The Gabura V8i is a BMW-based hypercar

Take a carbon monotub, add a lightweight 800hp V8 and sell it for £560,000

It's the hypercar dream, and something the Munich-based Gabura Racing Technologies has started to make into reality.

Just in case you didn't look at the pictures first, you might notice a certain i8-ness about the whole thing. That because Gabura bought a whole, brand-new i8 and took a disc-cutter to it. Hence the name; V8i.

No more electric motors, no more batteries. The hybrid drivetrain is history, replaced by a tuned-up, dry-sumped version of the BMW M-division S63 motor you'd normally find in an M6... and yes, that means Gabura have hacked up a perfectly serviceable M6 as well as the i8.

With a new intake, more cooling, a dry sump and some other trickery Gabura are claiming an 'easy' extra 200hp from the lump. Which gives us a claimed 800hp.

Unlike other hypercars in this power-to-weight bracket, the Gabura will carry its motor in the front. The firm have used their motorsports experience to fabricate two completely new subframes, attaching them to BMW's existing carbon body. The gearbox, designed and manufactured in house, is a transaxle six-speed sequential that will sit just in front of the rear axle.

We spoke to Andras Pecsenye, Chief Technologies Officer at Gabura, at the Professional Motorsports World Expo in Cologne.

"It's an extraordinary project," he grinned. "We're turning the i8 upside-down. And we're also planning a full race-car version too, though you can expect the price of that model to break through the 1m euro mark."

Gabura are offering the V8i on an individual basis. Andras expects this prototype to be ready "sometime in 2016".

What do you think? Discount German P1? Or environment-wrecking i8?

Watch the teaser here.