This black Lamborghini Murcielago has caused chaos after taking out a number of motorcycles at this BMW Motorrad dealership, north of Milan in Italy.
Apparently two bystanders were included in the skittles knocked down by the Murci. Although, thankfully there doesn’t appear to be any reports of serious injury.
It’s been suggested the driver of the Lambo was moving pretty fast before losing control. So it seems to be a case of too much horsepower, not enough talent.
[Source: Marchettino]
German filmmakers Stereoscreen returned to the Nürburgring in 2102 to follow the fortunes of the lead BMWs at the 24 hour race. Despite showing great pace the BMW Team Schubert Z4 GT3s couldn’t quite get the job done in 2012. A few mechanical gremlins put paid to that.
However, the men behind the cameras, Nick and Tim Hahne, have definitely succeeded in bringing us closer to the action. Theirs is a superb short film which starts early on the morning of the race and takes us right through until the chequered flag.
The speed, the action, the colour and the noises of the 24 hour race. All have been captured with great skill and honesty.
BMW Team Schubert say they will be back chasing their dreams in 2013. Let’s hope they bring the Hahnes along for the ride.
BMW Canada has come good with this pretty cool promo video for the F10 M5. They call it “High performance art”. Sure, there’s likely a fair bit of CGI involved, but the overall effect is quite good. We have one question, though, what’s with the manual shift knob that would look more at home in an E34?!
[Thanks to John for the tip]
The on-again, off-again BMW M1 supercar is back on the agenda and could be launched in 2016. That would allow BMW’s new i8 eco-supercar enough time to establish itself following its 2014 release.
Although, don’t be surprised if BMW keeps the historic M1 badge shelved and starts a new tradition with an M10 badge.
According to a report from Auto Bild the 21st century M1 will use a combination of aluminum, magnesium, titanium and plastic to construct a lightweight body. A final weight of 1250kg could be on the cards.
Early predictions for the engine suggest a turbocharged V8 with 600–650PS (440–480kW). It should be very bloody quick, then. A top speed of 330km/h has been mentioned, and you’d expect a mid 3 second run for a 100km/h sprint.
Hopefully it looks as spectacular as the stunning M1 Hommage, which did the motor show circuit back in 2008–09.
[Source: BimmerPost & WCF]
BMW has seen fit to use its M6 Coupé and Convertible to tackle one of life’s great debates: blonde v brunette. To be honest the clip is a little bit naff, but take a look and see what you think. Which one would you choose?
You’re looking at Autocar‘s rendering for the BMW 1 Series GT, or Compact Sports Tourer as it may be called. It’s biggest claim to fame is that it will be the first ever front-wheel drive BMW. It’s expected we’ll get our first official look at the car at the Paris Motor Show in September.
Incidentally, the same show will see the debut of the all-new Golf VII, one of the models the front-wheel drive BMW will be hoping to steal sales from.
Part of the reason for BMW to go against their proud rear-wheel drive tradition is to try and increase their annual sales to around two million per year. In 2011 they sold 1.6 million vehicles around the world. They believe this number is key to them remaining independent.
The trick to reaching that goal is to increase product while reducing costs. That’s why the 1 Series GT and the new F56 MINI will share so many components. And it’s also why we’ll no longer see a centrally mounted speedo on the next MINI.
BMW has platform shared before, with its 760Li and Rolls-Royce Ghost. In order to maintain as much individuality as possible most of the shared parts were under the skin, allowing each model to retain, visually at least, their key brand identity. BMW will take much the same approach with the front-wheel drive 1er and the MINI.
We’ve been critical of what we’ve termed as BMW’s dilution of the MINI brand as more and more BMW components creep in. So is BMW selling out, or doing what needs to be done to remain viable. That question has been asked and analysed by MotoringFile.
It’s certainly worth reading what MotoringFile has to say. Here’s a few snippets:
Seems like a simple concept—sell more. But it’s not. The three prongs of the BMW Group are all in the “premium†area within their segment. That means buyers tend to be more particular; materials need to be of high quality, electronics have to be the latest and greatest all while producing vehicles that are of the highest level of safety and efficiency… The solution is to offer more niche vehicles and broaden the appeal to more consumers while staying true enough to the brand’s reputation and heritage. For MINI that means products like the Coupe and Roadster on one hand and the Clubman and forthcoming Countryman Coupe on the other.
Having seen both the “F†generation MINI and the front wheel drive BMW test mules in person, I can fully attest to the outward differences. There is little in the way of shared design. If it wasn’t for the fact they are being announced as related their appearance would never lead to that conclusion…
Talking with engineers familiar with the dynamics of each car and how they perform I was told that each has an individual personality- much like siblings. The appearance and drive are directly related to the target market of each and there is little overlap… One source says that road feel is more in line with the R50 MINI while efficiency and comfort are more in line with the newer F20 1 Series. If that is even partially correct these cars will be a resounding success.
The theory sounds good. Let’s hope the practice remains true the individual BMW and MINI brands.
[Source: Autocar & MotoringFile]
Not everybody likes the BMW Zagato Coupé, first revealed at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. But we do like it. A lot.
So we want to share this video with you. BMW and Zagato take us behind the scenes with the key players as they explain their hopes and thoughts on the project.
BMW looks set to join Porsche by offering a 7-speed manual gearbox sometime in the future. Such plans were revealed when a BMW patent application, filed in 2011, was recently discovered.
Noteworthy in this case, though, BMW’s trick manual transmission could be suitable for seven or more gears. As the illustration above shows the gates on a 7-speed box start to get a bit tight, imagine the extra cog on an 8-speed; a mucked up shift from 8th to 4th, or worse, could do all sorts of nasty things to the car’s drivetrain.
Just as well then that BMW is developing another string to the bow of its 7-speed+ gearbox. The use of magnetorheologic or electrorheologic fluid surrounding the shift gates, coupled with electronic sensors, will prevent a driver from selecting an inappropriate gear.
Taking us even further into the future, BMW is readying itself to apply this technology to a traditional three-pedal manual set up and a new manual system with no clutch pedal. The shift by wire tech, we expect, would essentially be like using an automatic in manual mode, but employing a traditional H-pattern shift method.
It all sounds pretty nifty to us and will be interesting to see if, first, this technology makes it in to production and, if so, how far from now.
[Source: Bimmerpost | Thanks to Lucentaz for the tip]
For reasons best known to themselves BMW has never given M GmbH access to its top-range 7 Series model. That’s left Audi and Mercedes-Benz to divvy up the spoils for factory warmed over luxury saloons. However, that’s all about to change according to former M boss Ludwig Willisch.
While no timeframe has been given by Willisch, he told The Detroit Bureau, “I think we will get it.” Support for an M7 is strong in the US, Willisch claims, where he is now President and CEO of BMW North America.
To help the cause with his Munich bosses, Willisch has teamed with his counterpart from China, who also expects an M7 would sell well in his home market.
Before we see an M7, though, buyers wanting a decent sized four-door that’s not an M5 will be able to make do with an M version of the 6 Series Gran Coupé. Expect sales for that model to commence around this time next year.
[Source: The Detroit Bureau]
A prototype for the BMW 4 Series coupé (F32) has recently been seen in action at the Nürburgring. F30Post has a heap of pics and a video, as well, which can be seen after the break.
With so much camouflage it’s difficult to learn too much about the finer details of the next-gen 3 Series-based coupé, but the overall profile view looks rather nice, we think.
It’s expected the F32 coupé will go on sale in the latter half of next year.
[Source: F30Post]
In this promo video BMW tries to persuade us that you can drive like a hooligan and be efficient at the same time. They call it having your cake and eating it too. If they’re willing to hand over a 1M Coupé or somesuch to AUSmotive for some long term evaluation of that claim, we’ll happily swallow their words.
We thought for sure the Renault Alpine A110-50 would the best car we saw this weekend. We were wrong, as this BMW Zagato Coupé shows. Indeed, the latest effort from Zagato, revealed on Friday at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, may well be the best looking car we see all year.
Dr Andrea Zagato explains this latest example of their work is road-ready, although the BMW Zagato Coupé remains a show car only at this stage.
“Zagato has always provided its customers with ready-to-drive cars which can be sent into action on the road or race track without further ado – and the BMW Zagato Coupé fits the same template,†says Dr Andrea Zagato.
“It is relatively easy to build a design study which is not intended for use on the road. Not having to meet any stipulations governing crash safety or pedestrian protection opens up a host of new avenues in terms of design.
“The challenge lies in injecting the emotional appeal of a concept car into a road-legal machine. And we think we have succeeded in doing just that with the BMW Zagato Coupé.â€
It seems pretty clear that Zagato went to work on a current model Z4, although this hasn’t been confirmed in the press release below. No matter, the result is stunning and we don’t really care what chassis is under the skin of this gorgeous one-off creation.
When you view the pics and video available after the break we reckon you’ll feel the same as us.