Mario Theissen, BMW motorsport director is positive that his team's rate of progress in Formula One will continue after emerging as one of the closest challengers for this year of both Ferrari and McLaren.
Theissen has witnessed how his team has become the third best in the F1 this season and that is despite the fact that he has previously admitted that going for wins on pure pace will be impossible in 2007 but development work at their Hinwil factory could change that scenario for the team next year.
Theissen said, "We have every reason to be satisfied with what we have achieved so far. Our goal for 2007 was to make it onto the podium on our own merit. Nick (Heidfeld) already managed that in Montreal with his second place, at the same time claiming our best individual result so far. I am confident this will not be our last podium finish this year. We have clearly established ourselves as the third strongest team and we have no intention of relinquishing that position during the remainder of the season. For 2007 we have already notched up 56 points. Last year we finished the season with 36. We have come away from every Grand Prix with points."
He also added, "I'm particularly pleased with all of this since we haven't yet completed our two-year development phase. The Hinwil factory extension won't be ready until the end of the year: that's when we will be operating at full power. I am convinced that the route we have chosen is the right one."
LPG-Powered BMW
And speaking of development and ongoing progress at BMW the maker of BMW 323 parts, a German research and development team is planning to develop a record-breaking car that is going to be based on the BMW 1 Series car utilizing an engine that runs on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
The tuning firm Hartge in Saarbruecken says that the car at the center of the project "V300+" will be able to top 300km an hour making it the fastest LPG-driven car to date.
The liquefied gas-engine according to the tuning firm is set to produce 550 brake horsepower. They also claimed that the engines fueled on LPG burns much cleaner and in most cases produce more power and torque as compared to petrol-driven engine of a similar capacity.
Aside from the team of engineers from the tuning company, the team will also include experts from the University of Technology and Economics in Saarbruecken, the German environment ministry, state economics department officials and automotive and energy specialists.
