Skip to main content

Ready, set, go! BMW gets ready to take the M4 racing

BMW is leveraging its racing know-how to design a track-only version of the M4 developed to compete in the FIA’s popular GT4 category.

While the racer won’t be revealed for another couple of months, an early design sketch published by BMW gives us a good idea of what it will look like. Visually, it will stand out from the road-going M4 thanks to a specific front end with a more muscular-looking front fascia, side skirts, and a large wing on the trunk lid.

Recommended Videos

The modifications will be more than skin-deep. To keep weight in check, BMW will fit the GT4 with a carbon-fiber hood borrowed from the limited-edition M4 GTS, and the coupe will boast a pair of carbon-fiber doors. It will share its seats, its brakes, and its pedal box with the M6 GT3 that has been tearing up race tracks all over the world for the past couple of years.

The M4 GT4 is being developed with affordability and driveability in mind. Power will come from a bone-stock, M4-sourced turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six engine, though how much power it will be allowed to generate will directly depend on how heavy the car is. The electronics will be sourced from the street-legal M4’s parts bin, too, but the turbo six will breath through a specific race-exhaust system.

Read more: BMW’s Pure Metal Silver M5 is bound to become a classic

BMW’s engineers are putting the final touches on the car, and they expect that they’ll begin testing it on the track before the end of the year. The first cars will be delivered in late 2017, right in time for the following year’s season, meaning the M4 GT4 will likely make its official track debut during the 2018 edition of the 24 Hours of Dubai.

Ronan Glon
Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…
Xiaomi’s Poco M4 Pro lands in India as the Redmi Note 11T at cheaper new price
The Redmi Note 11T smartphone in different color options.

Weeks after Xiaomi launched the Poco M4 Pro 5G in European markets, the company has brought the same device to India -- albeit with a major change in branding. In India, Xiaomi has decided to make it part of Redmi’s affordable lineup and market the phone as the Redmi Note 11T. To make matters even more confusing, Xiaomi sells the same phone as the Redmi Note 11 in China. Apart from the significant rebranding exercise, the Redmi Note 11T happens to be quite a bit cheaper than its European sibling.

The Redmi Note 11T is a fairly large phone with a 6.6-inch FHD+, 90Hz IPS-LCD panel, and a 5,000mAh battery. The phone also supports an adaptive refresh rate wherein the device automatically adjusts the screen refresh rate depending on the type of content being displayed. The Redmi Note 11T is also among the few devices in its price range to offer stereo speakers. It's also IP53 rated for dust and water resistance.

Read more
Xiaomi’s Poco M4 Pro comes to Europe toting a MediaTek processor, sub-$300 price tag
The Poco M4 in all three color options.

Six months after the launch of the Poco M3 Pro 5G, Xiaomi’s sub-brand Poco Global has announced the launch of its successor, the Poco M4 Pro, in select markets. The new phone improves upon the existing M3 Pro with incremental upgrades to the design, camera, and the rest of the hardware. Xiaomi has done a great job at masking the fact that the M4 Pro is just a rebranded Redmi Note 11 -- a phone that is only on sale in China as of this writing.

Like other Poco handsets, the Poco M4 Pro has an in-your face design that's largely accentuated by the bright color options: Poco Yellow and Cool Blue. Only the Power Black variant offers some degree of subtlety. The rear panel of the phone draws heavily from another low-cost Poco offering from 2021 -- the Poco M3 -- and is designed to make the camera module look much larger than it actually is.

Read more
2022 BMW i4 first drive review: The real deal
A 2022 BMW i4 M50 in a driveway.

We've heard a lot about BMW M's long-awaited electric sedan in recent years. We analyzed the hurdles that engineers had to clear to make the model a reality, notably weight, and we outlined the benefits that come with a performance-tuned electric powertrain, like instant torque. Years in the making, the end result is finally here. It's called i4, and it's a hugely significant car that electrifies the very essence of BMW.

Was it worth waiting for? I headed to its home turf to check it out.

Read more