I had an excellent session
![Driving 2 :drv2:](https://www.autos.ca/forum/Smileys/CarTalk/driving.gif)
in the 325i from valley to the Parkway. About 20km of winding road up the Blue Ridge, that gets progressively tighter and steeper after meandering along the rivière. I was cornering faster than I normally do on my bike, although that's simply because I'm timid around blind corners on 2-wheels. The 325i sport is still a fun, willing, and extremely capable car.
Just finished a MTB/DH ride in the forest, didn't plan on doing a spirited drive. "I'll just go up a few km, then U-turn." Well, the car in front of me was on a quick pace, so I tagged along. There were no other cars, and I was having a good time. Eventually I gave the other driver room, then went full out the last, steepest 8-10km where the ø grade = 7% and it climbs to 1350m.
For the entire 20km, the quick, active steering was spot on. I was deftly balancing the throttle, brake (left foot), and controls, blipping the throttle for downshifts as I entered corners at speed and tucked the car in. ContiSportContact 3s stuck like glue, suspension never left its firm set.....it was excellent.
Then the transmission cried uncle. I overheated the transmission. Last 3km or so till the top, smelled something burning that wasn't motor oil. At the top...."Ding!" and the gear indicator disappeared along a the gearbox warning in amber. Car went into limp mode, so I pulled it over onto one of overlooks to give it a minute. The lever wouldn't budge from Park ("
Nein ! Noch nicht, lass mich noch weiter in ruhe !"). So I turned off the car, snapped some pictures, restarted the car a few min later and drove home on the Parkway with no further ill effect.
![Thumbs up :thumbup:](https://www.autos.ca/forum/Smileys/CarTalk/thumbsup.gif)
I even tunnel blasted
![Smiley :)](https://www.autos.ca/forum/Smileys/CarTalk/smiley.gif)
First time I'd ever done that to a gearbox. It's okay, the car's got 214k km and I don't think any car would be happy being driven 3500 - 7000 1/min for 20km on end at that age.