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Interesting ------ lot's of debate on eDiff.

 Anyway - I have had mine for about 3 weeks now and ran last Sun (on the RFT's), and I will loudly state eDiff is not the limiting factor at this point, I had lot's of plowing with the stockers....... I also realized by my last run I could not drive this car like a Subaru (last ran a 06 WRX in DS).  Power is incredable, transitional response is excellent,  could use a better front sway, but not necessarily bigger anything (tires) in rear.....of course once I am on Hoosier crack my perceptions will probably change....

 Have Cat back and Panel filter installed so far.......

 FWIW -  came out 9th in Pax

Obviously there is much more data needed, but based on my observations at the DC Pro I think the 135i could end up being the top car for the class, especially if the ITR gets moved to BS.

The 330i is already a somewhat competitive car in DS, and comparing the 135i to the 330i, the 135i has a lot more power & torque and less weight and the fancy differential.  A big front swaybar did wonders for my 330i to reduce understeer and to help put the power down through turns, and this 135i still had the stock front swaybar.  It also had staggered tires (245 front, 275 rear) which will cause even more push.  The wider rears might be needed to put the power down, but the better balance of a non-staggered setup could prove to be quicker overall.  More testing needs to be done to find out for sure.  The shocks were also recycled from another model BMW.  So, I think that with some further development of front swaybar, tire sizes, lightweight wheels, lightweight exhaust, alignment, and perhaps shock valving the 135i will be at the top of DS.  I'd trade my 330i for a 135i in a heartbeat.

 BB

jorober5:

I would not conclude ANYTHING about any car based on the DC Pro courses.  IMHO, the course was fun to drive, but was considerably different than other Pro courses, and MUCH different than tour courses.  There was very little speed maintenance, with several places to stop, turn, and get on the gas.

Jonathan Roberts
 

Have to agree.  The courses didn't flow as well as past courses.   Or maybe I didn't like it because I sucked at it.  Or maybe both. Certainly all the off camber on camber turns and elevation changes made it interesting, but also not really representative of normal courses. 

The Nebulizer:

skeeter119:

The car supposedly pushes like a horrid pig because you need bigger rear tires to put the power down. 

I don't understand this statement. It seems contradictory. Do you mean the back end is loose?

 

skeeter119:

He mentioned that he was going to be testing the 128 and the 135 back to back at local events because he feels the 128 will be a better Tour car, as you can run a better tire stagger to get it to rotate better and still put the power down.  Now it will still shred the front tires but with less weight over the front wheels due to no turbos it might be better.  Only time will tell, I finished in 6th and was only 6/10ths out of first so it was a very tight field.  My initial thought is at HPT the 135 won't be able to leverage its huge power advantage but on concrete it will be a force to be reckoned with.

Are the turbos that heavy?  Why would you be able to run better tires with the 128? Wouldn't they take the same tires or less on the 128?

I guess I wasn't clear.  The car has horrible understeer with the 245/275 stagger.  Steve said he needed the 275s on the rear to get the car to put the power down but the larger rears are also causing the understeer to get worse.  Now the only thing this car needs is a larger front sway bar and it will be done except for further shock tuning and seat time.

 The turbo system adds a bunch of weight to the front end of the car and that upsets the overall balance even more causing even worse understeer than you would get in the 128.  The better tire sizes I was referring to with the 128 comes from the fact that it has 17s and can run a smaller stagger front to rear, thus getting better rotation while not losing the ability to put the power down because the 128 has less power to put down.  Either way I think the 128 will be better at HPT and the 135 will destroy anywhere with good grip.  Just my $0.02

John V:

I would argue that the last third of each course was "speed maintenance" but there were at least two very "point and shoot" corners to contend with. 

Hmmm.  Not to take this thread off topic, but that's not really the way I drove it.  I was really parking the car after the end of the slalom (at the top of the hill) and wrapping really tightly into that next corner.  That allowed me to be full throttle past the first cone of the slalom, with only one brake zone ending at the second slalom cone, leaving me effectively a 100 foot (??) 2 cone slalom dash to the finish.

John V:

Nice job by the way.

Thanks, man.  I look forward to our next battle in Toledo!

Jonathan 

skeeter119:

I guess I wasn't clear.  The car has horrible understeer with the 245/275 stagger.  Steve said he needed the 275s on the rear to get the car to put the power down but the larger rears are also causing the understeer to get worse.  Now the only thing this car needs is a larger front sway bar and it will be done except for further shock tuning and seat time.

I would guess with the larger front sway he won't need such wide rear tires to put the power down.  Then again, the car might still work well with the stagger.  If it's like any BMW (even ones with factory LSD, real ones), it needs a big front bar to maintain what little front camber it has.  i.e. the big front bar actually helps front bite.  It also should keep the one-tire-fire minimized better.

jorober5:

... not the way I drove it ...

I think the only way to drive the last 1/3 of the course was the way you described - parked at the turnaround, dive deep through the next "chute," brake, then treat the finish as a lane-change.  I tried it that way Saturday A.M. and felt like the car was way out of its powerband, so I tried to brake less and treat it more speed-maintenance.  Probably a bad approach.  See you in Toledo. 

BadBrad:

especially if the ITR gets moved to BS.

uhh... who's suggesting that??

The shocks were also recycled from another model BMW. 

Which BMW? The 335? If the shocks would move, I'd be much more likely to consider a 128 when it's time to get rid of the 330...

murph1379:

BadBrad:

especially if the ITR gets moved to BS.

uhh... who's suggesting that??

You don't read Fastrack, do you?

The shocks were also recycled from another model BMW. 

Which BMW? The 335? If the shocks would move, I'd be much more likely to consider a 128 when it's time to get rid of the 330...

Steve told me he had a fully DS-prepped 128 ready to go when they classed the 135 and the 128 in the same class. So, it's likely the shocks came from his 128. But, he had a 330 last year, so it's also likely they came from that.

piknockout:

The shocks are Koni DA's that he took off the 330 he ran last year.

Just to clarify, those are TC Kline DA's? (modified Koni SA's)

My, that would be exciting. 

CamaroFS34:

You don't read Fastrack, do you?

LOL, clearly not!

That's quite the shakeup!

piknockout:

Either way they're from last year's 330.

LOL, good point. =]

vvt4me:

The 135i should be in B stock. WTF are they thinking 

I'm curious to know if you still feel the same way.

Thanks,

Jeff 

cashmo:

vvt4me:

The 135i should be in B stock. WTF are they thinking 

I'm curious to know if you still feel the same way. Thanks, Jeff 

So, what Matt's saying is this year was the "sandbagging to cement their classing in the sand" year, so they can point to this for a couple years when we move to concrete and the 135i dominates...

Seriously, what's the deal? The sucker's fitting 285's with less sidewall squirm than my 245's, it has gobs of horsepower everywhere, and reports that it puts it down better than a 330. Were all three 135i drivers just having bad weeks, or what?

murph1379:

So, what Matt's saying is this year was the "sandbagging to cement their classing in the sand" year, so they can point to this for a couple years when we move to concrete and the 135i dominates...

Seriously, what's the deal? The sucker's fitting 285's with less sidewall squirm than my 245's, it has gobs of horsepower everywhere, and reports that it puts it down better than a 330. Were all three 135i drivers just having bad weeks, or what?

I'd love to have the talent to bag that much sand. The only sand is what BMW builds into their cars. The car did not have 285s.

MaS, if you want to build one, go ahead, but I would drive a few first before jumping in.

murph1379:

So, what Matt's saying is this year was the "sandbagging to cement their classing in the sand" year, so they can point to this for a couple years when we move to concrete and the 135i dominates...

Seriously, what's the deal? The sucker's fitting 285's with less sidewall squirm than my 245's, it has gobs of horsepower everywhere, and reports that it puts it down better than a 330. Were all three 135i drivers just having bad weeks, or what?

the most accurate portrayal of a 135 in action this year was at the Toledo Pro and on Sunday at the DC Pro.  Sure a pro is different from a tour/nats, but the driver mod was fairly strong those weekends and IMO, it showed that it certainly has potential (on concrete at Toledo, and on a sandy surface like DC), but perhaps not BS potential.