Despite looking like the real thing, this image is, apparently, a rendering prepared by forum user Alpine325ci. You may remember he also created the earlier renderings of the 1M Coupé. There’s still no official date for release, so you’ll just have make do with goose pimples for now.
[Source: 1addicts]
Earlier in the month we speculated the new BMW 1M Coupé might be revealed at the Oktoberfest show which was held in Wisconsin over the weekend. Well, we kind of got it right. The car was indeed on show at the Road America course, but all that was seen was the front left quarter panel as shown above.
However, even though the car was mostly under wraps this still revealed a few design elements of the bodykit that is wrapped around the newest and smallest M machine. Images sourced from BimmerFile show that there looks to be quite a large vent in the side panel, in between the front wheel and the door. At the rear of the car quad exhausts are clearly on view, but again, through the car cover you can get a glimpse of the rear valance and the unique styling that is likely to be apparent when the car has its full reveal (Paris Motor Show would now appear the most likely event for this).
The colour revealed on the car above is called Valencia Orange and will be the signature colour of the 1M Coupé. The wheels are 19″ in size and have been sourced from the M3 Competition Package. The front air intakes are very aggressive and could possibly have intercoolers behind them to assist the N54-based six cylinder engine.
Perhaps the other big news is that the 1M Coupé may be available with a manual transmission only. Costs of adapting BMW’s trick DCT to a car with a limited production run are believed to be behind that decision.
BmiierFile has been track side during the Oktoberfest event and they have a lot of information as a result. There’s also the promise of some exclusive details on the 1M’s engine in the next 24 hours or so. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime you can check two videos of the partial reveal of the 1M Coupé, one is the slick marketing piece direct from BMW, the other was filmed on location at Oktoberfest.
[Source: BimmerFile]
The BMW Car Club of America have posted a teaser on their forums which all but declares the 1 Series M Coupé will be revealed at their annual Oktoberfest show. Curiously this event is due to be held, not in October at all, but quite soon; from 23-29 August.
The forum post, added by the BMW CCA magazine editor is titled “Mystery car to tease members at Oktoberfest”. The text reads, in part, “Now there’s another fast, nimble ride warming up in the BMW wings. This car, too, was spawned by enthusiasts’ cries for what they wanted: a fast, light, nimble car. BMW’s solution: the—
“Wait! Wait! We can’t tell you!
“What’s beneath the wrapping? Here’s a hint: One of the guests in attendance is Dr. Kay Segler. You may remember when he was the BMW Group’s brand manager for Mini. But these days he holds a different position: He’s head of BMW M GmbH.”
Follow the source link below for the full text. If you’d just like to find out more about this Oktoberfest show check out the teaser video below, or take a look at the Oktoberfest website.
Of course, Dr Segler is also the bloke that told us via YouTube that the 1 Series M Coupé will give us all goose pimples. Take the jump for an encore viewing of Segler’s best work.
[Source: bmwcca.org]
Since last week’s news of the BMW 1 Series M Coupé emerged a number of videos from the Ascari track event have made their way on to YouTube. Journalists were offered passenger laps inside the 1M development prototype and one of the better clips is this one featuring Chris Harris from Evo. Harris had the foresight to interview driver Frank Isenberg and tried to extract new information from him.
Not much was given away, although Isenberg reckons the 1M could lap the Nürburgring in around 8:07, which is damn close to matching the time of the E92 M3. Indeed Eisenberg says, “Next week we will definitely know more.” It’s not clear if his words were in relation to a Nürburgring lap time or a general comment on the 1M. Well, next week is almost up, so let’s see what news comes to light in the next few days.
For his part Harris seemed quite impressed with the brief teaser he was given, describing the 1M as having a “lovely balance”. He also reckons the BMW boffins have done little to the 135i engine at this point other than remap the ECU and fit an uprated exhaust. Harris predicts the 1 Series M Coupé will have 340bhp (250kW).
The video from Harris and one other (embed feature disabled) can be seen after the break.
[Source: Evo via BimmerFile]
BMW were kind enough to give us an official tease of the 1 Series M Coupé on Friday. However, aside from the name, they’ve not given much else away, especially in the case of the car’s specification or equipment. That means we need to take a closer look at the pics available and start the guessing game.
Above you can see an interior shot of the car (or one of the cars) used in Friday’s tease. Keep in mind this is clearly a prototype and details are likely to change. The first things you can see are the steering wheel and front seats from the M3. On the dash are two-tone dials which might not make final production, but you can just make out an indicated redline of 7000rpm. Does that really tell us anything? Probably not, but it does match the current redline of the 135i.
Which brings us to the engine that will power the 1M. At initial launch the 135i was powered by the N54 twin-turbo 3-litre six, producing claimed figures of 225kW (300bhp) and 400Nm. It has since been replaced by the N55 single turbo 3-litre six, with twin scroll technology. Rated power and torque figures remained unchanged from the N54.
There seems to be some debate as to which engine the 1M will feature. For what its worth, the US spec 335is uses a tweaked N54 producing 243kW (320bhp)/502Nm. German publication Autobild is estimating the power of the 1M will be 340PS (250kW). Hmm, sounds suspiciously like the engine specs of the Z4 sDrive35is. Would BMW really adorn the M badge to an engine already found in a non-M model?