I’ve always been fascinated by DTM cars, and touring cars in general. I love the idea of making race cars out of road cars, even if they’re far more bespoke nowadays than they used to be. In this case, we get to check out the the F82 BMW M4 DTM, the only one in North America, at the Peterson Automotive Museum. And while it didn’t start out exactly like the M4 you can buy, it looks like it did.
This specific car is from 2020, and mostly raced in sprint races, with BMW hot shoe Timo Glock behind the wheel. While it made its way to a few podium finishes in its career, it never actually won a race, which is a bummer. I mean, just look at it: that thing deserved a win.
Despite the fact that it looks like an F82 M4 with racing aero, it’s actually a bespoke racing monocoque. Every manufacturer had to use the same carbon fiber monocoque chassis, with the same underfloor aerodynamics. Then those things were sent to every automaker, who shaped the rest of the body to make it look like a road car. In BMW’s case, it made its racer look like an M4 and did an excellent job. Had I not know that it’s a shared carbon tub underneath, I would have thought it was just an M4.
You can tell once the hood is off, though. The front end is nothing like a road car underneath its skin, with its awesome carbon intake duct work and aero, as well as the visible pushrod suspension, and almost comically small engine. You might think that a DTM car made to look like an M4 would come with either a twin-turbo inline-six or a V-8. Instead, this has a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder. But that little engine has a dry sump oil system, a gorgeous carbon fiber valve cover, and makes 610 horsepower. Oh, and the entire engine only weights 187 pounds. Nutty stuff.
Interestingly, that little four-cylinder was designed to be durable enough to last the entire season. So it’s not like BMW pushed the power to its limits, knowing that it’d be swapping engines when they break. Instead, BMW had to build the four-pot to be tough.
If you like engineering or mechanics, you’ll love this video. It shows off the very impressive, stunning engineering that made this kick-ass DTM car work. And it will give you even more appreciation for some of the coolest race cars in the world.
