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Written by:
Marshall Pruett
07/04/2007 - 07:00 PM
Oakland, CA
The BimmerWorld BMW 320iT War Wagon. The ultimate German sleeper, after a healthy dose of American engineering. (Photo: BW). » More Photos
Not content to show their BMW prowess only through their on-track exploits in the SPEED World Challenge Touring Car series, the German tuning experts at BimmerWorld lost their minds and imported a European-only BMW Wagon, rebuilt it from the ground up, added the best suspension and brakes available, and thanks to a turbo that's bigger than your head, have transformed the ultimate Soccer-Mom car into a 650hp track day monster. They gave SPEEDtv.com the first look at their "World of Hurt" War Wagon.
Some people develop street car businesses to feed their racing habits; others race to promote those street car business. With Dublin, Virginia's BimmerWorld and BimmerWorld Racing organizations, the business of the street and passion for the track are seamlessly interwoven.
As is usually the case, that passion for a particular vehicle brand, BMW in BimmerWorld's case, can often border on the slightly psychotic, if not highly irrational. With BMW's being the chosen brand of obsession for James Clay's BimmerWorld sales, retail, and service operation, and also the chosen marque for his two-car racing exploits in the SPEED World Challenge TC series, the need to reach beyond their standard BMW service and racing models came to Clay as a need to build something unusual and set apart from the stable of familiar BMW's that dot the American motoring landscape.
What qualifies as unusual in this case? How about a BMW Wagon sourced from Sweden of all places – a 1996 320iT. While I'm still lost on the choice for a wagon-let James answer the question regarding the less than common choice of a Bavarian Bread Van for a project car.
"What can I say, I've always had a thing for wagons…I looked for years to find the best one to fit my need to turn a wagon into the ultimate track day car. Most people that have seen or have heard about the car have been stunned to learn of what we've been working on, but that's exactly why we're doing it. Any BMW tuner can produce a fast or powerful M3 or E46; they're everywhere.
While its Swedish origins were humble, the track savvy of BimmerWorld's racing operations helped to strip the car to the core, and rebuild it as if it was meant to fight for podium finishes (Photo: BW) » More Photos
"We're fortunate to have some really incredible staff here-all of my BimmerWorld shop technicians transform into BimmerWorld Racing technicians on the weekends to maintain and run our club and pro racing efforts. We've also been fortunate to build great business relationships with a number of BMW, performance, racing, and aftermarket suppliers that allow
After finding his Swedish wagon-one without salt or rust damage (a rarity for older European cars) Clay's shop pounced on the car to strip the chassis to the bare frame and began plotting their deviant intentions. While existing relationships with wheel, brake, shock, and tire partners were in place, determining the best solutions for those elements of the build would still occupy a solid portion of BimmerWorld's planning phase.
Clay's blended street and race businesses is a familiar theme here too. "We've worked to tie in a lot of our race team partners - they provide the best and most robust parts available, and while they are a logical choice to go with on our full-blown SPEED Touring Cars, this is one of the only street cars that has used this level of pro racing componentry I've seen. It's a unique way to take the cutting edge advancements we've been working on with racing and apply it all to something more old school like a street-based wagon."
BimmerWorld's investment in the Bad*ss Wagon hasn't been cheap, but those expenses haven't been incurred just for the sake of bolting on expensive parts to impress the BMW enthusiast community.
"If we have a unique position in the BMW aftermarket business it's that as the oldest BMW team competing in the World Challenge series, there's a ton of technology transfer we deliver back to our customers for their street cars, or what we can build or modify for them to enjoy on the street and track.
That tech-transfer serves up a long recipe of go-fast parts, that as Clay mentioned, aren't commonly found anywhere other than on a purebred racing car.
With a goal of 160mph or more for the wagon, Clay looked to Performance Friction to deliver the goods for to bring the 320iT back to 0 in a hurry. "PFC helped us to outfit the car with the same ZR28 monobloc, 4 piston, 4 pad fixed bridge caliper that we use on the E90 World Challenge race cars, and PFC pads to match them. These are the same calipers used in ChampCar racing."
Moton shocks also stepped up to deliver the best dampers available. "We're also using using the same brand on the 'Uberwagen' as we use on the SPEED TC cars. The damper really is the heart of a quality suspension, so Moton was an easy choice."
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