Germans Go Wild About High-speed Hardtops
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday August 21, 1997
After a rash of '90s roadsters comes the heatstroke - bred-to-race coupes are bursting out of the factories, reports Georg Kacher.
Coupe-crazy Germany is at it again, working on new high-performance hardtops. The sleek Mercedes SLC, based on the SLK sports car, and the butch BMW Z3 GT, a race version of the M coupe, may vie for headlines at next month's Frankfurt motor show.
Inspiration for the SLC came from Munich, BMW's home town. When the Mercedes designers first saw the BMW Z3 coupe in the flesh, they felt they could come up with a much prettier interpretation of a sports hatch. Benz is looking at three body styles for the new SLC, including handsome variants labelled Sportback and Sportwagon.
The Sportback features a large, sloping tailgate which is neatly integrated in the car's rounded rear; the Sportwagon has a much longer roofline, a near vertical third door and a spacious cargo deck.
The SLC shares the SLK's wheelbase, platform, driveline and front end. Despite the extra interior space, it will probably retain a two-seat layout.
The new SLC begs for more power than its 2.3-litre folding-top counterpart - one engine candidate is Benz's 4.3-litre V8. Since the coupe would be cheaper to make than the relatively complex roadster, prices should be reasonable.
(Mercedes may yet use Frankfurt to reveal its still top-secret Life Jet concept vehicle, a three-wheeled lean-machine that tilts when cornering.)
BMW will show two versions of the Z3 coupe, the so-called M coupe (powered by the stunning 240 kW 3.2-litre in-line six from the 3 Series M3) and the even wilder and more powerful Z3 GT. The Z3 GT is the brainchild of the M division which is, among other things, in charge of BMW's motorsport activities.
Painted white and fitted with fat three-piece alloy wheels, the Z3 GT is a street-legal track racer. It differs from the M coupe in having flared wheel arches, robust sill extensions, a paddle-shaped roof-mounted rear air dam, mighty air ducts in the restyled bonnet and a ground-hugging front spoiler with cooling apertures and driving lights. The cabin is pure race car: bucket seats, four-point harnesses, bespoke instruments, roll cage and fire extinguisher.
BMW is unlikely to reveal the GT's engine or suspension - it doesn't want to give premature clues about this latest weapon, which may compete in the North American IMSA or European GT cup series. The chassis is expected to feature so-called "active kinematics" which provide a new degree of flexibility, higher cornering speeds and greater stability under braking.
For engines BMW can choose between a 4.6-litre V8 and a 5.4-litre V12. The V8, from the new M5, reportedly musters 395 kW in race trim. The V12, which is closely related to the McLaren F1 engine, is tipped to deliver 410 kW. The GT package includes a six-speed sequential gearbox, quicker steering and massive brakes.
Even if the Z3 GT and the SLC fail to meet on the motor show circuit, chances are the BMW will quite soon challenge the sibling Mercedes CLK-GTR on a race track somewhere in the world.
© 1997 Sydney Morning Herald