BMW have released pictures and data about their new M8 GTE car, which will participate in FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA Weathertech Sports Car Championship.
The car did its first roll-out two months ago in Dingolfing, Germany on July 1. Just shy of two weeks later, they had a private test at Lausitzring, before some more testing was done in Barcelona last month.
The car is so new that the street version hasn’t even been released yet but will be during 2018.
The BMW M8 GTE will get its debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2018, where it will compete against Corvette, Ferrari, Ford and Porsche – and perhaps Aston Martin as well, if they decide to bring their new GTE car.
Photo: BMW Motorsport
The car has a 4 litres twin turbo engine, which has more the 500 bhp. They need plenty of power, since the car itself is the so far biggest GTE car in the field regarding its dimensions.
BMW have said that it weighs 1220 kg, has an overall length of 4980 mm, 2224 mm wide, and 1212 mm tall. For comparison, the Ford GT GTE version is about 20 cm shorter, 20 cm narrower and 10 cm lower – and that one already appears big on the track.
The car will have a 6 speed sequential gearbox with paddle shirt on the back of the steering wheel – just like we are used to from all the other GTE cars, and Formula 1 too.
BMW have put all their experience into the car, that they have collected with the M6 model, that has been run in the IMSA series over the last few seasons. That model, however, wasn’t fully build after the GTE regulations, and therefore wasn’t allowed to compete outside USA. and therefore not at Le Mans, in which BMW last did in 2011 with their M3 GT2 model – the most recent time that the German manufacturer has compete in the French classic.
Photo: BMW Motorsport
The car is presented in the classic M colours, but BMW had said that it might not be the final livery – but in our opinion, please just add a few Michelin stickers to the bumpers and let it stay like this!
The car will be available for the public to see at the IAA car exhibition in Frankfurt over the next few days.
