BMW‘s 2023 Test Fest event allowed Carscoops to get behind the wheel of some of the latest and greatest (and maybe ugliest) that the brand has to offer. The automaker also kindly offered the opportunity to ride shotgun in some of its “vintage” race cars. Here’s what that looks like in a 2015 Z4 GTLM, one of only two such cars on the planet.
This particular car is number 24 and chassis 1502. It picked up three podium finishes in the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship at the hands of Lucas Luhr and John Edwards.
It’s notable for a number of reasons, including that of five Z4 GTLM cars it is one of only two made for the 2015 season, and that it features a livery inspired by the famous BMW 3.0 CSL. That car won at the 12 Hours of Sebring 40 years ago, BMW’s first victory in North America.
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Photos Stephen Rivers / Carscoops
The Z4 GTLM is based on the GT3 customer race car which itself is loosely based on the Z4 Roadster. Of course, the GTLM car features a number of significant changes compared to the GT3 car and even more compared to the street car. For example, both the GT3 and GTLM cars use a 4.4-liter V8 but the former makes about 500 hp (373 kW), and the latter ‘only’ produces 480 hp (357 kW).
Our driver for the event, actually wanted to go out on the track before we joined him for the laps due to concern over how cold the tires were. It turns out that he knew what he was talking about because we spun out on the very first lap. As far as I’m aware, it was the only time all day that any of the vintage race cars had such an incident.
The remainder of the ride is a blast. BMW Performance Center features a number of track configurations. The one we lapped has a long back straight, some nice elevation changes, and some really technical corners. Another one of the cars that we also rode in (article coming soon), a BMW M3 GT2 passes us at full speed about 4:30 into the video so be on the lookout for it. Sit back and enjoy the sights and sounds of the Z4 GTLM.