Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Watch the top clip first...



Seriously, aside from the name of the clip - would you ever expect that sort of noise to come out of that sort of vehicle?

Sadly, this isn't a production car but simply a prototype, probably something the engineers came up with after the 1999 Le Mans win with the BMW V12 LMR. I've driven the current X5 M and I was impressed by the speed of huge truck and the twin-turbo V8 churning out 550HP. However, with a 700HP on tap from the same V12 that happened to win the 1999 Le Mans. Hence the X5 Le Mans.

Hans Stuck - when he was still in the employ of BMW took this beast out and beat on it in the video below. It's a shame this never reached production - certainly a car ahead of its time considering in 1999 the car enthusiasts would have never thought a truck would end up at one point in time as one of the fastest, most agile M cars available.

In addition to the massive V12 this particular X5 benefited from tremendous weight savings through aluminum panels, lighter high-bloster seats, and use of carbon fiber. It is rumored that Herr Stuck managed a 7:49 time on the Nurburgring putting it 1 second faster than the M3 CSL and over 15 seconds faster than the E92 M3. Nuts.

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