The strong bond between BMW Motorsport’s race cars and the M division’s street-legal performance models is more than just marketing fluff to sell vehicles. Although the mid-engined M1 wasn’t launched until 1978, the racing subsidiary had been around since 1972. What is today known as BMW M GmbH was initially BMW Motorsport GmbH, the original firm that gave us the 3.0 CSL homologation special in the early 1970s.
50 years later, the tie-up between motorsport activities and the road-going machines is as strong as ever. The M4 GT3 utilizes the same S58 engine as the M4 / M4 Competition you can buy from a dealer. To showcase how track and road cars are united, BMW Japan has commissioned a new promotional short film called “Tokyo Pitstop.”
It shows a race team’s mechanics all geared up and taking the subway to get to work, where “work” means changing the wheels of an M4 GT3. The race car shares the same parking lot with an M4 decked out with M Performance parts, including front canards and a rear wing. While the mechanics are racing toward their workplace to perform the wheel swap, the road car’s owner drives off in his Competition model equipped with the optional center-mounted exhaust.
It’s worth noting the M4 GT3 in question belongs to BMW Team Studie, a long-time customer team in Japan where it takes part in the Super GT series. The M6 GT3 replacement costs €415,000 and uses an inline-six engine that has shaved off 40 kilograms over the old car’s bigger V8 while improving weight distribution.
The GT3 model is just one of the several cars offered by the Motorsport division, being positioned above the M2 CS Racing and upcoming M4 GT4 while sitting below the hotly anticipated Le Mans Daytona hybrid (LMDh) prototype.
The M4 you can drive on public roads will get even closer to its motorsport sibling with the unveiling of the CSL on May 20. It’ll take the shape of a stripped-out machine with two seats, more power, and improved aerodynamics over the Competition variant.
Source: BMW Japan / YouTube
