BMW M4 GT3 Race Car Is Ready to Take On the Best in Class Come Daytona autoweek.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from autoweek.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
BMW
Back in August, we got confirmation that the M4 GT3 would sport the controversial grille that has since grown on us, and we have to admit: this thing looks awesome. The exterior of the GT3 shares the production car s grille size. The roof also features two longitudinal fins like its road-going sibling. The most notable difference however is the rear end. The racing car is 3 inches wider on each side, but we have carried over the rear lights from the production car and the rear contour of the trunk lid is also the same, said Anne Forschner, Exterior Designer BMW M4 Competition.
BMW
In the video, Marcus Engelke, Project Manager Drivetrain BMW M4, and Ulrich Schulz, Head of Drivetrain Design at BMW Motorsport make it clear that the straight-six engine was developed from the outset to be used for both track and road use. 510 hp, 650 Newton meters (479 lb-ft) - this is the most powerful straight-six engine we ve ever fitted in a production car, says Engelke, while Schulz adds that at 590 hp and 516 lb-ft, this is the most powerful straight-six engine BMW has installed in a racing car since the days of the BMW M1 Group 5.
The 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged S58 six-cylinder engine used in the M4 is an upgraded version of the engine used in the X3 M and X4 M. The base M4 produces 473 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque which it sends to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission. The M4 Competition manages 503 hp and 479 lb-ft thanks to a boost increase, and channels that power through an eight-speed automatic transmission.