E39 M5 S62 engine power wins class in Vegas 300 SCORE race (pic's)

[DRM]

Congrats to Martin Christensen (owner of M5Board sponsor All German Auto) and his All German Motorsports team for their "Class 1 unlimited" win, and 3rd overall, in SCORE's 4th '08 season professional offroad race. This is AGM's 2nd '08 season win; they took 3rd in the BAJA 500.

'Dunno how many of you guys/gals follow, or care about, professional desert offroad racing (It's not a spectator friendly series); but I'm posting this to highlight the reliability/durability of BMW S62 engine that's in our E39 M5 cars.

These races are each 250 - 1000 miles, 3.5 - 17 hours, of flat out WOT running through the most demanding and difficult conditions imaginable. Some 50+ purpose built race vehicles (some with factory sponsorship) compete in the top 2 classes (Unlimited Trophy Truck, and Unlimited Class 1 "Buggy", respectively); each using a 7 litre Chevy, Ford, or Mopar motor, with 800+ HP; except for AGM.

When building his Class 1 buggy 2+ years ago, Martin pulled an S62 motor from a wrecked '01 M5. He modified the 5 litre engine with custom racing intake and exhaust, Dinan cams, and a Dinan ECU tune to run on 114 octane race gas; getting ~600 NA crank HP. The bottom end internals weren't touched, and left bone stock.

After 12 races + many hours of testing, spanning 2+ seasons, 'bottom end of engine has still never been touched. After each race, it gets a leakdown test and pan pulled for rod bearing/crank inspection. It's never needed anything. Mind you, this engine has been run @ 6 - 7k RPM for untold hours. Amazing.

To say this BMW powered "buggy" is a SCORE novelty would be an understatement. Other professional teams can't believe it. During last season, Martin recruited German Rallye champion drivers Armin Schwarz and Armin Kremer to co-drive some races with him. AGM now has a second Class 1 buggy (Chevy powered), built for Armin Kremer this season. It has yet to podium (because it's Chevy powered; ha, ha).

Next up is the "Mutha" race, season finale BAJA 1000 in November. Martin believes, with just a little luck, he's got a good shot at winning; not only his class, but overall. THAT would be astounding.

Attached are some pic's, news release, and link to AGM website. Enjoy!!



Index

[keang24]

congrats to Martin and crew.

[firebird400]

Wow. Thanks for sharing, very cool. I knew we had a great engine, but wow. That puts a new meaning to bullet proof German engineering!

[THRILOS5]

good job
thats amazing and the rod bearings don't need replasement

I wonder what kind of oil they use

[DRM]

Originally Posted by THRILOS5

I wonder what kind of oil they use

Mobil 1 synthetic, 15/50. Based on UOA testing, Martin says it's the best oil for moderate to warm climates. Trust me, it's what I use in BOTH my cars.

[wilsodh]

Great stuff!!!

Its is really nice to hear of Martin's success with the 'ol' S62! Its a great data point to have on our engines. We read of rod bearing failures and blown engines now and then on the board, but I think this gives us a skewed picture of the ruggedness of the engine design overall.

Thanks for sharing Dan! Go Martin!!!

Dave

[Roadmovie]

What do you think could be the difference in this engine and the street engines which have had shot con rod and/or main bearings? Why does this engine have no problems where a street driven car needs a bearing job too soon?

Could there end up some kind of dirt or cloggage in the oil passages despite the oil filter changes?

[DRM]

Originally Posted by Roadmovie

What do you think could be the difference in this engine and the street engines which have had shot con rod and/or main bearings? Why does this engine have no problems where a street driven car needs a bearing job too soon?

Could there end up some kind of dirt or cloggage in the oil passages despite the oil filter changes?

Yes, there have been a handful of rod bearing failure reports on this forum. 'Have no idea "why". It doesn't appear to be a common issue.

I can tell you something with certainty. All German Auto has been servicing E39 M5's for many years; their customer base being literally dozens and dozens of cars. During all those years, working on all those cars, Martin says he's never seen an M5 with a bottom end engine failure. That's the principle reason he used an S62 engine to build his offroad racer. He considers the S62 engine "bullet proof", assuming it gets proper maintenance.

That's all I know.

[Tiauguinho]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing and best of luck for the team!

[Lscman]

Originally Posted by THRILOS5

good job
thats amazing and the rod bearings don't need replasement

I wonder what kind of oil they use

Originally Posted by Roadmovie

What do you think could be the difference in this engine and the street engines which have had shot con rod and/or main bearings? Why does this engine have no problems where a street driven car needs a bearing job too soon?

Could there end up some kind of dirt or cloggage in the oil passages despite the oil filter changes?

Time out, you're grossly misinterpreting the language in that piece. They simply said they started with a low mile used S62 motor and elected to keep the reciprocating assembly as 100% stock and untouched...which means 100% OEM spec (unmodified) in racer's lingo. This sort of bold statement is made by race teams all the time in support of their sponsor's hardware. It only means they retained all BMW OEM bottom-end parts, new and/or used. Bearings on low mile engines are invariably in good condition, so it's entirely possible that they passed initial inspection and saw a few races. How is such a decision so impressive when nobody makes a superior crank assy for S62? The point to that statement is the stock S62 internals are strong & capable of race duty without modification. This has been known for a long time, as a significant number of racers transplanted S62 with stock internals into M3 for racing action. NOBODY is claiming that parts are not being inspected & replaced when they show wear upon seasonal race rebuilds. No race team with an IQ>0 is going to neglect the bottom end of a race motor. They ALL wear and they ALL get fresh parts or they fail. This off-road machine probably doesn't see 10K miles a year. The bearings they throw in the garbage each year are probably in better condition than mine!

If somebody finds a statement claiming this motor sees competition racing without seasonal inspections and rebuild/freshening, please point it out. I will call the owner and warn him of pending doom lol. Anybody thinks pro racers don't rebuild their motors BEFORE they show signs of distress and throw parts has never been involved in racing. Nobody can afford to do that and it's a recipe for DNF's.

This engine has no problems because the rod and main bearings are checked on a regular basis like any other competition motor and replaced, if worn. Smart racers & teams do that when their hardware is seeing severe duty for any length of time.