BMW BLOG

Celebrating your 18th, 30th and even 50th birthday is always something special, but what about when you reach 25? Is that a reason to celebrate? Well, it apparently it is by BMW’s standards since the M5 25th anniversary event has turned into a pleasant surprise for all the BMW fans.

The already almighty E60 M5 was the start of this event, but this was no regular M5 and rather a CSL-like vehicle. Now many of you might already start picking on the naming convention, in the end CSL stands for Coupe Sport Lightweight, but let’s look past that and focus on this exciting one-off model.

The radically redesigned and upgraded V10 engine moves up on the capacity scale to 5.5 liters. To accomplish this task, the highly strung, 90-degree unit has been enlarged with a longer stroke. After this revision, the engine needs more air flow that its predecessor and an additional air intake is fitted into the space where usually the front license plate would sit.

Official horsepower and torque numbers have yet to be disclosed and may never be, but journalists present there mention around 600 horsepower and near 400 lb-ft of torque, a significant increase over the standard M5.

Unlike the standard E60 M5, the “special edition” M5 CSL, if we’re allowed to call it that way, receives a carbon fiber roof as seen in the BMW M6 and M3 Coupe. Beside the “cool-looking factor”, the CF roof top shaves off about 50 kilograms when compared to the regular model.

But the significant weight savings come within the interior cabin where the special model M5 loses its rear seating bench. At the front, the regular seats are replaced by two bucket carbon fiber seats, adding to the overall weight reduction.

Another small touches can be seen inside, but one that really stands out is the new BMW logo on the steering wheel.

The suspension has been also revised and adapted to represent the improved M car.

Based on all the upgrades, it is clear that the anniversary M5 model is much faster than the “normal” M5 and track numbers at Nurburgring Nordschleife come to confirm that: 7:50 minutes, at the same level with the BMW M3 CSL E46.

Unfortunately the anniversary model is not planned for production nor BMW has any intention to sell the only BMW M5 “CSL” ever built. Even though some already started to speculate on a similar engine powering the upcoming F10 M5, truth is that the new M5 will go the turbocharged router, most likely a V8 twin-turbo.

The gallery below will give you a closer look at the BMW M5 CSL. It is worth mentioning that we’re extremely jealous of Benny since he had a chance to ride in the M5 along with the famous Claudia Hurtgen…..at Nurburgring even.