BMW has started production of M5 back in 1986 and since then all sports premium saloons have been powered by a powerful naturally aspirated engines. The E28 M5 had 3.5 liter I6 with 286HP (210 kW), the E34 M5 had 3.6 or 3.8 liter I6 with 315HP (232 kW) and 340HP (250 kW) respectively, the E39 M5 had a mighty 5.0 liter V8 with massive 400HP (294 kW) and the 2005 BMW E60 M5 is powered by a 5.0 liter V10 with 507HP (373 kW). The M5 F10, which was presented in 2011 is powered by a 4.4 liter twin-turbo V8 with 560HP (412 kW).

2005 BMW E60 M5 is probably the last naturally aspirated M5 ever produced. Due to ECO and noise regulations, the future M5 cars will have downsized turbocharged engine and ever hybrid powertrains. This is a huge loss for the real motorsport fans, who adore everything in E60 M5 and especially the impressive engine.

Speaking about it, the S85B50 powering E60 M5 is a 5.0 liter 90-degree V10 producing 507HP (378 kW) at 7,750RPM and 520Nm (384 lb-ft) of torque at 6,100RPM. It has cast aluminum block with bed plate design split at the crankshaft axis, cast aluminum heads with 4 valves per cylinder and CNC machined ports and combustion chambers. The valves are actuated through non-rotating inverted bucket cam followers. It also features oil-cooled, forged aluminum pistons from Mahle Motorsport and forged steel crankshaft with counterweights, shared crankpins producing an uneven firing interval of 90 or 54 degrees. The double VANOS system varies both intake and exhaust cam phasing. Last, but not least are the ten individual electronically controlled throttle butterflies and Quasi-dry sump lubricating system. The firing order for the S85B50 is 1-6-5-10-2-7-3-8-4-9.

The engine is connected to an all-new Getrag SMG III single-clutch 7-speed semi-automatic transmission, which can change gears in impressive 65 milliseconds.

The performance is simply impressive for a family saloon – 0-100 km/h in 4.7 seconds (there are records ranging between 4.1 to 4.5 seconds), 0-200 km/h in 14.0 seconds and an absolute top speed of 330 km/h (205 mph), which is unreachable for most of the supercars produced nowadays. The E60 M5 weighs 1,855 kg, so it has a power-to-weight ratio of 3.66 kg / HP.

Other interesting figures for the E60 M5 are a Nurburgring lap in 7 minutes and 52 seconds and a Top Gear lap in 1 minute and 26.2 seconds.

We sorry, so much that BMW won't ever produce such epic naturally aspirated engines, but life goes on!

Enjoy the video published by our friend Zender Motorsport owning an impressive, black E60 M5!

BMW M5 (2005)
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