RE: BMW Drift Mob behind the scenes

RE: BMW Drift Mob behind the scenes

Thursday 24th July 2014

BMW Driftmob behind the scenes

PH joins star-studded stunt team for South African film shoot in sliding M235is



Cape Town is a beautiful place this time of year. Apparently. I wish I could see it, but my gaze is rather shortened in the mid-afternoon sun by a thick, noxious, bluey haze that has the unmistakable aroma of burning Bridgestones.

Synchronised drifting; beats the aquatic version
Synchronised drifting; beats the aquatic version
It has the distinctive scent of pound notes, too, or euros to be more accurate - 25,000 of them. That's the size of the tyre budget alone for BMW's M235i Driftmob event, part of its "BMW Stories" viral marketing videos. No, not very PHey, you're right - but the five guys vaporising the 245/35 18-inch rear rubber are.

First up, Rhys Millen, whose drift credentials precede him. Formula D Champion in 2005, 2008 Red Bull Drifting World Champion, former Pikes Peak record holder, stunt driver from The Fast & Furious, The Dukes of Hazzard and Indiana Jones, and the first man ever to back-flip an off-road truck. A CV good enough for sliding a BMW around.

His colleagues include Samuel Hubinette - known as 'The Crazy Swede' and the first ever Formula Drift champion, which he's won again since - Rich Rutherford, stunt driver for Drive with more than 200 feature films to his name, Conrad Grunewald, successful D1 and Formula Drift driver, and Daijiro Yoshihara, 2011 Formula Drift Champion.

Takes talent to do this; we spectated for this bit
Takes talent to do this; we spectated for this bit
BMW ballet
My turn will come, but for the minute I'm fixated by the levels of accuracy and composure with which the five hooners can hit their marks. In practice the previous day all it took was a couple of runs for the quintet to get the choreography down pat, with a few extra rehearsals for good measure.

With the cameras rolling and covering the Coen Steytler 'traffic circle' downtown from every possible angle, the pressure to be in control of being out of control is incredible. With this level of money involved and a two-day only road closure to get all the shots, stress levels are high.

You'd never guess, as first time out it's pretty much perfect. Three cherry red M235is slew one way round the roundabout and the remaining duo counter them with equal levels of attitude, slithering round in an opposite anti-clockwise direction on a tighter line - the ramifications of an over-zealous stab at the throttle don't even need to be hinted at to the film crew or custodian of the five pre-production M235is, Thomas Ebner. There's genuinely no spare car.

How do you achieve this? Welded diffs, lots of tyres
How do you achieve this? Welded diffs, lots of tyres
Diff-erent strokes
They're not actually series production cars, which is quite significant. Despite a false start for the Driftmob earlier in the year, BMW chose to retain these five prototype cars, which meant the optional limited-slip diff wasn't available.

This raised a question: how do you create a video about drifting using cars with open diffs? Millen and his mates set to work playing with tyre pressures, dropping the inside rear and massively over-inflating the outside to simulate the presence of a locker.

It didn't work. Which meant a local garage just welded up the diffs to get the outside tyre spinning, effectively turning the open differential into a spool. Manoeuvring round the paddock for the inevitable and frequent tyre changes you can hear it, the inside rear crunching and slipping with the slightest bit of steering lock.

Time for the man from PH to have a go
Time for the man from PH to have a go
On top of the modification to the rear axle, the one other change over the standard car is the addition of a fly-off handbrake, and despite five-days of continuous punishment and abuse, the only fault that emerged was a powertrain warning light due to low fuel. The lateral G from all the sideways stuff meant the fuel pump ran dry, causing a misfire. A "hard reset" as it's known (read turn it off and on again) plus a quick splash of juice saw it right.

Have a go, don't be a hero
Wiping the flecks of molten rubber from my glasses sprayed at us kerbside gawpers, it's now my turn to have a go. I'm shipped off to a location not littered with quite so much immovable furniture - the apron at Cape Town airport - and 'my' M235i has the optional diff, rather than a welded item.

He's got the angle sorted...
He's got the angle sorted...
But the overriding thought as I crunch across the carpet of marbles at the side of the road is just how easy the professionals make it look. Passengering with Grunewald for a few laps of the roundabout, the level of feel these guys have is bordering on the clairvoyant. "I'm going to have to get you out of the car," he said. "It's just not hooking up properly." Seemed fine to me as we were heading broadside towards a bus shelter at 60mph, smoke pouring out of the rear arches.

But back to the airport. We all think we can slide a car like Harris, but when it's crunch time, just how hard is it? He'll no doubt update us soon on how his sideways progress is going in his fleet M235i but, for me, even having had a bit of experience, a few pointers from BMW drift guru Christo Evangelo are most definitely welcome.

Yep, still going...
Yep, still going...
Breaking traction on the wet concrete isn't an issue, but it's quite surprising just how much throttle you need to sustain the slide, even with 326hp and 332lb ft from 1,300rpm. At least the relative linearity of the boosted 3.0-litre straight-six means throttle control is fairly intuitive.

It's quickly apparent that vision is my problem - feel and control I'm not bad at, but I'm not looking where I need to go. Or breathing.

Once I get the hang of spotting that next cone through the corner of the windscreen, continuous sideways laps in both directions aren't a problem, and neither is linking the skids. Just remember, look and breathe.

Ah...
Ah...
It's not just me that needs a breather, either. Oil temperature is bordering on that in a deep fat fryer and the tyres are scorched - down to the canvas in fact. But with 25,000 euros worth of rubber available, what's another set between friends?

 

 

 

 

 





   

Photos: BMW/Relic Wessels

Author
Discussion

gingerbeard

Original Poster:

96 posts

124 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
quotequote all
when is the video available then?

britsportscars

281 posts

177 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
quotequote all
Drifting does take some real commitment. I've had a few goes at it and I found it difficult to maintain a slide. Little bits of sideways movement is easy enough on little wet roundabouts (without actually doing any crazy speeds) but actual drifting is hard.

Rockingham does a "wet" drift experience which is pretty cool (did it last weekend!). Getting a feel for when a car is about to break traction and maintaining throttle and balancing the steering is tough! Really good fun to try though!

M3Driver

171 posts

163 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
quotequote all
Why would Cape Town be smelling of "Burning Bridgestones" when Michelin Pilot Super Sport and Pirelli P Zero are the only two tyres that are star marked and approved for use on the BMW M1/235i?

Surely BMW wouldn't sanction the fitment of non-approved tyres for an official event?

g3org3y

20,606 posts

190 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
quotequote all
M3Driver said:
Why would Cape Town be smelling of "Burning Bridgestones" when Michelin Pilot Super Sport and Pirelli P Zero are the only two tyres that are star marked and approved for use on the BMW M1/235i?

Surely BMW wouldn't sanction the fitment of non-approved tyres for an official event?
Michelin logo visible on the left here:


Journalistic licence re 'burning Bridgestones' (though 'melted Michelins' could work)?

Tib

458 posts

178 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
quotequote all
Don't let anyone tell you to stop picking peanuts out of poo.

KMB

254 posts

222 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
quotequote all
I thought it must have been journalistic license for a 'Burning Bridges' style remark, rather than an error (perish the PH thought) smile

Quentin1

468 posts

243 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
quotequote all
Video and editing is done by Luke Huxham, MaihamMedia, afaik...
It WILL be an interesting video for sure...

Sean Carson

66 posts

216 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
quotequote all
M3Driver said:
Why would Cape Town be smelling of "Burning Bridgestones" when Michelin Pilot Super Sport and Pirelli P Zero are the only two tyres that are star marked and approved for use on the BMW M1/235i?

Surely BMW wouldn't sanction the fitment of non-approved tyres for an official event?
You are indeed right - the car I was driving was shod with Michelins. But the cars the pros were in (the ones creating all that smoke) ran Bridgestone rubber. I purposely checked.

They had a truck load of Potenza S001s on stand-by. Check the tread pattern of the pic below with that in this link: http://www.bridgestone.co.uk/auto/~/media/Images/P...



I think in other global markets the Bridgestones are OE.

Thanks,

Sean

Edited by Sean Carson on Thursday 24th July 15:26

JB!

5,254 posts

179 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
quotequote all
Quentin1 said:
Video and editing is done by Luke Huxham, MaihamMedia, afaik...
It WILL be an interesting video for sure...
Should be good, I like his stuff.

RacerMike

4,192 posts

210 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
quotequote all
What's the betting this gets killed by the fun police? It seems the advertising standards k**b jockeys can get online adds removed these days as well as those on the TV....

Sampaio

377 posts

137 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
quotequote all
That last photo of the blue M235i covered in dirt could be an interesting POTW...

hwajones

775 posts

180 months

Friday 25th July 2014
quotequote all
Welded diffs on 5 new 235is
Brilliant!

monthefish

20,439 posts

230 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
Who's Sean Carson?

(If he's new, don't we have to nick his dinner money and give him a wedgie?)