Back in the mid 1970s, German race team AC Schnitzer built a couple of BMW 2002 Turbos to compete in Group 5 racing Today, Gruppe5 Motorsports, a new company out of Indiana, is trying to revive the spirit of the wild, wide-body Group 5 2002 with something truly over the top. It's creating a 2200-pound 2002 with up to 803 horsepower from a stroked BMW V-10 and 2400 pounds of downforce

You have every right to be skeptical of a company making wild claims like this, especially considering a complete car doesn't exist yet. But there are good people behind this—the engine comes from legendary BMW tuner Steve Dinan and his new company, CarBahn Autoworks, while the chassis and construction is from Bill Riley and his company Riley Technologies. This is the same duo that won Daytona back in 2011.

Gruppe5 Motorsports was started by Tom Zajac, a BMW enthusiast who raced a 1972 2002tii in SCCA showroom stock back in the 1980s. It wants to build 300 2002s like this—200 with a 5.8-liter V-10, and 100 with a 5.9-liter V-10. With 100-octane fuel, the 5.8-liter puts out 744 horsepower, while the slightly larger engine makes 803 horsepower. Both are paired with a six-speed XTrac sequential transaxle. This engine is developed from the BMW M V-8 that Dinan developed for IMSA racing.

The chassis is based on an original 2002 steel tub, but Riley fits it with an alloy roll cage and bonded carbon-fiber body panels. It has pushrod suspension, too, which is totally adjustable, as you'd expect from a real race car. Buyers have a choice of either Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 or Pirelli P-Zero Trofeo R tires mounted on 19-inch BBS wheels, and you can order Michelin slicks on 18-inch wheels for track days, too. The interior is stripped out, with Recaro Pole Position bucket seats, a Nardi steering wheel, and a Riley electric air-conditioning unit.

It's a pretty extreme interpretation of a BMW icon. And as you'd expect, it's not cheap—Gruppe5 Motorsports told us over email that the 5.8-liter car will start at $875,000 while the 5.9-liter car will start at $975,000. A representative for the company also confirmed that work will begin on a prototype after Riley returns from Le Mans in June.

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