Take one McLaren F1 V12 engine, shoehorn it into the front of an X5, give it to racing legend Hans Stuck and tell him to wring its neck. Then stand well back.
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Steve Davies
Steve is an investor, private equity advisor and former Partner at KPMG, PwC and Bain. Most importantly he's a life-long car enthusiast, mountain biker and active sports enthusiast. He designs and builds technology platforms and is the architect behind Transmission.
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I remember a story from when this was launched. Andrew Frankel (Monkey’s friend and then Road test Ed of autocar) went to the Nurburgring for a demonstration of the X5 by Stuck himself. There were quite a few journalists there so it was spread over two days. On the second morning it was foggy – a real pea-souper – but Stuck went out anyway and was apparently only a couple of seconds adrift from his sunny lap times…………… I wonder if you know the circuit that well, does it become dull?!
I remember a story from when this was launched. Andrew Frankel (Monkey’s friend and then Road test Ed of autocar) went to the Nurburgring for a demonstration of the X5 by Stuck himself. There were quite a few journalists there so it was spread over two days. On the second morning it was foggy – a real pea-souper – but Stuck went out anyway and was apparently only a couple of seconds adrift from his sunny lap times…………… I wonder if you know the circuit that well, does it become dull?!
I remember tales from the very same event. Russell Bulgin (RIP) was attending on behalf of us evo boys, and from memory went out with Stuck in the fog. The guy goes hell for leather, then drives clean off the circuit, across the grass and back onto the track! Can’t remember if it was due to the fog or red mist, but I think it dented Russell’s ‘Ah, don’t be scared about the ride: I’m with Hans Stuck so nothing can go wrong’ frame of mind.
Mega car though. About time they did something similar with one of their redundant V10 F1 motors I reckon. X6 F1 anybody?
I remember tales from the very same event. Russell Bulgin (RIP) was attending on behalf of us evo boys, and from memory went out with Stuck in the fog. The guy goes hell for leather, then drives clean off the circuit, across the grass and back onto the track! Can’t remember if it was due to the fog or red mist, but I think it dented Russell’s ‘Ah, don’t be scared about the ride: I’m with Hans Stuck so nothing can go wrong’ frame of mind.
Mega car though. About time they did something similar with one of their redundant V10 F1 motors I reckon. X6 F1 anybody?
Real Shame its been so long since a company has been silly enough to do something like this. and that V12 still has to be my favorite sounding engine.
Real Shame its been so long since a company has been silly enough to do something like this. and that V12 still has to be my favorite sounding engine.
Posted on DR: BMW X5 Le Mans http://bit.ly/qxNsl
Posted on DR: BMW X5 Le Mans http://bit.ly/qxNsl
So the question must be asked of the people who moan about the X6M and X5M, would it be acceptable to put the M-badge on a V12 X5? 😉
So the question must be asked of the people who moan about the X6M and X5M, would it be acceptable to put the M-badge on a V12 X5? 😉