Part III: BMW 1M - Nobility At High Speed

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Part III: BMW 1M - Nobility At High Speed

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The third and last part of M-Power's series of technical articles just went live (Part I - Part II). It gives a good insight as to how BMW M tested and tweaked the 1-series M Coupé on the famous Nürburgring.

Again, here are our favourite quotes:

"The most important step in the compact BMW Series 1 was the decision to adapt the extremely agile chassis of the BMW M3."

"One of the key points for chassis development is the northern loop of the Nürburgring, for example the Hatzenbach curve, where a sharp right hand bend follows a hard deceleration. “If the car skitters about here and the wheels are in the air, then the ABS prevents the brake from working. The car simply continues to roll forward,” explains Jürgen Schwenker. The brake zone before the “Aremberg” bend and after the “Schwedenkreuz” is a similar point. “These are points where notice whether or not the distribution of the brake force is right"

"Future drivers of the BMW Series 1 M Coupé can look forward to the result. After all the latest member of the M model family is a genuine BMW M for pure driving pleasure. The strongest capital letter in the world does not just stand for Myth, but is also a challenge for the automobile developers that they are happy to accept with all the passion they can muster"

Continue after the jump to read the whole article.

Nobility at high speed.
20.02.2011

It usually takes a car up to 60 months to reach market maturity from the first strategic idea. The fact that things can move a bit faster has already been demonstrated by BMW M with the BMW M3 GTS. When it came to the new BMW Series 1 M Coupé, work also took place at full tilt. There will only be a comparatively short period of time between the decision to implement the BMW Series M Coupé and the planned market introduction in early 2011.


BMW M3: extremely agile chassis.

Such a high development temp could only be achieved with the passion and know-how of the M team, which made intelligent use of tried and tested modular components. Both the BMW M3 and the BMW Series 1 have plenty to offer in this regard.
The most important step in the compact BMW Series 1 was the decision to adapt the extremely agile chassis of the BMW M3.


Aluminium parts of the BMW 1 Series M Coupé's chassis.

“Despite the small wheel base on light weight, the basic coordination did not take very long,” remembers BMW M chassis expert Jürgen Schwenker.


BMW M' s test center at the Nürburgring.

The BMW Series 1 M Coupé was finally brought to life on the Nürburgring’s northern loop. Here too the pace was fast. Hence there were only three development passes for the bearing springs before the spring rate and level were right. “However, in order to balance comfort and sportiness, you need to be clear from the start how the final result is to look,” explains BMW M engineer Jürgen Schwenker.


Intensively tested an optimzied...


Supplementary spring (yellow) of the BMW 1 Series M Coupé's chassis.

As well as stabilisers and dampers, it was also necessary to adjust the supplementary springs by means of the spring force and application points.
When it came to the development work on the northern loop of the Nürburgring, a number of different teams were deployed in order to coordinate the various components, such as brakes, tyres, chassis and DSC.


Variable M differential lock.

In countless comparative outings the various components were tested in different variations until the perfect formula was found.


Tests in sector "Hatzenbach" of the Nürburgring Nordschleife (image: BMW M3 GTS).

One of the key points for chassis development is the northern loop of the Nürburgring, for example the Hatzenbach curve, where a sharp right hand bend follows a hard deceleration. “If the car skitters about here and the wheels are in the air, then the ABS prevents the brake from working. The car simply continues to roll forward,” explains Jürgen Schwenker. The brake zone before the “Aremberg” bend and after the “Schwedenkreuz” is a similar point. “These are points where notice whether or not the distribution of the brake force is right.”



Future drivers of the BMW Series 1 M Coupé can look forward to the result. After all the latest member of the M model family is a genuine BMW M for pure driving pleasure. The strongest capital letter in the world does not just stand for Myth, but is also a challenge for the automobile developers that they are happy to accept with all the passion they can muster.

[jeff@autocouture]

Loving this car more and more, I want one

[sixburgh]

nice thread. knowledge is power.

[hwelvaar]

Hmm, sounds more like marketing talk than any real tech info.

Disappointed with 3rd part of this series.

[Redadair]

I didn't know about this prior?

Supplementary spring (yellow) of the BMW 1 Series M Coupé's chassis.
(See top of rear shock)

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Redadair

I didn't know about this prior?

Supplementary spring (yellow) of the BMW 1 Series M Coupé's chassis.
(See top of rear shock)

You might know of it as a "bump stop"! lol

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

You might know of it as a "bump stop"! lol

Yes, it's not a "tender" spring or "helper" spring or any real spring at all, it's an engineered bump stop!

Neil

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by MDORPHN

Yes, it's not a "tender" spring or "helper" spring or any real spring at all, it's an engineered bump stop!

Neil

Well... to be fair to the Germans... they do call that part a spring(in the German language). Sometimes they call it a helper or aux spring.

We Americans call it a bump stop.

[Serious]

It really acts as a spring though BMW designs it to act as a performing component of the suspension instead of just a safety component to protect the dampers.

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by Serious

It really acts as a spring though BMW designs it to act as a performing component of the suspension instead of just a safety component to protect the dampers.

I understand it acts as a spring and that's why I referred to it as being engineered. Nonetheless, it seems odd that BMW features this component in this installment.

All hail the noble -- but humble -- bumpstop!

Neil

[elitt13]

thanks

we wainting to a real 1M from Leipzig with his serial parts

[Driv3r]

Come on BMW stop with the marketing. We know this car was born out of the M parts bin. just annoying how you overcharge for a car that is no greater than the E46 M3. heck the exhaust note sounds like an e46 ZHP. not what I like to see after years of your "research".

Research? How about researching what colors people ACTUALLY LIKE. and stop the halloween nonsense with this orange black and white. Where is your M colors? authentic M colors (at least a variation of blue). Or are you planning on this 1M to be easily refreshed with things it should have came with from the beginning?

Pure M? where is the digital temperature in the rev counter like in the e46 M's

Great. 60 months is what it took for development of the e46 M3 AND the N54 (plagued with problems) I can only imagine what will occur with the 1M when you give yourself even less time!


"It usually takes a car up to 60 months to reach market maturity from the first strategic idea. The fact that things can move a bit faster has already been demonstrated by BMW M with the BMW M3 GTS. When it came to the new BMW Series 1 M Coupé, work also took place at full tilt. There will only be a comparatively short period of time between the decision to implement the BMW Series M Coupé and the planned market introduction in early 2011."


EDIT: Ok, Ill admit I woke up that morning cranky and some of what I said sounds borderline stupid. Some days I love the car some days I dont. BUT for example the seats have the same bolstering as my sport package 325i. -_-

[techthentic]

Originally Posted by Driv3r

just annoying how you overcharge for a car that is no greater than the E46 M3.

That's why the 1M laps the Nurburgring 10 seconds faster than the e46 M3 right?
That's why the 1M has a faster 0-60 and 60-0 than the e46 M3 right?
Or are you classifying "greatness" of a car based on availability of a sunroof and options for exterior color, interior color, and interior trim?

[blueshark]

Originally Posted by techthentic

That's why the 1M laps the Nurburgring 10 seconds faster than the e46 M3 right?
That's why the 1M has a faster 0-60 and 60-0 than the e46 M3 right?
Or are you classifying "greatness" of a car based on availability of a sunroof and options for exterior color, interior color, and interior trim?

+1

[Art__Vandelay]

Originally Posted by Driv3r

Research? How about researching what colors people ACTUALLY LIKE. and stop the halloween nonsense with this orange black and white. Where is your M colors? authentic M colors (at least a variation of blue). Or are you planning on this 1M to be easily refreshed with things it should have came with from the beginning?

Well, if it's defined that there will be only 3 colors and one of them has to be orange (probably because of tradition... and besides, I like the look of it) then it's absolutely obvious to take black and white for the 2 other colors, since those are the most popular colors.

[marcel b]

Originally Posted by Driv3r

Come on BMW stop with the marketing. We know this car was born out of the M parts bin. just annoying how you overcharge for a car that is no greater than the E46 M3. heck the exhaust note sounds like an e46 ZHP. not what I like to see after years of your "research".

Research? How about researching what colors people ACTUALLY LIKE. and stop the halloween nonsense with this orange black and white. Where is your M colors? authentic M colors (at least a variation of blue). Or are you planning on this 1M to be easily refreshed with things it should have came with from the beginning?

Pure M? where is the digital temperature in the rev counter like in the e46 M's

Great. 60 months is what it took for development of the e46 M3 AND the N54 (plagued with problems) I can only imagine what will occur with the 1M when you give yourself even less time!


"It usually takes a car up to 60 months to reach market maturity from the first strategic idea. The fact that things can move a bit faster has already been demonstrated by BMW M with the BMW M3 GTS. When it came to the new BMW Series 1 M Coupé, work also took place at full tilt. There will only be a comparatively short period of time between the decision to implement the BMW Series M Coupé and the planned market introduction in early 2011."

[blueshark]

I could have done without the word "Nobility" in the title. It's an attention grabber alright, but they fail to make a connection in the article, unless it's nothing more than the implication that 1M shares its suspension parts with the "Noble" family of M3's. If anything, the word "mobility" would have worked (slightly) better, given the content and context.

[1Mer]

Wat's an image of a BMW M3 GTS doing in there?

[Drillslinger]

The strongest capital letter in the world does not just stand for Myth,

It does if you want to order a 1M through Military Sales

(Sorry guys, I had to say it, "It's a moral imperative.")

[Diver]

Looks pretty good to me. To much complaining.

[Drillslinger]

Originally Posted by Diver

Looks pretty good to me.

No kidding, take all of the marketing/brand image crap (i.e. ///M car or not) and just look at the car itself and this thing is gonna kick some @ss

[Steve Brown]

I just love to hear the opinions of all the armchair experts out there and of course we are all entitled to an opinion. But remember opinions are just that...opinions. Only the passing of of time will decide whose opinions turn out to be fact. I'm gonna put my money on the automotive and mechanical engineers at BMW...they do have a little bit of a track record in regard to producing pretty good motor cars. To show my faith I am paying US$110,000 for my 1M in Australia and happy to do so....stop whinging guys.