Redline vs. M5 and Eclipse

Yesterday right as I was getting out of school I got a phone call from another member on this forum from a different North Dakota town (bobsmith100). He had told me he was going to be passing through and that he had an hour or two to kill, so we decided to meet and do a few runs. His car is a stock 01 BMW M5 6-speed, but the VANOS system hasn’t been working properly (hence why he was passing through on his way to Minneapolis to get it fixed) so it wasn’t up to its full potential, but it was still quick. I brought another friend with me in his 2000 eclipse gt with just an intake, and for anyone who doesn’t know I have an 05 Ion Redline with just an intake also.

So we went out onto the interstate and cruised for a while until we got out of town, then me and the M5 ran from about a 55 (not such a good spot in 3rd for either of us). We lined up and I honked it down. We both hit it and I pulled a little right away, but towards the middle of 3rd he creeped back up but quit pulling at about 90. I shifted to 4th at 95 and then we shut down a few short seconds later at a little over 100 with me a fender ahead. We gave each other the thumbs up and then I pointed back to the eclipse and got out of the way so they could run. After they had their fun we lined up at 40 and I honked 3 times and we took off again! And again I pulled about a half car from 40 to 65 where I slammed it into 3rd, he pulled right back up to me and at 90ish we were dead even with no one pulling. I did the fasted 3-4 shift I think I have ever done and didn’t lose any ground and we shut down at about 105 still dead even. We got off an exit and pulled into a gas station to talk for a while, and he said he thought my car was pretty quick, and I told him that his sounded badass at WOT.

We decided to do one more on the way back, so we lined up at 40 again and I honked it down…this time into the wind. I only pulled about 3 feet at first this time, and he made that ground up by the time we got to 70 where he continued to pull on me slowly. We kept going until about 105 where he let off at about a half car length up. We slowed down to cruising speed for a while and he motioned my friend to come up to me. So I lined up with the eclipse and we took off from 40 with 3 honks. He hit it about a half second later than I did, but I pulled about 4-5 car lengths on him by the time we got to 100 then I shut down for the traffic up ahead, as we were approaching town.

We all just cruised back to where we met and talked for about 15 minutes. Then Ben decided he should probably get on the road, so we parted and I headed home. Overall it was a good time, and im gonna need another run at that beast when its all fixed…next time it probably wont be so close:uhoh:

Nice kill! Yeah next time I wouldn't expect a win, those older M5's were solid 13 second cars

damnit i wish that i wouldnt have had track practice that day. Sounds like it was pretty damn fun. I hope i can catch him on the way back, just to get a good look at the M5. that was pretty epic from the sound of it. I want to see that running at its full capacity.

Not sure i would have raced MY car if it was broken in any way. Thats just me :)

It was a fun time indeed! We were close enough in most of the runs that the shifting decided who ended up in front.

I finally got it in the shop today. Error codes: crankshaft position sensor, camshaft position sensor, and the exhaust VANOS bank 1 and 2. The mechanic thought it was worth it to try and replace both sensors and hope that it was triggering the VANOS error instead of just tearing into the VANOS system. I went ahead with his reccomendation, but I'm not holding my breath. :frown: I'll check the codes when I get back home. I'll give you guys a holler next time I go through Bismarck. Hopefully it will be running swell by then.