Our friend Nino Karotta, who’s shown us how to live the thug life in a big black Benz and how to become a Formula One driver in one day, is back with a new TV show, and he’s already subjected the new BMW M5 to an unhealthy amount of destructive testing. It’s seven beautiful minutes of visceral V8 noise, consumed…

A little less than a year from going on sale, the new BMW M5 bahn-stormer was caught in the wilds of the California freeway system yesterday, wearing BMW's trademark camouflage wrap on just the tips of its go-fast aero bits. While we've already driven it, even we haven't seen it this naked. Until now.

Well, it's the 2012 BMW M5 concept anyway (of a car we already drove!). BMW held a private unveil of the BMW M5 concept to a select few journalists in Munich, Germany this week and somehow these shots leaked out.

If, say, BMW invites you to ride in a new BMW M5 on a Swedish lake, the cynic in you might expect one of those shambolic "passenger" rides where the hapless journalist attempts to glean something of use riding shotgun.

When the F10-based 5 Series was revealed at the end of last year, all we could think about was the 2012 M5. Especially now that we've whet our whistle with this latest set of spy photos of the upcoming model.

The 2011 BMW M5's twin-turbocharged 540-hp V8 is rumored to be mated only to a manumatic transmission and these exclusive spy images inside the cockpit do nothing to quiet those whispers. Does this mean the ultimate driving machine is dead?

Loaded with a twin-turbo V8 rumored to produce 578 HP, can you blame the test engineers for driving the 2012 BMW M5 out in public to be spotted by the keen eyes of spy photographers? Interior pic below.

Two turbos, eight cylinders, 578 HP, 530 lb-ft of torque, 0-to-60 in 4.4 seconds and 188 MPH top speed. That's what England's Car magazine says to expect from the 2012 BMW M5. We're just happy it's not another SUV.