BMW M4 GTS - official!

500hp, 7min 28sec round the 'ring, water injection, just 30 of 700 for the UK and starting price of ... £121,770

Just how far can BMW push the M4? Well, of all the many, many numbers unleashed with the new M4 GTS the £121,770 price may well be the one that grabs the most attention. What, you believed it'd remain just a concept? The previous V8 GTS introduced us to the idea of the six-figure M3 but with this new M4 version BMW really isn't mucking about.

Water injection permits more boost and 500hp

Once you've digested that price - and the fact just 30 of the 700 build are due to make it to the UK - there are plenty more stats to take in. Power goes up from 431hp to 500hp, torque from 406lb ft to 442lb ft. Much of this is thanks to a water injection system that injects a fine spray into the induction system, cooling the mixture and permitting more boost and earlier spark than would otherwise be possible. At maximum attack the five-litre tank will drain at the same rate as the fuel; in more normal use you'll need to top it up every five fills or so according to BMW.

Thanks to this and a 27kg weight saving to a DIN weight of 1,510kg 0-62 drops to 3.8 seconds and top speed is now 190mph (matching the old GTS). The only transmission choice is the seven-speed DCT dual clutch and there's a purposeful looking titanium exhaust system complete with laser engraved M logos. Carbon features heavily in the bodywork and aesthetics. For all that it's a less extreme and stripped back car than the old GTS for sure, maintaining much of the configurability and gadget count of the standard M4. But by the measure of that 'ring lap time it's clearly a much, much faster one.

Not really that minimalist in here

Now, given the M4 has been hacking round the Nordschleife for months now we're going to give BMW the benefit of the doubt and say the claimed 7min 28sec is a 'proper' time bagged before the speed restrictions went in place. And not a collection of best sector times like Lotus published recently. If that's the case BMW is saying it's nearly 30 seconds faster than the standard car, that time now in the serious league and comparable with GT3 911s, GT-Rs and similar.

And you'll need more than a power bump and carbon fibre dressing to achieve that. So the GTS gets standard ceramic brakes, a serious weight saving diet that loses the rear seats and much of the rest of the interior trim, manually adjustable dampers that can be tweaked for rebound and independent high- and low-speed compression. The aero is also adjustable with the front splitter adjustable between road and track settings. You'll want to adhere to those self-explanatory labels too, unless you enjoy the sound of splintering carbon fibre against speed hump.

If you want to do the full 'deep dive' into the spec you can read the full press release here. Suffice to say there are options aplenty to consider including the free Clubsport pack of harnesses and cage and a £1,090 Carbon Fibre Interior Performance Package for those lucky 30 UK customers. This includes shift lights and more on the steering wheel.

Do the extra baubles a £120K M4 make though? Over to you...