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Image: - Herbert Bayerl, Project Leader, BMW

Another year and another victory for the BMW M3 powerplant in the 3-litre to 4-litre division. But far from this result having a touch of a ‘new year/same story’ tone to it, instead the IEOTYA jury are keen to wax lyrical about an ever-green sporting motor that simply gets better with age.

“My absolute favourite engine, with clever electronics to make this V8 suitable both for screaming track days or pleasant city cruising,” enthused Tomas Hyan from Automobil Revue. Turkey’s Volkan Demirkusak agreed, proclaiming the BMW M V8 engine as, “still being one of the best around”. And in Thailand, Richard Kajornsak called the M heart, “Fearsomely powerful and fast. This is one engine that’s off-limits for the faint-hearted.”

Tipping the scales at 202kg, the M3 V8, which has won this category class since 2008, is lighter, and more than 30mm shorter than the legendary straight-six engine it replaced, (and which also won the same displacement Award six times on the trot, between 2001 and 2006). Further technical highlights include an alternator that disconnects from the engine during acceleration to maximise power. The unit only charges the battery during braking in a system that BMW calls Brake Energy Regeneration.

The M engine also features a separate throttle butterfly for each cylinder, with two stepper motors operating them on each row of cylinders. This gives the BMW M3 unit a particularly sensitive response at low speeds together with an immediate reaction whenever the driver presses the accelerator. The prodigious power output – 420bhp at 8,250rpm – is carefully managed by a Cosworth Pectel SQ6M ECU.

Such power and performance meant that Bavaria’s V8 crushed Porsche’s hotly-tipped 3.8-litre GT3 and 3.4-litre flat-six DI engines, as well as beating off the McLaren V8 MP4 12C development.