Typhoon winds up X5 to 275km/h
2009-04-17 06:47
Vehicle Specs
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Manufacturer
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BMW
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Model
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G-Power Typhoon
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Engine
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4.8l, supercharged V8
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Power
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386kW
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Torque
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600Nm
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Zero To Hundred
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5 sec
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Top Speed
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275km/h
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Tyres
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315/25
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Can’t find your partners (plural on purpose) G-spot? Don’t worry, G-Power’s supercharged X5 delivers superlative performance every time.
Curiously named G-Power is based in Autenzell and headed by Zoran Zorneke – and yes, we’re sure there are plenty of Zorro jokes around the office about the boss. It's also one of the oldest German BMW tuning specialists, having celebrated 25 years of BMW tuning excellence last year.
No joke though, is G-Power's obsession with supercharging BMWs. The company’s latest pet project takes the X5 SUV range, in 4.8i trim, to nearly unspeakable levels of power and subsequently, performance.
Very unsubtle bodykit
G-Power doesn’t really factor in subtle as a design keyword when conceptualising new product lines. If you look at the bodykit they’ve stuck on the X5, it's as loud as anything the German tuning industry produced in the heydays of excess – the 1980s.
Codenamed the Typhoon (Germans don’t really do English product names with rigid originality) the bodykit adds a new front apron with huge air-intake cut-outs.
Fenders have been considerably widened (accommodating 23-inch multispoke mags) and at the rear they feature aero-ducts too. Viewed from the back, a new diffuser embedded apron and spoiler combine to reduce axle lift at speed.
Custom moulded side rocker panels hide LED blue-lighting which imbues the G-Power Typhoon with a touch of Eastern European (or East Rand if you like) gangster feel.
Supercharged V8
Hiding under the ornate bodykit is a very trick supercharger conversion of the BMW 4.8l V8. With the subassembly driving an ASA T1-521 hd supercharger, power peaks at 386kW and rotational force maxes out at 600Nm.
This is no backyard bolt-on supercharger kit either, featuring a carbon-fibre intake manifold, performance exhaust system, aluminium intercooler and dexterously recalibrated engine management software.
The blower might only be boosting at 0.6 bar maximum pressure, yet it’s still good enough to propel the Tycoon from 0-100km/h in five seconds, through to 200km/h 13.4 seconds later en route to a top speed of 275km/h.
The styling might be a bit over the top, yet the rest of the conversion appears to be pure class – and if you doubt the validity of G-Power’s engineering prowess, remember, these guys hustled one of their supercharged M5s to an officially certified top speed of 367km/h late last year…
