You can hear the 4.0-liter V8 roaring at high speed.
BMW officially revealed the GTE in September 2017. This car will compete in the GTE Pro divisions of FIA’s World Endurance Championship as well as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Bavarians are hard at work preparing the race car to compete in the 86th edition of 24 Hours of Le Mans. It will be held at Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans. The M8 GTE is seen in this video being tested during a three-day session at Monza Circuit in Italy.
The race car was developed concurrently with the road-going 8 Series. Although they share many components, the M8 GTE’s heart is a 4.0-liter biturbo engine that produces between 500 horsepower (373 Kilowatts) or 600 horsepower (447 kW), depending upon the specification.
BMW’s motorsport division used the engine under the hood the current M5 as a base. It also used lots of input from specialists at BMW M. Many parts including the engine block, cylinder head and engine block are used in the race engine without any modification to the production version.
BMW has been working with MTEK, a former DTM team member, on the race car. It will be up against stiff competition from Ford and Ferrari. Porsche and Aston Martin all of which have a full factory entry.
“With the BMW M8 GTE we are bringing cutting edge technology to the top international GT racing class, while at the same time, tying in our tradition at Le Mans,” Jens Marquardt is director of BMW Motorsport. “The BMW M8 GTE development is well on track, and we cannot wait to see it competing for wins in 2018.