[JFM-jr]

Originally Posted by jdasnt3

They did a roll and the Camaro driver was using the tap shifts... slowest way to drive it. Still walked the BMW though.

He is not good at driving it. I ran my car back to back at the drag strip first pass letting the ECU do its thing then with me manually shifting with the paddles and ran back to back 11.75's. The guy in the vid is blowing the tires away, clipping the limiter then short shifting the car. I have grown fond of the paddles and is pretty much exclusively all I use in street situations. That guy did not do that Camaro any favors.

[bielawg]

Originally Posted by The_D

This is weirdly fascinating. I traded in my modified 2009 135i MSport Auto for a 2017 Camaro 2SS 6speed. 2k miles on the Camaro so far, and only now feeling like I've got the feel to drive it well enough to be significantly faster than the BMW.

The think about the good (i.e. purist grade smaller) BMWs is that they are easier to get an initial feel for. That's a big part of what has always sold them. And it's also the reason pro drivers or those who go through cars quickly often think they are a bit overrated. With some seat time, I have to imagine that most drivers would come to be a lot faster with the Camaro's LT1 and MRC over most courses. Esp. with comp mode.

I also went from a modified 135i 6spd to a Camaro SS and found the same thing. The BMW (assuming you can hook up which isn't always easy) feels faster due to shorter gearing and the torque hitting all at once at lower RPM (my car was likely making similar torque to a stock SS.) But once that initial torque burst is done, it didn't keep pulling the Camaro either. I think the Camaro would easily beat my old car at just about any speed, but it just doesn't quite feel as quick light to light.

I also think due to the smaller size, the BMW feels more nimble and has a better feeling initial turn-in. But I don't think it is. The M-sport suspension would quickly fall apart when taken to the limit, where as the Camaro feels more stable even though I'm running the stock summer tires in near-freezing dry temperatures. Actually, I'm really impressed how well the Camaro grips altogether, can't imagine how good the 1LE must be.