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BMW M4 GT3 Begins Tour of Famous Circuits with Spa Francorchamps, the 'Ring Next

While we may not be entirely sold on the massive grille as far as the road-going M4 is concerned - though we're begrudgingly warming up to the idea - it has to be said it looks pretty damn cool on the race-bred M4 GT3.
BMW M4 GT3 13 photos
Photo: BMW
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The high contrast with the white body paint surrounding the black grille should in theory make it stand out even more, which is the last thing you want to do with a car's worst feature, yet somehow, it all ties together here. Maybe it's the huge black splitter, the wider body, the lowered stance, or just the overall aggressive nature of the car - we don't know, but we're not going to dig too deep and just enjoy it instead.

A slightly toned-down road-legal version of this would sell by the bucketloads, helped in no small part by the fact the M4 - particularly in Competition guise - is such a wonderful tool around a track. Well, imagine just how good it can become after it's gone through the hands of the guys at BMW M Motorsport.

Well, you won't have to imagine for much longer because the M4 GT3 is set to kick off its public tests in just a few days at the world-famous Belgian track of Spa Francorchamps. That means the all-new GT3-spec Bimmer will blast through the equally famous "Eau Rouge" high-speed corner as it joins the Official Test Days (June 22 and 23) ahead of the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

It won't race in the endurance competition, or at least not yet. This year, the BMW M6 GT3 will make its last outing in the race that's brought BMW so much success in the past having won it 24 times, with the M4 GT3 set to pick up the mantle next year.

Until then, though, it's set to hold its first test under race conditions on the even more famous Nürburgring-Nordschleife. The BMW will participate in round four of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (June 26) competing in the prototype class SP-X - the M4 GT3 is yet to be homologated. That means its result won't stand, but the data collected will help the team better set up the car for its competitive debut.

Compared to the M6 GT3, the M4 GT3 uses a smaller three-liter straight-six engine (the M6 had a V8) that still makes more power (590 hp compared to 580 hp), with a vastly superior specific output (197 hp/l for the M4, 132 hp/1 for the M6). Strangely enough, the race-spec M4 is also longer and has a longer wheelbase than the similar M6. How much does it cost? A mere minimum of $492,000 (€415,000).
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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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