THAT TIME …
BMW M5
Words: Antonio Iafelice
“Terrifying!”. This is the only word I can think of to describe the BMW M5, especially once dropped out of the car after trying its utmost speed. I already knew the M5 since I had the opportunity of testing it on track at Vallelunga. It was then that I had the chance to turn the incredible numbers printed in the press kit presentation in fast lap times and I do not hide that it startled me a lot of joy: fortunately, I thought, they still build such bloody machines! In effect you don’t often see many sedans that could boast supercars-like power ratings. I was struck by the performance, but also for the chance to change its soul and transform it as you wish from a quiet sedan for the family to a real racing car. While on track you could bring out the more extreme side of the M5 and meeting all of its performance, in the shadow of a stopwatch, ordinary roads, however, had the advantage of highlighting the emotions that arise precisely because of the M5 technical features, especially if squeezed to the maximum, certainly not for everyone. Have you ever tried using the M5 with all of its gear, engine and suspension adjustments at the very best and with no electronic aids? On track definitely yes, on open roads probably not. For me it is in this particular circumstance that the BMW M5 appeared to me … awesome!
I remember it was a hot summer night and, returning from a trip to the beach, I held in my hands that classic steering wheel with three spokes marked “M”. In those hours the road from the beach leading to my town was virtually deserted: the lights and sounds of the waterfront more faded and the darkness of the night seemed to almost swallow the M5. I was still in “quiet mode” and took advantage of the stop at a traffic light to turn the BMW into an exasperated race car by intervening on the various settings of the engine, gearbox, suspension and stability controls, acting on the individual keys located near the small sequential/automatic knob that handles the SMG 7-speed transmission. I remember that moment as if it were now. In order I pushed the “Power” button to unlock all the available power and switch from the standard 400 hp to 507 hp, then “DSC Off” to savor the thrill of driving without electronic aids, I press several times the “EDC” button in order to choose stiffer suspension and finally I selected the fastest gearbox among as many as the 11 programmable. I memorize all the parameters chosen and that’s it: I just have to press the “M” button on the right of the steering wheel to catapult me into a world that moves at the speed of light thanks to all the settings stored for the maximum driving pleasure. The result is that in my hands I found always the same three spoke steering wheel, that now gives a more indomitable spirit as that of a few minutes ago.
Stopped at the traffic lights I clench the steering wheel and bring the V10 revved up, feeling almost like I was at the start of a grand prix. I told to myself: “I have to test launch control!”. The procedure up to speed requires a precise sequence to follow, but it is small compared to the fun which it ensures: I can assure you that in 4.6 seconds the speedometer needle will already be at 100 kph and you will have a wry smile peeped on your face and a light white smoke will be the result of two black commas left on the asphalt. In a guncotton I leave the city behind approaching into a valley lit only by the powerful “Angel Eyes” headlights and revived only by the many decibels emitted by the powerful V10. Each curve is a challenge and makes us understand how difficult it is to make the most of such a hyper-vitaminized sedan like the M5 on the road and at the same time as it has been difficult for the engineers to create a car with such a quiet body but a so racing heart. But it is the coexistence of these two souls that gives you an incredible experience at the wheel: enjoying more than 500 hp would be too easy in a supercar, while exploiting them on the M5 always gives unexpected thrills. Then “my” M5 is also equipped with the “M Driver’s Package” that doesn’t care about the limited top speed that usually stops at “only” 250 kph and pushes it to more than 300 kph.
Arriving on a deserted straight, I crush the accelerator pedal firmly and I sling down a long slightly downhill bridge connecting two tunnels. What happens is pure magic: the roar of the V10 becomes a bark that breaks the silence of the night and the tunnels are the perfect theater for the concert of all the 507 hp. Speed increases more than I can actually imagine and everything ends up by crushing even more to the ground the Bavarian missile which, thanks to extremely low suspension and a more pronounced front spoiler because of the new aerodynamic conformation, ends up scratching the irregular road surface giving way to an incredible scene in my eyes: countless sparks harness the front grille, spitting mad over the hood and hitting the windshield, creating a show that I would never forget. Those crazy sparks represent perfectly the ecstasy of that moment and the “crazy” nature of the M5, a car that can give supercars emotions in a sedan body and always able to arouse mixed feelings as adrenaline, fear and pleasure, whose mix gives life to a unique driving involvement.
Nissan GT-R
Words: Alessandro Marrone
I was firmly convinced that that evening, I was going home with a bitter taste – the taste that too often destroyed my expectations as a tornado would do crashing a sand castle. Many times I have tasted that blaze of bitterness and so I had to revise my personal ranking, which sanctified myths often become such only by hearsay. And despite several years have passed since my father’s stories were destroying unprecedented performance for quiet and boring cars storming the streets of the 60s and 70s, I approached the Nissan GT-R (R35) almost as if looking for the last minute excuse to postpone the test of truth, convinced that once at the wheel, I would have crumbled all my desire to own one – to own the supercars killer sports car that within a few years could have been in my real projects, why not.
This time was different and since I started the engine that gave birth to the 485hp twin-turbo V6, things were crystal clear. Godzilla was there to stay and hearing its voice amplified by the silence of the night and made even more diabolical by the reflections of its red shape on the shop windows. The streets were deserted, also thanks to a holiday break that now I do not remember (about 5 and a half years have passed) and my desire to know and understand every inch of it in a matter of a few hours even exceeded that of coming back home safe. First checkpoint in the closed area of the friend who has made this tête-à-tête possible … to warm up the tires (let me call it this way), with the fantastic all-wheel drive that not only can put on the ground all the power and torque (588Nm at 3200 rpm), but also allows you to slide the rear, especially when you adopt a steering angle that incites to commit a crime. But the R35 is not only smoke and donuts, it is much more and it can be everything you need, on the road as on the track (where I was lucky enough to drive the following model, a few years later). We leave our restricted area and we mumble the four tailpipes along the streets of the city center, with its muffled roar that soon becomes unmistakable and that does not leave you anymore. You dream about it the following night, the next and the one after it – you can’t live without it and the reason why it is enclosed in what happens when the needle of the rev counter exceeds the threshold of 3500 rpm and things get serious.
I am pushed to the seat with violence, hands gripping the steering wheel with all the possible force and eyes travel fast as in a pinball, constantly looking for points of reference, the bulkiness of the nose – it is still a big coupe from about 1.8 tonnes and above all, hunting for numerical confirmations, always precisely marked on the central display, which records the torque curve, G-force, acceleration and whatever your deepest nerd spirit could ask for. You don’t even realize it and it has already become a drug, you do not care that the night is slowly giving way to some timid rays of the sun that you enter a garage for taking some pictures with a cell phone, wanting to cherish the memory of that day that you dare to face your dreams and they have finally answered firmly that they want to remain on the wall of your bedroom. This poster will not end up in the trash like so many others, this poster remains where it is and tastes like something that in a few years could maybe take shape in the garage, maybe in real size. Maybe in the size of this dream, too short but exceedingly real. And then it’s all over and the red GT-R moves away towards the horizon, stained by the sun who want to steal the scene. Oh Sun, how fool you are. You can only accompany Godzilla into a new adventure, but when the time will come, you’ll have to move just like any sports car has to do in the precise moment that the outline of the GT-R is drawn in the rearview mirror. No prisoner for an extremely high-tech car that really knows how to give you primitive emotions – the only ones that make you have goose bumps in this cyber world that has become cold and muffled by filters and devilry that make super-drivers even the worst Sunday craps.