Just a few weeks after BMW’s skunk works had a life-flashing-before-your-eyes moment at the Green Hell that resulted in a crashed M6, the men from the M department have gone and done it again.
This second crash of the M6 at the Nürburgring Nordschleife took place in the fastest section of the track, known as the Fuchsröhre, or Fox Hole. The steep twisty drop accommodates top speeds before launching back up again, while the longest straight at the other end of the 22km circuit is slightly uphill and therefore cars don’t usually reach V-max at that point.
The BMW test driver who was at the wheel during the accident was bringing the car home near the end of a 300-lap endurance run at the ‘Ring (that’s over 6,600km), with just eight laps to go before the finishing line. The purpose of this endurance run was gathering as much data as possible - one thing’s for sure, BMW M now has a pretty good idea of the M6’s front and rear crumple zones. During the off in the Fox Hole, the car spun sideways into the barriers before hitting it again with its behind. In fact, the embarrassed M personnel could hardly load the wreck onto the tow truck since the rear axle wasn’t even rolling anymore.
The upcoming BMW M6 packs 560bhp between 6,000-7,000rpm, with 680Nm of torque available from 1,500 revs. Thanks to its twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 it sprints from 0-100kph in 4.4 seconds topping out at 205kph, or 305kph if you have the kind boys at BMW M take the limiter off as part of the optional M Driver's Package.
And just to remind you, the new BMW M5 saloon lapped the ‘Ring in 7:55 seconds putting it in the top three fastest Bimmers to get around the track. Was the wrecked M6 (expected to be about 50kg lighter than the F10 M5) by any chance chasing the BMW record currently held by the M3 GTS with a time of 7:48 seconds? We’ll know soon enough, but let’s just hope it doesn’t take three crashed M6s to get there.