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Written by Vijay Pattni
The track-honed BMW M4 DTM is an aero-laden, V8-powered bruiser. You wouldn"t spill its pint, let"s put it that way.This thing here however, carries most of that big car"s menace, with just a smattering of pinch-its-cheeks cuteness. It"s a 60 per cent scale model of a track-honed BMW M4 DTM; a scale model used for wind tunnel testing.Apparently, the German Motorsport Association worked with the DTM teams to limit development time in wind tunnels. So BMW had to operate within these conditions to make sure they could properly develop the M4"s aero. They had 50 days in the wind tunnel, with a maximum of 15 hours per day.Using many complicated methods we really don"t want to understand, they were able to test three car configurations on average per hour. This Mini-Me was mounted on a hexapod - genuinely, a six-legged robot - and positioned with tolerances of a hundredth of a millimetre to allow different driving situations. You know, fast corners, hairpins and banzai straights."An old motor racing adage still rings true," explains BMW. "Every tenth of a millimetre counts in the wind tunnel. These can then be converted into tenths of a second out on the race track."Which is all very impressive. But more impressive is a 60 per cent scale model of a BMW M4 DTM car. We want it. For, um, research purposes, of course. And not to mount on top of that six-legged robot to dramatically distribute the office tea onThese V8-bruisers are why you need to watch DTM this year: Audi, Mercedes-AMG and BMW DTM cars detailedShare this page: FacebookTwitterGoogle+WhatsAppMailtoCopy link
Date written: 11 Apr 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 7398
The track-honed BMW M4 DTM is an aero-laden, V8-powered bruiser. You wouldn"t spill its pint, let"s put it that way.This thing here however, carries most of that big car"s menace, with just a smattering of pinch-its-cheeks cuteness. It"s a 60 per cent scale model of a track-honed BMW M4 DTM; a scale model used for wind tunnel testing.Apparently, the German Motorsport Association worked with the DTM teams to limit development time in wind tunnels. So BMW had to operate within these conditions to make sure they could properly develop the M4"s aero. They had 50 days in the wind tunnel, with a maximum of 15 hours per day.Using many complicated methods we really don"t want to understand, they were able to test three car configurations on average per hour. This Mini-Me was mounted on a hexapod - genuinely, a six-legged robot - and positioned with tolerances of a hundredth of a millimetre to allow different driving situations. You know, fast corners, hairpins and banzai straights."An old motor racing adage still rings true," explains BMW. "Every tenth of a millimetre counts in the wind tunnel. These can then be converted into tenths of a second out on the race track."Which is all very impressive. But more impressive is a 60 per cent scale model of a BMW M4 DTM car. We want it. For, um, research purposes, of course. And not to mount on top of that six-legged robot to dramatically distribute the office tea onThese V8-bruisers are why you need to watch DTM this year: Audi, Mercedes-AMG and BMW DTM cars detailedShare this page: FacebookTwitterGoogle+WhatsAppMailtoCopy link
Date written: 11 Apr 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 7398
