So BMW released a new video that takes a look at the interior cockpit of the new 1-Series M Coupe while it was doing test runs at the Ascari race track in Spain, but also said that the interior and exterior of the production version of the car will look nothing like what we just saw from the clip.
Kind of defeats the purpose of the entire video, although the whole segment could have been done to specifically show how the 1-Series M Coupe handles the twists and turns of the Ascari race track while being driven by a licensed test driver.
Details of the M-tuned sports car are still being kept under wraps until its world debut in December at the 2011 North American International Auto Show, but from what we’ve gathered, the 1-Series M Coupe’s technical specs could come from a twin-turbo N54 inline-six that produces 335 horsepower and mated to a six-speed manual transmission with a 0-60 mph time of just a shade under five – 4.7, to be exact – seconds.
Shortly after its unveiling at the tail end of this year, the BMW 1-Series M Coupe is expected to hit European dealerships in the early part of 2011 with the US market following suit later that year, possibly sometime in July or August of next year.
Every time we see Chris Harris inside a car, we can’t help but wonder how this dude managed to score a job like that. Not only does he get to drive some of the fastest and most beautiful cars on the planet, but he also gets paid to do it. Can’t say that he hates his job, can he?
This time, during the launch of the BMW M3 GTS at the Ascari race track in Spain, Harris, together with a number of other surprised auto journalists, was given a treat of a lifetime by being given a chance to ride shotgun with Frank Isenberg, BMW Driver Training’s top dog on board a prototype version of the new BMW 1M Coupe. This particular BMW is an off-shoot 1-Series that traces its direct lineage to the Bavarian automaker’s M line of sports cars.
During Harris’ turn in the passenger seat, he tried to coax Isenberg to divulge the specifications under the 1M’s hood to which Isenberg expertly deflected the question by saying, “Listen to it.” Nevermind that Harris and the rest of the auto scribes weren’t given the full lowdown on the car because most of them seem to think that the 1M Coupe is being powered by an N54 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged straight-six engine that produces about 340 horsepower.
One thing we do know after watching this video: Chris Harris is a lot more talkative when he’s behind the wheel of a car than when he was riding shotgun. But the man still knows his cars and most of his observations while Isenberg was driving the camouflaged 1M Coupe were spot-on.
Jay Leno has about as big a car collection as anybody we’ve known so it seems a little off that the man known for his taste in classics and exotics would actually have something that’s a little on the contemporary side sitting in his garage.
That ’contemporary’ ride - at least as far as his standards are concerned - is the 2011 BMW M3. Granted, for a lot of us, owning a 2011 BMW M3 is a one-way ticket to the land of awesomeness, but for Jay Leno, the very same man who owns one of three Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita, a BMW M3 does seem a little mainstream.
Nevertheless, Leno doesn’t seem to mind being seen in a 2011 M3. As a matter of fact, in the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, the comedian even had some flattering remarks to say about the car and after heading over to the 2010 Long Beach Grand Prix where he talked with Martin Birkmann, BMW’s motorsports chief and Bill Auberlen, a driver for the BMW/Rahal Letterman Racing Team, Leno discovered a new-found appreciation for the M3, proving that even if the car is ordinary by comparison, Jay Leno can still spot an awesome car when he sees one.
It’s the battle of the propeller blades as two BMWs duke it out for the ever so important bragging rights. With both coming from BMW’s legendary M division, the BMW M5 Touring tries to uppend a BMW X5M.
Both vehicles start off competitively, leading us to think that this race may go down to who lunges first. However, faster than we could say ’photo finish’, the BMW M5 Touring begins to stretch its legs and the 507 horsepower underneath its hood proves too much for the X5M, leaving it completely eating its dust. We don’t know how many car-lengths the X5 Touring won by, but it was big enough to assume that it was somewhere close to 30 yards.
Could BMW actually be planning an M7? This might just be the case after the more powerful Audi S8 was caught testing at the Nurburgring last month with all of its supercharged V8 muscle sprawling all over the track. The rumor of it receiving the RS6’s V10 Twin Turbo producing 600 HP may also be a reason BMW is battling back and forth with the idea of an M7.
So, is it in the cards? We think it should be. The BMW M7 could potentially have a Turbo V12 with M Twin Scroll Turbo Technology that boasts 650-700 hp at 5200 rpm and 680-700 lb-ft of torque at 1800 rpm. The engine will be mated to an M six speed sport automatic transmission.
The Mercedes S63 AMG and the supercharged Audi S8 might just be the push BMW needs to create the one car that could give these other ones a run for their money. Yes, it may be a little on the pricey side of the monetary scale, but if people want it bad enough, they will buy it. Wasn’t the Porsche Panamera on top of the Porsche sales charts last month? Come on BMW, if you build it, they will buy it.
