Dirk Mueller takes the Team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing BMW M3 for a fast lap around the Virginia International Raceway.
Source: BMW Racing North America on YouTube
Dirk Mueller takes the Team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing BMW M3 for a fast lap around the Virginia International Raceway.
BMW teamed up with Italian design house Zagato to create a premium version of the Z4 for the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Northern Italy. All of the body work is made of aluminum panels hand welded together and formed by the metal craftsmen at Zagato. The paint starts with a black primer which is then layered with a non-metallic silver before the red paint is applied and finished with an orange tint.
The first video tells the story behind the partnership and idea of the Zagato coupe.
Source: BMW Group on YouTube
If you are 1 of the 20 or so people who regularly read this blog right now, chances are you can understand this video. Chris Harris shares his personal E28 M5 with us. It was the car that captured his imagination while he was a young kid falling in love with automobiles for the first time. For enthusiasts like us, there are certain mechanical devices that speak to our souls. The first time you see one, you just know it. You say to yourself, “Man, I really like that.” The part that makes non-enthusiasts think that we’re crazy is that it’s usually something quirky that needs work. Not all cars, trucks or motorcycle are created and maintained to perfection, but we’re not perfect as people, either. There’s just something that connects our state of being with the existence of these mechanical objects. As cheesy as it may sound, it’s like finding a soulmate. It’s something that you always regret selling because it feels right when you have it around and you miss when it’s gone. Being able to have that kind of connection with something made of a bunch of steel, aluminum and rubber components is part of who we are.
It really doesn’t get much better than this if you like cars. Lets round up the three best track oriented street cars that are currently made and set them loose in the hands of one of the best car reviewers alive today. Chris Harris pits the BMW M3 GTS and the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series against his personal Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 Liter. These are the most hardcore track oriented street cars currently made by major manufacturers. The key distinction of this genre of cars is that they should perform well on track as well as being just practical enough to able to drive to the track. That’s what sets these cars apart from something like the KTM X-bow. In the first part of the video, Harris explains the background and philosophy of each car. The second part of the video involves taking all three cars to the track to set lap times and to see how well you can hoon in them. Dreaming about stuff like this is a big chunk of what being a car guy is all about.
The BMW 1M is, conceptually speaking, one of my favorite modern cars. Right off the bat the car was made for the enthusiasts without making a lot of compromises for broad market appeal. To keep development costs down, BMW Frankensteined the 1M together with stuff they already had in the parts bin. The rear axle is from the E46 M3 and the 3.0 liter twin turbo inline-6 is the same as the one you can get in the regular 1-series and 3-series, but with an upgraded turbo, exhaust and fuel mapping. This is the first M-car to have a turbocharged engine, but that’s not a bad thing. Between variable valve timing and direct injection, modern turbocharged engines like this one feel very much like larger displacement naturally aspirated engines. The plus side is you get much better fuel economy and gobs of fun torque instead of a high strung peaky power band. That’s what makes this car so much fun. Unfortunately the 1M was only sold for one model year to preserve its classic status. That’s a shame becuase BMW definitely got it right with this one.
Source: AutoCar on YouTube