BMW creates the ultimate M5
The standard M5 is already a pretty useful bit of kit, but we'd much rather have this one...BMW's current-generation (E60) M5 is now nearing the end of its lifespan, but the company's M Division has created this stripped-down, pumped-up version as a last hurrah of sorts for the beefy sedan.
Resplendent in the Motorsport Division's trademark red-white-and-blue livery, the one-off special was revealed at BMW's prototype workshop at the Nurburgring, and the M division's head of development, Albert Biermann, was quoted by authoritative UK mag Autocar as saying it was "the M5 CSL we never built".
The 'CSL' moniker is an acronym for Coupe Sport Lightweight and has been applied in the past to the legendary 3.0 Coupe of the early 1970s, as well as to lightweight versions of the E36 and E46 generation M3s.
Befitting its one-off status, the special-edition M5 (which commemorates the 25th anniversary of the go-faster sedan) scores an engine enlargement from 5.0 to 5.5 litres (thanks to a longer stroke), and other upgrades include a carbonfibre manifold, a larger airbox and a secondary oil cooler.
The company hasn't released official power and torque figures, but Biermann suggested to Autocar the 5.5-litre V10 pumped out around 430kW and 540Nm. This compares with 373kW and 520Nm for the stocker M5.
Drive is relayed to the rear wheels by a strengthened version of the M3's M-DCT seven-speed dual-clutch sequential gearbox -- rather than the donor M5's brutal single-clutch SMG II sequential 'box.
Other tech highlights include a carbonfibre roof (which allegedly pares 50kg from the car's hefty 1800kg-plus girth) and carbonfibre sports seats in the front; the rear bench has been turfed altogether. Suspension tweaks are reportedly limited to revised mapping of the variable dampers.
The combined result of all these mods is said to be a sub-eight-minute lap of the 'Ring, which suggests it's in the same ballpark as the ultra-rapid Cadillac CTS-V.
The Caddy raised eyebrows last year by lapping the Nordschleife in 7min 59sec, making it the fastest production four-door at the time.
Unfortunately, there are no plans to put the amped-up M5 into even limited production, as development resources are reportedly being channelled into the next-gen model.
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