Z4 handling, M3 GTS power and Z8 coupe looks - what's not to love? Join Matt Prior as he gets behind the wheel of the Smit Oletha, a completely reimagined BMW Z4 Coupe
It drives the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox and a mechanical limited-slip differential. It’s a bit of a squeeze in the Z4’s engine bay, though, so much so that a bespoke exhaust manifold is intricately threaded around the steering column, which itself drives with a smaller power-steering pump from a much later. They’ve used BMW parts wherever possible. At the moment, the Oletha weighs 1450kg fully fuelled, but it should be lighter with production parts.
The brothers are still tweaking the dynamics, yet to settle on a set of suspension bushings that don’t allow kickback through the steering and decide on settings for the adjustable KW suspension, currently set overfirmly. Plus they think the steering is too light. But they tell me they would like to set up the Oletha as a road car primarily, rather than as a track car, and that we should go for an afternoon drive on some good roads to find out how it feels. So we do.
We tour briefly up the coastal road and I see what the Smits mean about the ride , steering weight and kickback . But then we turn onto what Americans call canyon roads, which you and I would know as some of the twistiest, emptiest, best hillclimb roads you could come across, and it all gets better. Much, much better.At the moment, the highlight of the experience is the engine, which has a genuine triality of character.
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