BMW M4 GTS tech talk

It may look like a 4 Series coupe with a wild rear wing, but the BMW M4 GTS is a very different beast. Different even from the turbocharged M4 coupe upon which it is based.

motoring.com.au grabbed the new head of BMW M, Frank van Meel, for an exclusive technical briefing on the wildest current road-going M car. BMW won’t say it officially, but van Meel, the man who brought you the M2, has had the M4 reworked in his image. It’s now a much better idea of the direction M is heading… Thanks goodness!

The price of admission is steep. At $295,000, the M4 GTS is in a different fiscal league to the car on which it's based – in fact, you could buy an M4 and an M3 for the same money – but that hasn’t dampened enthusiasm for the M car.

Just 25 of the M4 GTS made it Down Under from a total of 700 made for worldwide consumption. BMW Australia retained one but the others are all already spoken for — meaning that there’s 24 of you out there that have just been scratched off our Christmas card list and added to Frank’s....

Over to you Mr van Meel….

Five things you need to know about the BMW M4 GTS

Water works
The M4 GTS’s inline six features BMW’s M TwinPower Turbo technology and in a first for the brand, water-injection. In high-rev, high-load (read: racetrack) use, water is injected into the combustion process to cool the charge and increase density. More air, more fuel, more bang! Peak outputs are 368kW or around 500hp and 600Nm. Ample…

It Ring’s true
The M4 GTS accelerates to 100km/h in 3.8sec and is speed-limited to 305km/h. Developed and tuned on the Nu¨rburgring-Nordschleife, its official lap time is 7:28. And don’t under-estimate the track focus of this car; it’s the most circuit-cable BMW in a generation. That said, we can’t wait to see what van Meel’s minion do with the rumoured M2 Clubsport.

Black art
Carbon-fibre is used extensively. The M4 GTS’ bonnet, front splitter, roof, rear spoiler, instrument panel bracing tube and rear diffuser are all CFRP (carbon-fibre reinforced plastic). The front splitter and rear spoiler are both adjustable. There’s a big ‘Street’ engraved in the titanium rear wing mount in case you’re confused about where it should be sent for Macca’s runs.

Wheelie good news
Staggered wheel sizes are used on the GTS – unlike the donor M4. Fronts are 9.5x19 with the rear wider and larger diameter at 10.5x20. Standard wheels are forged alloy but now carbon-fibre wheels are an option and along with carbon-ceramic brakes save approximately 13kg per corner.

Two a tee
The BMW M4 GTS is strictly a two-seater (the rear seats are replaced by an Alcantara-covered rear carbon-fibre sandwich panel. The no-cost option Clubsport Package adds a half-cage six-point harnesses and a fire extinguisher. Also worth showing off – all the tools required to adjust the M coilover suspension (adjustable ride height, compression/rebound and anti-roll bars) are in the boot…

To read about how all this works in practice, check out our exclusive