BMW Announces M3 CRT Lightweight Sedan

If you’re in the market for a new M3 sedan, BMW has just announced a limited edition M3 Carbon Racing Technologies Lightweight Sedan. Tipping the scales at 3,483 pounds, the four-door M3 packs 450 horsepower and 324 foot-pounds of torque from its 4.3-liter V-8, which should make acceleration “spirited.” Thats the good news, so here’s the bad: only 67 copies will be built, they’ll sell for the equivalent of $185,000 in Germany (but that does include the VAT) and there’s no word yet on whether or not we’ll get any on this side of the pond. Read more

Cars With Launch Control: Houston, We Have Lift Off!

[original post date: 02/10/2009] I honestly believe that the new Nissan GT-R has sparked quite an interest and crave for launch control. Many cars way before the Nissan GT-R have had their own system for a launch control either in a SMG transmission in the E46 BMW M3 or the Volkswagen’s early DSG found in the GTI.

The ultimate crave for launch control baffles me but you have to understand that I would take a full manual transmission any day over a, what Jeremy Clarkson calls them, floppy paddle gear box. Even with Nissans woes with grenaded transmissions in the GT-R, launch control is still a big hit. Even Hitler “had to launch it”.

Ever since the introduction of drive-by-wire, auto manufacturers have been toying with new electronics that improve upon the over-all safety of a vehicle. New systems come standard in many vehicles now such as dynamic skid control or also known as vehicle dynamic control or electronic stability control (name varies from each manufacturer). Many of these new systems utilize a combination of computer operated units from the ABS braking, traction control and accelerator control. I am sure if manufacturers thought they could play with these systems and make a car safer then why not develop a precise method for accelerating a vehicle with a computer to make it faster.

It is all a numbers game if you think about it. I am sure many car enthusiasts, including yourself, may have experimented with dropping your clutch at a certain RPM to get the full potential out of a launch from a dead-stop. Even you guys with automatics have almost perfected holding the brake pedal while stomping on the accelerator in preparation for a ‘launch’. What if your car could do this for you? Well, many new exotic and sports cars can but it does take the use of a special transmission or a manual transmission that is controlled by a computer, except in Porsches’ case with their newest launch control system on a full manual transmission.

Where did this idea and technology come from?

If you think about it, F1 cars among other racing cars were already using a type of the technology that we see in today’s cars fitted with dual clutch transmissions and SMG (Sequential Manual Gearbox) units. Racing is where it begins… most times. From the F1 cars now shifting well under 60 milliseconds to the Nissan GT-R’s dual clutch shifting time of around 200 milliseconds, computers have taken cars to a new level of performance where a human just simply cannot match yielding a much higher level of performance.

Cars with Launch Control

Many of the baby boomers know ‘launch control’ to be something only NASA quotes in the control room during a space shuttle launch. Now we can all experience a ‘horizontal’ launch in many of today’s technologically advanced performance vehicles.

So which cars have launch control? Below is a short list that we have compiled of all vehicles with an available launch control. If we missed any please post a comment below and let us know.

Please note: Some of the vehicles included on the list may only have a staging RPM setting which some may call “launch control” but it is not as involved as a fully automated launch control or uses a sequential shifting transmission (paddle shifter) such as in the Nissan GT-R.

• Audi R8
• Audi TT
• BMW M3
• BMW M5
• BMW M6
• Bugatti Veyron
• Chevrolet Corvette/ZR1
• Ferrari 360cs
• Ferrari 599 GTB/GTO
• Ferrari F430/Scuderia
• Ferrari 458 Italia
• Lamborghini Gallardo/LP560
• Lamborghini Murcielago/LP640
• Lexus LFA
• Mercedes Benz McLaren SLR
• Mercedes Benz SL63 AMG
• Mercedes Benz SLS AMG
• Mitsubishi Evo Lancer Evolution/MR
• Nissan GT-R
• Porsche 911/Carrera/S/GT2
• Volkswagen GTI/Golf/Rabbit/R32

Various videos demonstrating launch control below after the jump…

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It’s On Now! – BMW M3 GTS At The Racetrack!

This is what it what the BMW M3 GTS is made for, the track! The guys at BMW.tv are busy posting new videos of the BMW M3 GTS and they are spectacular!

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BMW M3 GTS w/Teaser Video – This Is What You Have Been Waiting For!

So here it is, the answer to your prayers, the BMW M3 GTS. This is the M3 that we posted some time ago making rounds on the Nurburgring. Everyone wondered if it was a new E92 M3 CSL or a GT, well, it is the GTS! BMW just released this new video of the BMW M3 GTS in orange. This is when dreams come true. Below is the information that can be found on the m-power.com website as new details are revealed on the newest addition to the ///M line of cars.

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Pure Filthy CarPorn: BMW M3 Film

Do you remember the series of BMW films that featured hip stars such as James Brown and Madonna? Well, try taking away all of the talking, shorten the video, add more sexiness and then add the new E92 BMW M3 to it and you get a new car porn video it is out of this world.

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BMW M3 GT or CSL Making Rounds on Nurburgring?

It is all hearsay until we get a firm conformation on this but, spy photographers recently caught a modified BMW M3 making rounds on the Nurburgring and no one knows the significance of it. Automotive experts, including us, believe that this could be a rendition of a BMW M3 GT. If you remember back in the 1990’s BMW turned its E36 BMW M3 into a M3 GT version so it could compete in certain classes in long distances races. What we could be witnessing is a high-performance BMW M3, not saying the current E90 and E92 M3 is not a high-performance vehicle, but this could be something that pushes the envelope in terms of a M3.

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MWDesign Darth Maul BMW E92 M3

 

Horatiu at BMWBlog has posted some stunning images of MWDesign’s M3 Project BMW M3 “Darth Maul”. In the world of tuning, naturally the tuner wants to be creative and this “Darth Maul” E92 BMW M3 does not disappoint.

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Look Ma, I Can Drift: 2009 BMW M3 and Porsche 911 Track Drifts

So you thought the guys at Car and Driver could drive? Well, by the looks of this video they really can’t! Below is footage of some folks at Car and Driver messing around on the track in the new BMW M3 and Porsche 911. I hate to be the one to say it but these guys are ROOKIES! Maybe they are interns. Gosh I hope so for the sake of Car and Driver readers.

Enjoy the video after the jump…

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