For someone who loves to drive a BMW, and also loves track driving, an invitation to the BMW M Festival at Kyalami was a no-brainer. The day comprised of driving a plethora of M models around the newly refurbished track at Kyalami. As well as experiencing the newly launched BMW M4CS.

My choice of the M models driven was definitely the M3 as well as the M4 DTM, which had exceptional grip on the tight corners.

The BMW M4 CS fills the gap in the line-up between the M4 Coupe with Competition Package and the uncompromisingly track-focused BMW M4 GTS. It will be built at the original BMW plant in Munich.

The M4 CS also sees BMW M GmbH introducing a new nomenclature for its models. Positioned above the standard M models will be the performance-boosted Competition versions. Then come the CS special-edition models, a notch higher still. Positioned on top are the performance-maximising “brand shapers” which display a clear motor sport or club sport character but are also fully road legal.

Styling Exterior.

The CS is a handsome car indeed, sporty with its twin LED headlights and the three-section airtakes in the front end, which cool the air going into the red hot engine when it is performing. It has a fair amount of carbon fibre to make the car lighter.

It has a rear diffuser and spoiler lip to help with aero dynamics, and OLED rear lights which mean organic light emitting diode. The side profile is flowing and beautiful with the sporty M mirrors and muscular wheel arches.

Into the Cabin.
The interior of the CS is sport personified, with lightweight M- SPORT and soft touch door panel trim made from natural fibres. It gives the car some class, in that the CS is not just a track car but has some of the finer things in life. Indeed it has a superb sound system installed in case you want some tunes on the way to the track.

The Engine & Performance.
That’s what the CS is after all all about, so lets talk about the 3.0-litre high-performance engine raises the output of the M4 with Competition Package by 10 horsepower, to (338kW). State-of-the-art TwinPower Turbo technology allows the M4 CS to dip below the four-second mark for the 0 to 100 km/h sprint, stopping the clock at 3.9 seconds. The top speed of the M4 CS, which comes as standard with the M Driver’s Package, is electronically limited to 280 km/h.

The CS feels like a pocket rocket in that it handles so well you don’t feel any weight at all on the car. It is equipped as standard with the seven-speed M Double Clutch Transmission (M DCT) with Drivelogic. This cutting-edge transmission has a separate oil cooler and enables both automated gear changes and manual interventions using the shift paddles on the steering wheel. It changes gears in fractions of a second with no interruption in the flow of power, but employs a long seventh gear to keep revs low and minimise fuel consumption over longer motorway journeys.

The M4 CS is fitted as standard with Adaptive M suspension whose geometry has been tuned to deliver optimised performance on both the road and track. The new BMW M4 CS has also been honed on the most demanding test track of them all for high-performance sports cars: the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife. Its ’Ring lap time of 7 min. 38 sec. puts the CS in super-sports car territory.

It has three drive modes to get the most out of your track time, namely- (Comfort, Sport and Sport+) at the touch of a button. While Comfort mode is particularly well suited to poor road conditions, city driving and short journeys, Sport will be the mode of choice for keen drivers looking to push on over twisty country roads. And for those heading to the track with their BMW M4 CS, Sport+ mode will pave the way for the fastest lap times. Sport+ fettles all the relevant systems to deliver the best possible dynamics. Should the driver get a little too excited, DSC will intervene in an instant. However, in M Dynamic Mode (MDM) it will also allow controlled drifts.

Also very much at home on the race track are the light-alloy wheels (front: 9 J x 19, rear: 10 J x 20) designed exclusively for the M4 CS and fitted as standard with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres (front: 265/35 R 19, rear: 285/30 R 20). These semi-slick cup tyres, which are also road-legal, provide unbeatable grip and supreme lateral stability at high track speeds, as well as optimum traction out of hairpins. The M4 CS can also be ordered with Michelin Sport road tyres at no extra cost.

The BMW M4 CS is priced at R1,838,500.

In summary the CS was the pick of the day for me as it has all the track dynamics you want plus some normal driving comforts to boot. The DTM was the pick purely for track.