As part of exclusive Monterey Car Week, we spent some time at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Described as an auto museum springing to life, this annual must-see event was more spectacular with BMW turning up the heat. In between races BMW had onlookers smiling with awe with the North American Premiere of the BMW M Motorsports M4 GT3 top-level customer race car.
The BMW M4 GT3 has already had all kinds of testing in Europe but this was the first time it was seen in North America. The M4 GT3 features the most powerful inline 6-cylinder engine ever developed for a BMW race car since the M1 Group 5 with upwards of 590 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque mated to a paddle-shifted 6-speed transaxle and an electro-hydraulic clutch operated by an additional paddle.
A new M Track Cockpit allows for most programming and operation of the car through onboard menus eliminating the need for an external laptop. As a world first, BMW has teamed up with Fanatec to create a steering wheel compatible with the M4 GT3 and SIM racing that offers adjustment and activation of essential settings for the driver in race mode (e.g., traction control, radio, ABS, engine mapping, windscreen wipers, drink system). Priced at $530,000, North American deliveries of the BMW M4 GT3 are expected in early 2022. Now, this is for top-level racecar customers only but before you start your team visit one of BMW and MINI Performance Driving Schools first.
A special shout-out of thanks to BMW Blog for the video.
Bespoke