Meet The Man Who Put A NASCAR Engine In His BMW Z4

So you want to do some racing in your BMW Z4 and need to spice it up a bit. Do you turbocharge it? Supercharge it? Not if you’re Jimmy Giannoccaro. You get a crated NASCAR engine delivered from the USA, and drop it right in. Yee, and indeed, haw.

Jimmy runs G&H Transport Racing near Johannesburg in South Africa, and has been developing his ‘Merica-powered Z4 for some time now. “Everybody’s got a BMW, everybody’s tried to turbocharge it, everybody’s done all sorts,” he tells Cars.co.za. “We’re trying something different.”

Eschewing forced induction, Jimmy and his team got hold of a lightly used Hendrick Motorsport 5.7-litre V8 and began modifying. The bulkhead of the E85 Z4 was moved back to squeeze the engine in behind the front axle, and mated to a sequential gearbox. The drivetrain was upgraded to beefier parts from a BMW M5, and the car was clad in a Flossman GT3 body kit imported from Germany. Other upgrades include BC suspension, a custom exhaust system and big AP brakes under Enkei wheels.

After initial runs were somewhat… unruly, the engine was converted from carbs to fuel injection and traction control, launch control and ABS added to keep the lunacy in check. A MoTec engine management system keeps things all together. The engine currently makes around 590bhp and 468 lb ft, but there’s more to come as it’s fettled and the rev limit raised up from its 7500rpm current limit to around 9000rpm.

Jimmy is now fine-tuning the car with the aim of being competitive at the famous Simola Hillclimb event in Knysna. “We had to change a lot but we’re quite happy that we’re on the right route now,” he says.

We’re happy too, Jimmy. More of this madness, please.