Dropped Jaws At The Nordschleife: BMW Introduces The World's Fastest Truck
A truck at the Nordschleife? No, no service truck. One that does some 190 mph. Possibly more. A truck made by BMW. In a press release, BMW dubs it “the world’s fastest pickup.” If they say so. One needs to be very careful with these statements in Germany, lest someone will sue you faster than the truck completes the Nordschleife lap.
BMW’s in-house tuning shop BMW M GmbH follows the BMW M3 Coupé, the BMW M3 Convertible and the BMW M3 Sedan – with a truck. As the pictures will attest, they basically chopped the metal off the rear of a Dreier and gave it the 420 hp 8-cylinder engine familiar from the other hopped-up Dreiers.
By now you probably want to know how the bimmer truck did in the Nordschleife. That is still a secret at BMW: “Official lap times have not yet been released, but the needle in the dial vouched for a top speed of 300 km/h,” says the press release.
However, they built a credible half ton truck. It is officially good for 450kg load capacity. The comment by BMW that the truck bed has the “capacity to carry up to 20 standard 46-inch golf bags” gives an indication that the world’s fastest truck is not intended for farm work. But if you want to lug around some horses or a boat: The BMW M3 Pickup is the first M3 in the more than quarter century history of the M series to come with a tow hitch.
Will you be able to buy it? Not yet. Officially, the world’s fastest truck is a one-off which “is earmarked for use as a workshop transport vehicle for BMW M GmbH.” Yeah, sure. A factory truck with a press release? A factory truck with “a world premiere on April 1 ?” Who are they kidding? The current BMW M3 Pickup has gone through the lengthy and complicated procedures to earn its road certification. You don’t do that if you just want to move parts from one end of the factory to the other at 300 kilometers per hour.
But wait a minute: It already is April 1. It’s an outrage. How come they let members of the accredited automotive press wait until the official launch? Where is our press truck?
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Now, who CANNOT picture this in the Craftsman Truck Series, hehe.
I only guess how that Ute would sell down here. Then I imagine it like some of the SSV, Maloo, XR8 and XR6 I've seen... carrying contractor stuff around