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The First Automotive Easter Egg?
automandc writes "The October dead-tree issue of Popular Science is reporting that the new BMW M3 contains what they are calling the "first automotive easter egg" in its transmission control software. Apparently, the proper combination of commands to the electronically controlled manual transmission will cause the car to rev up to 4000rpm and drop the clutch (premitting burnout, which is normally impossible). According to the article, use of the feature more than 15 times voids the warranty in Eurpoe. Other limitations of the "acceleration-assist" feature are discussed in this Car and Driver article. According to popsci, U.S. laws won't allow the warranty limitation, so the U.S. version of the software only revs to 1500rpm, but dealers will install the european software if you ask. The only other mention I could find on the web is here."
For everyone that has the $141,000 car (*cough*, umm, yeah I have 2) this is how you do it.
1) Disable traction control
2) Select Agressive Shifting mode
3) Hold the shift lever forward for a few seconds
4) Slam the pedal
Your electronically limited to only 30 "acceleration assisted" burn-out's for the life of the clutch (torque converter) and only 1 per hour.
Fun but, for $141,000 I want a damn 5-speed.
Floor it? Is the sole purpose of this to simply do a burnout or possibly a 360? This will not get the car out of the hole faster then a controlled start. With advice like that I can see why they electronically limited this.
No, the purpose of this is to launch the car with the engine already at an RPM level that is in the max torque range. Basically you trade off wasted rubber and a bad transmission experience for the 10th of a second or so that you would have wasted to bring the engine up to max power.
Even though the 3.2 liter engine is awesome across the RPM band, it is clearly weaker under 4000 rpm. I know, my wife has one (an SMGII).
I have a measly ~250RWHP Mustang with a 2.73 differential. Dumping the clutch (or faster then normal release) at anything higher then 2000 rpms on street tires sends the car into almost an immediate sideways condition. At the track its worse, without a concrete launchpad its about 1500 rpm's and asphalt you can not avoid spin at any RPM.
That's weird. I have a '99 Mustange cobra, ~260RWHP, 2.73 gears. Maybe it's thanks to the independent rear suspension (IRS) that your model may not have, but the perfect launch in my cobra is at 2,400 RPM. There is very little no wheel spin, and the car is almost instantly at the sweet and sick power range starting at 4,000 rpm.
At the track, if you warm your tires properly, you should be able to go even higher. In any case, with the proper 2,400 rpm launch you can easily smoke Carreras. The M3 though will eat your lunch, considering that it has more power on the low range (
Which is why I totally disagree with the AU article posted to start this discussion: the guy correctly states that one could potentially shift like the SMG II, but he incorrectly assumes that one will do that not only consistently on the upshift, but will also never blow a heel & toe downshift. That's totally wrong.
The only little gripe about the SMG II is that sometimes you wish it would start the downshift a little quicker. There is a split-second delay between your request for a downshift and the start of the neutral->throttle blip->downshift sequence.