Math was never our strongest interest, but we blame that on Olivia’s short skirt and a teacher who was as entertaining as a broken vacuum cleaner. And while by now our teacher is enjoying his retirement and Olivia has evolved into a size+ model, we no longer have issues with counting problems. For example, we’re still convinced that 2 is more than 3 or 4…
A love child. And we weigh our words carefully, while our statement is being backed-up by the number wizards from BMW’s office at Munich. Yet, if you mother breastfed you and your father let you sit in the front of his Beemer, then chance is real that you are a hardcore BMW enthusiast. And in that case you don’t need the input from the BMW engineers to know that the current M2 is still the strongest digit in the universe of Bavarian compact cars. Though when still in doubt, ask your elders. They will confirm that back in the good-all-times the BMW 2002 Turbo was already an ass-kicking piece of metal. And this BMW M2 Competition is just one of its love children.
Road trip. Heading to the garage of Antonis Tepenis was no walk in the park, do instead a drive on the German Autobahn. And yes we pushed the pedal on the right a little bit harder, but that was because we got a Dacia Duster in our rearview mirror. And there’s no way in the world that we will let a Dacia overtake us. We have some proud left…
Hot date! Antonios had to wait for 14 months before he received his BMW M2 Competition. If he had ordered an M4, it was already delivered many months earlier. But you know what they say: the longer you wait, the hotter you date! And when you go on a date, you better come prepared. And in this case there was plenty of time to prepare for the arrival of the M2, and in the meantime figure out some adjustments for it.
Rocky vs Rambo. If you want to drive the TPS M2 competition, you better bring a bag of skill and preferably a set of balls of steel. Because this car is built to race the streets, just like Stallone was born to play the role of Rocky. Just like Stallone was born to play the role of Rambo. Just like Stallone was born to play the role of Sebastian ‘the Toymaker’ in Spy Kids 3-D. Well, you understand where we going with this. It’s a weapon of torque with some daily driving comfort features like air-conditioning, heating and power-steering. However, Antonius has forged his M2 iron in the fire of the Nordschleife aka ‘The Green Hell’, one of worlds most insane rollercoasters for cars…
Love your grandmother. Building a performance car with a motorsports attitude isn’t a big task. Only a challenge for your budget. So just like being married. Antonios invested in a WeightWatchers program and changed the heavy OEM wheels against ultralight forged wheels from HRE in 19″. He also made the bonnet, trunk and wing out of lightweight material. Even the battery is a piece of light motorsport equipment. Inside you’ll find a lot of carbon fiber parts and will notice the absence of the rear bench seat. Front seats are available, and delivered by Recaro. These are as sticky as your grandmothers lips, and make sure you don’t fall out while sliding over the asphalt.
The world needs heroes. Below the carbon fiber bonnet, a modified BMW M straight-six is waiting for you. With some ECU tweaks, modified air-intake, upgraded turbos, intercooler, exhaust and much more this M2 Competition hoons the street with 520 horses in front. Already in low revs, the turbos punch you with 680 Nm into the Recaro bucket seats. The Michelin tires and the fully adjustable racing KW shocks are the superheroes in the wheel arches. Bibendum is that inflatable Michelin man, while we have strong suspicions that the KW hero is dressed in a purple outfit with yellow accents.
HMBA. In this setup, the road-legal M2 C-TR conquers the Nordschleife (BTG distance) in 7.12,16 minutes! No, we weren’t sitting behind the steering wheel in this hot lap since we had a date with Olivia’s youngest daughter. But the BMW brought us nearly to jail. Because only on the Autobahn there’s no speed limit… Guess the ‘Holy Mother of Blessed Acceleration’ was with us. And up till now we didn’t get any written letters from the German law enforcement.
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Suspension tech Info: KW Competition 3-way adjustable SingleTube dampers in upside-down version with special linear bearing, which is characterized by a lower friction and a low breakaway torque. As wheel-guiding McPherson struts are exposed to highest loads during cornering and braking, the advantage of KW linear bearings at increasing transverse forces (lateral forces) is up to 87% less friction compared to plain bearings. The basic compression stage has an individually pre-configurable midspeed valve, in addition to the high speed and low speed compression adjustment, the transition point from a progressive to a digressive characteristic curve can be varied. The adjustable rebound stage can be optimally configured for the intended purpose by an extensive number of needle valves and coil springs with a linear, progressive or digressive characteristic.
// KW Competition 3A in detail:
- Single Tube
- Separate compression and rebound valves
- 3-way adjustable
- Damping adjustment:
- – 18 clicks rebound
- – 18 clicks compression damping in low speed
- – 18 clicks compression damping in high speed
- Pre-configurable compression-midspeed-valve
- Individual characteristic design for a linear, progressive or digressive characteristic
- MacPherson Struts in upside-down-version (inverted monotube)
For more information: https://www.kwsuspensions.net/racing/