The BMW M8 GTE Is An Endurance Racing Brute That's Taking On Le Mans
We’re in a rather curious situation right now with the 8-series. We’ve only seen the concept, and yet here we have the M8 GTE - the racing version of the production car. Not only that, but the racing version of the production car’s hot M Division derivative, which we probably won’t be seeing until even later than the boggo 8er.
The reason for the mixed up ordering? It’s all to do with BMW’s assault on the World Endurance Championship, which will kick off next year, incorporating the firm’s first factory entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2011.
Nestling in that mean-looking front-end is a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. Its displacement is limited by the regulations, although the block and cylinder head are “taken from the production engine.” It’s good for a base output of 493bhp, and is hooked up to a six-speed sequential racing gearbox.
Thanks to the stripping away of all luxuries and the extensive use of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic in the car’s construction, it tips the scales at just 1220kg. We’re guessing the production car will be a fair bit porkier than that…
It has the usual conspicuous because racecar aerodynamic accoutrements including a giant rear wing, a meaty rear diffuser and a hefty front splitter, but what’s interesting is how the aero side of things was developed. BMW says it used a “new algorithm” to substantially increase its CFD (computer fluid dynamics) calculations, allowing them to run far more simulations before heading to the wind tunnel. This allowed them to develop - among other things - the car’s “innovative aero rims,” although BMW is yet to say how these actually work.
Want to see it in action? The car’s competition debut will be the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona next January as part of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which the M8 will be contesting in addition to WEC.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Well, at least it has a V8
Hey m8, it’s got a v8 m8, I r8 it 8/8, and it looks gr8
No h8 but it was f8 and it’s too l8
YES M8
1v1 me m8
I r8 8/8: Gr8 b8, m8. I rel8, str8 appreci8, and congratul8. I r8 this b8 an 8/8. Plz no h8, I’m str8 ir8. Cr8 more, can’t w8. We should convers8, I won’t ber8, my number is 8888888, ask for N8. No calls l8 or out of st8. If on a d8, ask K8 to loc8. Even with a full pl8, I always have time to communic8 so don’t hesit8. dont forget to medit8 and particip8 and masturb8 to allevi8 your ability to tabul8 the f8. We should meet up m8 and convers8 on how we can cre8 more gr8 b8, I’m sure everyone would appreci8, no h8. I don’t mean to defl8 your hopes, but its hard to dict8 where the b8 will rel8 and we may end up with out being appreci8d, I’m sure you can rel8. We can cre8 b8 like alexander the gr8, stretch posts longer than the Nile’s str8s. We’ll be the captains of b8, 4chan our first m8s the growth r8 will spread to reddit and like real est8 and be a flow r8 of gr8 b8, like a blind d8 we’ll coll8, meet me upst8 where we can convers8, or ice sk8 or lose w8 infl8 our hot air baloons and fly, tail g8. We could land in Kuw8, eat a soup pl8 followed by a dessert pl8 the payment r8 won’t be too ir8 and hopefully our currency won’t defl8. We’ll head to the Israeli-St8, taker over like Herod the gr8 and b8 the jewish masses, 8 million, m8. We could interrel8 communism, thought it’s past it’s maturity d8, a department of st8, volunteer st8. reduce the infant mortality r8, all in the name of making gr8 b8 m8.
gr8 b8, looks like I was l8. I’ll show you the g8 so please face your f8 and open the cr8 and take your new m8 ;)
It isnt hard to guess what will stock version look like
It kinda looks like a Hyundai for some reason…
Looks an awful lot like the M6 GT3…
Gr8 m8, m8
They finally found a good, proper use for the obscene kidney grills.
And well since it’s an M8, traditions will apply:-
No H8 M8, I R8 it a STR8 8/8. Hope it has a GR8 F8 and wipes the SL8 clean. I’ll W8 for the D8 it rolls out of the G8s and onto the STR8s. Iterested to see its TR8s and also it’s W8(weight). Hope this comment isn’t too L8.
READY TO M8 WITH THAT V8?
DeclanCaper (R8 Squad) (Outback Squad)
[DELETED]
SaadAnwaar(#nissangtrisapc)