BMW is renewing its commitment to customer-team GT3 racing with this, the M6 GT3, which replaces the BMW Z4 GT3 and will be ready for customer teams to buy and race early in 2015.
Based around the road-going M6 Coupé, the GT3 uses a tuned version of that car's 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, alongside a racing-tweaked seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, anti-lock brakes and electronics systems. BMW Motorsport in Munich is working on all of those components now, as well as stripping weight from the car. It's stripping out cost too - given the ever-spiralling costs of going racing, BMW wants the M6 GT3 to be as cost-effective to run as possible.
It'll be eligible for such endurance racing series as the Blancpain GT series (but not Le Mans or the WEC, yet, sadly) and so will be facing off against the likes of Aston Martin's DBR9, Bentley's Continental GT3 and hordes of Porsche 911s and Ferrari 458s.
Any hope of a road version?
Possibly not - sadly, while BMW created both a road and track legend in the seventies with the original 3.0 CSL "Batmobile", a road-going M6 GT3 is unlikely. After all we never saw a road-going version of the Z4 GT3. Still, Porsche makes great hay (and profit) with its 911 GT3 road car so perhaps there's hope.