It’s officially just a Pebble Beach concept but we’ve seen it being
ragged around the ‘ring
and the tech within has been tested in the
MotoGP safety car
this year. So we’re going to work on the assumption/hope that confirmation of a (probably limited) production M4 GTS will follow in due course.
Fixed wing and bigger tyres bulk up looks
Suffice to say, it’s a car everyone from M fanboys down is going to want to know all about. And BMW hasn’t wasted any time on foreplay, getting straight in there by stating “the new BMW Concept M4 GTS continues the tradition of BMW M3 special models already illuminated by the BMW M3 Evolution, BMW M3 Sport Evolution, BMW M3 GT, BMW M3 CSL, BMW M3 GTS and BMW M3 CRT.” Pretty special cars all of them and exactly the kind of hardcore variants BMW M needs to live up to if it’s to convince us it’s more than just a marketing division now.
M boss Franciscus van Meel - now ‘Frank van Meel’ in the publicity material for the American audience at Pebble – is laying down some pretty heavy hints at a customer car to follow. “Despite its outstanding track ability, it is still fully road-legal,” he says. “This is racing technology for the road in the truest sense.”
No numbers are being quoted for the improvements in power or torque but one of the most interesting innovations is a water injection system. Rather more sophisticated than the old intercooler water spray function on fancier STI Imprezas it has the same goal of lowering charge air temperature. “The water injection system introduced by BMW M Division sees the engineers using the physical effect of water when vaporising to draw the required energy from the ambient medium,” says the press release. “The water is injected into the plenums of the intake manifold as a fine spray. When the water vapourises, the intake air cools significantly. As a result, the final compression temperature in the combustion chamber – and therefore the engine’s tendency to ‘knock’ – is reduced, enabling the turbocharged engine to use higher boost pressure and earlier injection timing.”
Carbon bonnet with interesting tech beneath
Interestingly enough a very similar technology mixing water with methanol was employed by later models of the Messerschmitt 109 and (originally BMW-powered) Focke-Wulf 190 for a temporary boost in power to help them intercept and shoot down American bombers on daylight raids over Germany. The boss’s name may have been Americanised for the Pebble Beach audience but, oddly enough, this titbit doesn’t feature in the press release...
Back on topic. Other features for the GTS include manually adjustable front and rear aero, a carbon bonnet, forged 19/20-inch wheels with wider Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres and ‘Acid Orange’ accents to contrast with the Frozen Dark Grey Metallic paint. There are also ‘organic LED’ rear lights, described as “a new type of light source producing full-surface and homogenous illumination – in contrast to LEDs, which emit light to a single point.” Expect to see this tech on future BMWs, not just M models.
And in the meantime we’ll hold out for some numbers on power and performance, not to mention hoped for confirmation of a production car to follow.
here