Top Speed Cars Car News

Every time we see Chris Harris inside a car, we can’t help but wonder how this dude managed to score a job like that. Not only does he get to drive some of the fastest and most beautiful cars on the planet, but he also gets paid to do it. Can’t say that he hates his job, can he?

This time, during the launch of the BMW M3 GTS at the Ascari race track in Spain, Harris, together with a number of other surprised auto journalists, was given a treat of a lifetime by being given a chance to ride shotgun with Frank Isenberg, BMW Driver Training’s top dog on board a prototype version of the new BMW 1M Coupe. This particular BMW is an off-shoot 1-Series that traces its direct lineage to the Bavarian automaker’s M line of sports cars.

During Harris’ turn in the passenger seat, he tried to coax Isenberg to divulge the specifications under the 1M’s hood to which Isenberg expertly deflected the question by saying, “Listen to it.” Nevermind that Harris and the rest of the auto scribes weren’t given the full lowdown on the car because most of them seem to think that the 1M Coupe is being powered by an N54 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged straight-six engine that produces about 340 horsepower.

One thing we do know after watching this video: Chris Harris is a lot more talkative when he’s behind the wheel of a car than when he was riding shotgun. But the man still knows his cars and most of his observations while Isenberg was driving the camouflaged 1M Coupe were spot-on.

Chris Harris rides shotgun in a BMW 1M Coupe with BMW’s Frank Isenberg originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 20 July 2010 20:00 EST.

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Jay Leno has about as big a car collection as anybody we’ve known so it seems a little off that the man known for his taste in classics and exotics would actually have something that’s a little on the contemporary side sitting in his garage.

That ’contemporary’ ride - at least as far as his standards are concerned - is the 2011 BMW M3. Granted, for a lot of us, owning a 2011 BMW M3 is a one-way ticket to the land of awesomeness, but for Jay Leno, the very same man who owns one of three Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita, a BMW M3 does seem a little mainstream.

Nevertheless, Leno doesn’t seem to mind being seen in a 2011 M3. As a matter of fact, in the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, the comedian even had some flattering remarks to say about the car and after heading over to the 2010 Long Beach Grand Prix where he talked with Martin Birkmann, BMW’s motorsports chief and Bill Auberlen, a driver for the BMW/Rahal Letterman Racing Team, Leno discovered a new-found appreciation for the M3, proving that even if the car is ordinary by comparison, Jay Leno can still spot an awesome car when he sees one.

Video: Jay Leno puts the 2011 BMW M3 through its paces originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 8 June 2010 13:00 EST.

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