The story begins back in 2000 with the launch of BMW’s E46 M3. BMW and racing go hand-in-hand, so naturally, the E46 M3 featured heavily within the various European racing series, yielding immediate success.
At the same time, the M3 was also launched in the USA, and given this market being one of their largest, the plan was to embark on racing in the States, too. However, the American GT and Le Mans series were fiercely competitive, and the M3’s straight-six S54 motor was thought to be less formidable compared to those rivals from the likes of Porsche, Chevrolet and more.
The solution? Whip it out in favour of a super compact, super lightweight V8 instead. The problem? This would classify it as a prototype rather than a production car because the P60B40 V8 engine wasn’t available in any E46 M3 at the time. So, to meet homologation needs, a small series of street-legal M3 GTRs were produced (albeit with a slightly detuned version of the P60B40).
Fun fact: This engine has only ever been in the BMW M3 GTR street version; it’s never appeared in anything else since.
We’ve got a full deep-dive history lesson on the M3 GTR hitting Speedhunters very soon, but it’s safe to say the now V8-powered M3 GTR dominated. Over the 10 races in 2001, it competed, it finished either first or third in seven of them. Naturally, that led to some unhappy rivals, so, for the 2002 season, the number of cars required for homologation rose from 10 up to 100, meaning the M3 GTR would be withdrawn from racing… within the US at least.
故事的起点可以追溯到2000年,当时宝马推出了E46 M3。宝马与赛车总是紧密相连,因此E46 M3很快便活跃于多个欧洲赛车系列中,并取得了显著的成功。
与此同时,M3也在美国市场推出。由于美国是宝马最大的市场之一,宝马计划将赛车运动扩展到美国。然而,美国GT和勒芒系列赛的竞争异常激烈,而M3搭载的直列六缸S54发动机相较于保时捷、雪佛兰等对手的动力总成,显得不够强悍。
解决办法?舍弃直六,换上一款超紧凑、超轻量化的V8发动机。问题是,这会将M3归类为原型车而非量产车,因为当时P60B40 V8发动机并未应用于任何一款E46 M3上。为满足赛事的认证要求(即“认证规则”),宝马生产了一小批合法上路的M3 GTR(虽然搭载的是略微降调版本的P60B40)。
有趣的是,这台发动机仅在M3 GTR的街道版中使用过,之后再未出现在任何其他车型上。故事的起点可以追溯到2000年,当时宝马推出了E46 M3。宝马与赛车总是紧密相连,因此E46 M3很快便活跃于多个欧洲赛车系列中,并取得了显著的成功。
