The SCC500 drag racing event in Germany brought together some of the quickest machines on the continent, and among them, we found a very special BMW M140i. That’s right, this is the previous generation model, which, unlike its successor, is still a real Bimmer, with a rear-wheel drive construction.
Do not, even for a second, think that it doesn’t belong on the drag strip, because it has the grunt to give some real high-end exotics a run for their money.
According to the footage that you are about to watch, this particular BMW M140i has embraced its hyper hatch side, with a 750-horsepower tune from Pure Turbos. Now, we don’t know what exactly they did to it to make it this powerful, but it actually boasts more oomph than the McLaren 720S; on paper, at least, because we all know that some Maccas are actually more powerful than advertised.
Before venturing into the supercar realm, the BMW M140i had a very decent 335 brake horsepower (340 PS / 250 kW) and 339 pound-feet (500 Nm) of torque, churned out by its force-fed, 3.0-liter straight-six. As mentioned above, it was built on a rear-wheel-drive architecture, which made it one of the sportiest vehicles in the compact hot hatch segment.
The more modern M135i shares most of its nuts and bolts with the X1 and X2, and it is backed up by an xDrive all-wheel-drive system, tuned by BMW’s M Division. The smaller 2.0-liter four-banger develops 302 HP (306 PS / 225 kW) and 332 lb-ft (450 Nm) of torque, so one can think of it as a more premium alternative to the Volkswagen Golf R rather than a tiny M3 hatchback.
As for the tuned example, you are about to watch it in action against some seriously fast machines from Porsche and even McLaren, among many others, so head on down and check out the clip.
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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