Eight hours sideways without stopping…that’s the record that BMW wanted to claim with their new variation of the M5 sport sedan. That’s a lofty goal, when you look at the logistics of the operation. Make no mistake, the M5 can do the job handily, with 600 horsepower on tap, an AWD system that can be switched to RWD-only, and an electronic stability control that can be told to bugger off while in RWD mode. It is two other crucial points that must be addressed: driver endurance and fuel. Drifting a car isn’t exactly MPG friendly and it wouldn’t matter if you got a Prius with a fuel cell to walk sideways, eight hours on the move will require splashes of fuel to make happen. So what do you do? You can’t stop the test and go, “Ok, sir, the car’s alarm is going off, I’ll just fill it up with premium and be right back…” Nope. Instead BMW took a page out of the Air Force’s book and went straight to mid-drift refueling. Two cars sideways in tandem and one unlucky human hanging out of the window with a fueling nozzle at the ready. This is ballsy, but it works.
Oh, and that driver endurance thing? We don’t want the answer to that question. Eight hours is a long time to go without a pee break.
Why is this even a thing?
It’s stupid and a waste of time and resources.
BMW – you should have just donated a car for auction to a worthwhile charity and would get much better public exposure while actually doing something relevant.
You don\’t understand marketing very well.
Umm, tires?
Meh, not impressed.