As a diversion from work I went with my lad James to Santa Pod to participate in some drag racing – he drove my wife’s heavily modified BMW 3 series and I used the driving school car. We had some very close racing together. No doubt our times would have been more impressive if we knew how to switch off the traction control completely but BMW do not encourage drivers to use their cars in this manner. It seems that just pressing the traction control button is not sufficient to deactivate the system completely, You have to delve in the manual for that!
(no engine parts were harmed in the process though my heart was racing somewhat 🙂