In a impressive performance from start to finish BMW’s M3 GT cars finished 2nd and 3rd respectively at the 12 Hours of Sebring. After a rocky start both M3′s not only ran flawlessly throughout what is arguably the toughest 12 hours in racing but moved through the field to beat both the Corvettes and the Porsches. Only a lowly Ferrari and an unlucky position in relation to a late yellow managed to get in their way from a perfect weekend. You can see videos from the entire team below.
Official Release: The BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team proved JOY IS BMW with a double-podium class finish for the BMW M3 GT Coupes in yesterday’s 58th annual American Le Mans Series 12 Hours of Sebring.
Bill Auberlen, Tommy Milner and Dirk Werner co-drove the No. 92 BMW M3 GT to a second place finish (seventh overall), finishing 330 laps of the 3.7-mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway.
The No. 90 M3 GT co-driven by Joey Hand, Dirk Müller and Andy Priaulx completed the same number of laps to finish third (eighth overall). Hand set a new GT class race record with a 2:00.985 minute lap (lap 185) during his final stint.
Both M3s ran flawlessly for the entire race, turning some of the fastest laps in the closing hours of the race as they chased the class leader which had gained a substantial lead during the race’s second full-course caution period.
The M3 GT are currently running in 3rd and 4th in the GT2 class after a challenging start. It’s been a phenomenal race especially for the 4th place #90 car that started from dead last in class. The official release below along with video updates from Bill Auberlan and Dirk Mϋller’s.
Official Release: The BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team BMW M3 GTs stand third and fourth in the GT2 class just past the 6-hour mark of the 58th annual 12 Hours of Sebring. With some 700 miles around Sebring International Raceway complete the team has delivered an excellent performance with the No. 92 M3 GT running second for about four-and-one-half-hours.
Starting from seventh on the grid, the No. 92 BMW M3 GT of Bill Auberlen, Tommy Milner and Dirk Werner has raced in second position for nearly five hours. Werner took the 10:30 a.m. start, cracking the top-five before handing off to Auberlen just prior to the one hour mark. The experienced Californian drove an excellent second stint to move into second before handing off to Milner. With three hours complete, Werner re-entered the race to drive the team’s first double-stint of the race. Auberlen drove the fifth hour, pitting for Milner almost precisely at the halfway point.
It was looking so good for the Rahal Letterman team but mechanical issue that caused a rules infraction took the #90 car from the rear of the class. The #92 car piloted by Bill Auberlen, Tommy Milner and Dirk Werner will start from the 7th spot on the grid.
Official Release: The BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team completed an intense week of pre-race preparations and practice with a bittersweet qualifying result for the 58th running of the American Le Mans Series 12 Hours of Sebring. The No. 92 and No. 90 BMW M3 GT Coupes will start from 7th and 13th on the GT2 grid[1], respectively.
According to a local Washington State TV station BMW and partner SGL are looking at several locations in North America to build a plant specifically for producing carbon fiber material likely for the upcoming iSetta range of cars. According to sources BMW is looking at a location near Moses Lake Washington (US) and an unnamed Canadian city. The project is so secret that those inside the Washington county where Moses Lake resides are only calling it “Project Chinook”.
With labor and material cheaper in North America than Europe, BMW is looking to make a strategic decision to shift some production of components outside of Europe and closer to what is currently BMW’s largest market and closer to what could eventually eclipse it, China.
BMW and SGL are expected to make a decision and a formal announcement in the coming weeks.
BMW has once again garnered multiple Red Dot design awards for outstanding design in the automotive sector. The new Rolls Royce Ghost won the “Best of the Best” award for exceptional design while the new 5 Series, 5 Series GT and X1 all won outstanding design awards. Also winning were two of BMW Motorrad’s finest, the 1000 RR and the F 800 R.
Official Release: The presentation of the red dot award 2010 once again provides impressive confirmation of the outstanding quality of BMW Group design. Six current models of the BMW Group will receive the internationally renowned award this year, with the new Rolls-Royce Ghost winning the special “red dot: best of the best” award for the very highest level of design quality in the category Automobiles, Transport and Caravans. Other BMW Group models to be awarded the red dot as a mark of outstanding design are the new BMW 5 Series Sedan, the BMW X1 and the motorcycle model BMW F 800 R. There were also honourable mentions from the international jury of experts for the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo and the motorcycle model BMW S 1000 RR. The awards will be presented at the gala held at the Aalto Theatre in Essen on July 5th 2010.
The BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team was nice enough to take some time out of their busy schedules to answer a few of our questions.
Since this is the first race of the season we thought it would be nice for all the enthusiasts out there to know how these racers prep for the season during the winter. We also asked how they specifically get ready for an endurance race like the 12 hours of Sebring.
Sebring is grueling; not only because it is so long but also because the tarmac from the old runways are just not what they used to be- the track is as rough as the come (My ///M3′s EDC would be in comfort to lessen the stress on the suspension and my back!).
Enjoy!
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Thanks to the entire crew at BMW Rahal Letterman/Motorsport for answering our questions!
The French automotive site aptly named Automobile.fr has what they claim are leaked CG image of the next generation F30 3 Series. While there is some interesting validatey in the design of the CG images, we are relatively skeptical based on the site’s track record. For those of who read MotoringFile, you may remember very similar “leaked” CG images of the next generation MINI. All it too was a few minutes of investigating before we realized that they simply photoshopped a previous interior image and passed it off as a the unreleased car. We even went straight to the source at MINI who would know such things, Head of MINI Design Gert Hildebrand, and asked him about the renderings. His immediate response was that they are nothing from his team and their studio.
So with that track record we can’t help but be a little skeptical. Now with that said they are interesting and we do like the BMW CS Concept inspired look. But we also can’t help but notice a few discrepancies. For starters the car looks noticeably smaller than we’d expect. There is little rear overhang and even the mirrors are smaller than the current cars (which were recently made larger due to European Union regulations).
Today BMW presented it’s annual account press conference where BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer re-confirmed that BMW will build a front wheel drive car below the 1 Series. Let’s go straight to the money quote of the article:
“There will be front-wheel-drive BMWs in the smaller vehicle classes in the future,” BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer said at the company’s annual financial results press conference here today.
BMW expects the new architecture to debut in 2014 (a year later than anticipated) with the debut of the third generation MINI hatch. The new archicture will allow BMW to produce many products around the size of the current MINI and MINI Clubman and smaller. Basically everything from minicars to compacts. All told Automotive News expects the architecture to underpin up to 20 different MINI and BMW models.
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Sections: //M3\\, Motorsport, Official News, Video Mar 21st, 2010 2 Comments 
