Photo: Jon Sibal
The BMW i8 is a lot of things. Some call it a sports car, other just prefer to remain safe and just admit that’s is a fast hybrid and yet, a lot of people want to call it a race car.
And yet, they can’t. That’s because the purpose of the i8 was entirely different from the get go. BMW wanted a car that would combined excellent road handling capabilities with low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. They succeeded but because of the way this car looks, the imagination of BMW aficionados around the world went overboard.
Therefore, a lot of them started considering what would happen if the i8 became a proper race car. One of them is Jon Sibal, one of the best automotive renderers out there. Since he can mold and shape any car into what he desires, he even gave rendering such a thing a shot.
The result can be admired in the photo below. His take on the car includes a couple of new aerodynamic elements that are usually added to race cars to help with downforce and other key aspects you need to take into consideration when performing at high levels.
The i8 therefore received a huge front splitter with air blades to the sides, a wider front axle, new bonnet, wider rear wheel arches and a huge wing at the back.
Now, considering the actual specs of the i8, all of this seems rather redundant but, if BMW were to give this car a proper engine, things could develop nicely. Let’s take a moment and imagine the possibilities.
At the moment, the i8 uses both an electric motor and a 1.5-liter 3-cylinder turbocharged plant. Together with the batteries for the electric unit, we’d say that the overall weight of the plants goes up to around 200 kg (441 lbs). Chip in the weight of the two gearboxes and you get an even bigger number.
Now, in order for the i8 to be a proper race car, it would need a naturally aspirated engine. There are two that immediately popped into our heads: the S65 4-liter V8 and the S85 5-liter V10.
While the S65 normally makes 420 HP and goes up to around 450 on the DTM cars, it weighs 202 kg (445 lbs). On the other hand, the S85 5-liter V10 makes over 500 HP and weighs 40 kg more, at 240 kg (529 lbs). Furthermore, with some careful engineering, it could be taken up to more than 550 HP.
So, for around 40 extra kilos, the race car i8 could be done. The question is, will BMW do it?
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