The big Bimmer can boogie.
The Nurburgring Nordschleife is one of the most fearsome racetracks in the world. It features over 150 corners and over 12 miles (19 kilometers) of tarmac that snake through the German forest. Dubbed the “Green Hell” by Formula 1 ace Jackie Stewart, it is a fantastic place for automakers – and individuals – to push cars to the limit
Sport Auto’s Christian Gebhardt took the BMW M8 Competition around the track to see what it could do. The M8 road car has quite a racing pedigree, with the BMW M8 GTE race car achieving great success in the IMSA GTLM series. Two back-to-back class victories at the 24 Hours of Daytona doesn’t happen by accident. Along with its racing pedigree, the M8 is the most-powerful and most-expensive BMW on sale at the moment.
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As for the lap, the car looks very composed through key areas of the track like the Flugplatz and both the Karussell and Kleines Karussell. It appears that the vehicle’s all-wheel-drive system does a great job of managing the vehicle’s weight through low-speed corners. The Bimmer’s 616-horsepower (459-kilowatt) twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 powerplant also provides ample grunt for key sections like the long uphill climb following Breidsheid corner. The combination of power and control propelled the BMW M8 around the Nordschleife in 7:32, making it one of the fastest road-going BMWs around the Green Hell.
Undoubtedly if BMW wanted to set an official lap time they would most likely source a factory driver and get a more representative result. However, Gebhardt is still a very capable driver behind the wheel. Any lap around the Nurburgring at full-chat is an achievement in itself.
What did you think of Gebhardt’s lap? Let us know in the comments below.