It’s been a busy few days on The Green Hell of Germany’s Nürburgring, with BMW pounding out laps in its new M3 and M4, Bugatti putting miles on the Chiron Pur Sport, and Mercedes-AMG testing the GT-R Black Series.
First, let’s take a look at the forthcoming M3, a car that’s something of a favourite amongst the modern-classic community. The latest M-car delivers 473bhp from its 3.0-litre, twin-turbo straight-six, or 503hp in Competition guise.
For the benefit of M3 fans without a memory long enough to recall the original, E30, the anticipated power is a far cry from the first M3, which had 192bhp when its 2.3-litre, four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine was fitted with a catalytic converter. The new, 2020 M3 and M4 will boast two and half times as much power.
The standard car will offer a six-speed manual transmission with the Competition switching to an eight-speed M Steptronic unit. Initially the M3 will come in rear-drive only, with the four-wheel-drive M xDrive being introduced later. The M4 is essentially the same spec, but with fewer doors and that gigantic grille. The official launch is September.
Bugatti’s Chiron Pur Sport will be limited to just 60 owners, but they’ll be getting a car that has had its suspension, steering and chassis control systems fined tuned on The Ring.
The car features optimised aerodynamics, shorter gear ratios and new tyres compared to the “regular” Chiron. Yours for just over £2.4million if they weren’t already sold. YouTuber Mishka Charoudin joined Bugatti for a ride as you can see in the video below.
Finally, the latest Mercedes-AMG GT-R Black Series has also been spotted with a gigantic rear wing, designed so that it doesn’t take off at flugplatz.
Other enhancements include a front grille derived from the AMG GT-R GT3 racer, wider arches and beefier front splitter. At the rear you can’t miss that massive double-deck rear wing and a new diffuser. Mercedes-AMG hasn’t released full details yet, but given that the standard GT3 makes over 585 hp, you can expect the Black Series to break the 600bhp barrier when it’s revealed later in the year.
In the meantime enjoy watching it in action in the video below where we learn that is, at least, faster than a Porsche Cayenne.
