Hardcore BMW M4 GT3 is ready to slay the racetrack

BMW Motorsport has revealed the stunning new BMW M4 GT3 customer race car based on the 2021 M4 Competition Coupe.

As staggering as its looks is its output of 440kW, making it the most powerful straight-six engine BMW has installed in a racing car since the days of the BMW M1 Group 5, according to Ulrich Schulz, Head of Drivetrain Design, BMW Motorsport.

Explaining the astonishing styling, Michael Scully, BMW Group Designworks Global Automotive Director, explains that: “The kidney grille retains the production car’s size and geometry, while its interior surfaces have been opened up to feed the race engine’s enhanced cooling requirements.” 

The new track weapon replaces the BMW M6 GT3 that won last year’s 9 Hours of Kyalami with Augusto Farfus, Nick Catsburg and SA’s Sheldon van der Linde. The young SA racer was also a part of official BMW works drivers tasked with developing the new BMW M4 GT3 for the 2022 racing season.

The cockpit with its basic racing configuration includes an FIA spec BMW M safety seat, air conditioning and adjustable steering wheel, pedals and centre console. The multifunction steering wheel has switches for traction control, radio, ABS and engine mapping, and the drink system is also the first of its kind that works both in a real car and on a simulator.

The new race car has racked up more than 12,000 test kilometres on numerous tracks including the famed Nürburgring-Nordschleife.

Following its race debut this month it will undergo more tests and race outings before it is delivered to the first customers, who will compete with the car in 2022.

BMW has not confirmed whether it will produce a toned-down, more road-based variant in the mould of the previous M4 GTS.

However there are clues that such a spin-off will materialise. BMW M is turning 50 in 2022 and the company’s top brass has already hinted it’s working on a few hot cars for that auspicious occasion. Perhaps a new M4 GTS will be among the spicy models planned, alongside the BMW M8 CS that’s currently in the headlines testing at various race tracks.