BMW Motorsport officially announced the new G82 generation M4 GT4 on Friday, June 17th. On the same day, they showed the car in person to teams at Virginia International Raceway, who were there for the SRO Motorsports America race weekend. It was a fitting place to show the car for the first time, as there are several F82 generation M4 GT4s competing in the SRO GT4 America and GT America series—a dozen of them in fact.
As you would expect, the new M4 GT4 looks like a lot like the M4 GT3, just not as aggressive. It’s much more closely aligned to the road car than the GT3 model is, but appears to be beautifully designed and built to the same level of detail as the M4 GT3. Development of the car focused on performance, reliability, cost efficiency, and maintainability.
A quick look at the spec sheet reveals power output to be around 550hp, a seven-speed automatic gearbox made by ZF with motorsport software, a DREXLER limited-slip differential and motorsport-optimized driveshafts, as well as five-level adjustable anti-roll bars front and rear, and purpose-built KW two-way shocks with H&R springs that are available in three different spring rates. The car is still pending SRO homologation. The SRO sanctions GT4-spec series around the world, including here in the US with the GT4 America and GT America series.
One interesting feature in the new car is the M Track Cockpit, which allows the driver to control many of the vehicle settings and system checks that would normally require connection to a laptop. “We took on the challenge to develop a successor to the highly successful first-generation M4 GT4”, said Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M. “Using a wide range of customer feedback, our experienced development team and the new sixth generation M4 based production car has led to a faster, even more reliable and very emotional all new M4 GT4.”
The new M4 GT4 has already been extensively tested on the Nürburgring Nordschleife among other places. Through the rest of this year, the car will be back on the Nordschleife in the next round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series on July 9th and will also compete in the 24 Hours of Portimão in Portugal on the same weekend. Production is due to start in October, and the estimated price of the car is 187,000 euros, or just under $200,000, which is well under the price of a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. U.S. racing fans can expect to see the car in action for the first time in the opening round of next year’s Michelin Pilot Challenge Championship at Daytona in January 2023. —David Haueter
[Photos by BMW]