FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Toronto, ON (November 21, 2017) – The ST Racing Team just returned from Palm Springs, California where they spent three days testing their brand new race car at the state-of-the-art Thermal Club racetrack, and came away elated with the drive capabilities of BMW’s M4 GT4.
But before going to Palm Springs for the test at Thermal, Team Principal Kenneth Tan and ST Racing’s Nick Wittmer took delivery of the new car in Chicago and took it out for a spin at the City’s local Autobahn racetrack.
Mr. Tan was quite impressed with the new M4 GT4. “This is a true race car” he said when he got out of the car. “The M235iR that we ran last season was more of a street car turned race car. This M4 has racecar DNA. And, it has few similarities to the regular street car except for looks and body parts. Testing it last weekend at Palm Springs was very challenging but a whole lot of fun. Every one on the Team worked hard and learned a lot about the car. There is still much to learn about this extremely complex racecar.”
When Samantha Tan joined the Team for the test in Palm Springs, she spent the first part of the weekend drifting on the skid pad and learning control at very high speeds while teammate Nick Wittmer ran the new car on track and helped the crew work out the bugs. The following day, Tan joined Wittmer on track in the new car, and tried to run as many laps as she could while getting a taste of much higher speeds.
Tan’s comments reflected many of the M4’s intricacies. “We were graciously invited to test at Thermal by Daren Jorgensen, and it was a lot of fun” she said. “I did skid-pad practice for the whole first day, so I didn’t hop into the new car until the second day. My first session in the M4 GT4 lasted an hour and 10 minutes, and it was absolutely incredible. It handles really well, much like the M235 but it has a DCT (dual clutch transmission) so it shifts a lot quicker. Overall, the M4 is a lot quicker in every aspect. There is also no brake booster, so my legs were sore the following days. However, at that moment, it really wasn’t a problem. The only small issue that I found was that the front left A-pillar kind of blocks a bit of your vision, so you have to look early to find the apex. Altogether, the test session was successful in getting me more familiarized with the car and most importantly, it was so much fun. I can’t wait to get back into it soon. Lastly, I’d like to thank the Team for setting up the car, and everyone else who came to support and help out.”
At the end of the weekend, after spending a lot of time on track, Nick Wittmer just couldn’t say enough about the new car and the test itself. “It was great running at Thermal Club in Palm Springs. What a magnificent place to go testing. It’s like paradise, always sunny and warm. The M4 GT4 is a really beautiful car. Beautiful in design and so much fun to drive. The comfort of being behind that fabulous steering wheel is just unreal. We had a few bugs in the car on the first day, but we fixed those by the second day of testing, and got the car rolling. We got many laps in and put a lot of mileage on the car, and we’re already looking forward to the next test. We’ll be ready. We’re so looking forward to seeing what the upcoming season will bring.”
Team Principal, Kenneth Tan was quite pleased with the test and gave kudos to the whole ST Racing Team for doing such a great job on the car, and thanked Daren Jorgensen for his precious help in sponsoring the Thermal test.
ST Racing will be announcing their plans for 2018 shortly. Stay tuned !