BMW will go racing in 2016 with this demonic M6 GT3.
If you like your racing cars big and bewinged, then step this way: it's the new BMW M6 GT3.
BMW has just dropped these two exceedingly tantalising teaser
sketches of the M6 into our postbox and boy we're excited. But if the
idea of a racing car based on a luxo-GT car weighing 1.7 tons bamboozles you a little, then don't fret too much.The M6 GT3 will replace the Z4 GT3 racer, which belies its base car (which can't hold a candle to a Porsche Boxster) by cramming the 4.4-litre V8 from the M3 GTS under its bonnet and being really quite competitive in GT3 racing. It also sounds utterly and thunderously fantastic.
Early testing will begin at the start of 2015, with the beastly Bee-Em set to make its competition debut in 2016.
It'll use a 4.4-litre V8, albeit the twin-turbocharged unit seen in its road-going relation. There's no word on its performance, but BMW talks up some racing modifications, so the showroom M6's 560bhp and 501lb ft will hopefully receive a nice little tickle.
Other tweaks include an optimised chassis and a new motorsport-spec gearbox, ABS system and electronics. Needless to say, it will undergo a diet to rival the 5:2 and the Atkins'. Four plush leather seats will be replaced by one racing bucket, while there'll be liberal use of lightweight materials to shrink the M6's portly figure.
There's little in the way of official tech info yet, but the pictures are enough to get us worked up. The snarly bonnet vents, behemoth rear wing and M Division paint job set the racing Six up a right treat.
Eligible for championships running GT3 regulations, it looks set to be a bold way of exploring some of the world's greatest circuits. It would be allowed on the Nürburgring 24-hour grid, for instance...
If you're interested in snapping one up, order books open next year. There's no word on pricing just yet, but the Z4 GT3 cost around £270,000 upon launch.
