This question is that between Porsche and BMW who won 2001 Le Mans race the answer is gonna be that one germen car company defeated another germen car company which was keep winning this title from last 10 years.
If you have grown up while playing most beloved game need for speed then this is going to give you nostalgic feel.
And if you are a BMW lover then this will make you happy but Porche lovers are definitely going to make you disappointed.
Le mans race
Le mans race is an annual motorsports event which was found in 1923 which is held in France every year in June. This event is performed on a 13 kms track which includes public roads with a dedicated circuit for 24 hours.
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And main purpose of this event is to test endurance of driver and his car for longer time period. Winner is announced based on the car which covers more kms in 24 hours and any type of car can participate in this race from hypercar to suppersports car or any performance car.
How PC game Need For Speed is linked to this Race
If you have grown playing Need For Speed in your childhood or any phase of your life then you have choosen many cars as a player then there was a blue and silver BMW M3 GTR with flames coming out from its tailpipes.
And which screams you heard from its v8 engine during playing game they all were real which team used from real motorsports events which was giving a very realistic experience to your game.
Most of us came to know about this legendry car from that very popular video game but this wasn’t result of any gamer or developer for a video game. It wasn’t designed on a pc for game only but it was inspiration from a real endurance race Le Mans held in France annually in June month.
Story behind creation this legendry iconic super beast
BMW is know for rejecting bullyness from other cars or drivers if it is open roads or a race track. but there is a prestigious annual endurance race called “Le Mans” organised in France where various car companies participate and prove their machine and driver’s endurance.
So in this race porsche was dominating from last one decade with their most famous car 911 GT and it was hard to defeat Porche due to their long experience of racing and undefeated image which was covering all the magazines and newspapers with its continously victory.
BMW entry in Le Mans endurance race
In 1999 BMW entered in this race with their regular but slightly modified M3 E36 E46 which had flat 6 cylinder 3.2 liter engine but porsche beat the BMW with their 996 generation 911 GT car.
BMW tried to give tough competition with their marvelous engineering but they couldn’t catch porsche after their full potential. BMW could win only 1 race with pushing themselves very hard but Porche kept winning every race in that tournament.
The main issue with BMW was reliability which was creating tough situation and on the other hand Porche had reliable fast machine. BMW was loosing every race in these 2 years which made BMW motorsports team very frustrated so they decided to create a specific car only for le mans race.
Creation of legendry M3 GTR
BMW was ready to reply to Porche with their secret weapon in 2001 Le Mans race and this time race was not for win or loss now it was matter of ego and self respect.
BMW took it very serious and started working on a new reliable, powerful and well engineered profuct from scratch so it was impossible for BMW to compete with 3.2 inline 6 engine so they developed a new product M3 GTR.
The M3 GTR was developed on a P60 B40 platform with 4.0 liter v8 engine which had aluminium block which had massive 497 Hp and 380 nm torque.
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It was first time when BMW had a v8 in its car otherwise only 6 or 4 cylinder engines were being used. Now v8 engine was screaming its lungs out on race track and technicians used to wear headphones to protect their eardrums from its loud engine.
How BMW hacked rules of Le Mans series
Now American Le Mans race rules says that company should manufactured some unites of street version of the same car which is about to being used in race and it should be sold in at least 2 continentals.
M3 GTR was a project car which was designed only for this endurance race and it was very tough to bring other units of this car in production for such very short time.
BMW handled this situation by creating a lawyers team to read rulebook and find any loophole which they succeed to find.
Rules say that company must produce at least 10 units of same car for public sale within 12 months then company is eligible to participate in race.
Then BMW decided to produce 10 street version of M3 GTR to fill the race criteria and these 10 units are called homologation and this M3 GTR was launched as strassenversion.
The main purpose of BMW was not to provide these cars for public use abd they kept price of this car 250,000 euros which was equivalent to ferrari cost.
These models were acquired by BMW motorsports in their garage and there was not a single unit sold to regular customers.
By this BMW fulfilled all the criteria of rulebook by creating 10 road legal untis within 12 months deadline and without solding any unit out in any showrooms.
Politics of Porche against BMW team
After seeing M3 GTR Porche got tensed about rivalry with BMW as they knew that BMW has taken benefit of loophole of regulations by landing M3 GTR in race track which doesn’t have any official unit or even brochure in showrooms for public so they opposed it and protested against BMW.
Now when M3 GTR started winning every lap in race and Porche wasn’t standing next to BMW then it raged Porche even more and they showed their rage in front of FIA and le mans authority.
Now it wasn’t just a race track it was war between 2 germen car companies where BMW entered in this race with its 2 teams. BMW motorsports Europe and BMW PGD USA.
BMW verses Porche begin with tough competition where BMW started defeating Porche at the starting but soon BMW was stuck in the pitstop due to some issue where Porche won 3rd lap.
Even after facing reliable issues in car BMW came back to performance and it started beating Porche with its power and great corner handling. Now Porche team started wishing some reliable issues in BMW to save their winning spot.
Soon Le Mans authority changed the rules which were clearly indicating that it was done by Porche influence to keep the M3 GTR out of race as it was too good according to Porche team statements.
After accouncement of new regulations by authority, BMW didn’t take a single time in exiting the race as it was politics done by Porche so BMW won all the titles in Le Mans endurance race in 2001.
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