Safety fast: More power for BMW's M4 MotoGP safety car

BMW has revealed its 2015 M4 MotoGP safety car that could point to a future Clubsport or GTS version.

BMW hasn’t released power or performance figures for MotoGP safety car but has confirmed the more track-biased M4’s 3.0-litre twin-turbo does generate more power thanks to being equipped with a 10bar water-injection cooling system similar to the ones used in rallying.

The new water-injection cooling system is located in the boot where a pump and a five-litre tank lives. Driven at high speed the water tank needs refilling every fifth tank of fuel.

Water injection works by injecting water at extremely high pressure, along with fuel, in the combustion chamber in order to provide a water, air and fuel mixture that burns efficiently without any risk of pre-ignition. Water injection also cools the inlet, feeding denser air into the engine liberating further power.

How much power is unknown, but it’s a safe assumption that the water injection, along with other tweaks, could boost power significantly above the current car’s 317kW, making the next-gen GTS the fastest M3/M4 ever made.

Fuelling the rumour further that the new MotoGP car is a ruse for developing a GTS in public is the amount of high-speed and real-world testing the M4 safety car has undergone at the Nurburgring. Frequently caught testing by industry spy photographers, the MotoGP's big aero has been constantly tweaked by BMW engineers for both high-speed stability and quicker lap times.

Rumour among the covert snappers, who work at the ‘Ring, is how different (and loud) the M4 MotoGP is. This suggests not only has BMW developed a sports exhaust for the safety car but it could have created a bored-out version of the regular 3.0-litre - both hugely expensive pieces of engineering for a one-off safety car.