Onboard With The BMW M2 As It Breaks Its Own Nurburgring Record

It’s been a little over a year since the M2 CS dethroned the Audi RS3 to become the fastest production compact car around the Nürburgring. The Competition Sport-spec M2 lapped the Green Hell in 7 minutes and 25.5 seconds, becoming the first car in its segment to dip below the 7:30 mark. However, BMW felt there was still room for improvement to widen the gap over Audi’s 7:33 lap.

On May 22 this year, BMW returned to the Nordschleife with a couple of twists. Instead of bringing back the M2 CS, it fielded the regular M2 fitted with a new M Performance Track Kit. Despite carrying an extra 35 kilograms (77 pounds) and packing 50 fewer horsepower compared to the CS, the standard M2 managed to improve on last year’s record. It shaved off half a second, crossing the finish line in 7 minutes and 25 seconds.

Just like last year’s record-setting run, Jörg Weidinger drove the M2 to a new lap record among compact cars. It’s worth noting that the coupe equipped with the new M Performance Track Kit is quicker than the M3 CS Sedan (7:28) and the M3 CS Touring (7:29). However, it still trails the M4 CS (7:21). The M4 CSL remains the fastest production BMW around the ’Ring with a lap of 7:18. For clarity, all the lap times mentioned here were set on the full 20.8-kilometer (12.9-mile) configuration of the iconic German circuit.

It’s an impressive feat for the standard M2 to beat its hardcore sibling, but then again, the M Performance Track Kit doesn’t come cheap. It goes on sale this month and costs a steep €23,500 in Germany, where you can buy an entire BMW Group car for only €3,000 more: the Mini Cooper One (€26,450). The new package bundles many track-focused upgrades, including a manually adjustable swan-neck carbon-fiber rear wing borrowed from the M4 GT4 Evo and GT3 Evo race cars.

BMW also includes an adjustable front splitter and a trick coilover suspension with four-way adjustable rebound and compression damping. Ride height can be lowered by up to 20 millimeters, and the kit also adds adjustable support bearings. That’s not all. Wheel arch diffusers and aero flicks are part of the package, along with an additional scoop beneath the front engine oil cooler to help extract heat.

For the Nürburgring run, BMW M paired the M Performance Track Kit with optional ultra-sticky-yet-road-legal Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tires. The M2 CS wore the same semi-slick rubber during last year’s record lap.

The new track-focused components aren’t limited to newly purchased M2s, as the kit is also available as a retrofit for existing rear-wheel-drive cars. While the M Performance Track Kit keeps the M2 road legal, the front splitter and rear wing, both optimized in the wind tunnel, can’t be used in their most aggressive settings on public roads. Those are reserved for track use, where the package generates an additional 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of downforce at 124 mph (200 km/h) across both axles.

6

Source: BMW

Motor1’s Take: The M Performance Track Kit is a reminder that outright power isn’t everything when it comes to making a car faster. BMW cut half a second from the Nürburgring lap time without touching the engine. In fact, it used the lower-output version of its twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six, yet the aerodynamic and suspension upgrades more than compensated for the power deficit compared with the M2 CS.

BMW suggests the M2 could have gone even quicker if not for high temperatures and an oil spill in the T13 section of the Nordschleife. It’s too early to say whether Audi will fight back and try to reclaim the title with the hardcore RS3 Competition. Unless it can beat the M2’s time, we suspect the Ingolstadt-based automaker will stay quiet.