OSFlanker
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The 1st round of the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) will take place at Monza on April 10.11 BMW 320i will be competing in the field of 55 cars which include ALfa Romeo 156, Seat Toledo, Chevrolet Lacetti, Honda Accord Euro R, Honda Civic Type R and Ford Focus. China's Brilliance is planning to get its car ready in the middle of the season.The BMW 320i dominated last season's ETCC, with Andy Priaulx emerging as champion.A revised 320i will be introduced in 2005. Interestingly, BMW will not be using a sequential gearbox but will be using a H pattern gearbox like in the M3 GTR.From www.bmw-motorsport.com :The BMW 320i WTCC and its two-litre straight-six engine have been revised for the 2005 season by BMW Motorsport in Munich within the constraints of the homologated kit.The car has benefited from many detail improvements. Slightly modified axle kinematics make for even more stable roadholding, while the test team carried out some meticulous fine-tuning on the shock absorbers. The aluminium wheel rims have been more robustly designed for the 2005 season.An innovative steel safety cage, developed by BMW Motorsport and FIA-homologated, was already introduced into the BMW 320i in 2003. The B-pillars are connected to each other by V-shaped rather than X-shaped braces. This new safety cell has demonstrated significantly enhanced side-impact protection as well as bringing a slight reduction in weight.The overall weight of the vehicle has not fallen significantly since judicious reinforcements in other places have virtually cancelled out any savings. The BMW P54 engine with its production-standard aluminium block and cylinder head has undergone numerous detail refinements, both in its electronic management system and in its mechanical components. The most significant innovation is a new intake manifold. Along with the aerodynamically enhanced air box, the in-line six-cylinder has also received a performance boost of ten bhp to take it up to 275 bhp. The stipulated engine speed limit of 9,000 rpm for six-cylinder units in the ETCC remains unchanged.The two-litre engine’s management system for race deployment was developed by BMW Motorsport in Munich. The Munich University of Applied Sciences was involved in the computer simulation for the on-board electronics - to the benefit of both sides. For the electronics faculty, regular work at the computers of the motorsport division meant having an exciting test lab at their disposal, while for the BMW Motorsport engineers it brought valuable practical assistance.As before, BMW has declined to use a sequential-shift gearbox, thus reducing the basic weight of the BMW 320i to 1,140 kg. The convenience of a sequential transmission would raise the minimum weight to 1,170 kg. The BMW 320i’s continue to compete with an H-formation five-speed gearbox and mechanical limited-slip differential optimised for use on the race track.
