeter DashLink puts you in control. Log what your vehicle is doing, determine: 0-60 and quarter-mile times, horsepower, and braking performance, as well as map where your vehicle’s been, how it performed, and how many g’s you experienced with real-time track mapping. Just some of the parameters the DashLink can monitor include: engine speed, vehicle speed, boost pressure, ignition timing, coolant temperature, intake air temperature, mass airﬂow, and dozens of others, depending on the vehicle. The DashLink plugs into your car’s OBDII diagnostic port in seconds and, once the app’s been loaded onto your phone, can be up in running in just a few minutes. Retail: $149.95

WAXING SIMPLIFIED There’s an easier way for you to wax your car, and Jay Leno wants you to know about it. Jay Leno’s Garage Advanced Vehicle Care introduces the latest to its high-quality detailing lineup, an all-new Spray Wax designed to be the quickest way to apply carnauba wax protection to all sorts of painted surfaces. The spray-on system can be applied after every wash to extend the life of your vehicle’s base wax or sealant application. For best results, begin with a cool surface, mist evenly, distribute over surface with a clean microfiber towel one panel at a time, and once the wax has hazed, wipe off and buff with a clean, dry microfiber towel. “Waxing a vehicle on a strict schedule isn’t always an option for many people,” says Chris Walters, JLG AVC product development specialist and director of marketing. “This Spray Wax lets people quickly protect the last application of wax or sealant to extend its life a bit longer.” The Spray Wax is formulated with premium carnauba wax and, like all JLG AVC products, is made and bottled in the USA. The entire Jay Leno’s Garage Advanced Vehicle Care line was specially designed by Jay and his team to clean and protect even the most delicate finishes with professional-grade formulations. Retail: $14.99

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BRABUS-EQUIPPED E-CLASS BRABUS does what it does best and goes on to refine Mercedes’ latest E-Class Wagon with its broad product range of upgrades that enhance everything from the E-Class’ exterior to its interior to its performance. Outside, BRABUS fits the E-Class Wagon with a more aerodynamic appearance that’s made up of a front spoiler and surrounds that accentuate the Wagon’s side air intakes as well as a rear diffuser, all of which have been wind-tunnel-tested to help reduce front-end lift at higher speeds. It’s all complemented with tailor-made BRABUS monoblock alloy wheels that range from 18 to 21 inches in various styles and designs matched with Continental, Pirelli, or Yokohama tires. Handling’s been improved by way of a choice of lowering springs or a specialized control module that enhances the E-Class’ optional air body control system. Underneath the hood, engine performance is improved with one of BRABUS’ plug-and-play PowerXtra tuning systems that are each specifically designed for the E-Class’ available powertrains and can yield as much as 49 additional horsepower, for example, on twin-turbo V-6 models like the E 43 4MATIC. A bettersounding and better-performing exhaust system is also available that’s made from

HOT SHINE FOR TIRES There’s nothing not to like about a spray-on tire dressing that says you don’t have to touch those tires to get that glossy sheen you’re looking for. Which means there’s nothing you won’t like about Meguiar’s new Hot Shine Reflect Foam, a spray-on foam tire dressing that cleans, shines, and reflects with nary a finger getting anywhere near that rubber. Here, its thick foam

stainless steel and features an optional controlled exhaust ﬂap for active sound tuning on select models. At the touch of a button located on the steering wheel, the driver can choose between a decidedly subtle mode or an extra-sporty sound. Final enhancements include interior reﬁnements made up of stainless steel scuff plates, aluminum accessories such as pedals and door pins, and an all-leather BRABUS interior. All BRABUS components come with the one-of-a-kind three-year or 62,000-mile warranty. Retail: Varies germantuningcorporation.com

powers through built-up debris while premium conditioners prevent cracking, browning, and premature aging for all sorts of tires. Hot Shine Reflect Foam gives tires a unique, sparkling shine when light hits the surface yet in the shade provides a deep, wet-look shine. Meguiar’s says this one-of-a-kind shine is the result of combining advanced, reflective technology and highly water-resistant polymers with “anti-ozonant” technology to ensure a glossy and reflective appearance. Meguiar’s Hot Shine Reflect Foam is a foam version of the company’s already popular Hot Shine Reflect Tire Shine, which launched in early 2016 and was the first Meguiar’s product to offer a reflective effect for tires. Retail: $7.49 meguiars.com

Audi: 2006 - 17 A3; 2015 - 17 Q3; 2008 - 13 TT Volkswagen: 2011 - 17 Beetle w/multi link susp. 2009 - 16 CC; 2007 - 13 EOS 2010 - 14 Golf; 2008 Golf R32 2006 - 17 GTI; 2005 - 17 GLI 2005 - 17 Jetta w/multi link susp. 2006 - 10 Passat; 2006 - 09 Rabbit 2009 - 17 Tiguan

Adjust camber in the rear of many popular VW and Audi models 3° with this fully adjustable rear camber arm from SPC. The forged steel arm and double threaded adjuster offer the strength and on-car adjustment needed for the track or simply getting tires back to factory specifications. SPC's arm uses bonded bubber bushings to maintain factory noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) values.

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STREET-FRIENDLY TRACK WHEELS Forgeline Motorsports introduces its all-new GF3 and GF3 Open Lug wheels designed for club racing and autocross competition. Both offer the superior strength of Forgeline’s three-piece construction in a style that’s a twist on the classic five-spoke design. Made specifically to withstand the stresses of competitive driving, GF3 and GF3 Open-Lug wheels use I-beam spoke technology to minimize weight while adding strength and rigidity. GF3 and GF3 Open Lug wheels are also produced using Forgeline’s traditional forging method that utilizes 6061-T6 aluminum with heat-treated rim shells. And just like any Forgeline wheel, both versions of the GF3 offer fully customizable fitments and finishes, including center-lock applications. Both are also available with a stepped lip in 18-, 19-, and 20-inch diameters in a wide variety of widths and offsets. Hidden ARP assembly hardware is also used on the GF3 and GF3 Open Lug for a smooth, clean appearance and easier wheel cleaning. Designed for additional weight reduction and exceptional strength, the Open-Lug version of the GF3 has additional material machined from the center area for improved access to the lugs. Retail: starting at $1,310 per wheel forgeline.com

THE A4 BY CARACTERE Belgian tuning ﬁrm and Audi specialist Caractere Performance introduces its complete exterior styling kit for Audi’s A4 B9 Berline and Avant. Kits consist of a front bumper, rear spoiler with integrated exhaust tips, side skirts, trunk spoiler (Berline only), and lightweight, graphite-ﬁnished CW1 wheels measuring in at 18x8 up front and 19x8.5 in the rear. Retail: Varies caractere.com

MUSIC MEETS 911 GT3 DNA On the racetrack, the sound of Porsche’s 911 GT3 exhaust system is unmistakable. So is the appearance of its tailpipe cover, which is just as distinctive and is now more than just a functional element—it’s a design feature. Porsche Design has taken the imposing rear aspect of the 911 GT3 and used the original tailpipe cover as the basis for its all-new Bluetooth 911 Speaker. The

result: music that’s as impressive as the 911 GT3’s sound is on the track. Porsche Design’s 911 Speaker has a powerful presence, with a base that replicates the original high-gloss black tailpipe cover of the 911 GT3. The iconic shape and the use of high-quality materials like its aluminum housing make the Bluetooth speaker the perfect balance between form and function. The system features 60-watt output and Bluetooth 4.0 and apt-X technology that ensure natural bass and precise tones. The easy-pairing function allows quick connection of the speaker to any mobile device or PC in no time, offering up to 24 hours of wireless CD-quality sound, and the option to sync two 911 Speakers together in stereo mode promises a state-of-the-art sound experience. Retail: $550 porsche-design.us

TOP-SHELF OIL CHANGE Phillips 66 Lubricants introduces Shield Euro-Tech and Shield Euro-Tech+—two new premium-quality, full-synthetic passenger car motor oils blended in America and designed to protect the sophisticated engineering of European vehicles. The new oils are among the only American blended motor oils for gasoline-fueled and diesel-fueled vehicles that meet or exceed the specifications of major European vehicle manufacturers, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Porsche. According to Phillips 66 Lubricants, the EuroTech product line will allow U.S. quick-lube installers to service 90 percent of all European vehicles in and out of warranty. The full synthetic formulations offer maximum protection and provide enhanced performance benefits when compared to conventional engine oils. Benefits like better oxidation resistance and thermal stability at high temperatures for improved protection against viscosity breakdown and deposit formation, lower volatility for reduced oil consumption, and better low-temperature pumpability for easier starting and faster oil circulation at low temperatures. Shield Euro-Tech motor oil is a full-SAPS engine oil, recommended for use in many gasoline engines and approved for leading European OEM specifications as well as BMW LL-01, Mercedes-Benz MB-Approval 229.5, Volkswagen VW 502.00/505.00, and Porsche A40 (5W-40 viscosity). Shield Euro-Tech+ motor oil is a lowSAPS engine oil designed for modern diesel engines and is approved for service fill under leading European OEM specifications for extended drain applications as well as BMW LL-04, Mercedes-Benz MB-Approval 229.51, Volkswagen VW 504.00/507.00, and Porsche C30. Retail: Varies phillips66lubricants.com 81