Customer Feedback Key To New BMW M4 GT4’s Development
This past week at VIRginia International Raceway, the second-generation BMW M4 GT4 officially broke cover at a public event. Prototypes have been testing since this past autumn, and the “M4 GT4 Concept” will be appearing once more in this weekend’s Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS). All of this testing is building towards homologation and full-scale customer racing in 2023 for the successor to a car that has enjoyed all manner of GT4 racing success around the world since it launched in 2018.
The G82-generation M4 GT4 had “Mr. BMW Motorsport” Bill Auberlen helping to pull the covers off on a brutally hot Friday afternoon in the VIR paddock, where the only thing as valuable in the BMW showcase area as the new car were the bottles of M4-branded ice water in the cooler behind it. With Auberlen were several current BMW drivers and customer team representatives from the SRO America series.
If their presence indicated strong demand from repeat customers, then Dan Lubin, the Motorsport Manager of BMW North America, reinforced that feeling when he spoke with us shortly after the public presentation.
“Demand has been really high so far,” said Lubin, who led last week’s presentation of the new M4 race car. “It’s been really strong.” Order forms hadn’t been opened at the time that we spoke. But in the days since, British GT Championship mainstays Century Motorsport have already confirmed two orders, with other teams’ orders to be announced in the weeks and months to come.
“I think the car speaks for itself – and what it’s going to do, to help the customers to be a little more consistent, easier to maintain the car – just the things that these customers appreciate.”
It’s those customers, who were on hand for the public unveiling, who steered the direction of the new M4 GT4 – a car that BMW has prided on being developed to improve performance, reliability, cost efficiency and maintainability – their “four key areas” of focus. What did those customers want, more than anything else? It was worth asking around to see what the people that will either be preparing or driving these cars for 2023 and beyond valued above all.
For Paul Sparta, driver for GT4 America squad Random Vandals Racing, ease of use and ergonomics were his top priority.”It’s easy to make the cars faster. It’s easier to add horsepower. It’s easier just to add downforce,” said Sparta.
“But the main thing that I think we wanted that we gave them, that they responded to, was the ability to work on the car. It has the more ‘race car accessibility.’ If you just look inside, under the bonnet, it’s obvious how cramped the current M4 is. It’s just like a streetcar. You look under the bonnet of the new car, and everything is accessible. You can go inside, everything is designed to be a little more for motorsport.”
It’s a step in the right direction designed for ease of maintenance, and a revised engine bay layout will also help to address another of the F82-generation M4’s greatest areas of opportunity, one that came up when speaking with Turner Motorsports owner Will Turner on this hot, humid weekend – he specifically wanted a more robust cooling system.
“You’re talking a six-cylinder, turbocharged engine that develops a lot of heat. The current car that we race struggles when ambient temperature is you know, 80 or 85 degrees out,” said Turner. (That’s within the range of 27°~30°C, temperatures which were exceeded during testing and practice, and met during both race days.) “It actually reduces the power sometimes to save itself.”
“The new car has a different cooling system set up. It’s much more beefy. It’s over-designed, it’s over-engineered, to keep the new car cool so that it can run without any of these problems – so that we know we can go into races in hot conditions, and not worry about taking away any power to save itself.”
This desire for a car with better thermal efficiency was also reinforced by James Clay, the owner of BimmerWorld Racing – as well as an active GT4 America driver, performing this past weekend at his “home race” in the state of Virginia. “The improvements that are direct problems solvers and a result of feedback from our team and others,” said Clay. “The new cooling package with the vented hood is something I have been hoping for since the outgoing GT4 Evo package, and it will solve one of our more major concerns.”
Air conditioning comes standard with the new M4 GT4 for driver comfort. And, love them or loathe them, the extra-large BMW kidneys that are a prominent feature of the G82 M4’s fascia will also help with getting additional airflow under the bonnet. Even the seat is ventilated for extra cooling.
Within that seat, there is the Fanatec-designed steering wheel, adjustable pedal boxes, and ‘quick attach’ devices to allow for faster driver changes. “The GT3-based driver ergonomics are huge for continuity between our programs,” said Clay of BimmerWorld. Several members of the general public got to sit inside and found it comfortable to get in and get out of, even with the seat being placed closer to the centre.
Another area that the customers we spoke to wanted was larger profile tyres. The new M4’s tyres are 305 millimetres wide with a diametre of 680mm. That’s 5mm wider and with a 20mm larger overall diameter than its outgoing predecessor. It may not seem like much, but for Turner, Clay, and Sparta, they all agreed it will go a long way to getting more consistent performance out on the race track.
“One of the other things that was kind of a weakness in the current car compared to its competition now, is the size of the front tyre. And the new car is addressing that with a bigger front tyre – which should put it more on par with the Aston and the Mercedes, which I think are both at the top of the class in GT4 now,” said Turner.
“The new 305/680 will help with tyre deg, which is always a challenge with one of the larger cars on the grid,” remarked Clay.
“We didn’t get it exactly as we asked, but the larger profile tyre, getting a little more radius to the tyre, was something we wanted – and they also responded to,” added Sparta.
But while having a solid race car is nice, having spare parts available is even better just in case something goes awry. A shortage of spare parts aggravated by global supply chain issues has been a common pain point for the new M4, particularly in the SRO America paddock – where BimmerWorld had to scale back their GT World Challenge America programme following a testing accident.
When asked how BMW Motorsport will ensure that a similar issue won’t unfold with the GT4’s launch, Lubin admitted that the state of the world, which is affecting BMW’s passenger and race car divisions, is “out of our control.” But one pain point of the M4 GT3’s initial rollout has been resolved, and should make for a smoother rollout of the GT4 model.
“What’s going to help us is the introduction of our parts support truck, which we launched a few months ago,” said Lubin. It’s gonna give us the ability to get parts here faster in stock, whereas in the past, we’d have to order through a dealership, which takes additional time – it could take several weeks or more. We are now able to get them on our truck, and so that will help with the supply chain.”
BMW Motorsport can consider it a success if they can not only retain their existing GT4 customers, but also bring in new ones for 2023. Turner, a BMW loyalist, said the launch that he wants to order ‘somewhere between two and fifteen’ of the new cars. Realistically, it would be enough to continue his existing GT4 programme in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge.
“We have every intention of being back in Pilot Challenge,” Turner said.
“But recently, my phone’s kind of been ringing off the hook with people wanting to do other stuff, which is awesome! That’s what you want to hear. Sometimes it doesn’t happen – but when it does, you want to try to take advantage.”
“I hope we can get it for Daytona. I plan to be out in full force in these next year, representing the brand.”
Images © BMW, RJ O’Connell
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