The BMW 1M coverage continues and we have a new ultimate photo gallery showing the “baby-M” going around the race track at the Monticello club. Last week, our own Hugo Becker lapped around the track aboard an Alpine White 1M and shared his driving experience.

Here are some tidbits from the 1M review:

“M has always been special, right from the beginning with the epic M1. And the 1M continues the tradition established by M of taking driver focused cars and honing them to a razor sharp edge. The new 1M doesn’t disappoint in that regard. Since I own a 135i, I feel pretty comfortable in relating how the 1M compares to its, now, ‘little’ brother. ”

And that’s just what the M group has been up to. The brilliant little short wheelbase 3 series that is the 1 series is a good starting point for the newest M car. The 1M benefits greatly from all of the wonderful M suspension bits from the M3. It sharpens the 135i and does so without too great a penalty in ride quality.

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On the highway the one minor quibble I have with this car is that the exhaust drones a bit at constant speed (around 60 – 70 mph). But man oh man does it sound good when you put your foot in it and when you lift (when it breaks in there’ll be an even more wonderfully sonorous burble on lift throttle). But, unlike other reviews I’ve seen, I have no complaints regarding the steering weight.

And then there’s the brakes – yes the floating calipers aren’t as visually compelling as the fixed six pot fronts on the 135i, but boy howdy do they work! And the cross drilled rotors do a good job of dispelling heat. No brake fade was encountered (although I wasn’t using the binders as heavily as others).

The 1M on the track is addictive. It’s a combination of great sounds, great chassis, and a thoroughly well matched powerplant to the car. It’s shorter wheelbase makes it just that much more nimble than larger cars and all of that torque, available almost off idle this will make the 1M a killer on any track with a surfeit of slow speed corners. This thing is nasty quick, it just digs hard out of the corners. Go wide open throttle and you’ll get the additional torque from the overboost function for about five seconds, enough to propel you headlong into the next corner.”

And here is the full photo gallery…