BMW Motorsport are moving full steam ahead and have announced that they are set to start the first - quiet - tests of the new engine in a 1998 Williams chassis with sportscar driver Joerg Mueller behind the wheel. Gerhard Berger, BMW Motorsport director, stated "The development is now so far advanced that we are faced with the first test drives. (The tests) will take place well away from the usual race tracks on our test circuit in Miramas (France), in order to shield the team from public pressure."

The ten-cylinder engine is built in Munich and under the direction of Paul Rosche, technical director of BMW Motorsport Limited. "We now want to calmly test and study the results of our efforts," stated Rosche. "I am confident that the engine will satisfy the demands with which it is faced at the present time."