BMW M4 CS Fails To Beat M3 Competition Pack in Track Test, Tires To Blame

An M4 CS was recently thrown around Magny-Cours by Motorsport Magazine and while the French editors did deliver their best effort, the two-door couldn't manage to beat the lap time they had set using the obviously inferior M3 Competition Package.

However, if you take a look at the footage of the lap, you'll quickly understand that the CS was far from having used its full potential. In fact, the lap looks like a mess, with the Bimmer oversteering all over the places and even showing more understeer than expected at times.

So, what is the explanation for the disappointing bend performance of the car? After all, the CS was brought to life as a special edition that would be slotted in between the "regular" M4 and the all-out M4 GTS track special.

Well, the answer comes from the tires. For reasons that haven't been mentioned, the test car had been supplied with Micheline Pilot SuperSport rubber. So, instead of the super-sticky Cup 2 tires that should've been fitted to the Bavarian toy, the vehicle featured ex-generation rubber.

Sure, you can have plenty of track prepping on this 460 hp animal, which should be offered at around $100,000 in the US, but it won't be worth all that much without the proper shoes.

"Because of tires... BMW didn't put the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 (the OEM choice) on this car. We will test very soon the M4 CS with the good tires," the mag explained using the comments section of the YouTube video.

So, next time you talk about a certain machine having set a new record on a track (by the way, the M4 CS is a 7:38 car on the Nurburgring), make sure you pay close attention to the tire difference between the newcomer and the beast that used to hold that record.