BMW 2002-Based Road-Legal Racer With 800bhp V10 Planned

Newly established Gruppe5 Motorsport wants to create "one of the world's fastest street-legal GT class cars"
BMW 2002-Based Road-Legal Racer With 800bhp V10 Planned

The car you see here is more than just a retro-futuristic racing car dreamed up in Photoshop by a bored renderer. Believe it or not, this crazed, be-winged BMW 2002 street-legal racing car is actually due to go into production.

It’s the work of Gruppe5 2002, a venture formed by Gruppe5 Motorsport, Bill and Bob Riley, and Steve Dinan. It’s the last name you’re most likely to have heard of - he’s the chap responsible for founding BMW tuner Dinan Cars.

BMW 2002-Based Road-Legal Racer With 800bhp V10 Planned

It’s Dinan who’ll be responsible for the engine of this bonkers creation. And it’ll be a cracker: a heavily-modified S85 BMW V10 which, in its pokiest trim, displaces 5.9 litres and outputs 798bhp at 8400rpm. It’ll require a teardown and rebuild every 60 hours, but if you’d prefer, there’s a slightly less high-maintenance 5.8-litre version that still manages 734bhp. An Xtrac sequential racing gearbox will send the power to the rear wheels exclusively.

Whichever engine you go for, the end result isn’t going to have a whole lot of 2002 left in it. To make this thing, Gruppe5 will tear the donor car right down to its steel tub. This remaining piece of 2002 will be acid dipped and coated to ward off the dreaded tin worm.

BMW 2002-Based Road-Legal Racer With 800bhp V10 Planned

A new alloy frame and a roll cage will then be welded to the tub, with composite panels bonded to the new structure. This makes for a car that’s strong, but also light: completed Gruppe 5 2002s will weight just under a tonne.

The aforementioned panels will sprout various aero devices including chunky side skirts, a giant rear diffuser and a very tall front wing, providing up to 1088kg of downforce.

BMW 2002-Based Road-Legal Racer With 800bhp V10 Planned

The chassis is set to feature a push-rod damper setup, while at each corner you’ll find a centre-locking 19-inch forged wheel with an Alcon monoblock brake caliper sat behind. The rims are supplied by BBS, and can be wrapped in either Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 or Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tyres. For proper race use, it’ll be possible to switch to a Forgeline 18s with Michelin slick and rain tyres.

A pretty serious spec, we’re sure you’ll agree. No prices have been given, but expect the figure to be something that can describe as ‘lots’.

BMW 2002-Based Road-Legal Racer With 800bhp V10 Planned

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that the intention is to make 300 of these things - 200 with the 5.8-litre V10, and 100 with the 5.9. Ambitious stuff.

Gruppe 5 says production will kick off “this summer.”

Comments

CZ 69% Muscle

This thing is batshit insane but no way would i sacrifice a 2002 for this unusable, vulgar thing

05/09/2019 - 14:18 |
10 | 10

Unusable? I think you may be over exaggerating, its a track weapon not your moms Toyota Corolla

05/09/2019 - 15:31 |
16 | 2

Makes me laugh that they expect 300 owners of original 2002s to give up their pride and joy…

05/09/2019 - 15:33 |
8 | 4
RWB Dude

Completely amazing and i would totally get one over a normal 2002

05/09/2019 - 14:56 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Looks so 70s
I love it

05/09/2019 - 15:14 |
18 | 0
Caleb Smith

It looks like a ricer car

05/09/2019 - 16:10 |
2 | 8

So do you

05/09/2019 - 16:16 |
6 | 0
A Car Guy

800hp. Less than 1 tonne. This thing is going to be pretty quick!

05/09/2019 - 16:33 |
0 | 0
Inspector

I love the looks, but one thing bothers me… What’s the point of using an original car if you’re going to use next to nothing? Why not replicate the original parts you want and build an entirely new car? It’s not like they’re going to slap a license plate on it or anything. Save the original car for a nice stock rebuild.

05/09/2019 - 16:35 |
30 | 2

Well it seems thats the only way it would road-legal. Going off there website, by maintaining the original tub you can still register it as vintage 2002, thus its not hindered by modern fuel economy standards and create a true racecar. Also, based on the release i think they’re going to be taking the 2002s that haven’t seen much love over the years (and there a lot of them). Obviously this isn’t for a purist, but someone who wants the experience of driving a real racecar, not bs supercars you see out today.

05/09/2019 - 17:13 |
10 | 0
Bring a Caterham To MARS

Yo, we’re just glossing over the engine needing a GODDAMN REBUILD AFTER TWO AND A HALF DAYS????

05/09/2019 - 18:00 |
10 | 2
WarDog

Looks like it came out of “Automation”

05/09/2019 - 21:04 |
2 | 0
RWB Dude

In reply to by WarDog

Not necessarily a bad thing

05/09/2019 - 22:02 |
2 | 0
At0micSn0w

Gruppe 5? Did they, perhaps, play GTA V before picking their name?

05/09/2019 - 21:29 |
8 | 2
Wogmidget

Never thought I’d be this excited about a BMW

05/09/2019 - 22:16 |
0 | 0

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