Photo: Newspressusa.com
BMW is present at the New York Auto Show this year as well, and it brought out the big guns. As expected, the guys took proper racing cars with them to the show and are now celebrating 40 years since one of their rides first raced in the US.
That’s right, it was back in 1975 when the 3.0CSL raced at Sebring for the first time and stunned the crowd. Initially, the US public thought that ‘BM’ stood for British Motorsport, a confusion hard to make these days, right? Well, it happened and the world was never the same again.
The North American continent became the company’s biggest market outside the old European continent and is now about to welcome its largest plant in the world.
Getting back to the matter at hand here, the line-up at NYIAS was impressive. Alongside the original car number 25 that raced at Sebring in ’75 there was also this year’s Z4 GTLM model that raced on the same track no more than a couple of days ago, wearing a similar livery.
Next to them there was an Alpina 2002ti that also used to race in the 1970s, just before the 3.0CSL started making a name for itself. It weighed around 1,990 lbs (900 kg) and had a 2-liter 4-cylinder engine under the bonnet making 220 HP at an astonishing 8,000 RPM.
Right alongside these racing legends there’s an Alpina B6 Gran Coupe Biturbo xDrive. This is the fastest and most powerful BMW ever made, even though it’s not wearing the blue and white badge. Being tuned by Alpina and having its own, different VIN number, the B6 isn’t legally a Bimmer but we all know what the basis for it was.
Developed using a 650i model as a starting point, the German tuner/manufacturer gave it a revised intake, new turbos, new exhaust pipes and a new software and made it churn out 600 HP and 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) of torque out of the 4.4-liter V8 twin-turbo under the bonnet.
Hooked up to the xDrive all-wheel drive system, the B6 Biturbo is capable of 204 mph and an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) that takes under 4 seconds. As a matter of fact, the world record for the fastest four-door sedan in the world at the moment belongs to the Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT with its 707 HP. Care to guess what its top speed is? 204 mph. We might just have a duel here...
The North American continent became the company’s biggest market outside the old European continent and is now about to welcome its largest plant in the world.
Getting back to the matter at hand here, the line-up at NYIAS was impressive. Alongside the original car number 25 that raced at Sebring in ’75 there was also this year’s Z4 GTLM model that raced on the same track no more than a couple of days ago, wearing a similar livery.
Next to them there was an Alpina 2002ti that also used to race in the 1970s, just before the 3.0CSL started making a name for itself. It weighed around 1,990 lbs (900 kg) and had a 2-liter 4-cylinder engine under the bonnet making 220 HP at an astonishing 8,000 RPM.
Right alongside these racing legends there’s an Alpina B6 Gran Coupe Biturbo xDrive. This is the fastest and most powerful BMW ever made, even though it’s not wearing the blue and white badge. Being tuned by Alpina and having its own, different VIN number, the B6 isn’t legally a Bimmer but we all know what the basis for it was.
Developed using a 650i model as a starting point, the German tuner/manufacturer gave it a revised intake, new turbos, new exhaust pipes and a new software and made it churn out 600 HP and 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) of torque out of the 4.4-liter V8 twin-turbo under the bonnet.
Hooked up to the xDrive all-wheel drive system, the B6 Biturbo is capable of 204 mph and an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) that takes under 4 seconds. As a matter of fact, the world record for the fastest four-door sedan in the world at the moment belongs to the Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT with its 707 HP. Care to guess what its top speed is? 204 mph. We might just have a duel here...
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