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PRINCIPLES OF NEW M3.
Intro: The new M3 uses the highest revving 6 cylinder engine every built, it uses the same technology as F1 racecars do. With M-Power and BMW together, of course, the most famous engine is this powerful NA engine. BMw not only wants to maintain their high level of sophistication and quality, BMW will push it to a higher caliber with the new M3.
Q: Where did BMW get the concept of using high rev engines?
A. We feel that high revs is the best way to extract every bit of potential from an engine. In F1 engines, their engines rev as high as 18000rpm, and that is the kind of performance that we are looking and aiming for; that is the origin of M-Power's high revving engine. The all new designed engine [the M3 engine] will be able to reach as high as 8000rpm, which is the highest revving production engine. These high revving engines are extremely rare. You can hardly find them before, even race cars do not have such high redlines until a few years ago.
Q. You always mention torque is very important, how is BMW managing to make torque?
A. Torque is a car's acceleration power. The more torque there is, the faster it accelerates. A high revving engine with precise internals will produce a high torque car. When you drive the new M3, you will be able to feel the power pushing you from your seat, it's really fun to drive. This feeling is not just something a typical salesman can ever tell you.
Q. Did you say horsepower is not the only measurement for acceleration?
A. Of course. You have to understand there are many ways of producing high [horse]power engines. Some car manufacturers decide to use large displacement engines, but they only have low end and no top end or even midrange. The drawback of these large displacement engines is that they are heavy, bulky, not fuel efficient, and extremely not practical. Other companies will choose to use smaller engines with higher revs, which is what M-Power is doing here. Our goal is to make smaller precise engines to lower emissions/fuel consumption. We see that as the general trend in racecars in the future.
Q. Is turbo a good way of making power/torque ?
A. A few companies like to use turbos to produce more power/torque. However, just like large displacement engines, turbos only produce low end power/torque. Besides, powerful turbo charged engines will consume a lot of fuel, more than you can imagine, and their performance will not really catch up to the performance of high revving NA engines.
Q. How would you define "response"?
A. When customers buy sports cars, they are always looking for the most direct feedback from the car. When one steps on the gas pedal, there should be no more than 0.1second of delay and the car should go right away, and that is exactly the advantage of new M-Power's high revving engines. Finally, it's also very important to have proper gear ratios and final drive gear ratio.
Q. How about in reality?
A. It's like riding a mountain bike, you can choose to use lower gears with higher revs to climb a hill. Also, you can choose to use higher gears, but you have to sacrifice to use larger displacement engines, wasting more energy. You should understand the significance of a good transmission
Basically, high torque means faster acceleration, however, this is not ALWAYS the case. Torque is not the only factor of making a car go fast, a huge lawmower can produce 73.5kgm of torque (around 600lbs of torque) but with only 1400rpm redline, it cannot acclerate fast. Although the new M3 only has around half of the torque the lawnmower has, but it comes at 4900rpm. A standstill 0-100km in 5.2 seconds. F1 cars have around the same torque as M3, but the torque comes @ 13500, that's why F1 cars are even faster.
Q. How important is torque ? So based on what you said, at means a high revving engine accompanied with a properly geared transmission will lead to a superior car ?
A. BINGO. A high revving engine is the best way to extract the full potential of small displacement engines. Remember and don't forget, the displacement of an engine and a car's fuel consumption are directly proportional. When a V8 engine [talking about Camaros and Mustangs here I think] that produces about the same power as an in-line6 engine [M3] does, the V8 engine will eat up a lot more gas. However, obviously, producing high revving engines isn't that easy.
Q. How hard is it to solve the problem?
A. Everyone wants to solve this problem. However, if everyone can solve the problem [making high revving engines] then all the car manufactueres will head out that direction.
Q. Can you explain it a little more in details?
A. The amount of stress an engine has to withhold is close to F1 engines. Thats why we have to use durable and rare materials to make these engines. Just remember, F1 engines only last for one race event, but M-Power engines will last for life (forever).
Q. How do you achieve this goal ?
A. 1. we have the best engineers to design our engines
2. we use hi-tech materials to build our engines
3. we use distinctive machineries to produce our engines
We continuously calculate and use different information to determine our engine design.
Q. Did BMW use the technology from F1 and the lessons learned from F1 engines to produce M-Power engines?
A. Of course. Although they are two different plans (one for production cars, the other for F1 cars), but they do have something in common -- the faster car wins.
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