BMW 135i "tii" to take on F1 car and Holden V8 Supercar at 2009 Australian GP

A street-legal BMW 135i Coupe bearing the 'tii' livery will race against a Holden Commodore V8 Supercar and a BMW Sauber Formula 1 car at the "Ultimate Speed Comparison" event that takes place at this year's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. The tii-branded 135i Coupe features a number of performance and cosmetic upgrades from the BMW Performance stable, all of which are available for order. The event is more of a crowd-pleasing spectacle than anything else as the small bimmer is seriously outmatched in terms of performance from both of its race-spec rivals.

The 135i Coupe "tii" has been fitted with a full BMW Performance aerodynamic package, road holding suspension set up, cross drilled and weight saving brake package, and 18-inch light-alloy wheels. Carbon fibre mirror covers and carbon fibre look bonnet with integrated roof and boot sports stripes, complete the changes over the standard car.

There are no mods under the hood with the 135i retaining the stock 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six with 306HP that launches the car from zero to 100 km/h (62mph) in 5.3 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h or 155mph.

Piloting the BMW 135i at this year's Ultimate Speed Comparison will be motoring journalist Paul Gover. Christian Klien will be at the helm of the BMW Sauber F1 race car while Greg Murphy will take on both BMW's in his Holden Commodore V8 Supercar.

The Ultimate Speed Comparison will be held on five separate occasions during the race weekend of the Australian GP. The event is run with a timed handicap, giving each car a chance at taking line honors.

Via: Worldcarfans

Ultimate Speed Comparison times:

11.40am Thursday 26 March

4.25pm Thursday 26 March

2.15pm Friday 27 March

1.00pm Saturday 28 March

1.10pm Sunday 29 March

One Million BMW 1-Series Built, M1 On The Way?

BMW`s entry level 1-Series has been a huge hit since its debut in 2004. The 1-Series has been so popular that BMW recently built the one millionth car. The plant where most are built in Leipzig, Germany can build up to 700 cars a day, according to Motorauthority. BMW may be drumming up even more excitement over the 1-Series with a high performance M1 soon, according to Autoblog.

The 1-Series comes in two flavors in America. The entry level 128i starts at $29,150, meaning that you can just barely buy a BMW for under $30,000. The sportier BMW 135i has a 3.0 liter twin-turbo inline six engine that makes 300-horsepower and gives the car a 0-60 time of 4.7 seconds.

Autoblog spotted a modified and slightly camouflaged 1-Series doing laps of the Nurburgring in Germany this week. From the pictures, it looks like the car will have much wider tires along with some styling changes borrowed from the M3 that set it apart from the run-of-the-mill 128i and 135i cars. No news has come from BMW on the high performance 1-Series, so it remains to be seen whether the new model will be an M1 or just an M package for the 135i.

Spy Photos: 2012 Five-Door BMW 1 Series spotted

Another week and some more spy photos of the next generation BMW 1 Series which will make its debut in 2012. This time, the spy photographers capture on camera a five-door 1 Series test mule during a testing session in Germany.

Judging by these photos, we are clearly looking at the 5-door hatchback, part of the future large 1 Series family. Now what makes these latest spy shots even more interesting is the RoaDyn Measuring Wheel System which uses a sensor to monitor the dynamic measurement of force and torque. Similar systems have been used before by engineers in the tuning process of AWD platforms.

Of course, we can only speculate at this point that we’re looking at an xDrive 1er model, but nonetheless, it was worth mention it.

We already know that BMW is looking to launch an extensive 1 Series line-up, from a 3-door touring, 3 and 5-door GT to 5-door hatchback and a 3-door Coupe and Convertible. A high-performance model, similar to an M car, is in works as well and sources close to BMW use the codename Supersports when referring to it.

By using the new modular platform for the upcoming 1 Series family, BMW can extend their 1 Series offerings without additional high manufacturing costs. The backbone of these models was designed especially for this purpose so every model can have a variation backbone, simply be moving suspension points and firewalls to areas that will benefit each vehicle.

BMW expands the engine offerings with new three and four turbo engines which will be used across the 1 Series models, from a 1.3 liter engine with 136 horsepower to a new 1.3-liter turbo powerplant developing 177 hp. More powerful powerplants are expects to be available as well, including six-cylinder turbo gasoline and diesel engines.

BMW still focuses on the EfficientDynamics program, so many new or existing technologies will make their way into the 1 Series models. The BMW 116d with its 64 mpg fuel consumption is still the most fuel efficient and least polluting vehicle in the current BMW line-up. Will the new three cylinder engine be able to improve those numbers? We certainly hope so.

The new 1 Series model will launch at the end of 2011, but it is unclear which variant will be offered first.