Drift karts are a peculiar little sub-segment of the auto enthusiast game. It’s a fad that started in the US and if you search online you’ll find mostly stripped out Mazda MX-5s. Owners remove just about everything from the car barring the engine and transmission. But it’s not often that you see a BMW drift kart.

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US outfit (where else?) Hidden Motorsports built this unlikely creation which must rate as one of the craziest BMWs on earth. The car, which they christened Klaus, is based on an E36-generation 3 Series. As you can see it’s been given the full drift kart treatment, all the body panels have been removed, including the bonnet, boot and roof. Thankfully a full roll cage has been welded in place to keep the occupants safe. Each passenger is held in place by a race seat and multi-point harness.

Click here to check out a bunch of homemade BMW bakkies.

Under the… hood?

The BMW drift kart creators decided that the stock motor just was not going to cut it for the level of insanity they are hoping to achieve. In the engine bay, you will now find a 5,3-litre GM-sourced V8. The motor was completely rebuilt in the owner’s garage. New items include internals such as replacement pistons, and a set of ported heads.

All the preparation was done for the next major engine mod, which was the addition of a twin-turbocharger set-up. The twin snails sit high above the motor and feature side-exit exhausts and external wastegates. Compressed air is forced through a custom intercooler. The engine has not been on a dyno yet but the builder of the motor says it’ll be capable of producing north of 750 kW. That power is sent to the rear axle via a Tremec T56 six-speed manual transmission.

You can learn more about the BMW drift kart and hear from its owner in the video below.