As a development engineer at BMW M, Jörg Weidinger is responsible for the overall set-up of the vehicles and as a racing driver well-known for his record lap times on the Nordschleife. Including the BMW M4 CSL. Optimized for the race track, the two-seater high-performance sports car with Weidinger at the wheel managed the best ever time for a BMW M series vehicle: 7:20.207 minutes. By chance, he then became an in-depth everyday suitability tester by undertaking a spontaneous road trip with the unique special edition to the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
IT ALL BEGAN WITH A MIX-UP.
The road trip wasn’t planned. In fact, the BMW M4 CSL was due to be transported to Goodwood in trucks with the other models. So that Jörg Weidinger could drive it on the legendary hill climb. But as the cars were being loaded a week before the event, it turned out that a mistake had been made: the customs paperwork had the wrong chassis number. It was too late to get it changed retrospectively. “It was clear that the only way we could get the car to Goodwood in time was to drive it there,” explains Jörg Weidinger. And was happy to take on the task himself.
This journey offered the rare opportunity to get a long-term impression of the finished product after the end of the adjustment phase and find out how this very sporty vehicle behaves over long distances. That’s why I chose a varied route and didn’t just drive all the way there on the motorway.
BMW M development engineer and racing driver
DEPARTURE. THE WEATHER GETS IN THE WAY.
DEPARTURE. THE WEATHER GETS IN THE WAY.
At 2am on the Wednesday before the race meeting they set off in the BMW M4 CSL. In the passenger’s M Carbon full bucket seat beside Weidinger: his neighbour and friend Markus Krajnik. At a barbecue, the trucker had spontaneously taken up Jörg’s invitation to join the former racing driver on his 1,250 km trip from the BMW M HQ in Garching to the Festival of Speed. But shortly after they set off, the weather started playing up. "On the first 190 kilometres we had torrential rain, which put paid to our idea to quickly get a few fast kilometres under our belts," says Weidinger.
From Stuttgart onwards, the BMW M4 CSL could show off its talents away from the race track on almost dry roads. First on the autobahn, then between Karlsruhe and Landstuhl on long sections of main road, "which at 5:30am is really pretty cool and a lot of fun," as Weidinger puts it. The rest of the way to Goodwood, it was all about going as fast as possible so as to reach the start of the Festival of Speed in time. So the journey went via Karlsruhe, Brussels, Ghent, by train through the Eurotunnel and then on the quickest route to the event.
PURIST SUITABLE FOR EVERYDAY LIFE.
PURIST SUITABLE FOR EVERYDAY LIFE.
The result of the unplanned long-distance test turned out very well on arrival in Goodwood: Despite its purist character and the fact that the car was designed for use on the race track, the M4 CSL remains absolutely suitable for everyday use too. "The driving time to Goodwood was about 13.5 hours. Which we covered in absolute comfort," says Weidinger.
The nice thing about the BMW M4 CSL is that you can drive it to the race track – regardless of how far away that is – and then go straight from the pit lane onto the track without changing a thing.
BMW M development engineer and racing driver
FROM THE ROAD ONTO THE TRACK.
FROM THE ROAD ONTO THE TRACK.
Already the next day, Thursday, there was a very different programme for car and driver. Jörg Weidinger and the BMW M4 CSL completed the legendary Goodwood hill climb, the icon hill race track outside Goodwood House, twice a day for four days. First as a high-speed taxi for journalists and Youtuber like Joe Achilles or Shmee150, on the last two days against the clock and competition: the sportiest vehicles from all the different epochs of motor racing history.
SHMEE150 DRIVES THE GOODWOOD HILLCLIMB WITH JÖRG WEIDINGER IN THE BMW M4 CSL.
SHMEE150 DRIVES THE GOODWOOD HILLCLIMB WITH JÖRG WEIDINGER IN THE BMW M4 CSL.
FROM THE LIMIT TO EVERYDAY MODE.
Four days of the Festival of Speed were over, but the M4 CSL’s journey wasn’t – the vehicle, Jörg Weidinger and Markus Krajnik still had to get home. They set off on the return journey the day after the race Sunday. Without any time pressure, they now chose a more road trip-like route with more to offer the eye. First along the English South Coast, then across the English Channel, this time by ferry and not through the dark tunnel. Thereafter through Belgium and then the beautiful roads of the Eifel. The six-day spontaneous trip ended at the Nürburgring, where Weidinger and the BMW M4 CSL had an appointment. Passenger Krajnik swapped his bucket seat for one on the train to complete his return journey.
Jörg Weidinger and the M4 CSL covered almost 2,000km on the road. On well-built motorways, winding main roads and tracks full of potholes. He summed up the road trip thus: "Once again, I was able to see for myself the correctness of our adjustment philosophy of considering race track performance as an important part of the overall concept in our M vehicles, despite the focus on absolute suitability for everyday use!"
WE ARE M – 50 YEARS OF BMW M @ GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED.
.jpg?imwidth=1920)
