A heavily modified, old BMW 5 Series met its maker recently at a drag racing event held in Arad, Romania, earlier this year, as it crashed shortly after the "lights turned green".
The E39 vehicle in question lined up at the start line next to another BMW dragster, and shortly after takeoff, it lost traction. The driver tried to retake control of the steering, but the car developed a mind of its own and refused to be tamed.
A few moments later, it was all over the place, and after a quick turn of the wheel, it rolled over in a haze of dust. According to the video uploader, it was doing around 200 kph at the time, or 124 mph, so the crash was brutal.
Fortunately, besides giving it a turbo’d V12 and a jaw-dropping amount of power, estimated at approximately 1,200 HP, in addition to other mods, the owner of this 5er turned dragster also fitted it with a roll cage. And it was this part, together with the racing harness, suit and helmet, that helped him walk away from the horrific accident as if nothing happened.
Bystanders rushed to get him out of the wreck as quickly as possible, and in the next cutscene, he can be seen walking on his own, with no visible war scars. That is more that can be said about his prized ride, which is going to need a lot of tender loving care in order to be brought back to its initial shine.
The video doesn’t show the wreck at all, but we reckon that the car could be saved, with a lot of elbow grease and the right budget. After all, it did get much more power than the original Bugatti Veyron to start with, becoming a true 10-second car down the quarter mile.
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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