NORTHSTAR MOTORSPORTS BLOG

Published: 2009-11-04 11:50:17
Last Updated: 2010-11-09 11:18:17

Well that was fast. As well it should be. Because what you're looking at is the most hardcore roadgoing M3 to date. It's called the GTS – not, as had been previously speculated, the CSL, GT or GT4 Street – and after seeing a few spy shots and some speculated details, BMW has just released its first official information on the most extreme machine in its stable.

The eye-catching orange paintjob is a throwback to extreme Bimmers of yore. But after you look past the timely Halloween color scheme, you'll notice a set of exclusive 19-inch competition alloys – coated with 225/35 rubber up front and 285/30 in the rear – protruding out of the bulging bodywork, housing six-piston calipers up front and four in the rear and mounted to yellow springs and an adjustable suspension. You can hardly miss the giant front splitter and rear wing protruding from either end, and the interior's been stripped down with contoured racing buckets, an emergency cut-off switch and a fire extinguisher taking the place of the air-con, nav and radio, along with mounting points for a roll cage and six-point harnesses and a Macrolon rear windscreen to replace the stock glass, helping the M3 GTS tip the scales at just 1490 kg (3285 lbs), some 419 lbs less than the stock M3 coupe's 3704-lb curb weight.

First deliveries are scheduled to begin in Germany next May, carrying a sticker price of 115,000 euros (about $170k) before taxes. Official engine specs haven't been released, but we're sitll looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 horsepower from the 4.4-liter V8, driving through the Bavarian automaker's 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox.