The new M4 CSL took the spot as BMW's quickest ever production car, holding the marque's Nürburgring lap record.
154 corners, 13 miles, and 1000ft of elevation changes combine to make the Nürburgring Nordschleife the most complete test of a sports car's capabilities. By now it's as important as a 0-60 time in any new model's resume, the motoring world holds lap times in the highest regard.
So, when BMW released a video showing their newest most special M4 variant; the CSL, being absolutely spanked around the track, you can bet that we took notice. The new M4 CSL took the spot as BMW's quickest ever production car, holding the marque's Nürburgring lap record.
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The M4 CSL has upped the power and lost weight. The perfect combo when searching performance, especially when measured in lap times. Weight loss totals to 220LBS, mainly due to new bucket seats at the front and a rear seat delete, plenty of carbon body panels, and minimized sound deadening and carpeting. Competition, Sporting, Lightweight – the CSL badge has adorned only 3 BMWs in M-Sport's 50-year tenure, so already the M4 has plenty to prove.
Power increase has come from new tuning to the twin-turbo straight-six taking it up to a total output of 543HP, 40 more than the base M4 Competition. The power is still sent through the same 8-speed ZF box, which deals with it very well using a newly devised BMW M-traction control system to transfer the whole lump of HP to the rear wheels.
The M4 CSL is probably the best-looking variant of this G82 generation of M4. The front grille is made less toothy with the addition of some lovely gloss black trim, there is no protective cover for the bottom radiator though, so be careful when following someone too closely! That, combined with the new yellow laser lights, does make for a very menacing front end, however.
There is also a carbon fiber trunk lid with a very sleek duck lid spoiler and a new set of rear lights. A big carbon diffuser and plenty of trunk space combine to make up the rear. For this, you'll have to pay a pretty steep premium. A standard M4 Competition will set you back $75,000 + options but for the CSL you'll be looking at $140,000. With only 1000 cars due to be produced, it will certainly be one for collectors but is it as special as BMW has made it out to be?
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As you can see the new M4 CSL had no problem navigating the tricky combination of corners and straights that make up the 'Ring. Although in the hands of a seasoned pro, it was made to look far easier than it was, mind you, there were times in the video where you could see that a small wrestle with the Alcantara wheel was needed to keep things in shape.
The record itself is not only BMW's quickest ever but at the time of writing, holds the overall record for "mid-range" cars. You might ask what this means, but it's basically the Nürburgring's way of categorizing lap records into segments. Other segments include SUVs (Audi Q-series), compact cars (VW Golf), and super sports cars (Porsche 911).
The record itself actually took place back on April 12, when the car was still wearing its development wrap. The day itself was an M-sport heavy day, as there were sights of the upcoming M3 Touring and some other marketing activities from the BMW group. They had rented the track for the whole day, meaning to the disappointment of many there were no "Tourist Drives" on the said afternoon.
The time of 7:15 is for the sport-auto configuration of the track which is the old standard in measuring, but still a very useful reference point. For an explanation of all things Nürburgring lap time layouts, YouTuber Misha Charoudin has you covered in this video. Anyway, the M4 CSL's time is quick, extremely quick in fact. For your reference, the 911 GT3 RS' lap time was 7:20. So for a mid-size coupe to be faster just 7 seven years later, is a testament to the work that has been happening behind BMW's closed doors.
The 991.2 911 GT3 RS scrubbed off 24 seconds to achieve a lap time, of 6:56. How does a simple facelift gain such margins in just two years? The one big development that had happened in that time has to do with one thing in particular; tires. Gen 1 ran Michelin Cup 2's whereas gen 2 was running the stickier Cup 2 R tire. The same tires now found on the M4 CSL.
Now, the second-fastest BMW to ever lap around the Nordschleife is the BMW M4 GTS which set a time of 7:27.88 back in 2015. Clocking in at 7:15.667, the M4 CSL demolished the previous time by a staggering 12 seconds! The new 2023 M4 CSL is now the fastest road-legal BMW to lap the Nurburgring. While we do not have a benchmark from the standard car as the M3/M4 competition models never ran attempted official records around the track. However that may be, it doesn't take away from the fact that the M4 CSL is very fast indeed.
Pedro is a writer based between London and Mont Blanc, he specializes in German and Japanese cars and culture.