Driving any car around the Nurburgring, especially when the road surface is wet, can be quite tricky. As you can imagine, a 627 hp BMW would be a handful in such conditions.
Bridge to Gantry’s Dale Lomas recently took a friend’s brand new BMW M5 CS for a quick spin around the Ring. The track was not soaking wet but damp enough for the tires to lose traction. Dale had to be gentle with the throttle and follow the ‘wet line’ wherever possible. The Nordschleife gets so slippery, that even in all-wheel-drive mode, Dale had to counter-steer to control the back end.
At the famous Adenauer Forst, Dale switches modes, just to get a taste of the handling with 100% of the power going to the rear axle. Unsurprisingly, the tale comes out, and the car slides just as you’d expect.
The BMW M5 CS has a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 that puts out 627 hp and 553 lb-ft of torque. The engine is mated to an 8-speed automatic, but crucially, power can be delivered to all four wheels if necessary. Also, the CS is over 100 kg lighter than the standard M5.