BMW has listened to fans’ requests and is releasing a BMW M4 CSL. The new edition lives up to its legendary predecessors, is 100 kilograms lighter than the M4 Competition and with 405 kW / 550 hp is 29 kW / 40 hp more powerful. This leads to the fastest Nordschleife lap time of a production BMW.
When BMW says CSL, it’s traditionally down to business and the fans of the Munich dynamic division get a gleam in their eyes. Because these vehicles enjoy legendary status with anyone who has just a little petrol in their veins. Sports car purists remember the Batmobile, the BMW 3.0 CSL from 1973 or the radical BMW M3 CSL of the E46 series, which from 2003 with 265 kW / 360 hp made the drivers of the Swabian competition break out in a cold sweat. Such a tradition obliges, in addition, CSL stands for (Coupé Sport Lightweight) in the Munich agility compendium. So these three letters are both a requirement and a burden for the engineers. Dieting is not an easy task. After all, the M4 Competition is the basis, the weight of which should be undercut by 100 kilograms.
“We took out the weight in 100 gram units,” explains product manager Sebastian Maier. Because even the BMW M4 Competition is not necessarily a heavyweight. Nevertheless, the Munich engineers have put down a point load and reduced the weight of the CSL to 1,625 kilograms. A brief overview of the most important measures: Remove the rear seat and replace it with helmet storage compartments: minus 21 kilograms, new full carbon seat: minus 25 kilograms, no floor mats, nets and less insulating material: minus 15 kilograms. This way you can also hear the sound of the exhaust better, which is supposed to sound more robust. Incidentally, the two-pipe titanium exhaust system with electronically controlled flaps is an in-house development by BMW and weighs another four kilograms plus a more robust sound than is the case with the competition.
With such an extreme racer, nothing works without a composite material. On the one hand because of the weight saving of eleven kilograms and on the other hand because of the higher torsional rigidity of the components, which the engineers strategically place for this reason. That’s why the bonnet and trunk lid are made of CFRP. This is by no means the end of the technicians’ willingness to diet. Because the fight for every gram called for a one-zone air conditioning system (instead of two zones), the LED light is available in the basic version and the partition panel in the trunk is missing.
With a boost pressure increased by 0.4 bar to 2.1 bar and a modified engine control, the engineers tickled 29 kW / 40 hp more out of the straight six-cylinder than in the M4 Competition and thus increased the power of the Bavarian power to 405 kW / 550 hp. This means that the BMW M4 CSL breaks the 100 km/h mark in 3.7 seconds, making it 0.2 seconds faster than the M4 Competition. After 10.7 seconds, 200 km/h is reached from a standing start, at 307 km/h the electronics put an end to the propulsion. This suggests that the M4 CSL could do even more once you let it off the leash. The power-to-weight ratio of 2.95 hp per kilogram is at least as important.
To ensure that the power transmitted by the eight-speed M Steptronic is also applied to the asphalt, the M technicians have also sharpened the chassis and lowered the body by eight millimeters. They also increased camber on the front axle, installed stronger anti-roll bars, replaced all rubber mounts with ball joints on the rear axle, reduced the spring rate and adjusted the software of the adaptive dampers. CSL disciples would consider all-wheel drive as blasphemy, only rear-wheel drive is worthy of a CSL. Behind the special light-alloy rims, the standard carbon-ceramic brakes grip boldly.
The result of these measures is a lap time of 7:20.207 minutes on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring. Thus, the M4 CSL burned the fastest time of a BMW production model in the legendary asphalt. If you want to secure the new edition of the Munich sports icon from July 2022, you have to have at least 165,200 euros in your pocket and, above all, be quick. The BMW M4 CSL is limited to 1,000 units, 150 of which will go to Germany. At 250, most are sold in the US
Source: Stern
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