Each year, Car & Driver magazine brings together a bunch of hot cars to see which ones are fastest around Virginia International Raceway. This year’s sampling included the BMW M4 GTS, BMW’s limited edition, track-ready M4 Coupe.
The car was faster than some good, fast cars, like the Porsche Cayman GT4, the Audi R8 V10 Plus, and the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat (by more than ten seconds). It was also slower than some good, fast cars—the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R, Acura NSX, McLaren 570S, Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Ferrari 488GTB, and Dodge Viper ACR.
The cars were driven around VIR by a team of five Car & Driver editors. At least one of them received a demonstration of the M4 GTS’s capabilities from BMW race car driver Bill Auberlen who, according to Car & Driver, had never driven the 4.1-mile Grand West Course upon which the Lightning Laps were run. If so, that's surprising.
Auberlen is one of the lucky 300 who are getting one of the BMW M4 GTS’s that BMW is sending to the U.S. And no, it’s not a company car for Bill; he’s paying for it with his own money.
In the official Lightning Lap drive, the M4 GTS negotiated VIR in 2:52.9. That makes it the fastest BMW ever in Lightning Laps history and, by the way, it was about eight seconds faster than the stock M4 Coupe that ran Lightning Laps last year.
Buckle up and enjoy Bill’s demo of the M4 GTS at VIR.—Scott Blazey
Photo and video courtesy of Car & Driver Magazine.]
