The normal laws of mathematics don’t seem to apply to either of these cars. There are numbers associated with both that are slightly confusing.
One of those is 640bhp, the output of the M2. It’s been refurbished by Litchfield Motors , as the Tewkesbury-based tuning specialist turns its attention to the new G87-series M2. As with so many other performance cars, from Alpines to McLarens to Nissan GTRs to Porsches and many more (including the previous-gen M2), Litchfield is now offering ECU, exhaust and chassis upgrades for the new car, with more options on the way. This is the development car, in the final stages of fine-tuning.
Fitted with lightweight, wider offset 20in HRE wheels (which Litchfield claims save around 2.4kg at each corner and are priced at £5243) and lower down on a height-adjustable spring kit (£1495), they fill the arches menacingly, making the M2 appear visually much wider than it actually is. A poll of the straw paddock says it looks fantastic: clearly drawn in without being overdone.
That 187bhp power increase comes partly from a new exhaust system, but mostly from an ECU remap. I’m amazed that modern software engineering can give a four-seater saloon-shaped coupe more power than a McLaren F1, but that’s the way it is. For £1795 including VAT. (For the Stage 2 ECU option, that is; the exhaust costs £2676 in stainless steel or £6292 in titanium. Both make the same power and retain the original M2’s catalysts and emissions ratings.) Litchfield has concentrated on making the power delivery as smooth as possible, with a nice linear curve and a little less torque in the first two gears (this car is a manual). I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little intimidated by the prospect of driving a car with a short wheelbase and 640bhp – oddly enough, I feel more apprehensive about driving the M2 than I do a Caterham or a Radical, even – but I needn’t have worried. The engine really is very smooth and controllable, and all the standard electronics from the M2, including the variable traction control (how much torque do you want) remain – particularly welcome when, halfway through my drive, it starts raining.
When it does slip, there is a fair amount of communication through the chassis. Litchfield has developed the car with fast road use in mind rather than track work, but the chassis upgrades are intended to give more body control, feel and feedback than the standard M2 – a car evolution found a lack of cohesion on track when tested at Anglesey last year. The spring kit has slightly stiffer rates, which reduce body roll, but retains the original adaptive dampers and their associated Comfort and Sport modes.
Litchfield also changes the geometry for the lower ride height and upgrades the bushings. The rear suspension is rose-jointed and there are adjustable rear steerer arms for camber, among other changes. The chassis upgrade costs £2010.
It’s no surprise that the Litchfield-tuned M2 also feels quick in a straight line. Really, a lame curse that can’t stop giggling, astonishingly quick. One more number: 140, as the mph indicated on both BMWs’ speedometers at various points. That’s seriously quick around Cadwell Park. Both dials read slightly higher, as many road cars do: the only car in our Track Car of the Year test to hit more than 140mph on our VBox data is a Revolution racer, but the M3 CS is second-quickest of the lot at 138.1mph. The M2 manages 135.7mph, bettered only by the Spartan and the two Porsches, and even then only just.
Another surprising set of figures: the lap times of both BMWs. The M2 is quicker than the Caterham and even, by a hair, the Alpine. It comes within nine-tenths of the M3 CS, which is the quickest of the ‘normal’ cars, with only the focused track cars and Porsches ahead of it. And both BMWs were running on road-focused Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres rather than the sticky track-day rubber elsewhere in the pit lane.
Dickie experiences a little understeer in the M2 as he pushes hard on a dry track for a lap time: ‘He didn’t quite have the front grip he needs and was pushing wide in places where the M3 CS didn’t; he went from understeer to oversteer more abruptly.’ He wonders if that’s because the rear grip is now much better than the standard car, a thought Barker echoes. Litchfield is still fine-tuning the set-up and based on this test it could be a clear step up from the standard car once the balance is sorted out.
Also taking a step up from the regular M3 is M Division’s own M3 CS. To the already stellar source material, the CS adds recalibrated dampers, helper springs, new anti-roll bars and revised steering, tweaked camber, more turbo boost for a total of 542bhp, and a weight saving of 15kg (and fewer places to stow stuff in the cabin, since some of that comes from the removal of the centre storage bin and cup holders).
Not that it is light: on evolutionOn the scales, the M3 CS is the heaviest car here, at 1,780 kg (and the M2 is the second-heaviest, at 1,691 kg). But that number is also seemingly meaningless, since the M3 CS drives like a much lighter car. “Kind of reminds me of that exoskeleton Sigourney Weaver wears in Aliens “Making heavy-weight power available for modest physical exertion,” is John Barker’s apt description.
The M3 CS was the ‘invisible car’ of 2023 evolution Car of the Year test. Brilliant to drive alone, it never really captured the judges’ imagination on the border roads, partly because some of the other cars in the test were so flashy, and partly because of the burden placed on it by previous winners with a CS badge. We much prefer it, however, to the ostensibly more track-focused M4 CSL, and that car is now long sold out.
If the M3 CS faded a little into the background on the eCoty, it shines here. It really shines. There’s so much feel and feedback through the steering and chassis, and the switchable four-wheel drive system is superb. “It has the corner-exit traction of an all-wheel drive car, but it drives like a rear-wheel drive car, which for me is the absolute best kind of all-wheel drive,” says John.
‘It’s very clever, isn’t it…’ Dickie agrees. ‘I think we make a big deal about purity and simplicity, rightly so, but when switchable modes and systems are done well, as BMW has done here, it’s very impressive. It’s a big old bus, isn’t it? But the way it took the first two corners was astonishing. I was able to carry so much speed, and just now “If you let off the throttle a little bit, the line tightens up. It doesn’t really feel like four-wheel drive in 4WD Sport mode; it’s still steerable through the throttle.”
All-wheel drive likely improves the M3 CS’s lap time over the rear-wheel-drive M2, and as a car, the gearshifts are quicker but not necessarily as much fun. JB and Meaden both praise the gearbox and brakes.
‘Yes, you’re aware of the mass of the thing and its size, but it’s remarkable how willing the CS feels in your hands,’ concludes John. ‘The engine is untamed, a monster, with positive torque upshifts when you pull the paddle, and the brakes are wonky too. They pull the car back from speed so hard you can almost feel the pads being worn to dust…’ That said, Dickie notes that, unlike some heavy cars on a track, you never feel like you’re wrecking the car. You wouldn’t cringe at the thought of taking one on a track day. You’d enjoy it.
Unless something went wrong. Another figure: the M3 CS costs £116k. But what a glorious, numbers-defying creation.