Quote:
Originally Posted by Law
Again,
The M6 was racking up victories left and right before the existence of the E30 M3.
If you want to talk about "tradition" and "landmark" moments, as well as "establishing BMW as a brand" per your previous posts, it happened well before the E30 M3. Ever heard of the 3.0 CSL? How about the 2002? There's a lot more to BMW heritage and tradition than the M3.
What you've been saying the entire time is that BMW's racing program and brand image weren't mature before the E30, which is absurd. BMW was well established in racing and known for great street cars well before the E30 M3.
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Fine, I short-changed the early variants of the M6 and other BMW models. But over the last 15-20 years, which of the two (between the M6 and M3) has been used more extensively and has seen more racing success?
In the recent past (the last 15-20 years) BMW, and 3rd party teams, have relied heavily on variants of the e36, e46 and e92 m3's for racing in ALMS (now IMSA) and the various European and other regional circuits/groups.
Before that, the historic e30 was widely recognized for dominating the touring car racing scene, in Europe and abroad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M3...tion_accolades
Are you really going to pretend that the recent versions of the M6 (E63,F12) come anywhere close to matching those accolades and pedigrees?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Law
And the F82 M4 is so vastly similar to the E30 M3 because...? They don't even share a namesake.  |
The F82 M4 is vastly different from the e30, as is to be expected when comparing a modern car to a 30 year old one. The namesake difference is purely the result of arbitrary naming conventions used by BMW.
My main point was that the modern day M6 is a big boat, even compared to the M3/M4 platform, and certainly its size is less than ideal for the technical road courses that are prevalent in endurance sports car racing.
You don't see Chevy racing its Impalla in IMSA, nor do you see Porsche racing its Panamera in IMSA...that's for a reason.
BMW is racing a version (albeit heavily modified) of a luxury sedan, while Porsche and Chevy, among others, are racing platforms based off of dedicated sports cars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Law
Having a versatile engine that won't blow up mid-race is not just "some advantage", it's the difference between life & death in racing.
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I've already acknowledged that the M6's engine offers a solid foundation for racing work. To be fair though, I'm not aware of anyone trying to modify a S55 for hardcore race use, so its not like we can really discuss its merits, or lackthereof, in that kind of environment.
Listen, you can keep harping all you want on my ignorance when it comes to BMW's early racing years.
The intent behind this thread wasn't to argue about history, it was to discuss the reason why BMW chose the M6 over other, seemingly more practical platforms, like the M3/M4 and Z4 for IMSA racing. I acknowledge the M6's S63 offers its own unique advantages, but outside of that, I'm somewhat mystified why BMW is trying to race a M6 against more race-oriented platforms like Corvettes and 911's.