Ask anyone in the United States about diesel engines and they’ll tell you it’s only for trucks, lorries and ferries. However, compression ignition plants are very popular in Europe, and there are tuning companies working on performance enhancement kits for diesel engines. Some take matters to the extreme and build drag monsters like the BMW 1 Series you see in the gallery below. Now officially the fastest diesel powered BMW in history.
We say it’s official because the information about this new record holder came to us directly from BMW, to be more precise – from the Romanian brand division. The press release tells us that the car is owned by Dragos Stacescu, who claimed several records during the finals of the Romanian drag championship.
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For starters, the red hatchback makes the quarter-mile trip in just 8.31 seconds with an exit speed of 168 miles per hour (270 kilometers per hour). Even more impressively, the diesel-powered Series 1 clocked in 0-62 miles per hour (0-100 kilometers per hour) at – see! – 1.87 seconds and 0-124 mph (0-200 kph) in another 2.84 seconds. 2.44 seconds later, the car was traveling at 155 mph (250 kph).
In its announcement, BMW is proud to say that the car uses many genuine BMW components and is actually based on the humble 118d of the E81 generation. The donor car hardware was replaced by all-wheel drive from the 330d xDrive from the E90 generation, the in-line six-cylinder diesel engine from the E90 335d, and an eight-speed automatic from the BMW X6. The vehicle maker estimates that about 75 percent of the transmission and engine components are BMW OEM parts.
As a result of several significant modifications, the 3.0-liter diesel now produces 1,020 horsepower (761 kilowatts) and 1,217 pound-feet (1,650 Newton-meters). This represents a 300 percent increase in power and a 200 percent increase in torque compared to the standard engine, which still uses many of the factory components.
“Dragoş showed an outstanding performance that will remain in history. We are proud that the project of a Romanian has broken an absolute world record for BMW. Such a moment is extremely rare and we are honored”, Alex eremet, Corporate Communications Manager at BMW Romania, said.
