BMW M Engine Talk: BMW M4 meets BMW M4 GT3
Video highlights common ground between the engines in the BMW M4 Competition and new race-spec BMW M4 GT3.
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 . 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 (375 kW), 650 Newton metres – 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 (440 kW), 700 Newton metres – 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.”
