[Palmnuts]

I've posted this on the M6 forum but I thought I'd let you guys (especially any UK M5 owners frustrated with the inability to spec the M Drivers Pack) know that I've managed to get this option officially retrofitted. Sorry but it's probably not much use for anyone outside of Europe as I had to take my car to Germany to get this 'installed' by the BMW dealer in Aachen - they can do this for any M5/M6 so if anyone wants the contact there just PM me for the details.

Having just driven to and from Berlin, I can confirm that if you're a regular visitor to Germany, there's plenty of opportunity to enjoy this option. The car is positively made for this and it's quite surreal how stable and comfortable (subject to lack of traffic) it feels at anything up to its new 190mph limiter (indicated 196mph on my car). It has the most incredible top end acceleration and the speed with which it gets to the new limiter is outrageous - and was still going strong and I reckon it would be a good 210mph car fully delimited. Unbelievably, I don't know if its better aero, brute force or my memory playing tricks on me but it sure appeared noticeably more accelerative above 120mph than my SLS or 997.2 Turbo

The option cost me the same as it would if I could've spec'd it from new - €2500. It's expensive but it does include a full trackday with tuition provided by BMW, in one of their cars (so saving the wear and tear on your own car), which alone is probably worth half of that cost. Indeed, I believe one of the tracks is the Nurburgring and to do a proper trackday (not TF) in your own car, fully insured and fuelled etc. is in excess of £1.2k.

Also, unlike any aftermarket solution (if you find anyone who can do it properly), the car retains its drivetrain warranty as it's an official BMW retrofit - just not one that BMW UK or its dealers have any interest in (or knowledge about) selling. Bizarrely, the update was done by a CD which they popped into the CD player whilst it was hooked up to BMW. I just need to make sure my dealer in the UK has this CD whenever they do a software update.