M5 vs. CTS-V Drag Race
 

One of the best demonstrations of the M5's top end pull. It's like it has Extreme Ram Air effect, or something:

This was the first clip I remember seeing that demonstrated this effect (the other car is a 550):

Aerodynamics might be better and it also has 7 gears.

Apparently the CTS-V has a Cd of 0.31 vs. 0.30 for the E60 M5. Furthermore, there are a number of cars now that have 8-speed trans, and I haven't heard about any of them having this type of 'two-stage' acceleration profile. It's almost like they torque-limit the engine until it's in 5th gear or something.

GTBoard (aka M5/6Board) set up there whole drag sequence to take advantage of this characteristic (i.e. 50-260 km/h).

The CTS-V is the king....

That's pretty amazing...

BMW even with the E39 long stated that the car "does better" when air is rushing through the engine bay at speed. The v10 is no different :) Too bad 155 is an indicated 170+ in it.

This is more o a display of gearing than anything else. The M5/M6 drivetrain is setup for optimum acceleration from 0 to top speed. The M cars dont really have a 'cruise gear' - over drive ratio. With 6 gears shorter than 1:1 and a final drive of 3.6 vs the CTS-V's 3.23 the M5 should keep pulling long after the CTS-V settles in to a 0.85 / 3.23 highspeed "cruise".

The one car was designed for legal highjinks on the autobahn, the other for quick dashes to an illegal 140mph and then back to 70 in the fast lane ;)

OK, that makes sense with the CTS-V, but what about the 550 race? I've seen countless vids (highway runs) where if the other car is close, or just a little faster up to ~120/130mph, the M5 will reel it in and walk away until the limiter triggers.

I have never heard any good reason to explain why this happens.

N.B.the M5 is old hat by comparison.

Also those eight speed gearboxes are traditional automatics.

Listen the the engine not eof the M5 - it is always on-song, like a race car with a close ratio transmission, each shift leaves the engine in teh sweet spot and it pulls to the next gear, rinse and repeat.

Makes a huge difference in using all the available power. My RC45 was like that - even being 20bhp down on other 750's and 900's it would sing throung the mid-range speeds and reel them in after their initial dash to 100mph. The 550/575 shouldnt lose that badly though, as it too has a relatively short and close ration setup gearbox, but the M5 7 speed is pur eengineering heaven - the ratios match the engine to a T - no compromise at all.

Maybe the reality is that the M5 shifts way better than any 550/575 driver ever could.

fair comment boss, but the E60 M5 isn't too lovely on the road, you chaps have a 6 speed manual version though?

The engine is glorious however, SMG is poor.

everytime I see the CTS-V I wonder what is stopping GM from making a coupe V? or did they already? if they did it has got zero publicity, the Ram effect is noticeable, but then notice the humongous fron openings the BMW uses, it's reminiscent of the late 90s pontiacs, we may never get to experience it but it's kinda nice to know it can PWN a 550, for all it says is that "my family saloon can destroy your bat-mobile wanna be 550"

but in my opinion, BMW ... it's time to bend over, cadillac is sticking its driveshaft up your tailpipe

The waggon V was officially announced last week, and the V Coupe wont be announced until after the Coupe is already available... expect feb or march of 2010 for the first coupes to hit the street. I'd expect the V's to be available in June...

Erm.. the E60 M5's 6th gear is 1:1.. 7th is overdrive, so that douche bags can cruise at 80mph at a cool 3000rpm... but their final drive is pretty ridiculous.