the Z3 in movie folklore

PUTTING THE ‘X’ IN BMW!

Just over two decades ago, BMW introduced their first 4x4 off-roader B MW launched the X5 to a to the model range, the X5. Hated by purists, who thought every BMW should be a saloon or coupe with power fed to the rear wheels, BMW went on a charm offensive to convince the doubters that the worldwide audience in 1999. It was their first Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV), featuring allwheel drive and available with either X5 was just what the BMW range, and more importantly, the market, manual or auto gearboxes. Right from needed, especially in the USA. As part of this offensive M Power were launch, BMW’s marketing team branded asked to come up with a hot X5 that could lap the Nurburgring faster the X5 a Sport Activity Vehicle rather than any of their road cars could at the time, to show the purists that a large 4x4 can ‘go’ just as well as any other BMW. than an SUV, to emphasize its onroad ability, despite its size. The X5 heralded the shift from light truck-based

The M engineers decided to shoehorn in a 700bhp version of the body-on-frame SUVs to crossovers S70/3 V12 engine which had taken the V12 LMR sportscar to victory underpinned by unibody car platforms. at Le Mans in 1999, before handing the keys to a certain Hans Stuck, The X5 shared its underpinnings with who tore up the ‘ring in the V12 X5 in 2000 – here is the full story… the E39 5 Series, and BMW developed the X5 whilst owning Land Rover, Words - Jeff Heywood / Photographs - BMW Press benefitting from Land Rover’s off-road

The heart of the beast; BMW’s M engineers managed to shoehorn the Motorsport V12 from the Le Mans winning LMR V12 under the bonnet of the X5. They also tweaked the 6-litre lump to give 700bhp

technology. It shared the Range Rover HSE’s Hill Descent System and Off Road Engine Management System, while the E39 provided the X5 with its engines and electronic systems. Although the Mercedes-Benz M-Class had beaten the X5 to market by a year, the X5 was the first to use a unibody chassis whereas the M-Class used a (slightly agricultural) light truck ‘ladder-frame’ platform until its second generation.

The X5 was a big hit in the US and with the Sloane Ranger set, quickly gaining the nickname ‘Chelsea Tractor’, and was often seen on the school run, parked up outside schools, and the only off-roading they often saw was climbing a kerb outside the school playground. Although the X5 had its haters (and still does) it was generally well received, and went on to sell in big numbers, with 560,882 E53 X5s sold before being replaced in November 2006 by the second generation E70. It also went on to lead BMW’s renaissance into the new millennium, opening the door for a plethora of 4x4 crossover models like the X3, X6, X4 and finally the X1 and X2 models.

As the title says, at launch the X5 was castigated in some quarters, mainly by the purists but also from serious mud-pluggers who looked upon the X5 as a soft roader manufactured for wealthy yuppies - and they still do. So BMW turned to M Power to try and add some spice into the newly launched 4x4 to convince at least some of the purists that a large 4x4 can still be made to handle and drive in a sporting manner and feel like a true BMW. Long before BMW had an official M version of its X5, the M Power technicians came up with something even more intense. BMW’s marketing gurus billed it as an experimental vehicle, just in case things didn’t go to plan, which would enable them to drop it like a stone.

The X5 V12 LM sits skulking in a BMW park garage, looking lithe, poised and ready to pounce

This is how the world’s press viewed the interior, trimmed out with four superb racing bucket seats to allow senior BMW luminaries and a select group of guests from the motoring world experience some hot laps in the V12 X5

The X5 Le Mans (LM) received its name as a nod to the engine that was lurking underneath its vented hood. A naturally aspirated 5990cc 48V V12 sourced from the 1999 Le Manswinning BMW V12 LMR (a version also powered the McLaren F1 race and road cars) was shoehorned into the engine bay to create the world’s only X5 with twelve-cylinder power. The V12 engine was mated to a six-speed manual gearbox.

Suspension wise, race-spec springs, dampers and anti-roll bars were fitted, lowering the ride height by a considerable 50mm. The brakes were full race items located within sexy-looking 20-inch BBS magnesium rims, shod with 275/40 tyres at the front and 315/35 tyres at the rear. There was neither anti-lock braking nor

I was lucky enough to visit BMW Mobile Tradition in 2003 and took this photo of the X5 LM Concept, which was on display with one of the BMW S70/3 6-litre V12 Motorsport engines sat alongside; BMW Mobile Tradition has now of course undergone a name change to BMW Classic.

traction control. BMW never officially released overall weight figures, but it did say the weight was distributed 51:49 front/rear, so almost perfect.

In this guise the legendary mill, tweaked to compensate for the X5’s extra bulk, pushed out a healthy 700bhp and produced a stump pulling torque figure of 700Nm at 5,000rpm. It still packs more horsepower than today’s £90,000 X5 M. In terms of performance, the X5 LM scorched to 60mph from rest in 4.0 seconds, the rear Michelins struggling for grip with so much torque being channeled through them! The official top speed quoted by BMW was 173mph, but later on it actually managed to hit 193mph on the Döttinger Höhe section of the Nürburgring.

BMW’s technicians went to the trouble of modifying the interior by installing four bucket seats with frames made of aluminium, which was also used on the centre tunnel (see photos) and other areas throughout the cabin. They also removed the radio and installed three gauges that provided the driver with information on oil pressure, temperature and water temperature. The X5 LM’s interior photos show how it was presented to the world’s press after the Nürburgring hot laps, so the car could be used as a four-seater ‘taxi’ to provide hot laps to various BMW and other motoring luminaries. However, for the Stuck record-breaking ‘hot laps’ the rear seats were removed and a roll bar installed.

At the time, the well-respected scribe Andrew Frankel wrote for Autocar and he was lucky enough to be chauffeured on a hot lap on the same day Stuck set the 7:50 time. Here is Frankel’s account; “I approached the X5 with a degree of trepidation. The X5’s cabin now has a roll cage threading around the interior and driver’s seat; the driver’s race seat is equipped with a full harness,” said Frankel. “Yet the passenger seat is a standard X5 leather sports seat – gulp!” – “the crazy thing is, the X5 still also has electric windows, central locking, air conditioning and even a sunroof!”

“How futile is this car? Sensationally so. Its engine would fail every emissions test, making the car unusable on the road, while its 2200kg weight (not to mention its sky-high centre of gravity) means it would be utterly hopeless as a track machine.”

A few days before Andrew Frankel had his passenger ride, its driver, Hans Stuck, had been tasked by BMW to try and break the eight-minute barrier around the Nordschleife.

“His out-lap was 8min 6sec, it rained on the second lap and the car broke down on the third,” reported Frankel. Fortunately, there were no such problems on Autocar’s hot laps. Frankel adds - “We set off, Stuck revelling in the engines incredible torque spread, using as little as 3000rpm as he warmed the huge 6.0-litre V12 until it reached full operating temperature. The first lap is just a ‘sighter’, then he steps it up a couple of notches as we start the second lap, and I pull my seat belt tight! The revs increase to the 8000rpm maximum between quick and precise gear changes.

“I wouldn’t call myself a Nürburgring expert but I know quite a bit of the circuit, so when we hit 130mph along Schwedenkreuz with the tight righthander at Aremberg coming up fast, I knew what was next, the drop down the Fuchsröhre – gulp! We exited Aremberg, the X5 almost leaning on its door handles, Michelins screaming, then Stuck gunned the X5 through 3rd into 4th gear, then into 5th, the X5 hurtling down the hill, hitting the bottom of the Fuchsröhre in 5th gear, the speedo nudging 170mph as Stuck calmly slots into 6th, in the wet; I have to admit, it was a sphincter tightening moment!”

Frankel continues - “On the near flatout run up the mountain from Bergwerk to the Karussell, Stuck is dazzling and effortless; entirely within himself, yet utterly committed. After the run down the Fuchsröhre, I now felt safe and relaxed. The X5, so big and slow in the really tight turns, now feels fluid, almost agile and very, very quick. We hit 150mph in fourth, skimming across the puddles, Stuck’s will stepping in when simple grip runs out. Right in the most difficult section of track, we run into a wall of fog. The sum total of Stuck’s reaction to such potentially cataclysmic weather is to say: “Ah. Fog.” He never mentions it again.”

Final lap completed, Stuck returned Frankel to the pits, his ‘taxi ride’ over, his lap times had just come through; his best time had just broken the magic 8 minute barrier; BMW officials on-site were whooping with delight, but Stuck remained calm and unmoved – “we wait for the track to dry out, then we go again - I can go faster…” He still didn’t mention the fog!”

Later that same day Stuck took the X5 LM out onto this most vaunted of race tracks and pushed the X5 to, and at times, beyond, its limits; recording a time of 7:49. 7:49 - he knocked a full 10 seconds off the lap that Frankel had completed with Stuck in the morning session! Stuck and the V12 X5 tore up the Nürburgring in seven minutes and forty-nine seconds! That’s not only insane for an SUV but also insane for any car.

At the time it had lapped the ‘ring faster than the best times posted by the likes of BMW’s own M3 CSL, a Porsche GT3, Lamborghini’s Murcielago, and Ferrari’s 360 Challenge Stradale! BMW now had something they could really ‘whoop-whoop’ about, with a lap time they were over the moon with.

BMW said right from the beginning that the V12 X5 Le Mans was purely a one-of-one concept, without any intentions for series production, not even a miniscule run, and they remained true to their word, the record breaking machine was the only V12 powered X5 they ever built.

We wish the V12 X5 LM a happy 20th birthday; it came from a time when a small number of BMW senior managers and technicians still had a glint of mischievousness in their eyes.