Today while out on a spontaneous (and VERY empty) back road jaunt (enjoying the 85+, cloudless skies), I came upon a Dinan 8(BMW 850 Dinan tweaked). I thought to myself, I wonder how I would do against this car. Before I could finish the thought, he was off and 3-4 lengths ahead. I hit it and as we accelerated on a 1/4 mile straight. I actually reeled him in by about a car length by the time we entered the first turn. What surprised me the most was first off, how well our car did against this car. I have little knowledge of Dinan cars, but from what I do know, in-order to get the actual Dinan badge, the car has to be balls out fast!! By the end of about 2 miles I was right on him and actually having to rein it in a bit. The other thing that surprised me was how well and aggressive this mid to late 60's guy was driving. He was braking late and hard and every-so-often getting some drift through the turns. By the time we came to the end of the road we slowed and he gave me the thumbs up and then proceeded to roll his window down and say "Damn, I have heard some people say that this car is fast and some say it is slow. It sure seems fast to me." I replied, "well, it only weighs 2700 and it ain't nearly as luxurious as that ride." A couple quick nods and we were each on our separate ways.

Just wanted to share...it was a GREAT day for driving and I had allot of fun holding my own with one of our esteemed German beauties.

 

Dinan makes cars in a variety of stages... I know the 8 series is a heavy car (4200lbs!) and with 296hp from the V12, they are quick, but not really fast, per se...

I think the V8 powered cars with are almost as quick because they have close to the same HP as the 12 cylinder cars... And then there was the 850CSi that was pretty stout (13s in the quarter)...

Overall, the 8 is probably not a match for a S2000. A few mods would help.

I've only raced 1 8 series, a Dinan 8 also... I got a doozie of one too. I got my a$$ handed to me. It was the V12 with twin turbos...