Take lots of water to Glamis stay hydrated I was there last weekend and it was super hot and kinda too hot to be honest. If you go let me know I may load up and squeeze another dune ride in.
No. There is a flat steel gasket that goes between the mid pipe and the turbo. All x3s have it and the R has it. It usually falls out the first time you remove the mid pipe. Yours might have been stuck on your stock mid pipe or stuck in place on the turbo. If you don't have a leak at that joint you are okay anyway.