SIMOLA HILLCLIMB BLOG 1 | Meeting the BMW i4 M50

A few weeks ago BMW South Africa asked if I'd be interested in racing an all-electric i4 M50 at the 2023 Simola Hillclimb in Knysna from May 4 to 7. All I had to do, they said, is make the car look good and not go catapulting off the side of a mountain or into a cliff face. I told them I'd try my best and graciously accepted the offer.

Now as I had never seen an i4 M50 in the metal, let alone driven one, the good folk at BMW duly arranged some track time for me to get better acquainted. So I arrived at Zwartkops Raceway early on April 17 where this fine Mineral White Metallic example was waiting for me in the pit lane: washed, charged and ready to rock and roll. In case you are not sure what the i4 M50 is all about, let me quickly break it down for you.

For all intents and purposes, it's basically an M440i xDrive Gran Coupé that's swapped its B58 petrol engine for a sophisticated electric powertrain consisting of an 83.9kWh battery pack and dual electric motors. The one on the rear axle pumps out 230kW, while the one up front is good for 190kW. Once these figures have been added and then divided by scientific formulas and engineering-grade math, you are left with a combined 400kW and 795Nm of torque. For the sake of context, a BMW M3 Competition makes 405kW and 650Nm.

Despite its considerable curb weight (2,215kg vs a comparatively lithe 1,840kg for the M3), these figures endow the i4 M50 with monstrous acceleration. Set it to Sport Boost mode, initiate the launch control and after sidestepping the brake pedal you will reach 100km/h in 3.9 seconds. After that, this electric BMW will keep on pulling like a Saturn V rocket until it hits an electronically limited 225km/h. I'm sure it would go a lot faster, but doing so would probably have an adverse effect on the powertrain. Or battery. Who knows which.

Anyway, back to the track. After buckling up and finding a decent driving position (always an easy thing to do inside a BMW), I spear out into the pits for a couple of hot laps. And the first thing that strikes me is just how eerily quiet things are. For despite an artificial drive sound being piped through the speakers (German film-score composer Hans Zimmer was responsible for crafting its timbre), the lack of any combustive vibrations filtering into the cabin makes the i4 M50 feel like quite an oddity, especially out on a racetrack where an engine's pitch, the rising and falling of its revs, is such an important reference point. With none of this on offer, your brain seeks other streams of information to decode the car's relationship with the track rushing beneath it. And in this case it's the sound of the tyres. 

Indeed, unlike in a conventional car, this comparable decibel deficit serves to amplify the screech of rubber on tar and makes you a lot more aware of your remaining grip levels. Whether bombing hard into Zwartkops' corner five (a painful shriek) or feathering through corner three (a faint chirrup), this new automotive language tells all you need to know about your hold on terra firma. Before going out I was told to save my Hankooks for The Hill, so I'm listening acutely through the twisty bits to conserve tread. 

On the straight sections I'm not holding back, mind, and with the throttle pinned to the floor I'm left aghast at how fast the i4 M50 is. I can't tell you what speeds I was hitting (I wasn't looking), but I can tell you that it's been a while since I've been in a machine that closes the gap from the hairpin down to turn four so quickly — it's seriously impressive!

Braking on the other hand is less so, partly due to that considerable kerb weight and partly due to tyres that are geared more towards optimal rolling resistance than all-out adhesion (range anxiety and all that jazz). As such you have to adapt your driving style, brake earlier than you'd want to and adopt the classic slow-in fast-out approach. I need to remember this going up the hill as outbraking myself could/will lead to disaster. 

Handling? Well despite using somewhat compromised underpinnings (this is not a dedicated EV platform like you will find on something like a Porsche Taycan or Tesla Model 3, but rather a heavily revised internal combustion architecture), the BMW i4 M50 does well with very little body roll and reactions, particularly during initial corner entry, that come tantalising close to those offered by its petrol-powered M-badged siblings.

It also does a commendable job at hiding its heft through corners, which is not something I can say for the last EV I drove, the Audi e-tron 55 Quattro. Dynamically speaking it's fairly neutral, but with the traction control off you can get that tail to slide out rather easily. When it does, it's easy to catch with a quick flick of that chunky (maybe overly so) steering wheel. Basically, the i4 M50 feels like an M car, which is a big kudos for the engineering team.

All in all it proved an educational track session, one that was certainly needed not just to familiarise myself with the i4 M50, but also to learn where its limits lie: absolutely crucial when giving it your all up the tight, gnarly, take-no-prisoners Simola Hillclimb course.

Watch this space (or follow me on Instagram) for updates as and when they happen.