The BMW factory in Munich isn’t exactly the place you’d expect to see tire smoke – but that’s exactly what happened when Elias Hountondji, one half of the Red Bull Driftbrothers, brought his new BMW M2 Drift Competition into the factory. The short film, shot on location at the BMW Group plant in Munich, shows Hountondji pushing the 1,100 hp M2 through the production line while the car itself is assembled. Panels, bumpers, doors and even the hood are installed in real time as the car continues to drift through the sequence.
Drifting through the production line
The stunt was orchestrated down to the millimeter. Hountondji pushes the M2 back and forth between robot arms, tool stations and forklifts, sometimes with just a few millimeters of advantage. The grip on the facility’s mixed floor surfaces—from smooth concrete to polished epoxy—changed constantly, forcing him to adjust throttle and steering on the fly. One of the most beautiful moments is a magnesium “wall tap” that sends sparks flying across the factory floor while the car remains completely sideways.
1,100 hp, built for drifting
The M2 itself is not remotely standard. Built in the Driftbrothers’ own 229performance workshop, it uses BMW M’s S58 twin-turbocharged in-line six-cylinder, which is tuned to produce more than 1,100 hp and around 1,250 Nm of torque. The car was built from the ground up for professional drift competition and will make its racing debut in the 2026 Drift Masters European Championship.
Under the hood, the S58 engine has been heavily redesigned to accommodate sustained drift abuse. There’s an enlarged cooling system, a strengthened and modified engine block, additional chassis bracing and strut supports, and countless other improvements to withstand extreme heat and side loads. Each modification serves a purpose: it ensures that the car remains reliable even when the tires spin for minutes at full throttle.
After its factory deployment, the BMW M2 Drift Competition will be exhibited at the BMW Welt in Munich from October 23rd to November 5th, 2025.
The BMW connection of the Driftbrothers
The Red Bull drifting brothers Elias and Johannes Hountondji have been working with BMW M for several years. In 2021, they partnered for the first time to develop two BMW M4 Competition drift cars powered by the same S58 engine. These cars were used in the Drift Masters European Championship and became a showcase of BMW’s M-Technik, adapted for competitive drifting.
Their M2 Drift Competition is the next evolution of this partnership – smaller, more powerful and built based on years of racing and development experience. In this latest project, the Hountondji brothers continue to impress us with their skills, and the G87 M2 is best suited for this. [Photos: BMW M / Fabian Kirchbauer]
