Pebble Beach. Barely three months after the sensational premiere of the BMW Zagato Coupé, BMW and Zagato are turning heads again at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance with the fruits of their latest collaboration. Created in just six weeks’ worth of lavish handcraftsmanship, the BMW Zagato Roadster represents another masterful example of the traditional coachbuilder’s art and an elegant take on the sporty, masculine marker laid down by the BMW Zagato Coupé.

At the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, this one-of-a-kind automobile finds itself in the best possible company. Every year connoisseurs and exponents of coachbuilt classics come together on California’s Pacific coastline to gorge on, mull over and be amazed by an array of automotive exotica. Indeed, you’d be hard pressed to find a more appropriate … CONTINUED

BMW has issued a service bulletin (SIB / TSB) affecting owners of a BMW powered by the 6 cylinder N54 turbo engine. It extends the warranty on the N54 turbochargers for any failure of a turbocharger caused by a defect in the turbo wastegate. Here is the full bulletin:

SUBJECT:
N54 Engine Turbocharger (Wastegates Only): Emissions Warranty Extension to 8 Years/82,000 Miles

MODEL:
E60, E61 (MY 2008, 2009, 2010): 535i including xDrive E71 (MY 2008, 2009, 2010): X6 xDrive35i
E82, E88 (MY 2008, 2009, 2010): 135i
E89 (MY 2009, 2010): E89 – Z4 sDrive35i
E90, E92, E93 (MY 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010): 335i including xDrive

INFORMATION:
All issues relating to the last-minute appeal have been resolved and the new effective date of the settlement is July 11, 2012. The court-approved settlement provides the … CONTINUED

BMW has issue a service bulletin (SIB / TSB) which will allow dealers across the country to reprogram / code all BMW models with the Auto Start-Stop feature so that the system defaults to the “Last User mode” (last used setting) the next time that the car is turned on. Check out auto start stop SIB 12 15 12 inside.

BMW Group remains on successful course in second quarter

01.08.2012

- New record figures for sales volume and revenues
- Second-best quarterly earnings in the company’s history
- Profit before financial result amounts to € 2.27 billion
- Automotive Segment second-quarter EBIT margin of 11.6%
- BMW Group reaffirms targets for financial year 2012

Munich. The BMW Group continued its success during the second quarter as well as in the six-month period to June 2012, achieving new record figures for sales volume and revenues and the second-best Group operating profit in the company’s history.

Second-quarter revenues rose by 7.3% to € 19,202 million (2011: € 17,888 million). Group earnings remained at a high level despite greater investment in new technologies and higher personnel costs: Profit before financial result (EBIT) amounted to € 2,270 million … CONTINUED

The Z4 LCI refresh may be a bit overdue, but these first photos of the refreshed Z4 show us that it’s on its way.

The photos reveal that the LCI will be more of a “lightlift” than a facelift. The only changes come to the side fender gills and the lighting elements inside the headlights and tail lights. Their shapes will not see any changes. The angel eyes are brighter LED and we can expect some updated lighting accoutrements underneath the masking.

We expect the Z4 LCI to hit the market early next year.

The ///M Flight members from BIMMERPOST cruised together this past weekend to to visit Manhart Racing Zentrale in Wuppertal, Germany during the tuning company’s open house.

They rolled out of Kaiserslautern seven cars deep at around 0730 and spent about 3.5hrs due to traffic and the weather traveling only 190miles (mind you this is Germany and with their autobahns it should be no more than 2 hrs). They were met at the location by another 8 ///M Flight members from other parts of Germany. The weather as can be seen in the pictures was not the greatest, but they still enjoyed themselves. It would rain profusely, and then sun would come out, and then rain and shine on and on throughout the day. ///M Flight meet at … CONTINUED

Hartge has officially released its software ECU piggyback tune for the BMW 4-cylinder turbo N20 engine. It yields impressive power gains of +45 horsepowers and +45 ft-lb torque! The tune can be applied to the F30 328i, F10 528i, F25 X3 xDrive28i, and E89 Z4 sDrive28i. Check out a video of the tune in action inside.

The Hartge ‘Engine Conversion’ is a bespoke tuning module that plugs in ahead of the engine computer on the wiring harness. It has factory-style plugs to connect in-line with the water temp sensor, fuel rail pressure, turbo boost pressure sensors, turbo wastegate valve, intake camshaft sensor, 12V power and ground. The module then sends a modified signal to the engine computer allowing it to increase boost … CONTINUED

The 2012 Nurburgring 24 Hour Race for BMW Motorsports is summed up nicely in this amazing film by film makers Tim and Nick Hahne sum up the.

BMW Z4 GT3 left a lasting impression in the 40th running of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. While the two BMW Team Schubert cars had to make do with finishing 7th and 8th respectively after suffering technical issues, the crew had all reason to be proud of its performance at the “Green Hell.”

We took a recent trip to the BMW Museum and Welt where there’s currently a new exhibit on display - BMW Motorsports cars. The exhibit opened June 5th and will continue throughout the summer.

For those of our members not able to see it in person, we bring you plenty of photos, as well as photos of the M room and generation displays.