BMW confirms Z4 GTE for American Le Mans Series

[Maelochs]

Again, BMW the corporation cannot afford to just bolt in bigger motors and dump the car on the market. Anything BMW sells has to be a BMW—it has to be as good as any other BMW.

That means the whole powertrain has to pass 100s of thousands of test miles, the chassis has to be stiff enough to handle the greater power, torque, and speed, and all the creature comforts have to be fully functional. Plus, the finished car can’t be a nose-heavy mess—it’s got to perform to the BMW standard.

On top of that, the car has to pass all emissions and safety standards.

I don’t know how much all that would cost, but apparently BMW doesn’t think it would be worthwhile—else they’d have done it already. Possibly they aren’t sure those 500 cars would sell, or at least not at a price which would cover the costs.

I can’t say for sure and I am not pretending to be an expert, but the simple fact is, BMW is Not doing that.

I can say for sure that in my opinion everyone is grossly underestimating what it would cost to produce road-going V8 Z4s. Most people seem to think it is just a matter of new motor mounts, but I don’t think BMW’s corporate office thinks about the whole corporation, its history and its future and its reputation (and their compensation packages) the same we way we as race fans, do.

[Pandamasque]

Maelochs, the question should not be about how hard it is to produce a limiter run of say Z4 GT road cars with silly price (just as they've done with M3 GTS e92). The question is how easy it is for motorsport politicians to rape the rules without making any engineering efforts at all!

PS: the worst thing about all this is that they have a half-legal GTE car already, so now they're bringing in a completely illegal prototype disguised as a Z4 just to adjust their marketing efforts. What is this, DTM?

[Maelochs]

Possibly BMW took some notes while Audi and Peugeot skewed the diesel rules in their favor.

[Canada ALMS fan]

I am glad the ALMS is allowing the Z4 yet equally puzzled as to why their resistance to the R8 from privateers this year?
This will be a positive benefit from global GT rules FIA/ACO/GA - only one set of rules to build to so no excuses for these types of waivers anymore.

[rich07]

A thought crossed my mind today.

N24 with the GTE Z4 for next year? They did do it with the M3 GT2 but on the other hand Schnitzer was running that in Europe unlike this project which appears to be an ALMS (Rahal) thing only-for now. Food for thought.

[Pandamasque]

There were no M3 GT2 cars already in N24 2012. All front running BMW teams ran to Z4 GT3.
e92s were only running in GT4-ish spec.

So when everyone in the battle for the overall win is running GT3 cars why would BMW replace Z4 GT3 with Z4 GTE? And is there any difference anyway, apart from ABS?

[Koenigsegg]

M3 E92 GT did run the N24 in 2011. Also in 2010 if I'm not mistaken.

[lucky snake]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

There were no M3 GT2 cars already in N24 2012. All front running BMW teams ran to Z4 GT3.
e92s were only running in GT4-ish spec.

So when everyone in the battle for the overall win is running GT3 cars why would BMW replace Z4 GT3 with Z4 GTE? And is there any difference anyway, apart from ABS?

Originally Posted by Koenigsegg

M3 E92 GT did run the N24 in 2011. Also in 2010 if I'm not mistaken.

the work team schnitzer ran the M3 E92 GT from 2009 to 2011 in VLN and N24, running in the E1XP class because of their GTN homologation (with a full FIA/ACO gt2 spec they would be in SP7 class). In 2012 schnitzer, like abt for audi, main focus was just dtm and didn't run in VLN, so bmw used team schubert as work team to run their z4 gt3 in SP9 class. If bmw will decide to switch for the z4 GTE, the car will run in SP8 (the 4.4 is over the 4.0 limit of SP7 class) or again in E1XP class if bmw will decide to run with a little spiced z4 gte.

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by Koenigsegg

M3 E92 GT did run the N24 in 2011. Also in 2010 if I'm not mistaken.

Yes. My point is that it has already been replaced by Z4 GT3. Why would that change?

[lucky snake]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

Yes. My point is that it has already been replaced by Z4 GT3. Why would that change?

because to run with the z4 gt3 means to run exclusively in SP9 class that is for homologated FIA GT3 cars; the most numberous and challanging class. While if they enter in SP8 with the z4 gte they can be more competitive using some extra aero parts like a not-flat diffuser as hankook farnbacher did with their former 458 GT in 2011. Still better if the car enters in E1XP class, so they are allowed to modify even deeper the car, as they did with the m3 e92 gt and the m3 gtr.

[Mt. Lynx]

Who and where was the post containing the latest ACO GTE rules?
Noted that the engine rules had changed somewhat. Now it only says that they have to use an engine produced in 300 units. That's it.
This means BMW can run the M3 V8 they already have in the GT3 car.

[gwyllion]

http://www.fia.com/sites/default/fil...09.2012%29.pdf

You are right

d/ To be equipped with an engine used in a production car and made in a quantity of at least 300 units.

That means that the engine does not have to come from the same car.

[MitchZ06]

I always thought that was the case....

[Mt. Lynx]

Previously they had to use the block and headers from the homologation model.

They still have to use the block and headers from a production engine though.

[Acid09]

The 24h Nürburgring will once again collide with the DTM so a BMW factory involvement aside from Schubert is pretty much impossible so I don't think the Z4 GTE will race there.

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by lucky snake

because to run with the z4 gt3 means to run exclusively in SP9 class that is for homologated FIA GT3 cars; the most numberous and challanging class. While if they enter in SP8 with the z4 gte they can be more competitive using some extra aero parts like a not-flat diffuser as hankook farnbacher did with their former 458 GT in 2011. Still better if the car enters in E1XP class, so they are allowed to modify even deeper the car, as they did with the m3 e92 gt and the m3 gtr.

I thought GT3 aero rules were more free (or non-existent), including the diffuser.

In any case, I hope you do realize that any car gunning for the overall honours in N24 will be BOPed down sufficiently regardless if it's in SP9 or not, even if that means changing BoP during the event itself!

[lucky snake]

i didn't know that N24 clashes with the brands hatch DTM round, so as acid09 writes realisticly bmw will use again the z4 gt3 with the collaboration of schubert motorsport and some of their drivers like hurtgen and schwager mixed with some bmw official drivers like martin and alzen.
SP9 class has born for FIA homologated GT3 cars, so the cars that run in SP9 can't be heavily modified like in other classes. Example in this pic there is the doerr mclaren that uses an higher rear wing and a different splitter


while the SP8 is a generic class where are placed cars powered by a over 4.0L engine, there isn't a specific homologation required, so in 2011 farnbacher team used a more aero performant diffuser not allowed in ALMS/ELMS/WEC to improve the performance (they obtained the pole afterall)


Useless to talk about the m3 gtn of E1XP class that used silhouette prototypes solutions like the engine positioned close to the center of the car and a different suspensions setting in a road chassis.

Is it true that the BOP of VLN (is used that also for the N24 right?) can be very harsh sometimes, but if the regulamentation let some modifies, manufacters usually use it.

[rich07]

And the teams (and manufacturers) play the BOP game also in the races leading up to the N24.

I like the ability to modify the cars in some areas like aero, it encourages the teams to tweak their cars for that extra bit of speed that the stock car in FIA GT2/3/4 may have but is hidden by the regulations of the FIA. Obviously without going overboard of course.