Last night I took off again in M5 to test it
at section of road better suit its character. It is highway 17 from San Jose to Santa Cruz in Bayarea USA.
This time I can use third and forth gear in stead of second
gear twisty road I tried which doesn't suit M5's character.

Well, it was a very satisfying experience.
M5 is truly a very fast and stable car at swooping bend.
Except the steering which lack precision to let me go
higher limit. I am doing probably 60-80% of car's limit
because I am only 1-2 feet away from left lane concrete
wall and the steering just doesn't
give me enough confidence to go higher.
One section of twisty road is undulating BAD and I wouldn't
keep my car inside the lane ! I am lucky I wasn't at left
lane at that time. Or I maybe I will hit left concrete wall.
The steering is simply too light and as my body is fighting
with centrifugal force and being thrown up and down,
I just cannot keep M5 at full control.
After that scary section, I was even much more careful afterward.

I want to have fun, not killing myself.
But still I pass very car in sight fast, not even trying.
Some sporty cars trying to play with me but they just
could not keep up with M5 even though I wasn't trying.

Finally on my way back I passed a MB SL500. And he
caught up with me and stayed behind me for maybe for
30 seconds and maybe 10 twisty bends. I was using third gear
and not trying very hard. I was actually more careful
when someone is behind me. Then we came up a very
long straight and uphill section. I want to see how much
power the SL500 has so I floored it at third gear and
the SL500 cannot keep up. When I changed to forth gear
he gave up any hope and desire to catch me.
Damn the little engine M5, sing like banshee and has
enough power to redline at fourth even in that uphill
section. But I let up before red-line it. The point has
already made clear who has more power. Or rather, who has
beter power to weight ratio and use it more efficently
( the manual gearbox wins here ).
I still think street race is silly, I don't let anyone push
me over my limit at public road.

The other thing I felt was M5's engine has less engine
braking power than normal 3.0L V6 engine( like my
Alfa 164S 3.0L V6 ). Has anyone noticed this or only my
car is doing this? Maybe it has something to do with
the 6 throttle plates ? The BMW parts guy described
this engine as giant motorcycle engine, what a proper description.

Karl, 92 Euro M5 in San Jose, AvusBlue
Getting to know my Euro M5 as day goes by.