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Dave moves house… and the earth moves for one lucky and inspired M2 owner.
Firstly, I would like to apologise for not contributing in last month’s edition. Nicola assures me I’m forgiven as I have been moving house and our second daughter has just entered the world! They say that moving house is one of the most stressful things in life. Firstly, who are ‘they?’They haven’t a bloody clue. It’s been an absolute dream moving house and I can’t wait to never do it ever again!
Whilst I’ve been dismantling and subsequently re-erecting Ikea furniture – a feat in itself – the boys and girls down at ADS have been busy. The nice chap whose Porsche we turned into a 678bhp time-machine, kindly dropped off his brand-new BMW M2 for some little tweaks. The brief? To improve the exhaust system, handling and stance, while preserving the manufacturer’s warranty. Scott got busy, did his homework and came up with some tempting ideas for the customer.
Before we go into detail about the mods, I’m sure a lot of you are reading this and thinking, “How on earth could you touch a car like the M2 and make it any better?” Right? Wrong, very wrong.
The BMW M2 is the critic’s choice of M sport series, with the M3 and M4 in comparison feeling lethargic and a little podgy. According to Top Gear and Evo magazine, the M2 drives how the M3 should; fun, nimble, responsive and finally a car worthy of the M badge. Recent years have left diehard BMW M sport fans wanting, with cumbersome and heavy models like the M5 and M6. They’re great in a straight line but handle like canal barges round the bends. To my mind, they go against the DNA of what BMW M sport is all about.
Well, as good at is, we made it better and this is what we did.
There’s only one exhaust on the planet you would ever consider putting on a brand-new BMW M2; the Akrapovic Titanium exhaust system, fully homologated and TUV approved.
Last year, I was lucky enough to be invited over to the factory in Slovenia to look around the Titanium plant where they cast raw titanium into their exhaust systems. There aren’t many places in the world that can cast titanium to such a high quality as Akrapovic. They are the current world leaders in supplying motorsport titanium exhaust systems for Moto GP, World superbikes, F1 teams and DTM racing series. Having left the factory I was completely blown away with the attention to detail and design that goes into these systems.
For example, they have a dyno cell room bigger than my workshop for testing the unique acoustic signature of each exhaust system, ensuring they meet very specific requirements for on and off the race track. They carefully tune each exhaust to get rid of any harmful or unpleasant drone caused by increased exhaust flow, poor design and reduction in noise-reducing baffles by carefully examining sound in a 3D model. Yeah, it blew my mind as well. Just take my word for it; they know how to make an exhaust system. So, when people tell me, “It’s just an exhaust,” I laugh and say, “And I suppose you think the world’s flat, right?”
Akrapovic exhaust systems do come at a price. They’re not for everyone’s budget but, if you’re discerning and know your Chateau Lafite from your Lambrini, and prefer Andrea Bocelli over Justin Bieber, then there’s only one clear choice (no offence, Justin).
The original brief was to also enhance the overall style and look of the car, or the ‘stance’ as we call it. On this model, BMW Motorsport actually offer a Genuine Sports suspension kit that allowed us height and rebound adjustment, while preserving the manufacturer’s warranty.
Coupled with some hub-centric wheel spacers, the suspension has given the customer ultimate road handling and unbelievably aggressive looks.
The final piece of the jigsaw was to finish the car off in carbon and our friends at Evolve based in Luton supplied us with the adjustable carbon front splitter. It looks absolutely awesome and complements the Akrapovic rear carbon splitter and carbon rear side wings. All in all, this has to be one of the best and most enjoyable cars I’ve had the pleasure of driving – and it looks absolutely fantastic.
