PressClub Canada · Article.
BMW M Engine Talk: BMW M4 meets BMW M4 GT3.
Thu May 20 00:01:00 CEST 2021 Press Release
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Video highlights common ground between the engines in the BMW M4 Competition and new race-spec BMW M4 GT3.
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BMW Group
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Author.
Marc Belcourt
BMW Group
Munich. From series production to motor sport and
back: part 2. Hot on the heels of the BMW M Design Talk (see here),
BMW M GmbH is releasing a new video introducing the shared heart of
the new BMW M4 GT3 racing car and BMW M4 Competition production model
(fuel consumption combined: 10.2 – 9.9 l/100 km [27.7 – 28.5 mpg imp]
in the WLTP cycle, 10.2 l/100 km [27.7 mpg imp] in NEDC; CO2 emissions
combined: 233 – 227 g/km in WLTP, 234 g/km in NEDC). In the BMW M4
Engine Talk, Marcus Engelke, Project Manager Drivetrain BMW M4, and
Ulrich Schulz, Head of Drivetrain Design at BMW Motorsport, highlight
fascinating details of the six-cylinder in-line engine with M
TwinPower Turbo technology, which was conceived from the outset for
both road cars and track machines.
“510 hp, 650 Newton metres (479 lb-ft) – this is the most powerful
straight-six engine we’ve ever fitted in a production car,” says
Marcus Engelke to kick off the video. “590 hp, 700 Newton metres (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,” adds
Ulrich Schulz. The two engineers go on to describe how incredibly
similar the engine in the BMW M4 Competition is to its counterpart at
the core of the new flagship model in the BMW M Motorsport line-up.
Currently in its final year of development, the BMW M4 GT3 will be
charged with helping BMW M Motorsport teams compete for GT race
victories and titles around the world from 2022.
With components of the power unit in the production M model –
including the crankcase, cylinder head, crankshaft drive, crankshaft
and connecting rod – also designed to deliver maximum performance on
the track, the perfect groundwork for the race-spec unit is already in
place. Engelke and Schulz explore in detail how the engine is
positioned and installed in the different cars, and underline their
points with easy-to-understand sketches on a flipchart. This paints a
clear picture of where the specific demands on the production/racing
car engine lie and how BMW M GmbH has risen to the task of meeting
those challenges.
As well as presenting the two complete engines, the experts also
use the video to delve into individual components in detail, e.g.
the dry sump pan and throttle valves of the racing engine, and the
intercooler in the BMW M4 Competition. They also single out
components which are identical in the two units, such as the
connecting rod with pistons and theturbocharger housing – which was
transferred to the racing car in unmodified form.
“As well as using many of the same parts, we are also working
together closely on the manufacturing side. The complete engine is
assembled out of the series-produced base unit just a few metres
away from here,” says Markus Engelke, reflecting on the BMW M4
Competition engine’s birthplace at the BMW M facility on Munich’s
Preussenstrasse. “We have come full circle,” explains Ulrich Schulz:
“BMW M and BMW Motorsport have a shared history, and it all began at Preussenstrasse.”