BMW Driftmob behind the scenes

PH joins star-studded stunt team for South African film shoot in sliding M235is

Cape Town is a beautiful place this time of year. Apparently. I wish I could see it, but my gaze is rather shortened in the mid-afternoon sun by a thick, noxious, bluey haze that has the unmistakable aroma of burning Bridgestones.

Synchronised drifting; beats the aquatic version

It has the distinctive scent of pound notes, too, or euros to be more accurate - 25,000 of them. That's the size of the tyre budget alone for BMW's M235i Driftmob event, part of its "BMW Stories" viral marketing videos. No, not very PHey, you're right - but the five guys vaporising the 245/35 18-inch rear rubber are.

First up, Rhys Millen, whose drift credentials precede him. Formula D Champion in 2005, 2008 Red Bull Drifting World Champion, former Pikes Peak record holder, stunt driver from The Fast & Furious, The Dukes of Hazzard and Indiana Jones, and the first man ever to back-flip an off-road truck. A CV good enough for sliding a BMW around.

His colleagues include Samuel Hubinette - known as 'The Crazy Swede' and the first ever Formula Drift champion, which he's won again since - Rich Rutherford, stunt driver for Drive with more than 200 feature films to his name, Conrad Grunewald, successful D1 and Formula Drift driver, and Daijiro Yoshihara, 2011 Formula Drift Champion.

Takes talent to do this; we spectated for this bit

BMW ballet
My turn will come, but for the minute I'm fixated by the levels of accuracy and composure with which the five hooners can hit their marks. In practice the previous day all it took was a couple of runs for the quintet to get the choreography down pat, with a few extra rehearsals for good measure.

With the cameras rolling and covering the Coen Steytler 'traffic circle' downtown from every possible angle, the pressure to be in control of being out of control is incredible. With this level of money involved and a two-day only road closure to get all the shots, stress levels are high.

You'd never guess, as first time out it's pretty much perfect. Three cherry red M235is slew one way round the roundabout and the remaining duo counter them with equal levels of attitude, slithering round in an opposite anti-clockwise direction on a tighter line - the ramifications of an over-zealous stab at the throttle don't even need to be hinted at to the film crew or custodian of the five pre-production M235is, Thomas Ebner. There's genuinely no spare car.

How do you achieve this? Welded diffs, lots of tyres

Diff-erent strokes
They're not actually series production cars, which is quite significant. Despite a false start for the Driftmob earlier in the year, BMW chose to retain these five prototype cars, which meant the optional limited-slip diff wasn't available.

This raised a question: how do you create a video about drifting using cars with open diffs? Millen and his mates set to work playing with tyre pressures, dropping the inside rear and massively over-inflating the outside to simulate the presence of a locker.

It didn't work. Which meant a local garage just welded up the diffs to get the outside tyre spinning, effectively turning the open differential into a spool. Manoeuvring round the paddock for the inevitable and frequent tyre changes you can hear it, the inside rear crunching and slipping with the slightest bit of steering lock.

Time for the man from PH to have a go

On top of the modification to the rear axle, the one other change over the standard car is the addition of a fly-off handbrake, and despite five-days of continuous punishment and abuse, the only fault that emerged was a powertrain warning light due to low fuel. The lateral G from all the sideways stuff meant the fuel pump ran dry, causing a misfire. A "hard reset" as it's known (read turn it off and on again) plus a quick splash of juice saw it right.

Have a go, don't be a hero
Wiping the flecks of molten rubber from my glasses sprayed at us kerbside gawpers, it's now my turn to have a go. I'm shipped off to a location not littered with quite so much immovable furniture - the apron at Cape Town airport - and 'my' M235i has the optional diff, rather than a welded item.

He's got the angle sorted...

But the overriding thought as I crunch across the carpet of marbles at the side of the road is just how easy the professionals make it look. Passengering with Grunewald for a few laps of the roundabout, the level of feel these guys have is bordering on the clairvoyant. "I'm going to have to get you out of the car," he said. "It's just not hooking up properly." Seemed fine to me as we were heading broadside towards a bus shelter at 60mph, smoke pouring out of the rear arches.

But back to the airport. We all think we can slide a car like Harris, but when it's crunch time, just how hard is it? He'll no doubt update us soon on how his sideways progress is going in his fleet M235i but, for me, even having had a bit of experience, a few pointers from BMW drift guru Christo Evangelo are most definitely welcome.

Yep, still going...

Breaking traction on the wet concrete isn't an issue, but it's quite surprising just how much throttle you need to sustain the slide, even with 326hp and 332lb ft from 1,300rpm. At least the relative linearity of the boosted 3.0-litre straight-six means throttle control is fairly intuitive.

It's quickly apparent that vision is my problem - feel and control I'm not bad at, but I'm not looking where I need to go. Or breathing.

Once I get the hang of spotting that next cone through the corner of the windscreen, continuous sideways laps in both directions aren't a problem, and neither is linking the skids. Just remember, look and breathe.

Ah...

It's not just me that needs a breather, either. Oil temperature is bordering on that in a deep fat fryer and the tyres are scorched - down to the canvas in fact. But with 25,000 euros worth of rubber available, what's another set between friends?