BMW have started testing their new M8 GTE version for next years FIA World Endurance Championship.
Racing24-7.net has seen pictures and video of the car, that is still quite early in it’s development. But we have chosen not to bring these photos or video to an agreement with the photographer. So the picture below is just a teaser for the road version of the car. The car tested in the classic white and black camouflage colours, that we so often see when the car manufacturers are developing a new car.
The engine sound suggest that it is a V8 turbo which is front-mounted. The two exhausts are coming out on the right side of the car, right ahead of the rear wheel. The engine sound itself is a lot like the Ferrari 488 GTE, and definitely not as rough as the Ford GT GTE car, which run V8 and V6 turbo engines respectively.
The front is very like the current M6 GTLM car, which is used in the IMSA championship, but has significant aerodynamic changes behind the front wheels, where there is a bulge out with an opening, so the air can vent out from the radiator and the engine, and possibly the brakes too. It has a very aggressive looking grill with 2 big openings on the top, like we are used to on the M6 GTLM.
Photo: BMW
The rear wing is a so-called Swan Neck rear wing, and is very different from the other current GTE cars. It is a bit in the direction of their DTM rear wing, but since you don’t use DRS in WEC, the mounting points are quite different, plus the endplates are a lot smaller.
The rear of the car has a big diffuser, which is way more integrated than you see on all other current GTE cars, where you see it hanging out far from the rear of the cars. Instead it appears to have rear end, bumper and diffuser all in one, with perhaps only a slight gap between these. There is an opening right ahead of the rear wheels plus one in the roof. The two openings in the side is most likely for brake cooling on the rear axle, and the upper is most likely cooling for the cockpit or perhaps cooling of the transmission and/or diff etc.
The test was on Michelin tires.
It will be interesting, when further official details about the new car are released.
