New BMW M4 sets V8-beating laptime

 The new turbo 6-cylinder BMW M3 (and M4 Coupé) has a serious reputation to maintain. German magazine SportAuto have just done their 'Superlap' test at the Nürburgring Nordschleife with the M4, and the laptime is good. Very good.

Indeed, the latest Supertest by SportAuto reports a very handy 7m52s lap of the Nordschleife. That's a full lap, by the way (minus a few metres of the T13 straight). That would be like a 7m20-ish BTG lap!

If you read the article, which I would highly recommend (even if it is in German), you'll see the car was fitted with the DCT transmission, ceramic brakes and Michelin Pilot Super Sports tyres.

While Supertest laptimes tend to be slower than what a manufacturer will acheieve with pro racing drivers, days of setup and a full team of technicians, I think it represents something a little bit more achievable.

If you compare like-for-like with other Supertest times, you'll get the following results:

• E30 M3 Sport Evo 8:50
• E36 M3 SMG 8:35
• E46 M3 8:22
• E46 M3 CSL 7:50
• E92 M3 8:05
• M4 7:52
• E92 M3 GTS 7:49

I think you'll agree that's quite some progression from humble 4-cylinder legend to the high-technology bruiser we see here. But which of the above list would you rather drive?