BMW reveals more powerful M4
/By Motoring.com.au
BMW has revealed a new water-injection system that it claims will boost the performance of its M production models in the near future.
The new technology, which reduces exhaust gas temperatures to allow higher turbo boost pressure, debuted in the BMW M4 Coupe safety car at the opening round of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship in Qatar on the weekend.
BMW has not revealed exact performance outputs, but says the water-injection technology delivers "a tangible boost in performance" from the twin-turbo 3.0-litre inline petrol six that powers the M4, which produces 317kW in standard trim.
"This is due to the fact that water injection makes it possible to raise the upper performance limits, which have otherwise been restricted thermally," says BMW.
"The new water-injection sees the engineers make use of the water’s physical effect during the vaporisation process to extract the energy required from the environmental medium,"
"Water is injected into the intake module’s collector as a fine spray, thus significantly cooling the exhaust air during vaporisation. This lowers the discharge temperature in the combustion changer and thus reduces the tendency for knocking. The turbo engine can thus be operated with a higher charging pressure and an earlier ignition point."
BMW has not announced which production M model the technology will debut in, saying only that "following intense testing within the MotoGP World Championship, the water-injection system will also be employed in a BMW M production model in the near future."