Alex Roy’s Team Polizei 144 Blog

Last week I took the Polizei M5 on its first drive since its return from the 2007 Gumball. Still fully liveried and covered in Albanian dirt and mud, nothing seemed like a better idea than to visit Team Polizei friend and ally Mr. D. Of course, we had a secret mission that had to be carried out at the same time. (Many pics and more after the jump)

…because the Polizei M5 needs to refitted and prepped immediately. The Driver book tour is less than three months away, and although the traditional book tour takes writers to a series of book stores around the country, I have something quite different in mind.

Something very different.

And just when I thought my book tour plan was sufficiently well thought out, I was approached by a fan with an idea so outrageous that no one at Team Polizei HQ had ever thought of it.  This particular fan - a member of law enforcement from the beautiful state of Connecticut, the fourth such fan to contact me in recent weeks - suggested a parallel book tour for…let us say…Team Polizei’s colleagues throughout this fine nation. If you haven’t figured it out…yes. It’s true. And we’re working around the clock to make it happen.

The downside is that the vacation - my first in four years - just went out the window. (Others might consider the Gumball 3000 and Bullrun vacation, but it hasn’t been for the us.) Why? The Polizei M5 needs to be turned around and ready within days rather than weeks.

Luckily, our friend Mr. D - who happens also to have quite an interesting job in New Jersey, a job that must remain confidential for reasons we cannot reveal at this time - just happened to know a shop by his house where refit and prep work could begin immediately.

That’s Mr. D on the bottom right, getting his first look at the Polizei M5’s undercarriage. Not the Raytheon NightDriver Thermal Camera System mounted below the license plate. The Blinder Laser Jammers are recess-mounted to either side of the plate, and a Sony pencil camera is mounted just below the "1" in the 144.

In another strange coincidence, I completely forgot that a generous member of the London Metropolitan Police had given me a "Black Rats" sticker, which someone on the Team placed just left of the decklid M5 badge. The "Black Rats" - the nickname for the Traffic Division - allegedly earned their name due to the animal’s proclivity for eating their own. This sticker might explain why, on the 2007 Gumball, we reached the Eurostar first even after speeding past numerous police.  Maybe.

Here’s a close-up of what a Brembo GT kit looks like after 1800 miles of Gumballing. I wouldn’t drive without them.

And here’s one final shot of the car before it was lowered back into its natural realm. I’ll never understand how this car remains in one peice, in perfect operating condition, after 50,000+ miles of endurance driving…literally.

Nine major rallies. Dozens of other events. Long live the E39 M5.