Ahead of the eighth round of the 2014 DTM season, BMW Team Schnitzer driver Martin Tomczyk (DE) swapped his BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM for a BMW S 1000 RR, which he took out for a few flying laps. Together with reigning SUPERBIKE*IDM champion Markus Reiterberger (DE / Van Zon-Remeha-BMW), he headed out onto the handling circuit – one of the many variants of the Lausitzring. Fans in the Lausitz region of Germany are in for a real treat this coming race weekend: for the first time for 25 years, racing cars and motorcycles will share the same bill.
As well as the DTM, the Lausitzring will also host the SUPERBIKE*IDM on Sunday (14th September).
BMW has enjoyed success in both automobile racing and motorcycle racing for many years. The Lausitzring is the venue for a “family reunion” between the BMW DTM drivers and their fellow BMW racers from the SUPERBIKE*IDM. Before the start of the race weekend, Tomczyk and Reiterberger opened the throttle on two and four wheels. The pair first took to the track on BMW S 1000 RRs – Reiterberger on his race bike, which generates over 200 hp, and Tomczyk on the 193-hp production version of the super sports bike from BMW Motorrad. They then switched to four wheels: Tomczyk took Reiterberger out for a spin in the BMW M4 Coupé DTM Safety Car. The BMW Team Schnitzer driver then took his motorcycle counterpart for a tour of the pit lane, during which he gave Reiterberger an insight into some of the details of the BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM.
“It was great fun, although it did take me a little while at first to fully trust the technology on the bike and push myself to the limit,” said Tomczyk. “The bike I rode is a thoroughbred superbike. These motorcycles are equipped with traction control and ABS, but they also have two wheels less than I am used to. I was then able to really put my foot down in the BMW M4 Coupé DTM Safety Car. Markus was a great passenger –motorbike riders are always on the limit, so he enjoyed that. It was also very interesting to see how he takes the Lausitzring on a racing bike. You notice the bumps a lot more on a bike – you feel every impact. That makes it harder to brake into and accelerate out of the corners in such an extreme lean position. We certainly have the better of it in that situation on four wheels.”
Reiterberger said: “Martin did very well on the bike. He was on the production motorcycle, on production tyres, while I was riding the racing version with wet-weather tyres, but he did a very good job of keeping up with me. The ride in the BMW M4 Coupé DTM Safety Car was great fun. You can drift particularly well when it is raining in a car like that. Unfortunately that is not possible in these conditions with a bike, otherwise you would soon find yourself on your nose. And Martin really threw the car round the corners – that was excellent. The pit tour afterwards was fascinating. It was impressive to see the technology behind the BMW M4 DTM at first hand.”
