By: IOL Motoring Staff
Garching, Germany - Building a safety car for MotoGP means upping your game - and then some.
Just to co-exist on the same circuit as the world's fastest and most agile motorcycles demands a level of performance few carmakers can understand, let alone achieve.
Yet BMW's M skunk works at Garching has been doing just that for nearly two decades - and this is the flagship of that programme for the 2016 season, the very special M2 coupé that will lead the service fleet at every round of this year's MotoGP championship.
The new Safety Car took two weeks of planning and 10 weeks to build, most of it done entirely by hand in the prototype department at Garching.
Surprisingly, the three-litre TwinPower turbopetrol straight-six in the M2 MotoGP Safety Car is pretty standard, spinning to 7000rpm and delivering 272kW through a sports exhaust with a flap system - which you safely assume will be in the open position any time this car is called a upon to do its job! - and which is also available as an aftermarket fit for your M2, as is the M Performance lowered suspension kit.
Top speed, within the confines of a racing circuit is not as important as acceleration; the M boffins claim 0-100km/h in just 4.3 seconds - not quick enough, perhaps, to outrun a MotoGP machine, but certainly fast enough to stay out of their way.
What's not 'off the shelf' kit, however, are the Michelin Cup racing tyres and carbon ceramic brakes, modified for this car from the M3/M4 units, which not only radically shorten braking distances but also reduce unsprung weight and sharpen turn-in.
LOOKING THE PART
The Safety Car wears a complete M Performance aero kit, including a special grille and air intake, carbon-fibre front splitter, side skirts, fixed rear wing and diffuser, carbon-fibre mirror housings, a composite front underbody panel and rally-style bonnet safety clips.
The interior is trimmed in a mix of leather, alcantara and carbon fibre, with a full roll-cage, Recaro racing seats and Schroth multipoint harnesses, a fuel suction pump and battery master switch, M Performance stainless-steel pedal pads, an M steering wheel hand-trimmed in alcantara and a quick-release fire extinguisher ready to hand.
The M2 Safety Car is finished in BMW's signature alpine white with M livery and, just so everybody can see how special this one-off car is, the roll cage, wheels, brake callipers, rear wing mounts, seat brackets, steering wheel spokes and contrast stitching are finished in gold, with a specially engraved golden badge in the decorative trim.