It’s new owners may be in Qatar, but the 820bhp HGK Eurofighter BMW M2 – ‘the coolest drift car in the world’ – was actually designed and built in Latvia.
Drift fans on crankandpiston.com may remember The Badass Latvian from robyworks, starring both Formula Drift star Kristaps Blušs and his HGK Motorsports-run E46. If you enjoyed that, it might interest you to know that Blušs and his crew have recently been working on, what is being dubbed, ‘the coolest drift car in the world.’
Let’s start with the basics. At the base of the new HGK Eurofighter is a BMW M2, the F22 chassis of which has been stripped down to the metal before being fully stitch welded. Onto this has since been bolted Nitron suspension (mounted via HGK’s own CNC-machined), Wilwood drilled rotors and a Formula Drift-spec roll cage, though the plans of new Qatar-based owners MK Racing remain to be seen. Said chassis runs on 18in bronze CR-2P rims front and rear, clad respectively with 235 and 265 profile rubber.
The bodywork meanwhile is an interesting – and no less menacing blend of carbon fibre and Kevlar, built and designed bully in-house by HGK’s own design engineer and local neighbours D1 Design. Kevlar features heavily in the fenders, doors, bonnet, boot and a carbon roof, as well as the intake system, while the NASCAR-inspired rear wing is fashioned from carbon and polycarbonate. Altogether, the previously 1495kg M2 has been stripped down to just 1200kg, giving it a 683bhp/ton power-to-weight ratio.
Ah, you have been wondering when we’d get around to that. Under that hefty Kevlar bonnet lies an RHS446 V8 – complete with aluminium block – from Mast Motorsports, similar to that used by Blušs in his own drift-spec Bimmer. Power is a monstrous 820hp and an equally enormous 920Nm (590lb ft), 800Nm (679lb ft) of which is available below 4000rpm. The powertrain is finished off with a Samsonas five-speed sequential gearbox.
Okay, context in the bag. Now Skip to 55s in the above video to see the HGK Eurofighter being tested at the Bikernieki Circuit in Riga by Blušs himself.
