When BMW went mad: The one-off BMW X5 LM

At the turn of the century, BMW had an all new car, in a segment it never had been before: the BMW X5 SUV. So, long before the performance SUV became a thing, some boffins at BMW thought it would be nice to cram the biggest, most powerful engine they had at the time in the X5’s engine bay. A V12 seemed like a no-brainer…
Maybe the wonderful M73 that powered the top-dog E38 750i and the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph could do the trick. But hang on, they had something even madder on stock… the V12 from the BMW V12 LMR, fresh from winning the 1999 LeMans race.

And thus, the X5 LM was born. The 6 litre V12 from the LeMans racer produces an estimated 580 hp. But in the X5, it’s modified to be less restricted, producing around 700 hp at 8000rpm!
Even better, it’s more compact than the 4.4 litre V8 already in the X5, so it fits like a glove.

Even today, it seems bonkers. But remember, this was around the time the performance SUV didn’t even exist: in the year 2000.

Seemingly not happy enough with that, BMW hired Hans Joachim Stuck to take the X5 LM around the Nurburgring and break records. Stuck took some lucky few around the ‘Ring, hitting speeds around 170 mph (over 270 kph). In the wet.
The final result was a barely believable 8:05, which was 15 seconds faster than a Z8. And after 14 laps the X5 was still running.
Lucky for us, there are videos of it (which you’ll enjoy a lot more if you understand German).
Imagine the noise of a LeMans car emanating from an ordinary looking X5. You don’t need to imagine that anymore.

BMW X5 LM. Before the performance SUV became a thing.^

Sources, and further info: BMW BLOG; Weird Cars; wikipedia; Car and Driver