BMW M2 Competition

An M2 CS remap ranks among this month’s upgrades

DURING THE PAST MONTH M25 OMP has not been out much, but I have done enough miles to experience the new and massively improved seating position. Any lower and I would struggle to see over the dash, and with legs out almost horizontal towards the pedals, the wheel all the way back towards me and the new gearlever the perfect distance away from the wheel, it’s hard to believe I’m in the same car. It’s genuinely night and day.

We’ve just finished another two-day stint at Swift Performance for the most recent build stage. The first job was replacing some of the recently fitted rose joints, which were causing a bit of a racket in the freshly stripped-out interior when they shouldn’t have been, so were believed to be a bad batch. The main rear subframe suspension bushes were also painstakingly removed and replaced with some solid aluminium ones by Millway (£255).

Next came some of Swift’s custom-made seat-belt buckle mounts, allowing the use of standard three-point belts when not on track and using the harnesses. Around the front of the car some Zunsport radiator guards (£285) were fitted to protect all the lower rads, but the main grille needs some attention at some point too. Also at the front we installed a Gts-style carbon splitter by Autoid (£530), which is big enough to help a little with aero and provide better cooling airflow, but small enough to work on UK roads.

On day two, Kyle Bratton from Defined Coding came over to Swift to apply some software changes. He started with some simple stuff, such as one-touch folding mirrors, then went on to install the steering and differential software from the M2 CS for some subtle yet brilliant upgrades.

Of course, the other software I wanted from the CS was its full-fat 444bhp engine tune, as the CS always feels happier and stronger above 5000rpm than the 404bhp Competition (both have 406lb ft of torque, by the way). ECU work on the M2 is quite labour intensive as its ports are hidden under the charge cooler, but once Swift had provided access, Kyle was able to install Pro Tuning Freaks’ Bootmod3 software. This gives me switchable maps on the fly, from that CS tune up to a ridiculous 500bhp Stage 1 map with around 500lb ft of torque! Although the latter sounds exciting, my poor clutch would not see the funny side, so the CS tune will be ample for now.

Date acquired November 2019 Total mileage 9760 Mileage this month 385 Costs this month £2600 mpg this month 23.5