During the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed I have filmed the Red Bull Drift Brothers in their new BMW M4 G82.
Elias and Johannes Hountondji – aka the Red Bull Driftbrothers – revealed their new BMW M4 Competition drift-racing cars at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Here is all you need to know:
After just six months of collaboration with BMW M , the two athletes put the powerful 1,040hp cars to the test on the track for the first time ahead of the 2021 Drift Masters European Championship.
The Red Bull Driftbrothers team doubled the maximum output of the BMW M4's inline six-cylinder engine to 1,040hp and boosted the maximum torque to 1,280Nm, which is particularly important in drift racing. They also optimised the aerodynamics for transverse driving. Active support came from BMW design experts, while most of the aerodynamic parts were custom-made.
It's a big leap from Elias Hountondji's first BMW E30 from the '80s. He said: "There's a world of difference between our current M4 Competition cars in our drift spec and our first E30 318ES with a four-cylinder engine, 1.8L displacement and a measly 136 horsepower. Nearly 40 years of engineering artistry lie between the first BMW E30 and the freshly baked BMW M4. The only thing that's stayed the same is that the drivetrain is in the back and the engine is in the front - a recipe that still makes for a joy to drive!"
Ninety percent of all the parts in the new cars have never been installed in a drift car like this before. Elias Hountondji explains: "The goals for this year are ambitious. At the same time, we have to be realistic: the cars we've built now are, firstly, recently finished and, secondly, very complex. Of course, it would be a dream to be successful in the first competition, but from an engineering point of view, I think that's almost impossible. Not least because we haven't been able to test every other day over the last few months due to our tight schedule."
Thanks to his aerospace engineering background, Elias played a leading role in the building process: “As drivers, we also have to get used to our new cars first. I therefore believe that this year will be one of hopefully steep learning curves, so that in the best case we will soon be capable of winning. The ambition is to dominate sooner or later, and that's what the cars were designed for. However, we still have a long way to go before we get there.”
Elias and Johannes Hountondji have been among the top drivers in drifting for years and were crowned King of Europe champion and runner-up in 2017. In 2016 and 2017 they also won the team title and have been active in the Drift Masters European Championship since 2018.
The DMEC is an invitational series for the best 45 drivers from Europe, the USA and the Middle East. The 2021 calendar sees events in Austria, Latvia and Georgia. The drivers compete in knockout battle format, but, unlike most motorsports series, timing isn't decisive. Instead a jury evaluates four criteria: speed, drift angle, line choice and driving style.
Join my Notification Squad: click the Bell 🔔
Make sure you like and comment the video, but also subscribe to the channel!
*Michael - Automotive Mike*
Socials:
➡️ [ Ссылка ]
➡️ [ Ссылка ]
