Top Speed Cars Car News

Whatever the type of car you build, whether its for mass production or for motor racing purposes, one thing holds true: building one takes some serious work from a dedicated group of people.

In addition to the laborious manual work involved in building a car, it also takes time. You can’t just throw all the parts together and hope that the car magically runs after that. It doesn’t work that way. Fortunately, through the magic of time-lapse technology, you can actually see the entire build from the ground up in just a matter of minutes.

The folks over at WestCoastRacing took to task in building a BMW Z4 GT3 from its humble beginnings as a body shell into a 500 horsepower beast. Using parts that were received from BMW Motorsport, WestCoastRacing took up the task of working on the car, spending 600 hours of work to piece together the entire sports car. The end product, as you can see, is a fine piece of machinery that presumably weights less than 1,200 kilos and uses a 4.4-liter engine that produces over 500 ponies.

And thanks to time-lapse technology, we can watch the entire manual production build in just over three minutes.

A time-lapse video of the making of a BMW Z4 E89 GT3 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 6 September 2010 15:00 EST.

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There is something wrong with the current generation BMW Z4: there is no coupe or M version. And considering BMW has offered these other two versions for the first generation Z4, we really hope the roadster will be joined by a few other variations. How does a Shooting Brake designed by Jasper van der Heiden sound to you?

The Shooting brake version will combine design elements from the Z4 Roadster with the usual M sports elements. Of course this is just a design exercise, but we wouldn’t mind seeing this in production anytime soon.

The new BMW Z4 Roadster comes in two models for North America, both using the same 3.0-liter inline-six cylinder engine. The sDrive30i has 255 hp, and the sDrive35i uses twin-turbos (one turbo designated for three cylinders each) to upgrade to 300 hp. All variants of the new BMW Z4 come as standard with a 6-speed manual gearbox. As an option, the BMW Z4 sDrive35i is available with BMW’s newly developed double-clutch sport automatic gearbox.

BMW works on Z4 Shooting Brake? originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 13 July 2010 17:00 EST.

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MWDesign unveiled a new tuning package for the BMW Z4 Roadster inspired by, well, golf. The package is called Slingshot and comes with an updated ECU that adds an extra 78 HP and 116 lbs-ft of torque. And if this is not enough for you, the new Z4 can be also offered with STETT’s FMIC intercooler rated at 620 HP.

Next to this impressive engine upgrade, the Z4 Slingshot also gets 20" H1 three-piece wheels finished in a gloss black, the exhaust system painted in matte black, green, grey and carbon fiber inserts, a polyurethane front lip spoiler by AC Schnitzer with a custom made carbon fiber splitter, a new rear spoiler in carbon fiber, a matte carbon fiber fin and lime green accents strategically added to the front bumper air ducts, underneath the rear diffuser, wheel lip striping and to the roll bar backs.

Press release after the jump.

MWDesign Project E89 Z4 3.5 Slingshot originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 5 July 2010 17:00 EST.

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The BMW Z4 and Nissan 370Z are both dream cars. And Fifth Gear had the chance to place them face to face. Japanese technology vs. German technology tested by the British press. Sounds interesting, no?

Fifth Gear tested the BMW Z4 sDrive35i, a model powered by a twin-turbo inline-six cylinder engine that develops a total of 300 Hp. It makes the 0 to 60 mph sprint in 5.1 seconds, while top speed is limited to 130 mph.

The Nissan 370Z is powered by a VQ37VHR 3.7 Liter V6 with VVEL rated at 332 HP and 270 lb-ft of torque. It makes the 0 to 60 mph sprint in 4,7 seconds and top speed is limited to 155 mph.

So, at first glance, the 370Z seems to be a better choice, but what did the British magazine think? Check out the video to find out!

Video: BMW Z4 vs Nissan 370Z originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 25 June 2010 14:00 EST.

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Try stealing this one. C’mon, we dare you. Not only will you be having trouble boosting it without anybody noticing, but the mere thought of moving this BMW Z4 is enough to make even the most desperate of crooks think twice about getting near it.

Of course, it helps that this Z4 is made of stone.

Found in Beijing, this incredible one-of-a-kind stone replica of a Z4 is about as intricate as it can get. How so, you ask? Well, the car’s interior is even decked out in all its intricacies.

Somebody really went out of his way to make this, proving that in China, there’s nothing that these guys can’t do.

Found in China: BMW Z4 made from block of stone originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 13 June 2010 18:00 EST.

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