Presenting BMW’s F10 M5 sedan which will compete in the 2012 One Lap of America race, piloted by the BMW Performance Driving School Team - Mike Renner, Steve Maguire and Tom Lappin.

The 2012 One Lap of America starts on May 5 in South Bend, Indiana, and this year the BMW Performance Driving School Team will drive the new BMW M5 entered by BMW North America and will see the reunion of the team which competed in the 2010 event with a BMW X6M. The team comprises of Mike Renner, Steve Maguire and Tom Lappin (who will be providing regular race updates on M5POST). Mike has competed in six One Lap events driving a multitude of BMW’s including a variety of M3’s, an X6M, and … CONTINUED

Steve Sutcliffe of Autocar gives us his thoughts on his BMW 1M coupe long term tester. It seems that the 1M coupe has grown on Sutcliffe over time as his review is glowing. Video inside.

The M6 Gran Coupe opened the Nurburgring testing season in March and we’ve now caught it on video, giving you a good idea how just how well it tackles the track. That such a large car can perform like this on a challenging track is an impressive sight.

As the M6 Gran Coupe will utilize the same S63Tu engine as the F10 M5 (although the M6 Gran Coupe may be introduced with a slightly uprated power figure from the M5’s 560hp), it’s seen testing with and benchmarked against several M5s in the video, including the M5 Ring Taxis.

The M6 Gran Coupe will feature the same front and rear design as the M6 Coupe and Convertible and will have a similar carbon roof to the one on the … CONTINUED

The US Order Banks for the 2013 M5 F10 are now open and orders can finally be submitted for your M5 order! Dealers have not yet received their allocations yet, but order may be submitted nonetheless. Come share with us what configuration you have ordered.

Chris Harris compares the M3 GTS against the Porsche GT3 RS and Mercedes C63 AMG Black Series in two criteria: track times and hooliganism. Sounds like a fun review already! We won’t spoil the results, so see for yourself below.

Specs of the 3 cars:

M3 GTS

450 HP (4.4L V8)
326 lb-ft torque
0-62: 4.4s
3,278 lbs

GT3 RS 4.0

500 HP (3.8L flat 6)
339 lb-ft torque
0-62: 3.8s
2,998 lbs

C63 AMG Black Series

510 HP (6.3L V8)
457 lb-ft torque
0-60: 4.2s
3,770 lbs

We’ve just posted the full official information release and photos for the 2013 BMW X1 LCI (facelift) model and first model year that will be available for the U.S. market. See inside for all the vital stats, including performance, information on the M Sport package, Sport Line, and xLine, as well as MPG information and options and pricing info.

The 2013 6 series Gran Coupe has already made its rounds on the auto show circuit, but has never been presented officially in M Sport form yet. Seen here at the BMW Performance Center in South Carolina is the first good look at a fully equipped 6 Series Gran Coupe M Sport. This frozen bronze 650i Gran Coupe wears the same aggressive, sideskirts and rear diffuser as the M Sport 6 series coupe/convertible M Sport. It rides on the 20″ M Sport wheels.

To our eyes, the 6 Series Gran Coupe looks particular good with the M Sport aero parts as it balances out the ends of the rather lengthy body and gives it an added bit of sportiness to the 6GC’s sleek dimensions.

We’ve also reposted below … CONTINUED

Following the release of the full U.S. 2013 M5 order and price guide last week, the U.S. M5 online configurator is now available at BMWUSA.com.

The U.S. 2013 M5 order bank is set to open soon (we were told sometime the first week of May), at which point dealers will find out their M5 allocations and be able to submit customer orders. Production for U.S. bound M5s begin in July, for September delivery, and M5 European Deliveries begin in early September.

For more information and discussions regarding M5 pricing, ordering, and tracking, see our new subforum - F10 M5 Pricing, Ordering, Tracking, and European Delivery

Here are photos from the latest F31 3 series touring sighting. Are we possibly looking at the first indication of a 328i xDrive with manual transmission? When we previously interviewed BMW on which F30/F31 xDrive models would receive a manual transmission, all we were told was that there would be at least one xDrive model with manual transmission. So, *if* this particular F31 is a 328i xDrive model (the front suspension appears to sit a bit higher?), then it would appear that the 328i may be one of the xDrive models to receive a manual transmission option.