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2019 BMW M2 Competition Battles Porsches and AMGs on the Nurburgring

The BMW M2 is one of the most fun cars you can have today. As the spiritual successor of the BMW 1 Series M, it couldn't have been any other way, but even though it's not exactly as mental as its forerunner, it's still an excellent driver's car.
2019 BMW M2 Competition 1 photo
Photo: YouTube screenshot
The recipe is simple: stick a decent engine on a tiny chassis with rear-wheel-drive and a manual transmission, and you've got yourself any petrolhead's dream. Add the fact we're talking about an inline-six turbocharged engine and a chassis tuned by the M Division technicians, and you're only making things even better.

"Make things better" might as well have been the brief for the M2 Competition as well since the track-oriented sports car is essentially a go-faster version of the standard M2. That means more power, less weight and a slight improvement on the already wonderful handling.

The extra oomph is said to come via an engine transplant, with the donor being the larger M3/M4 models. However, the B58 inline-six will offer less power in the new M2 Competition, with 405 hp rumored to be the exact figure. That would translate into a 35 hp hike over the standard M2, which is an almost ten percent increase from its 370 hp.

Not much is known about the weight drop, but you can safely assume it will be achieved through a wider use of BMW's light material of choice: the CFRP or Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer. The Bavarians developed this cheaper alternative to carbon fiber for the "i" program, but then used it across the entire range.

The performance figures of the current BMW M2 are not all that impressive, but then again the car isn't about raw power but the way it puts in on the track. It has a 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) acceleration time of 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph (250 km/h). The Competition version should see those modified a little, but don't expect anything too spectacular.

One of the best things about the Competition model is that that it's going to keep the six-speed manual transmission option of the M2 alive, meaning it should be the last M Division model that comes with a stick. The release date is said to be sometime around next summer, so expect to see more of these videos in the coming months.

The video below shows the new Bimmer on the painted asphalt of the Nurburgring circuit, and within the first seconds, it almost gave us a heart attack. The shots show an empty corner of the track, and while our eyes don't see anything, we can definitely hear something very mean-sounding approaching.

Unfortunately, it's not the BMW M2 Competition, but what looks to be a Porsche 911 GT3. The M2 follows behind and even though its engine and exhaust notes are by no means bad, they pale in comparison to the flat-six.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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