Visitors to BMW Welt in Munich this past weekend—many of whom may have already been in town for the DTM event at Olympic Stadium—were treated to the first public viewing of the new M3 DTM concept race car. It previews the machine BMW will campaign next year when it returns to DTM racing after a two-decade absence. Based on the current M3 (which is barely recognizable under the slammed, widened carbon-fiber body), the DTM concept is powered by BMW’s 4.0-liter V-8, massaged to produce approximately 480 hp and mated to a sequential six-speed transmission. Power is restricted per DTM regs. BMW says the car can hit 62 mph in three seconds, and that it has top speed of 186 mph.
BMW announced last year that it would return to DTM, where it celebrated 40 wins and 150 podium finishes in the series between 1987 and 1992. BMW also took this weekend’s event as an opportunity to trot out two of the ballsy chaps who will be taking the wheel of the less-conceptual M3 race cars, Brit Andy Priaulx (who won the 2004 European Touring Car Championship for BMW) and Augusto Farfus (on the BMW team that won last year’s Nürburgring 24 Hours) of Brazil. Now if only we could get DTM to schedule an American round, as was just recently announced by the Australian V8 Supercars series . . .
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