vegastrashed

We had a get together early Sunday morning and I do mean early where Saturday night turned into Sunday morning. The line up was jiio (545i SMG), hollywoodtrash (550i SMG), iceman316 (550i SMG), bmw4life (525i Step), heezy545i (545i 6sp), brian1225 (550 Step) , and William(iceman316's friend, CLS 500).

Impressive lineup, eh? Now who do you think out of all these cars dominated the rest? I won't leave you in suspense too long. And we have a winner... Brian1225. The 550 Step is a absolute beast of a car.

Some initial thoughts about the 545 vs 550. Seems the 545s jump quicker than 550s but after a few seconds it's all over. By the time we reach the designated speed when to shut down, the 550 is usually the winner. I will say though I did win one against both hollywoodtrash and brian1225, but both times was due to operator error.

Now, the 545i SMG vs 545i 6sp. Remember how I mentioned that the 545i have a quick jump? Well, it would appear that the 6sp has a quicker jump than the SMG. I was even with Heezy545i once. All the other times, he was the clear winner. Heezy545i did rather well against brian1225, but brian1225 won each time.

Iceman316 mentioned a few weeks back that he was being walked by his friend's e65 750i. He had a problem with his exhaust, thus the jokes that were make of him after the first Launch Meet. Remember that iceman316?
Apparently, his exhaust problem has not been fixed. Heezy545i and I both walked him. After what brian1225 and hollywoodtrash did to me, I know for a fact that I should not be walking iceman316's 550. Iceman316 get your exhaust fixed!!

Iceman's friend William showed up with the CLS 500. I had heard that the 545/550s would not have too much of a problem with them. It's true. I ran the CLS 500 twice and walked him approaching the designated speed.

bmw4life regrets everytime that someone mentions to him that for a couple hundred more that he could've been rolling in a 550. He found out after joining e60.net.
bmw4life asked that I run him. An expected outcome, 545 vs 525. bmw4life was our point man. Good stuff, bmw4life.

Good times everyone. I'll set up another time for Launch Meet III or it may be during the 5th Socal Meet in San Diego.

530i_msport

sounds like a great story to me.I really enjoy hearing from you guys such stories where you all meet together and do these things

EBMCS03

Wow awesome! Thats a good turnout! I want to take on brian1225 !!!!

znod

Fun morning. Way to go. I've been telling you "all" about Steps vs manuals and SMGs for a long time. Yea Steps.

heezy545i

I was a little late to the show, but I had fun.

A few recaps of myself versus Brian's 550. Most of the runs were initiated at around 50mph in 2nd gear. When we start, I normally get the jump, but then Brian would eventually start to slightly pull. The 550 catching up is expected, but the unexpected part is that after a short while, he stopped pulling. Through most of 3rd and 4th, I would say that we were pretty much dead even. Perhaps a bumper edge either way. This result was duplicated multiple times. During one run, we even got into 5th gear a bit and it was pretty much even with no one really gaining.

My last run with Brian was at 70mph in 3rd gear. This time, he starts pulling immediately, maybe gaining a 1/4 car length or so. When shifting into 4th, I gained somewhat, but he may have missed a shift or got off the gas.

Most of the runs I was on Brian's left so with me concentrating on the road and my shifting, I don't get a clear viewpoint of where the cars are exactly. I want to say the edge was perhaps a bumper or maybe even, but it could have been slightly different. The results are the same though. Through 2nd I get the jump, he eventually catches up, then after that we are pretty much even.

I'm completely stock. Just removed the charcoal filter and changed out the runflats for some PS2s. Brian has the M-tech kit, springs, M6 rims and I think a B&B exhaust. I had a little less than a 3/4 tank of gas, while Brian had a 1/4 tank. I also assume I outweigh Brian by a good amount, I weigh about 210lbs.

Brian ran Hollywood's 550 a few times and he said that when they get into 4th gear, Brian pulls a good deal.

I never got around to running Iceman, but one can pretty much figure out the results from Jiio's runs.

heezy545i

Iceman, don't worry about who pulls. The exhaust sounds mean and the car looks good. Personally, I think the difference is more related to the weight of the rims rather than the exhaust. Just look at how Brian pulled on Hollywood when they get into 4th. Hollywood also has 20s.

I don't know much about exhausts, but even if your exhaust lacks back-pressure, you may lose a little torque down low, but it should help you out on your top end.

hollywoodtrash

Good run guys, sorry I left a little early, couldn't keep my eyes open. I even missed the 405 transition on the way back, threw an extra 10 miles on a detour

I don't know if the CLS was trying or not, I don't think he heard my honks, but it was no competition. Who else ran the CLS? I can't remember


Brian your slushbox is a winner!

heezy545i

Oh and I hope these results make up for losing to that 350Z awhile back.

The car itself is not running as well as it was. I get a lot of various warnings and need to stop and restart the car lately. Before this happened only once in a while. I'm due for a vehicle check in 5000 miles, so hopefully they can take care of things then.

Not sure if it makes a difference, but at around ~33,000 miles, I'm pretty sure I have a lot more mileage than the others. I'm also running an old SW version, something like 13 or 14.

hollywoodtrash

Don, is there a difference between gear ratio's step vs SMG? What's the deal with that

znod

Definitely, yes, the Step is far superior in the earlier gears. Check the write ups a few pages into the Straight-Line Performance link linked in my sig. I can't remember the post number to start with, but the discussion starts pretty early on the thread as I recall. It will be easy to find.

Edit: Start with post #11.