The Anatomy of a Drift Car: Chantzaras Team 22 BMW E36 M3

Drift cars are a peculiar breed of cars. They are meant to do one thing and one thing only: to round corners as sideways as possible and as fast as possible. The most beautiful thing about drifting is that there are few regulations, which means that anything goes both in car models, engine combinations and power outputs (since there is no need for Homogations, etc). To know more about drift cars we take a closer look at the winning car of round 3 of the Drift Kings International Series: the Chantzaras Team 22 M3

1: Body: BMW E36 M3 chassis with carbon fibre body. The entire front end of the car is one solid piece of carbon fibre.

2: Engine: BMW M3 E36 3.2L with a Garret turbocharger putting out 750 bhp. This car is one of the few cars on the grid that retains its original engine block, albeit fully rebuilt and upgraded. The engine is coupled to a Samsonas 5-speed gearbox. 

3: Suspension and steering: fully custom suspension and suspension arms with increased steering articulation and a very short throw steering rack. This setup makes the car a lot harder to drive fast in a straight line.

4: ECU AEM Infiniti ECU with preset engine mapping modes.

5: Tires: Zestino Semi slick tires. Contrary to strong beliefs, drifting is often done with very sticky tires rather than hard ones because sticky rubber makes the car move a lot faster even when it’s going sideways.

6: Brakes: Standard BMW brakes. In drifting there’s little braking to be done. The rear axle does have a hydraulic handbrake fitted. 

7: Differential: LSD (limited slip differential from a E34 BMW M5) for that perfect slide.