Herofmine

Hello guys, i need some of your opinions before doing this, i have a friend who has 2008 BMW 550i
We had an argument so he wants to race with me next week and he has announced it all over facebook promising everyone how he is gonna smoke my car. I have no doubts myself just curious what you guys think about this?

Any suggestions before i go to race?

Thanks!

Rikg35

Because racecar!

pret

i hope you are going to take it to a track

MikeyK02

iTrader: (7)

Herofmine

Yes, we are going to track! He is talking about straight line 0-60.
Any suggestions?

rcJten

2011 550i 0-60: 4.9, 1/4 mile 13.3. It's going to be damn close! If you nail the launch you might eek out a win by a couple of feet.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Assuming both are stock this is a very very close race.... nobody blows anybodys doors off unless they fail to launch properly, or if his is a manual and he's bad at using it.

I've seen 0-60 on the BMW between 4.8 and 5.4 and 1/4 mile between 13.3-13.7

Pretty much the same range as the IS350.

Remove as much weight as possible, no more than 1/4 tank of gas, and if you can go before the race, learn to launch properly.

TC/VSC off, ECT-NORMAL (not power), shifter in D, and brake torque as high as your tires allow you to launch from without losing traction.

BrooklynNY

my friend's have a 10' 350, 10' 335 and 11' 550.. if you're only racing to 60, with a good launch you could win..but by no more than one car length, if its >70 you're done, the 550 starts to PULL HARD after 70, its tough to get to 60 cause of all that weight.. but once its going

pret

if both 2008 and both stock, i believe the IS is a 1/2 sec faster, but I could be wrong. In racing my rx-8 with the scca, i would have to say learn how to launch. its about finding the sweet spot, not just gunning it. in my 8, launch about 6k rpms is ideal, but fuel cut off is 9.5K.

Is yours auto or stick? Mines an auto, so trac off, pwr on, find sweet spot, lol.

Herofmine

His car is stock, automatic!
Does our cars can handle "high octance 100" gas
I am going to take out everything from my trunk including spare tire, and turn on ect power with trac control off, should i have to use paddle shifters or no?

Herofmine

IS350 doesn't have manual(( they made it only automatic.


By the way i have F sport intake, F sport exhaust and sway bars thats all i have.

syzygy

Like Kurtz said, 1/4 tank gas, no spare tire (to remove as much weight as possible). Make sure your car is obviously warmed up to operating temperature (this may sound like a no-brainer, but I've seen members on this forum complain about losing to lesser cars because they tried to race one a minute after a cold start).

Traction control off, ECT-Normal. Don't try to launch the car by brake torquing. There's a good chance you'll fail.

Instead, suggest to your friend that you want to do a race not quite from 0 but from a 3-5 MPH rollout. Rollout at 3-5 MPH for 3 seconds (counting down), and then go. This will give both of you a much better chance of accelerating cleanly to start.

The IS350 and 550i are very evenly matched.

IS350 Acceleration:


2008 550i Acceleration:


According to these tests, you'll reach 80 MPH in 8.3 seconds having traveled 181.1 meters, while the 550 will have reached 80 MPH in 8.2 seconds having traveled 180.5 meters.

It's really really close.

Looking at the tables again, 0 to 70 MPH is the best comparison because both cars reach 70 MPH at the exact same time (6.5 seconds). The IS350 by 70 MPH will have traveled 124.5 meters compared to 123.5 meters for the 550i. 3 foot difference.

You'll be ahead by a hair by 70 MPH. Anything beyond that, you'll lose. I wouldn't put money on this race if I were you. These are two very evenly matched cars. The IS350 has a hair of an edge in the 0 to 60 realm, so having a strong start (3-5 MPH rollout) is essential.

If you don't start strong, you'll lose every time. The only advantage the IS350 has is in the 0 to 80 MPH realm (really 0 to 60, actually). Your friend is right to be confident, although I think he's probably underestimating the IS350 a bit.

The fact is, both cars are even under optimal conditions, and it's easier for the 550i to overcome a poor launch from the start because the 550i is simply stronger after 80 MPH.

Fractions of a second matter. If you were to start .2 or .3 seconds before your friend, you'd win the race. If he started .2 or .3 seconds before you, he'd win the race (assuming this isn't really going to be done at the track).

syzygy

Don't even bother then, you'll lose every time.

Why would you willingly make your car slower? ECT Normal yields faster acceleration than ECT Power.

phillimt

automatic cars racing... the world needs more manual cars. I gave up trying to find a 250 in manual... they're almost as tough to find as a used 350..

I hope you smoke that BM.. if nothing else, you can feel free to laugh at him at his next inservice date when they charge him half the price of his car at the dealer!

syzygy

If you so much as touch the paddles, you'll lose every time if you don't know what they do. They're not paddle shifters, and they have absolutely 0 utility in a 0 - x MPH race.