I came to really love the car’s neutral balance and sense of predictability, feel, and precision. Of course, we all had to leave DSC on, but it was borderline miraculous how the car soaked up rough bumps and ruts under hard acceleration with big lateral g-forces without ever feeling snappy or stepping out of line. After two days, each car needs a fresh set of Michelins, but BMW’s 523-horsepower coupe never broke a sweat. “When it comes to track days at the Nürburgring, our customers are always impressed that they can actually drive a series-production M3 or M4 on the Nordschleife at full speed for several days in a row without problems or concerns,” wrote van Meel. “There are not many manufacturers or vehicles that can offer these capabilities, and it demonstrates in an impressive way how much motorsport DNA is inside our vehicles.” Of the 70 or so participants at this particular running of the BMW M Experience at the Nordschleife, I’m told six or seven of them had “incidents” over two days. I never saw any of them, and apparently only sheet metal and egos were damaged, but it shows just how treacherous the Nordschleife is — and how much BMW lets guests push their cars. Two days would be plenty to learn almost any other racetrack, but at the Nordschleife we only just scratched the surface. It takes a lifetime to learn and perfect all 73 turns, Sanchez says, which explains what has kept drivers from all over the world coming back to this 20 kilometres of pavement for nearly 100 years. Now that I’m back home, I’m already thinking about how to get back there.
There’s roughly a metre of wet grass and a metal guardrail on the outside of the corner; this is what passes for a runoff area in a section where — I dare not look down — we could be doing around 150 km/h or more. Equally surprising as how little runoff there is and how beautiful the whole circuit can be. In the morning, fog drifts through the Adenauer Forest section and toward the bridge at Breidscheid. Colourful and ever- changing graffiti covers much of the track surface. Trees lining nearly all of the circuit are lit up in shades of red and yellow for fall. It’s as pretty as it is unforgiving. Sanchez continues narrating: “High speed, to the left, no braking,” he calls out through the blind Lauda-Links. It’s where Niki Lauda had his terrifying near-fatal crash during the 1976 German Grand Prix; the incident that finally ended Formula 1 racing at the Nordschleife. I’m still no fan of the M4’s snout-nose design, but on such a treacherous circuit
"Two days would be plenty to learn almost any other racetrack, but at the Nordschleife we only just scratched the surface."
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