Driving the Dinan S3R 1M, a 444-hp Big Wheel of fun

The Big Wheel was a low-riding, molded plastic, pedal-powerd tricycle invented in 1969 by the Louis Marx toy company. In addition to its inexpensive price, its bright primary-colors, and its nearly flip-resistant center of gravity, one of its most compelling features was the inclusion of a plastic-levered metal actuated handbrake fore of the right-hand rear wheel, the application of which allowed the junior chopper to perform awesome lockup turn and spinout maneuvers.

This vehicle came to mind quite readily recently, when we spent a couple days driving around Los Angeles in a S3R BMW 1M tuned by Bavarian-centric aftermarket speed shop Dinan. This mental correlation came about not only because, based as it is on the previous generation and limited edition M-massaged 1-Series, it is one of the few BMWs we’ve driven recently that still sports an actual hand-operated parking brake. Nor because, housed within its antagonistically flared rear wheel arches are a pair of eponymic big wheels: barbed 19” BBS black flanges sporting outrageous 295-series rubber that make the rear of the car appear as though it is digesting a typewriter platen.

The Big Wheel analogy came to mind more because, in the course of our driving, if we were chancy enough to disengage the traction control — regardless of location, road surface, manual gear ratio selection, or rate of travel — whenever we applied proper pressure to the gas pedal, we were able to induce a Big Wheel-like spin.

Dazing along at 28 mph around a sweeping cliff-side bend on Piuma Road in the Malibu Canyons? Spin.

Doing 50 mph in pre-rush hour traffic on Sunset Boulevard? Spin.