Ask any modified car enthusiast about their dream, end-car show goal and they’ll unanimously come back to you with the same answer: SEMA.

This tends to ring especially true amongst the Brits in our community. I’m not sure why, but since our teenage years, my close friends and I have had endless conversations about how we could get whatever car we were dreaming of at the time over the pond and into the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

So, when a group of guys decide to actually give this a go, it wasn’t long before it landed on my radar. I was hooked and needed to know more.

The team in question is that of R44 Performance, who teamed up with CSF Race to bring one of their demo cars from the UK to the USA, with the intentions of showing it at the 2023 SEMA Show.

It gets better, because the car in question is one that’s not destined to be sold new in North America – the G81 BMW M3 Touring. Speedhunters’ creative director Mark Riccioni has teed us up nicely here with the prequel to this adventure.

Over two months have gone by since Mark’s story on R44 Performance’s G81 journey up until that point. The build was essentially complete, resulting in an eye-catching car with an interesting origin story. But with eight weeks until SEMA, the team at R44 lusted for more.The build was essentially complete, resulting in an eye-catching car with an interesting origin story. But with eight weeks until SEMA, the team at R44 lusted for more.

Apparently, importing and then modifying the most anticipated M car product of the last few decades wasn’t enough. And with that tight SEMA deadline only getting tighter, the ideas just got bolder.

But that’s the thing. This is the SEMA Show, America’s modified car mecca. You’re expected to do the most here. So, how do you turn the notch up to 11 on something like the R44 M3 Touring story?

Well, you stick to the old school modification guns, of course. This means ramping up the power and changing up the visuals. R44 Performance had the ace card of the M3’s incredible S58 power plant to play with, an engine I’ve covered a few times on these pages for its aftermarket tune-ability.

R44 decided to single turbo convert the engine, a practice older than time itself, but one with worthy outcomes. The R44 x TWP S58 G8X Single Turbo Kit is built around a Precision 6870 Gen2 CEA turbocharger, which R44 had their good friend Tom from Tom Wrigley Performance in the UK fly over to install.

I caught up with Rhys Herd from R44 Performance to pick his brain on the G81 ahead of SEMA this week, giving me a chance to quiz him on that sweet, sweet single turbo conversion.

“I would say the first impression that hits you is the sound that the turbo makes. It’s very unexpected from a modern BMW,” Rhys tells me. “You really don’t expect the noise when the throttle is pressed through the screamer pipes, giving you that whooshhhh on release of the pedal.”

We know well by now that BMW’s recent turbo straight sixes are almost like natural successors to the iconic Japanese tuner engines of the past, and Rhys’s feedback simply adds to our findings.

“The car was already extremely quick running a Tom Wrigley Stage 2 tuning package with port injection and a CSF Charge-Air Cooler Manifold,” he added, pointing to the flat 10.0-second quarter mile time the G81 had previously achieved. “Now, you can really feel the difference between the factory twin-turbo setup versus the large single turbo once the engine comes on boost – the car just pulls and doesn’t fall off.”

“With the tune Tom has done for the new turbo setup, there is no lag. It’s just perfect.”

Paired with a host of other CSF Race cooling parts – namely their Front Mount Heat Exchanger, S58 ZF8 Transmission Oil Cooler and S58 ZF8 Engine Oil Cooler – to ensure maximum performance and reliability, the turbo setup really is the focus piece under the R44’s G81 bonnet.

Next up were the visuals. It’s here that R44 utilised the robustness of vinyl to completely change up the M3 Touring’s look.

We’ve all seen shoddy vinyl work in the past, with those Instagram SEMA meme pages haunting the nightmares of every wrap expert in America. They’re nothing to worry the team at Inozetek and Impressive Wrap though, who paid attention to every detail when carrying out the Narwhal Blue refresh.

Next up were the carbon touches around the car. “M3s, especially the G80, really strive with carbon aero additions to the exterior,” Rhys said. “Mainly for visuals rather than performance, we added the MHC SP1 GT-style lip within the bumper to give it a more aggressive style.”

Rhys adds, “carbon aero is my personal passion, with MHC being my own company. Carbon fibre’s natural premium nature adds to the quality of the build. A subtle touch I love is that the front corners, lower side seals and rear corners are actually full carbon pieces that have been wrapped but left partially exposed. It’s a detail most wouldn’t bother with.”

It was only natural to tie everything together with a set of new carbon-barrelled Vossen S21-08 wheels. These not only work cohesively with Rhys’s personal passion for the material, but the other carbon touches around the car too.

Sprinkle in some more details, such as the new JQ Werks Madtrace Racing Steering Wheel System applied to a classic Momo Montecarlo, and you’ve got a two-month transformation ready for SEMA. Talk about cutting it close!

Now, having always dreamt of taking a car from the UK over to the USA, I couldn’t help but ask Rhys some more practical questions about the experience of driving his alien M3 on extra-terrestrial British number plates around the big American states. “So, the G81 platform is pretty well known and popular to the enthusiasts here, despite never being sold here. You know, the Touring has been well overdue, so everyone that knows, knows. I’ve had people hanging out their windows, shouting hello and taking photos.”

“We’ve been followed by the police a few times, but they don’t tend to pull us over. I think it’s mainly because they don’t know what to do about our number plates; it’s probably more hassle than it’s worth for them. The one time we did get pulled over, the police simply just checked our paperwork before joking about how we could afford to drive the car from the UK all around America.”

What can we say, the SEMA Show magnet is a powerful one. If you’d like to check out the R44 Performance M3 Touring at SEMA 2023, you’ll find it at booth 21411.

Michał Fidowicz
Instagram: candyshowroom

Photography by Darrien Craven
Instagram: _crvn_

R44 Performance BM2 M3 Touring (G81)

Engine: BMW S58 3.0L turbocharged inline-six, R44 X TWP S58 G8X Single Turbo Kit utilising a Precision 6870 Gen2 CEA turbocharger, R44 200 Cell Sports Cat Downpipes, R44 Titanium Cat-Back Exhaust System, CSF S58 Charge-Air Cooler Manifold, CSF S58 Front Mount Heat Exchanger, CSF M3/M3/M4 S58 ZF8 Engine Oil Cooler, ID 1,050cc injectors, Mike Ball Tuning plug and play harness, flex fuel kit (with filter & ethanol sensor) Tom Wrigley Performance x Mike Ball tune, Goldenwrench BMW S58 M Car Blackline Performance Engine Cap Set, Goldenwrench BMW M2/M3/M4 Blackline Washer Fluid Cap, MHC+ BMW M2/M3/M4 Full Replacement Radiator Cooling Shroud Slam Panel in pre-preg carbon fibre, Eventuri BMW M2/M3/M4 Engine Cover in gloss carbon fibre

Driveline: BMW 8-speed M Steptronic transmission, CSF S58 ZF8 Transmission Oil Cooler, Tom Wrigley Performance x Mike Ball transmission map

Suspension & Brakes: Air Lift Performance 3P air suspension, EBC BMW M2/M3/M4 RACING 2-piece Floating Brake Discs front/rear, PSI SP1 G8X Brake Pads

Exterior: MHC+ SP1 Front Splitter in pre-preg carbon fibre, MHC+ SK1 Side Skirts in pre-preg carbon fibre, MHC+ Twin Fin Ducts in pre-preg carbon fibre, MHC+ GT Style Front Grille in pre-preg carbon fibre, MHC+ DF1 Rear Diffuser in pre-preg carbon fibre, MHC+ SS1 Rear Side Splitters in pre-preg carbon fibre, MHC+ Full Replacement Side Badges in pre-preg carbon fibre, MHC+ BMW G80 M3 OEM Style Side Skirts in pre-preg carbon fibre, MHC+ BMW G80/G81 M3 OEM style Rear Side Diffusers in pre-preg carbon fibre, MHC+ BMW G80/G81/G82/G83 M3 OEM style Front Side Splitters in pre-preg carbon fibre, MHC+ BMW G-series M Wing Mirror Covers in pre-preg carbon fibre, Alpha N Carbon Roof, BMW 3 Series G81 M3R44 CSL Yellow Daytime Running Light Modules, Acexxon BMW M3/M4 Rear Reflector Inserts in gloss black, iND G8X M3/M4 Replacement Tow Hook Cover, Fall-Line Motorsports G8X M2/M3 /M4 Tow Straps front/rear, iND Painted BMW Roundel, Gloss black painted rear wiper, Inozetek x Alex Choi Super Gloss Narwhal Blue vinyl wrap

Wheels & Tyres: Vossen S21-08 x Dymag carbon barrel wheels, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres

Interior: JQ Werks Madtrace Racing Steering Wheel System, Momo Montecarlo steering wheel