For more than two decades, the hottest cars to roll out of Germany have been those bearing the tri-colors of BMW Motorsport. Beginning with the M1, BMW has a long tradition of unique sporting cars for the discriminating buyer.
Last year at the Geneva auto show BMW introduced the fourth-generation M5--the most luxurious and most technologically advanced M-car to date. It wasn't long after the M5 went on sale in Europe that tuners began to examine ways of taking Munich's latest to the next level.
Hamann Motorsport is one of Europe's most extreme BMW tuners with fairly aggressive packages compared to the others. In building its M5, Hamann's first task was to remove the egregious 155-mph top speed regulator. Out of the box, a standard M5--with its 400 hp. and prodigious 405 ft-lb of torque--is capable of pulling sixth gear at top speed without breaking into a hard sweat, or so I am told.
Through careful engine management reprogramming, Hamann-tuned cars are within a stone's throw of showing three clicks on the speedometer without any other modifications (300 km/h; 186 mph). The tuner has a 45-hp upgrade in the works, but right now the only performance modification offered is an exhaust system with a choice of two different styles of tips.
Controlling an M5 at such speeds--or any car for that matter--requires commensurate braking and handling redesign. Hamann's recipe includes oversize components with six-piston brake calipers, a sport-tuned suspension and a wheel-and-tire package. The suspension kit--including shocks, springs and anti-roll bars--is available in different settings for different tastes; anything from mild to wild. Wheels are available in either 18- or 19-in. diameter and are typically shod with Continental ContiSportContact tires.
Hamann Motorsport's body kit is both aesthetically aggressive looking and functional by design as it is said to reduce lift at both ends. The kit includes a front spoiler, a rear diffusor, roof spoiler and two different trunk-mounted rear wings.
Finally there are the numerous interior accouterments ever so popular with the customers of German-built tuner cars.
Hamann Automobile Technik & Design
Im Eppen 24
D-89185 Huettisheim
Germany
Phone: 49-(0)7305/960-80
Fax: 49-(0)7305/960-18
www.hamann-motorsport.de
U.S. Importer:
Wheel Power Inc.
700 Richfield Rd.
Placentia, CA 92670
(714) 996-2333
Fax: (714) 996-7888
www.wheelpower.com