Johannesburg - Local BMW tuner Team SavSpeed Racing premiered its brand new BMW F30 wide-body racer at Kyalami recently at a BMW Car Club track and race days.
It was the car's first shakedown in full trim - in front of a crowd of BMW enthusiasts and at a race series that the car was ultimately built to compete in.
The new racer has a three-litre straight six turbo fettled by SavSpeed to deliver more than 590kW, in a reinforced, aero-kitted F30 body-shell with all the hardcore race-prep goodies needed to get the best out of it on a race-track.
It was built by owner/driver Sav Gualtieri, who has more than 25 years experience of working on BMWs, and his team at their workshop in Edenvale. SavSpeed has turbocharged more than 200 vehicles and modified even more over the past two decades, both for street and track applications.
This has secured the team and its customers a number of championships and even the odd South African speed record in street and track disciplines.
"We are just so pleased that we've built what we believe is the world's first wide-body BMW F30 racer, to show just how good a base the new car is to work with.”
"And together with our body work and aerodynamic specialist, Tony Colano, we've built a custom aero package in which form follows function," said Gualtieri.
The previous Team SavSpeed Racing car - based on a E36 - was consistently the fastest BMW at any track in South Africa and was retired, while still at the top of its game, after an eight-year racing career.
The F30 wide-body project was inspired by Gualtieri's desire to move up to the latest technology and demonstrate how much more can be achieved with current BMW models.
"The car ran well at Kyalami but there is still a lot of work to be done, said Gualtieri. "I can't realistically claim that the car is right on the pace yet - but we'll keep working on it.
"The only way to get it right is to race it, so we're aiming to enter it in the final two rounds of the BMW CCG Club Racing Series on 1 and 29 November, and maybe even the Extreme Supercars series on 15 November.
"I don't want to get carried away with lap times and predictions until we're completely happy with the whole package."