Slightly OT - the BMW M8 concept car LIVES!!!

[Peloton25]

I think this is exciting news. BMW have added the original M8 concept to their Museum in Munich. This comes after many years of speculation that it had been scrapped by BMW. I am thrilled to see it again!



This car featured the original BMW S70/1 engine - a 6.0L 48V version of BMW's M70 V12 that generated 550bhp. This was the engine that Paul Rosche of BMW Motorsport first suggested Gordon could use to power the McLaren F1 back in 1990.



Ultimately his idea didn't pan out, but this engine's design was certainly the basis for the F1's S70/2 V12 and all the variants which would follow.

Quoting from "Driving Ambition":

On October 25th, 1990, Gordon visited Munich. The hopped up production V12 would not do: "Too big and heavy. Definitely not for us. Then Paul asked 'What do you really want?', so I told him: big displacement in the smallest possible package-size -- absolutley no more than 600mm long -- revving to around seven-five -- 550-plus bhp -- maximum weight 250kg -- rigid enough to work as a load-bearing structural member -- dry-sump lubrication to minimize overall height and avoid surge in high-G cornering.

And Paul simply said 'We'll do a new engine'."

Gordon had instructed the team of Motorsport engineers that power-to-weight was the bottom line and to consider that in everything that they did. "Never use a 10mm bolt when 9mm would do - consider weight as driving the design." He could see them obviously thinking 'who is this loony, telling us how to design engines?' but Paul Rosche backed him up.

The final engine that Motorsport developed out performed McLaren's 550hp target by 14 percent at 627hp. It met the 600mm length requirement, but with all necessary ancillaries, exhaust system and silencer it overshot the weight target by about 16kg. Gordon would forgive them that - 6.4 percent overweight was more than compensated for by 14 percent extra power of course. The first completed S70/2 V12 was delivered to McLaren for fitment to one of their test mules March 4th 1992.

I think the significance here is that if BMW Motorsport had never taken the step to develop the S70/1 for the M8 project then the discussion between Rosche and Murray might not have developed into what it ultimately did - the creation of one of the world's greatest engines fitted to the world's greatest car, not to mention a pair of overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and countless more race victories.

There are more photos of the M8 via this link - BMW Blog - click through to see them in high-res.

>8^)
ER

[hurstg01]

I think Le Man will explode when he sees this

[Le Man]

Originally Posted by hurstg01

I think Le Man will exploded when he sees this

OOOH WEEEE

Explode I did, this is great news for BMW 850 fans. I had a feeling that BMW did not scrap this car and I,m really pleased that they did not

As Erik has already explained, the history of this vehicle is very significant to the F1 program, the F1,s S70/2 was the result of the evolution of all the BMW motorsport development at that time and also owes a lot to the M3/5 six cylinder engines as well at that time.

[mini magic]

There was an article on it in a BMW mag a few months ago. I didn't know there was speculation it was scrapped. Such an awesome car

[Peloton25]

Yes, the February 2010 issue of BMWCAR had the article you mention. That's not normally a magazine I go looking for so I completely missed the news back then.



Click the pic to order a back issue if interested.

>8^)
ER

[carbuilder2002]

I had an 850 back in the late 80's and tried to get the engine uprated but no one was willing to even touch it at the time and BMW Mtorsport were certainly not prepared to do it either, strange as seen as they apparently already had an upgraded version? An M version would certainly have made it a far more interesting car.

[mini magic]

I highly recommend that issue of BMW CAR mag. The article on the M8 is excellent

[hurstg01]

Some pics in a youtube video here and here

[Peloton25]

A couple of new M8 pics have surfaced courtesy of AutoCar. Click to enlarge:







There's two other interesting things in the background of the second shot.

>8^)
ER

[Peloton25]

More excellent photos here:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=509914

>8^)
ER

[notsofast]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

There's two other interesting things in the background of the second shot.

>8^)
ER

Well the engine looks familiar but so does the car-that is the X5 LMR isnt it?

[hurstg01]

Nice walk round video of it here

[Peloton25]

FYI - it hasn't really been publicized yet, but the admins here have added the YouTube embed feature to AF.com now.

To make it work, you put the YouTube video code and only the code in between [ youtube ] [ /youtube ] brackets.

The code is the portion of the URL I've highlighted in blue, or generally what falls between the = and the &.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdSzr6262a8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

>8^)
ER

[Peloton25]

Anyone expecting to be in the Monterey area in mid-August you do not want to miss the chance to see this:

BMW Bringing M8 Prototype and Zagato Coupe Study to The Legends of the Autobahn

A blast from the past and the most recent concept study to wear the blue and white roundel will highlight BMW's presence at The Legends of the Autobahn 2012, which takes place on Friday, August 17, at the Rancho Canada Golf Club in Carmel Valley, California.

The fourth annual all-German brand Concours, which is hosted by the BMW Car Club of America, Mercedes-Benz Club of America, the Porsche Club of America and the Audi Club of North America, will play host to the North American premiere of the BMW M8 prototype and the Z4 Zagato Coupe.

The M8 Coupe project was never displayed at a show and many believed it had been destroyed until the Bavarian automaker opened the gates of its M-brand's vault in 2009 revealing it along with other gems such as the E34 M5 Cabriolet and E36 M3 Compact.

The proposed flagship model of the E31 8-Series Coupe featured extensive use of carbon fiber to save weight and a special 5.6-liter V12 engine created out of two M3 straight-six engines delivering an estimated 580-horsepower, and which later on found its way under the hood of the fabled McLaren F1.

BMW, however, pulled the plug on the project and decided to develop a much milder performance version named the 850CSi with a 380hp V12.

The Zagato Coupe study made its world premiere at this year's Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Italy. The hand-built, one-off concept is based on the Z4 roadster and as its name implies, it has been stylized by famed Italian design house and coachbuilder Zagato.

Show website: http://legendsoftheautobahn.org/Home.html

I think the text there is entirely wrong about the S70/1 in the M8 being "created out of two M3 straight-six engines". Also the engine of the M8 is sometimes also confused as being the one fitted to the McLaren F1, but they are also quite different. The architecture of the S70/2 is similar, however, they share no common components.

Anyway - enough about that. I can not believe I will have the opportunity to see this car in real life!! :rockon:

Thanks to one of our newest contributors, McF1GTR, for this tip! I would have hated to find out later on that it was there and I missed out.

>8^)
ER


P.S.: Le Man - Book a flight!