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Revealed: BMW M3 LeMans car

rybo submitted on 02/06/2008 Official AutoSpies Timestamp: 7:51 PM
from: www.motorauthority.com

[42] user comments | category: Misc News

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Tags: BMW

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Revealed: BMW M3 LeMans car

BMW used today’s Chicago Auto Show to announce that it will be returning to the arena of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) next year with two new race-prepped versions of its latest E92 M3 Coupe set to join the GT2 class. The 2009 entry into the ALMS will be driven by a partnership between BMW of North America and Rahal Letterman Racing, which is also co-owned by US motorsport legend Bobby Rahal.

The race car features a 485hp version of the 4.0L high-rev V8 engine, a race-tuned chassis, a significantly wider and lighter body and plenty of carbon-fiber pieces. Read Article

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MaindrianPace - 2/8/2008 10:58:46 AM

+3 Boost

Kraut, it's a racing car ya dumb ass! Lip spoilers only generate 10's of Kg of Downforce, Benches like that generate 100's of Kg's !

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1995e34 - 2/7/2008 10:36:03 AM

+9 Boost

more ALMS, less NASCAR. how can we get it done? anyone?

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Neverfollow - 2/7/2008 11:45:21 AM

+7 Boost

Have Roger Penske own and run the series.

answer - 2/7/2008 11:11:40 AMView My AgentSpace

+3 Boost

I'd love to drive that to work for a week!

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Heyhuub - 2/7/2008 1:44:07 PM

+4 Boost

This will run in the GT2 class, the Audi's will lap it several times in a race.

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Heyhuub - 2/7/2008 1:46:07 PM

-1 Boost

The only touringcar series where BMW currently is competitive is the WTCC where they race against FWD Seat's and Chevrolets.

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VISO - 2/7/2008 1:51:12 PM

+4 Boost

Obviously you know nothing about ALMS or how Le Mans functions or is set up to make such dumb comments. Nothing wrong with Peugeot as they are a well know company globally. Your fanboy bias is almost funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

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1995e34 - 2/7/2008 5:37:59 PM

+3 Boost

heybub, those bimmers are running 4 cylinders just like the competition, so the benefit of rwd is reduced by power/weight.

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validus00 - 2/7/2008 10:39:21 PM

+3 Boost

btw, bmw isn't just competitive in wtcc, it's been dominating the series for several years now.

bmw also dominates in swedish touring car, italian touring car, asian touring car. whereas audi is only competitive in dtm of all touring car championships.

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Heyhuub - 2/8/2008 7:23:46 AM

0 Boost

Audi has dominated the euro touringcar series the whole 90's, but because the Audi quattro's where so dominant they where banned.

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validus00 - 2/8/2008 8:47:17 AM

+1 Boost

before the new dtm series, between 1984-1996, manufacturers that won the most championships are bmw and mercedes-benz.

the list goes:
bmw and mercedes-benz won 3 championships each
audi 2
volvo 1
ford 1
alfa romeo 1
opel 1

as a matter of fact, it was mercedes-benz who actually dominated in the 90s, not audi.

also, as to why all wheel drive isn't allowed in dtm, the truth is that it doesn't really matter what kind of drive the cars have.

you see, dtm utilizes specially made space-frames in their cars, whereas other touring car championships require standard body shells from production cars. these special space-frames in dtm cars are nothing like the frame in the production cars they resemble. they also allow purpose built v8 race engines up to 4000cc in displacement.

in other words, race cars in dtm are much more like the purpose-built, built-to-spec race cars in nascar than race cars in the old dtm. the new dtm rules governing the specs of the race cars provide a common playground amongst the competition, sorta like nascar. and the governing body decided on rear wheel drive to discourage advantages or disadvantages from varying drivetrain dynamics. that's why they had to go with rear wheel drive only.

besides, audi's quattro didn't dominate the old dtm, so there's no reason for us to speculate that quattro would have dominated the new dtm if they had allow all-wheel-drive.

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MaindrianPace - 2/8/2008 10:08:13 AM

+5 Boost

Respect to Validus00 for talking sense. Autospies is never the best place for motorsport discussion, bias seems to cloud facts all too often.

I believe in the Italian V8 series "superstars", "Audi sport italia" run a couple of RS4s with quattro. The biggest comeptition for them is the Jaguar dealers team in the S-Type R, and a couple of 550i's. The Audi's do perform quite well and I'd put that down to the quattro as well as the fact that they are a factory backed team.

There are/were also a couple of A4's in the STCC, but these are only front wheel drive. BMW regularly wins there.

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mwrmmg - 2/8/2008 11:05:54 AMView My AgentSpace

-2 Boost

i don't remember anything recently whether BMW dominated their homeland touring car competition . Maybe its too competitive for BMW...going head to head with mercedes. maybe need to make some impact first at F1 against mercedes, ferrari and RENAULT???

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1995e34 - 2/8/2008 4:06:43 PM

+1 Boost

mwrmmg, bmw doesn't currently compete in dtm

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Heyhuub - 2/11/2008 10:22:40 AM

0 Boost

DTM in the eary nineties was a production car based series unlike the modern day DTM.
It's there and many other touringcar championships where Audi dominated with their quattro's.

Audi was actually the first manufacterer in DTM who won the championship 2 times in a row, after that they where seriously handicapped and eventually banned because of the AWD dominance.

After that they entered multiple european supertouring series were again they dominated and where also eventually banned.

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validus00 - 2/13/2008 12:40:07 PM

+1 Boost

audi didn't get banned for their 4wd system. in fact 4wd was still used year after year after audi left dtm. audi actually left after failing to defend their title and realizing their flat plate v8 was receiving too much heat from fellow competitors who only had inline 4s. in 1993, the maximum cylinders was restricted to 6.

you see, audi won the 2 years because they had double the cylinders of its competitors, a crankshaft that was borderline illegal and simply more power than its competitors.

if anything, audi should have stayed in the series with a v6 and show the world how good 4wd is on the tracks, since there's absolutely no reason why audi couldn't compete in the dtm under class 1 regulations other than the presumption that audi wouldn't be competitive under new regulations.

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1995e34 - 2/7/2008 11:55:39 AM

+3 Boost

this thing weighs 2535lbs (rupert, that's 1149.85665795kg)!

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VISO - 2/8/2008 5:45:31 PM

0 Boost

First of all, I do not think Audi ran in the DTM in the 80s or the 90s. They were doing Rally driving where they dominated and then the quattro was banned. Audi has been racing DTM more in the last decade.

validus00 - 2/8/2008 7:58:57 PM

+2 Boost

?

quattro was never banned in rally. why would they ban an all-wheel-drive system in rally?

it was actually the opposite - fisa started allowing all-wheel-drive system because audi developed quattro.

answer - 2/7/2008 12:29:13 PMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

Neither funny nor intelligent.

Your idiotic anti-Lexus postings seem to work better in discussions where Lexus is the actual subject at hand.

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theoptimisticpessimist - 2/7/2008 7:16:49 PM

+1 Boost

I thought it was funny.

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pushrod27 - 2/7/2008 1:21:34 PM

+3 Boost

This will make the series more interesting to watch.

On a side note, it looks like the Aston-Martin DBR9 is finally giving the Corvette some competition in the GT1 class.

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JRobUSC - 2/7/2008 1:28:00 PM

+3 Boost

now take some iteration of that engine and weight savings and bring out the M3 CSL...

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ThierryHenry14 - 2/7/2008 4:25:28 PM

-1 Boost

yea, imagine that on the streets... mind-blowing...

moto - 2/7/2008 7:02:58 PM

0 Boost

This looks like an excellent entry to the ALMS. I hope that the additional competition pulls more couch drivers to tune in instead of watching the same old boring NASCAR crap that Speedvision advertises incessantly.

Will Nissan and Lexus join the fray?

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S4cabriofoxone - 2/7/2008 9:43:02 PMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

Sweet. The new M3 is excellent in all aspects, in all body styles, with either transmission option.

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IS3andME - 2/8/2008 1:07:46 AM

+2 Boost

Won't the Aston AMV8 race car be going up against this...If so it would be nice to see the two duke it out.

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MaindrianPace - 2/8/2008 6:38:41 AM

0 Boost

Will there be a homologation version of this as there (was/should have been) with the E46 M3 GTR? Or is the fact it's based on an existing road car enough? I think the E46 M3 only needed to be homoligated because it use a different engine to the road car. I like ALMS/LMES but normally only follow the LMP classes.

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Heyhuub - 2/8/2008 7:28:07 AM

0 Boost

THe E46 GTR was for V8 homologation purposes, but seeing as the E92 M3 already has a V8 i guess taht won't be necesarry.

mpls - 2/8/2008 8:14:05 AM

-1 Boost

Aren't "Rosko2" and "MThree" bed chums or something along those lines ?

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Htay7500 - 2/8/2008 8:00:57 PM

+1 Boost

I never new BMW entered lemans with the M3.

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NismoNate - 2/16/2008 1:35:40 AM

+1 Boost

did someone say nissan? I now someone is going to deboost this but oh well...GTR need i say more?

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