News

BMW has revealed its prototype race car for the 2023 season, the M Hybrid V8, although it has cloaked it in a camouflage of sorts.Still, we can make out the massive kidney grille, large headlight housings with twin LED strips, and detailed taillight design. The M Hybrid V8 will be eligible to race at both the 24 Hours of Daytona and 24 Hours of Le Mans, although BMW will focus on the former and the accompanying full IMSA championship.The battle in endurance racing is heating up. Major manufacturers—including Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac, Acura, and BMW—are preparing prototype race cars for both the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, which includes the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the World Endurance Championship (WEC), which features the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Now BMW has given the first full look at its entry, still wrapped in a camouflage of sorts, as it begins testing on its top-class racer.
Dubbed the BMW M Hybrid V8, the car has traditional endurance-racing proportions with a low hood, narrow cockpit, flared wheel arches, and towering rear wing. But the gaping nostrils dominating the front end are distinctly BMW, and the two LED strips in the chunky headlight housings attempt to mimic the twin lights on production BMWs. The BMW Motorsport 50th Anniversary badge lies in a canyon on the hood between two extreme character lines, just like on 2023 M3s and M4s. The intricate LED taillights echo the units found on the latest M4 CSL, and BMW even designed the window shape with the iconic Hofmeister kink design.The M Hybrid V8 is being developed for the GTP class (originally named LMDh) in the IMSA championship. Both the GTP cars and the LMH cars—being designed for WEC—will be eligible to race in IMSA and WEC, but there are some differences.
The GTP cars are rear-wheel-drive only, and will use a standard hybrid system, with teams mating it to a gas engine of their choice. As the name implies BMW has chosen a V-8, but no specifics have been provided yet. Each team must also choose a chassis from one of four suppliers, and BMW is partnering with Dallara.

The LMH cars allow for far more freedom but will also cost much more to develop. They can be rear- or all-wheel drive, and the manufacturers can design their own hybrid system if they choose to use one. The chassis is also up to each team. Since the LMH class is much more open ended, any LMH car that wants to compete in IMSA will have to be performance balanced to play on the same level as the GTP cars.The M Hybrid V8 is set to make its competitive debut at the opening race of the 2023 IMSA season, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and its official livery will be revealed in due course.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

No injuries or deaths have been recorded because of the issue, but NHTSA is publishing a recall announcement after Mercedes has discovered a potential problem with brake performance in several older models due to corrosion from water exposure.The list of affected vehicles is long (see it below). It includes ML-class, GL-class, and R-class Mercedes vehicles built between 2006 and 2012. Nearly 300,000 vehicles are being recalled in the U.S., with another 700,000 in other countries. While rare, in some cases the problem could result in the brakes not working at all, which is why NHTSA has issued a stop-drive notification for these vehicles.If you have a Mercedes ML-class, GL-class, or R-class built between 2006 and 2012, you might want to hang up the keys for a bit, especially if you’ve been hearing any hissing-type noises when you use the brakes or if the brakes have been acting unusual lately. Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a recall for 278,000 of these vehicles, and it’s not a standard recall. Instead, it’s the scary kind with the red-letter warnings that signifies the cars should not be driven until the problem can be fixed.

NHTSA

The problem, and the reason this recall is serious, is that brake boosters might not work as intended “due to advanced corrosion in the joint area of its housing.” Because of the age of these cars, and the potential for prolonged water exposure, NHTSA has determined that the corrosion could lead to a vacuum leak at the brake booster, which would make the brakes not function as expected, i.e., requiring more pedal pressure or more distance to come to a stop. If the corrosion is “very severe,” NHTSA said, “it might be possible for a particularly strong or hard brake application to cause mechanical damage in the brake booster, whereby the connection between brake pedal and brake system would fail.” While NHTSA says this situation is “very rare,” if it does happen, then the brakes might not work at all. Hence the stop-drive notification. Mercedes has not yet clarified instructions for owners to get their cars to a dealership, given that they’re not supposed to be driven. The best way to determine if your car might be affected is to enter your vehicle identification number (VIN) into the NHTSA database, but here are a few of the 53 different products affected by the recall in the U.S.: the 2007 AMG R63, GL350s from 2010 through 2012, and ML350s built between 2006 and 2011. We’ve included a list of affected model and model years below.If you have a vehicle on the recall list, then it’s time to bring your car in to be inspected. Mercedes-Benz said the fix includes authorized Mercedes-Benz dealers removing the rubber sleeve from the brake booster housing in order to check the brake booster. If the booster is in rough shape, the mechanics will replace them as necessary.While there are almost 300,000 affected vehicles in the U.S., Mercedes is dealing with a global recall of a million vehicles, and it was overseas that the problem was first detected. Based on one customer’s car, the automaker started an investigation in July 2021, which led to a field study in September and then more tests in November and December. Mercedes found one case in the U.S. “where poor brake performance was caused by a corroded brake booster” but decided in early May that the safety risks were high enough to issue a recall. Mercedes said it has confirmed that there were “no crashes, injuries, or deaths related to this defect.”List of Affected Vehicles in U.S.:2007 AMG R632007–2009 GL3202010–2012 GL3502007–2012 GL4502008–2012 GL5502007–2009 ML3202006–2011 ML3502010–2011 ML4502006–2007 ML5002008–2011 ML5502007–2009 R3202006–2007 R5002007–2011 AMG ML632006–2012 R3502008 R550
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More