Just when you think you’ve seen it all, someone builds a wide-body BMW 2002 complete with a single-turbo S55 engine that obliterates your senses and makes you question everything you thought you knew.

When it comes to next-level builds on a scale that you can’t really wrap your head around, SEMA takes the cake. Every single car on show there is absolutely incredible, it’s a non-stop assault on the senses and when SEMA rolls around we always brace ourselves because we know we are going to see some of the best BMs anywhere in the world and we know they are going to blow us away. To stand out from a crowd of that calibre, then, really takes some doing and, even on the scale of SEMA projects, George Dalmakis’ (@m3ane30) truly astonishing 2002 left us absolutely breathless with its levels of sheer insanity, ambition and attention to detail. This is truly a car that is the very definition of a custom build and it’s really unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Strap yourselves in, this is going to be one hell of a ride…

George and his S55 BMW 2002 arrived at SEMA from Toronto, Canada, where he works as a Master Technician for Parkview BMW so it’s safe to say that not only is he a big BMW fan, he also knows his way around one and then some. “I’ve been interested in BMWs since I started working on cars. I realised very early on that the engineering and design that went into them was the best, bar none, so that’s what I decided to specialise in,” he smiles as we chat and begin to learn about what makes the man behind this machine tick. “My first BMW was a 2006 E90 325xi with a blown engine – the price was right,” he laughs and this was followed by several Bavarian machines over the years, with his current fleet comprising an S54-swapped E30, an E53 X5, an E60 535xi and the S55 BMW 2002 you’re looking at here.

The 2002 is iconic, a beloved BMW classic and a machine most of us would love to own so it’s no surprise that George found the draw of one irresistible. “I was always a fan of the 2002 model and felt that the whole idea with the powertrain would suit the car and keeping every component BMW would make it stand out,” he says and he’s not wrong. The powertrain in question? Just an S55, no big deal… “I found the car through a friend who had seen it outside an old body repair shop, it had been outside and hadn’t been driven for years. The condition was extremely rough,” says George, which would have put a lot of people off but a man of his talents was undeterred and, in fact, it was perfect for a build that would leave almost nothing of the original car behind. George made the 2002 his and, with a definitive plan of what he wanted to achieve with this build clear in his mind, set about creating a show-stopping machine that would blow everyone who saw it away.

Take one glance at the photos and you can instantly see just what an insane amount of work has gone into this build but, before George could get started on bringing his vision to life, he first had to bring the car up to standard. With the 2002’s body being in terrible condition from sitting outside for all those years, there was no way he could do any work on it as it was, and so the first step was the complete disassembly of the car and disposal of any parts that were unusable or that were simply not needed. With the shell prepped, it was then mounted to a rotisserie and media blasted. Now the real work could begin. First of all the complete underside of the car was cut, including the floor, firewall and the boot, and then the chassis work started. “The new tube chassis of the car was built by Chassis Stop around the powerplant and, as well as fitting E9x subframes, the track was widened by 4-inches front and rear,” explains George. “The suspension components all come from the E9x M3 from the bushings, control arms and thrust rods to the sway bars as well as the LSD. The shocks and springs are from Air Lift as this car is fitted with air-ride; the management system is AccuAir ENDO-CVT as it is the quietest, has the cleanest look, and the ride height sensors make for a better ride and adjustability,” he says. Also worthy of note is the fact that a Z8 hydraulic steering rack has been fitted and it’s powered by a rear-mounted electric power steering pump and reservoir.

Full Metal Jacket

With the E9x M3 subframes and custom tubular chassis in place, theS55 BMW 2002 was looking a little naked as its stock bodywork had no hope of being able to cover up those massively wide underpinnings, so a custom metal wide-body was constructed along with the front lip, side skirts and diffuser. The whole lot was then mounted to the shell. The custom cooling, exhaust and turbo setup were then assembled and installed before the body panels were restored, painted and the finished car was fully assembled.

The presence that this 2002 exudes thanks to those absolutely vast arches is absolutely incredible and it almost doesn’t look real, more like a computer render than a real car and there’s actually a good reason for that. “A lot of inspiration came from the well-known artist @the_kyza, his 2002 render was a big inspiration for the initial designs and planning,” says George and a quick browse of @the_kyza’s Insta account and the insane renders therein instantly makes it easy to understand why George was so inspired. The work that’s gone into the wide-body is insane and the finish is incredible, the quality is just mind-blowing and the stunning San Marino paint pops like you wouldn’t believe and sets the whole thing off perfectly. Then there are all those details – the way that front lip flows from the arches and blends seamlessly into the front end, the shape of those side skirts, the simple aggression of the rear diffuser – it’s all art.

The Wheel Deal

With those massive arches and air on board, George needed wheels that would wow wherever he went and he knew what he wanted for this build. “BBS has been a long-time manufacturer of race wheels for BMW and the classic E55 centre-lock wheel was the perfect blend of a modern look but with a timeless style,” he smiles. “Through the major sponsor JRP Online, I was able to convince the BBS Motorsport division to pull out their old moulds and sketches and make a brand new set of E55 wheels to my exact specifications. Initially, four BMW steel rims were used as test wheels with the tires, they were widened in place of the BBS wheels so that the wide-body could be matched to the nearest mm,” and the end result is sheer perfection. Persuading BBS to make a one-off set of wheels for this build? That’s the sort of thing that elevates this car beyond all others. The resulting 17-inch E55s look incredible – you’ve got those mirror-polished stepped-lips, the gold centres, and they measure 10-inches up front and 12 at the rear. Also, not that you can see them through that incredibly tight mesh, but this 2002 is packing some serious stopping power in the shape of a Forge Motorsport BBK that boasts 356mm discs with six-pot calipers up front and 330mm discs with four-pot calipers at the back..

We’ve already mentioned that this BMW 2002 is running an S55, but you can very quickly see that this is no ordinary S55. “Aside from building the custom engine mounts, firewall, transmission tunnel and floor to house the engine and transmission, the engine had a keyed hub installed and was fitted with a twin-scroll BorgWarner 8374 turbo,” George happily explains. “The entire cooling system and exhaust system were custom-made with Vibrant Performance parts and the entire exhaust system is full titanium with a side-exit,” says George. “The carbon fibre intake is a custom one-off piece built by Custom Plenum Creations in Australia; it was quite a process to ensure fitment, 3D files were exchanged, it was 3D-printed in Canada for test-fitting, and revised until the final product was built in Australia. A custom alternator relocation bracket was also designed locally and machined out of aluminium to shift the alternator down and allow room for the custom intake. Port fuel injection was also added to spray additional fuel under high boost,” which lets you know that George is gunning for some serious power with this engine. The mods he has mentioned are just scratching the surface, however, and there’s even more to this S55 than meets the eye. The head has been ported, there are twin Tial 44mm wastegates, a 50mm Tial BOV, in the boot sits a Radium custom fuel cell with two pumps and one lift pump feeding the dual OEM high-pressure fuel pumps. In addition to that there’s a MoTeC PDM 15, which replaces all the traditional relays and fuses in the car’s wiring, and everything is looked after by a MoTeC M142 ECU. So, just how much power does this full-on S55 make? “It’s unknown at this time,” says George; “we need to do some fine-tuning and adjustments to get some dyno pulls and see if it exceeds expectations. Jim Colley from Fast Attack Motorsports will be fine-tuning the engine. We’re expecting around 800hp, but from the people I have talked to at SEMA, who have modified the S55 extensively, I might even be able to expect horsepower numbers close to four digits,”
he grins.

After all that there’s just the interior to talk about and, as you will have gathered going by the rest of this build, it’s as special as the rest of the car. “Through the main sponsor JRP and Recaro’s involvement, I secured the Recaro Sportster GT seats which were the number one choice due to size and design,” George tells us. “They were re-upholstered along with the dash and all-new interior panels. A Dakota Digital custom cluster was fitted and paired with a modern M4 Alcantara steering wheel. The interior is a minimalist race-inspired design yet comfortable enough, and shows off the incredible metalwork that went into creating the new floor of the car,” he says and while it may be sparse, what’s there has been beautifully executed. The seats and door cards are absolutely stunning, and that vibrant caramel colour is the perfect contrast to the exposed deep blue metal. There is a lifetime’s worth of work in this S55 BMW 2002 and yet the whole thing went from its original abandoned state to the car you see before you today in just 10 months, which makes the whole thing even more incredible. The most satisfying thing about this astonishing machine is that George built it exactly as he wanted; “I don’t have one specific modification that I would say is my favourite, I think the sum of all the parts and modifications speaks so much more than one specific thing,” and that sums this build up perfectly: the whole thing, all of it, is just amazing.

Feature taken from Fast Car magazine. Words: Elizabeth de Latour. Photos: Viktor Benyi.

Tech spec: S55 BMW 2002

Engine and transmission:

3.0-litre straight-six S55B30, ported head, keyed hub, custom aluminium alternator relocation bracket, port fuel injection, Custom Plenum Creations carbon fibre intake, BorgWarner 8374 turbo, 2x Tial 44mm wastegates, 50mm Tial BOV, custom Vibrant Performance titanium 3in exhaust with side-exit, MoTeC M142 ECU and 15 output Power Distribution Module 15, Radium custom fuel cell, twin fuel pumps, single lift pump, dual OEM high-pressure fuel pumps, flex-fuel capable with sensor. Six-speed manual gearbox from F82 M4, custom brackets, custom Cardanic propshaft, E92 M3 LSD

Chassis:

10×17-in (front) and 12x17in (rear) custom BBS E55 centrelock wheels with 235/40 (front) and 275/40 (rear) Toyo Proxes R888R tyres, Chassis Stop custom tubular chassis, E9x M3 subframes, 4in wider track front and rear, E9x M3 bushes, control arms, thrust rods and anti-roll bars, Air Lift Performance air-ride, AccuAir ENDO-CVT management, hydraulic Z8 steering rack, rear-mounted electric power steering pump and reservoir, custom Forge Motorsport BBK with six-piston calipers and 356mm discs (front) and four-piston calipers and 330mm discs (rear), braided hoses

Exterior:

Custom metal wide-body with integrated front lip, side skirts and rear diffuser built by Kyle and Warren Scaife (@MustangKyle), full respray in San Marino blue

Interior:

Full custom retrim in orange Nappa leather and black Alcantara including new interior panels, Recaro Sportster GT seats, custom-fitted Dakota Digital cluster, F82 M4 steering wheel, golf ball gear knob

Thanks:

@The_Kyza for initially inspiring the look with his aggressive car designs, @Blastforceinc for going out of his way to get the car media blasted, @Chassisstop for putting in a lot of hours and making a few design modifications to the full tube chassis they built and keeping everything functional and accessible, @MustangKyle for designing and building a custom wide-body for the car, @Schmuckbuiltllc_ for putting together the cooling and entire exhaust system, @JRP_Online for being on board with the project very early on and securing multiple sponsorships, @Vibrant_Performance for their support and amazing high quality performance parts, @ParkviewBMW for providing a space to assemble the car, @bbs.wheels for manufacturing a very custom E55 race wheel, @forgemotorsportusa for building an incredible custom big brake kit for the car, @recaro for their amazing Sportster GT seats, @accuair for their customer support and top quality air management system, @AG.Designs.cnc for the extremely detailed centerlock adapters, @wyfromtoronto for help with getting the car to SEMA, Jim Colley owner of @Fast_Attack_Motorsports for developing custom firmware to run the S55 on the Motec ECU, @daemonblitz for helping me with the project from day one, @stay_woke_im_rossi_6ix_god and @wing_k_lam for putting in sleepless nights to get the car assembled for the SEMA deadline, @alilamaa15 for running around and picking up parts so I could stay working on the car, @adcsta and @theodore404 for helping with transporting the vehicle around, @S65M3nas for designing and building the rotisserie and helping with all the custom machining, welding needed, @Mstamkos for stickers, Cardanic Driveline for the one-of-a-kind driveshaft, @SEMAshow for being a gracious host

Lamborghinis are meant to be insane, that’s always been their modus operandi. So don’t let anyone tell you the Huracán is a sensible Lambo; at the hands of Floridian tuners 3:16 Speed, this boosted Liberty Walk Huracan can be downright hysterical…

Feature taken from Fast Car magazine. Words: Dan Bevis. Photos: Larry Chen

There aren’t a lot of road cars running V10s, in the grand scheme of things. You can pretty much count the models on your fingers – there’s the Porsche Carrera GT, Lexus LFA, E60-generation BMW M5, Dodge Viper, and a handful of others. But the car that really took this obscure engine format mainstream was the Lamborghini Gallardo. Alright, perhaps ‘mainstream’ isn’t quite the correct term, but the baby Lambo certainly proved that a high-revving ten-banger could be a reliable daily-driven entity as well as a hair-raising performance showcase. This was Lamborghini’s biggest-selling model by far, shifting over 14,000 units in its 11-year production run – unprecedented numbers for the Sant’Agatese firm and proof positive that the VAG money was doing the business.

So when it came time to replace the Gallardo, the approach was one of evolution rather than revolution: the Huracán, arriving for the 2014 model-year, boasted a 5.2-litre V10 which could kick out the jams to the tune of 212mph and a 2.5-second 0-62mph time. Hedonistic stuff, and it’s all thanks to a lengthy period of gestation, research-and-development, and a methodical nature hitherto alien to the most unhinged of the supercar brands.

Of course, for every yin there is a yang. The universe must be kept in balance. And while no-one could ever really call a Huracán ‘sensible’ as such, it’s certainly true that it’s the least mental model in the line-up. Which is where 3:16 Speed steps into the frame. Based in Clearwater, Florida, their mantra is ‘Burn rubber for Christ’, and that’s the name you hear everybody inadvertently yelling when this brutalised Lambo rolls by, licking out foot-long flames and making unholy noises. While the development process of the Huracán as a model has a distinctly long tail, 3:16 Speed aren’t the types to muck about. When they decided that they wanted to build this car and show it at SEMA, they had to knuckle down and get busy… because the world’s biggest automotive aftermarket show was only a week away. That’s right: whereas the bulk of the world-class rides you see at SEMA are the product of an entire year’s work or more for the companies in question, this merry band of Floridian bon viveurs turned around a stock Huracán into a show-stopper over the course of just seven days. It’s a frankly unbelievable achievement, and when we saw the finished product we simply couldn’t stop gawping at it. It’s unreal. The sort of thing you’d expect to see in a render by The Kyza, not an actual real-life car that can be driven on the street.

“The time frame was definitely the main hurdle,” says company boss-man RG, with the slightly maniacal grin of a person who’s been substituting sleep with caffeine for some time. “It had to be just one week from start to finish, and the final touches were being put on the car at 5am on the first day of the show.”

Not a second to waste, it seems, and this is clearly a team which thrives on the pressure of deadlines. You’ve got to be dedicated to run a business this way, and have a very clear idea of what you want to achieve as an end result, as well as what’s realistically achievable with each of your team members’ respective skillsets. Naturally you need to have a sense of fun too, because you don’t build a car like this for strictly rational reasons; as with so much in the modified car scene, there was a strong element of horseplay woven throughout the process. “We wanted to flex to Sheepey Race,” reasons RG, “and that’s just what we did. Mission accomplished.” For the uninitiated, Sheepey Race is a tuning shop based in Southern California; a company run by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts. Otherwise known as Sheepey Built and renowned for their tuning expertise and innovation with Hondas, Mitsubishis and other fast-road Japanese fare, the team has been dipping a toe in the vibrant waters of supercars and motorsport in recent years – with, it has to be said, some fairly startling results. Their favourite trick is to develop twin-turbo conversions for cars like the Ferrari 458 and the Audi R8, with the aim of boosting horsepower up way into four-figures, and they sell these as full kits to customers. And yes, as you’ve no doubt deduced, there’s a customisable setup available for the Huracán.

The notion of a making a wide thing wider is very much on-trend, and if you want to pack some serious girth you’ve really got to be talking to Wataru Kato and the squad at Liberty Walk. Helpfully, around the time that 3:16 Speed was embarking upon this project, the Liberty Walk Silhouette widebody kit had just arrived on the market, and with Kato-san’s help RG was able to draft in the parts to build one of the world’s first Silhouette Huracáns.

“Stripping the car down to install the widebody kit required serious commitment,” RG explains, his teeth gritting at the memory. “The rear quarter panels needed fully cutting out in order to start the conversion.” And obviously once you’ve cut something out, you can’t exactly un-cut it. But the team were elbows-deep by this point, fully committed to the endeavour, and things got more exciting the further in they went. You see, with massively wider wings comes the necessity for massively wider wheels, and this gave them all the excuses they needed to commission a set of bespoke rims. The end result is a quartet of fat forged 20-inchers from LD97, a design drawn up specifically with Liberty Walk applications in mind; the fronts measure 10-inches across, with a full foot of width apiece out back. And with the rear panel omitted and the Lambo’s innards exposed, you can see the brooding drama of that contact patch. Indeed, the massive amount of rubber on display is a helpful by-product of Toyo Tires USA’s involvement in the build – a relationship which led to the car starring on the best-of-the-best Toyo Treadpass line-up at SEMA. The finishing touch is added with a tasty suspension upgrade – because it’d be a bit crazy to dial in so much extra width and leave the car wallowing up there at stock ride height: a full Air Lift Performance setup gets the Lamborghini hard-parking like a boss.

Now, there’s a further reason for leaving the rear end exposed, and it’s to do with those aforementioned flame-outs. The Sheepey Race influence is most evident as you gaze within the Huracán’s guts, as you can’t exactly miss those mighty turbos with their sublimely crafted titanium pipes. The Stage 2 setup has brought in a pair of mirror-image Precision 6266 Gen-2 ball-bearing turbos, operating with twin Turbosmart 45mm Hypergate wastegates and Raceport BOVs. The air-to-water intercoolers are fully custom with CSF cores; as opposed to the usual air-to-air system you’d find in a traditional front-mount intercooler, these units employ a water reservoir for cooling, and the filler cap at the top can be used to stuff it with ice water if the fancy takes you. Liquid-to-air coolers are technically more efficient in their operation, with a pair of custom CSF heat exchangers completing the cycle, and Sheepey’s execution has packaged it all with panache. It’s just the kind of quality hardware 3:16 Speed needed, given their tight timeline – proven gear that’ll fit with OE quality and not throw up any unexpected hurdles. Oh yes, and with the V10 engine boosted and running standalone management, it now packs a brutal 1,050hp.

One thing you can be totally sure of is that, while this Huracán was built specifically for a show stand, it’s certainly no show queen. In fact, it’s hard to get RG out of the driver’s seat. “We drive everything that we own, nothing sits inside and collects dust,” he assures us.

Every element of this unique and ballistic Lamborghini exists to shock and amaze: the seam-bustingly wide bodywork, the retina-searing paint, the hunkered-down stance – it’s essentially a Hot Wheels toy brought to life. But the pièce de résistance, displayed so fabulously at the rear end, is that cunning remix of the revered V10 format. With a pair of shiny snails, foot-long flames on demand and Veyron-prodding power, this is a fresh snapshot take on Lamborghini’s established formula. The ‘sensible’ Lambo, entirely reimagined for dropped jaws and joyous laughter.

Tech Spec: Boosted Liberty Walk Huracan

Styling:

Liberty Walk Silhouette GT widebody kit, custom yellow paint

Tuning:

5.2-litre V10, Sheepey Race Stage 2 twin-turbo kit inc. Precision 6266 Gen-2 ball-bearing mirror-image turbos, twin Turbosmart 45mm Hypergate wastegates, twin Turbosmart Raceport BOVs, custom air-to-water intercoolers with CSF cores, custom heat exchangers, back-purged titanium exhaust system, standalone management, 8-plate Dodson Sportsman clutch, 1,050hp

Chassis:

10x20in (front) and 12x20in (rear) forged LD97 LD12 wheels, Toyo T1-R tyres, carbon-ceramic brakes, Air Lift Performance air-ride suspension