In June this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the famous BMW motorsport division, known simply as ‘M’, with top billing at the worldwide unveiling of its first production series the M3 Turing wagon.
I’ve seen the car up close, without camouflage cloaking – at least from the rear end – and it has all the features of an instant injury. Considering how long BMW has been able to play with the idea of creating something like this, that would be significant.
Eight years after BMW released the larger M5 Turing in 1992, BMW M created its first M3 Turing concept in 2000, with a project that amounted to a secret SkunkWorks program.
It had more rigidity than the road-going (then) two-door M3 for extra body length and weight, as well as a wider wheel arch and a power bulge on the bonnet. It has received greater air up to the front, side gills and quad exhaust pipes. The Chrome Shadow Metal has been added to the M Alloy Wheel with an attractive paint finish.
But it never saw the light of day.
Jump to the present, and Hans Rahon, the current head of BMW M prototyping, took the baton to create a one-off, new version of the M3 Turing, combining the features of the current generation M3 and regular 3 Series Turing. Concept, finished in Frozen Dark Silver.
That effort was enough to win over the BMW board, which for the first time green-lit the right Series M3 Turing, and answered the prayers of car enthusiasts around the world who have been asking for it for years now.
It is said that the series will start production in a few months. At the moment, there are no plans to limit the build volume of the 2023 M3 Turing, and every objective is to continue its development beyond the life cycle of its inaugural series if demand exists.
According to BMW M CEO Frank Van Meel, who spoke Care Expert Lately, in Italy.
“Of course, it depends on how it develops, but we don’t usually do ‘one off’, and we think this car is going to be a huge success, because we’re already seeing a huge demand. Meaning, “he told us.
But it needed its own challenges to get the green light from Munich’s power, including at least convincing the board that there was a market for M3 wagons outside Europe because station wagons were not popular. In the face of SUVs for more than a decade.
“The biggest challenge is that the Turing concept is the first and foremost a European concept – it’s not a world car like the M3. [sedan] By itself or M4, this is more or less a European concept, so you are focusing very strongly on a market that limits your production numbers, “said Mr. Van Mill.
“However, the pull of all our major markets was so strong, everyone was desperate for M3 Turing, so we said, ‘OK we’ll do it’.”
Despite the long roof and extra weight, the M3 sedan as well as the road-going M3 Touring were more difficult to perform and manage. According to Dark Hacker, this was a significant initiative – the person in charge of BMW’s development.
“When we started this project, we told chassis engineers that we wanted the M3 to feel like an M3 on the back of the Turing wheel, even if it was completely loaded with passengers and luggage,” said Mr Hacker.
We have calculated three M3 Turing prototypes in the development area visited at BMW M in Munich. Upon investigation, we learned that each began life as a regular 3 Series touring that was later completely rebuilt, explaining the person in charge of ‘driving dynamics’ for all BMW M cars, Klaus Uber.
“To begin with, we’ve removed everything from the front of the car, including the engine, drive and axle out, and replaced it with M3 technology – meaning the S58 motor combined with the M xDrive. [AWD]Mr Uber said.
“A very important component for the M3 Turing is the special strut kit that we used, which includes the visible parts above the engine and which we used under the car. We [also] The front fenders had to be widened to integrate the front excel of the M3.
“Under these we use M3 / M4 tires that are paired with optional M ceramic brakes, because the M3 Turing needs to achieve the same performance as the M3. [sedan]Mr. Uber finished.
It’s the same story with the rear edge of the M3 and the extra-wide wheel arches to accommodate the 285mm rear tires.
“There is also a new shaped roof spoiler, which significantly improves the downforce and overall aerodynamic balance of the M3 Turing,” Mr Uber added.
“If you open the luggage compartment, you will see that we do not use the common partition left and right strut dome. Instead, we’re using a new stiffening kit on the back, which includes an extra connecting point on the outside of the V-strut at the back. “
The M3 Turing gets a completely new spring / damper / anti-roll bar setup incorporating a new damper system on both front and rear axles with lower end piston valves.
Spring rate and damper settings have also been adjusted to the front axle, as well as the rigidity of the anti-roll bar rubber bearings. All major control systems are calibrated to match the mechanical compatibility of the M3 Turing.
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An earlier M3 Turing concept
“We did not put any exercise on this car. This is adaptive damping, steering, DSC, ABC, etc. To achieve the goal, we have set M3 Turing from the beginning of the project – so that it can run like M3. [sedan]Mr. Uber concludes.
After we saw three M3 Turing prototypes, I asked Dark Hacker how it was powered. Here is his answer:
“It’s almost as fast as the M3 [sedan]And you will forget that you are driving a wagon with this car because it is very well balanced and rotates very well in the corners. “
A quick Google search of M3 touring lap times in ‘Ring’ reveals that the prototype has reached 7:30, which will put it just 10 seconds behind the recently released M4 CSL (7: 20.207) – which is just awesome.
After looking closely at the car and talking to key members of the development team, you realize that the long-awaited M3 Turing is going to be one of the rare cars that has been over-engineered to prove a point – and thus continues to be in high demand.
So it’s probably not going to be one of the shorter limited-edition M models like the 1994/95 E36 M3 GT Coupe (above) with only 356 units built and all in British Racing Green.
Or perhaps the 2003/4 E46 M3 CSL, widely regarded as the most ionic M3 of all. It produced a total of 1383 vehicles for one year only. The CSL was a road-racer in its purest form, without heated seats and SAT-NAV, while a radio and air-conditioner were installed only on request. Weight-saving measures such as deducting 110 kg from the weight of a regular M3.
Still rare was the E90 BMW M3 CRT (Carbon Racing Technology) to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first M3, which used carbon-fiber reinforced plastic and other lightweight materials to reduce the car’s weight to 1580 kg (45 kg). Less than standard M3). Only 67 were ever built and this is illustrated below.