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Voted International Engine of the Year for two years in a row, the BMW Formula 1 inspired V10 M engine has brought the ultimate ultimate driving experience to 20,000 customers in less than two years, a new record for an engine of this configuration.

Australian sales of the mighty V10 5.0-litre 507 bhp (373 kW) motor fitted to the M5 super Sedan and M6 Coupé reflect the huge sales demand, with 280 cars sold in Australia in only 16 months on sale (for the M5), and one year for the M6 Coupé.

Since the arrival of the M6 Coupe, total 6 Series sales in Australia have more than doubled.

In the next few weeks the V10 engine is to become available in a third BMW M model, the $295,000 M6 Convertible.

Australia’s share of global BMW M sales ran at a higher level, almost 15 per cent more, than total BMW brand sales last year.

“Australian buyers have fallen in love with the high-performance V10 M cars and local deliveries represent an undeniable vote of approval from buyers in this exclusive and exotic market segment,” said Paul Ferrari, National Special Vehicles Sales Manager for BMW Group Australia.

The BMW V10 motor is built at the same Munich plant that BMW–Sauber F1 uses to build its Formula 1 engines.

The M5 and M6 engine is extraordinary, but then it was based on the 10-cylinder BMW Formula 1 engine which was the most powerful engine in the pinnacle of motorsport, until the rules were modified for 2006.

A small celebration at the Special Engine Line at the plant a few days ago welcomed the birth of the 20,000th V10 engine.

The BMW V10 engine won the International Engine of the Year award outright in 2005 on debut as well as three category wins, namely:

• Best New Engine 2005
• Best Performance Engine 2005
• Winner in the class exceeding 4.0 litres

In 2006, the V10 engine was again voted Overall International Engine of the Year and Best Performance Engine.

In designing the V10 engine for the BMW M5 and M6, BMW M technicians were not only hoping to emulate the number and configuration of the cylinders of the F1 cars, but also to carry over some of the high-revving Formula 1 driving experience. As a result, the BMW V10 M engine revs to an unusually high 8,250 rpm.

This principle, only mastered by a few, generates enormous thrust from high engine speeds and is characteristic of all high-performance naturally aspirated engines made by BMW M GmbH.

For the technically minded the specifications of the BMW M5 and M6 engine read like that of a Formula racer:

Ten cylinders, a capacity of five litres, an output of 507 bhp (373 kW) at 7,750 rpm, maximum torque of 520 Nm at 6,100 rpm and maximum engine speed of 8,250 rpm.

The engine produces in excess of 100 bhp per litre and its lightweight design means it is only one kg heavier than the previous V8 engine used in the E39 M5.

While these facts are impressive on paper, the true meaning of the numbers really comes to life on the road: the BMW M5, M6 and M6 Convertible all accelerate to 100 km/h in under 5 seconds.

High power outputs from high-revving engines are one of the cornerstones of BMW M, but the V10 engine moves this concept into a totally new realm, previously believed to be out of the reach of serial production engines due to the enormous stress forces.

At 8,000 crankshaft rotations per minute, each of the ten pistons travels around 20 metres per second – almost as much as the pistons in a Formula 1 engine (around 25 m-s).

But while long-term resilience is a relative factor in motor racing, an M engine must last the lifetime of the car – in every climate, in every road situation and with all driving styles.

To make the V10 concept work for a road car, BMW M configured the engine to include a torsionally stiff bedplate, weight-optimised full slipper pistons, single-section cylinder heads made of aluminium and the so-called cross-flow cooling concept which ensures an even temperature throughout the cylinder head.

The V10 M engine also has the variable camshaft control system double VANOS, port throttles as in motor racing and a system which – like a dry sump – always ensures a permanent oil supply to the engine even at high levels of transverse acceleration.

Importantly, the engine management system for the V10 high-performance engine was developed by BMW M’s own engineers – an area in which BMW M is a world leader. The system’s modern 32-bit processors can process over 200 million individual operations per second: for each separate cylinder and firing cycle they calculate ignition timing, charge, injection quantity and timing.

The first of the exclusive new BMW M6 Convertibles will reach customers in December.