Our 1000+HP Individual Mexico Blue G80 M3

Hey guys, we’re back with a quick update on our BMW G80 M3 xDrive finished in Individual Mexico Blue. You’ve seen the car take on an SF90 on CarWow, a Tesla Model S Plaid on AutoTrader and now we’re changing things up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsyiDiNu1Ks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siVI-x8sdS4

For the last couple of years, the G80 has been running a Pure Stage 2+ hybrid turbo setup with some upgraded engine hardware and a built transmission by Pure Drivetrain Solutions. The setup has honestly been perfect – running over 1,000bhp with absolutely no issues to report. Towards the end of last year, we put out an owner’s review video.

Check that out here:

Despite it being the perfect G80 in our opinion, it was time for a new chapter. We just completed our R44 x Tom Wrigley Performance single turbo conversion, utilizing a Precision 6870 making slightly more power and a heap more torque (125 Nm more at the wheels).

Watch more about the transformation here :

The truth is, a single turbo kit completely changes the character of the car. The power delivery is more dramatic, the sound is intoxicating and the car becomes much more of an event to drive.

In this post we’re giving you a detailed breakdown of the setup as well as all the other mods we’ve done to this G80 M3 (as we’ve added quite a few new carbon goodies since the last time you saw the car!)

As mentioned, the car’s running the R44 Performance x Tom Wrigley Performance S58 single turbo kit. This was actually the first kit to also fit right-hand drive vehicles as we are based in the UK and all the US companies forgot about us

The turbo itself is a Precision 6870 that spools up nice and fast for a big single. There’s no escaping the lag but it certainly makes things more dramatic and still delivers the same amount of power as the previous setup. We had this turbo polished which makes it pop in the engine bay. Supporting modifications we installed that aren’t included in the kit itself consisted of a Precision Raceworks port injection kit (a kit that also works with the OEM fuel rail & a great upgrade for Stage 2 cars), a KLM billet catch can, a Funk Motorsport turbo blanket to keep everything cool and Motiv Reflex – the ultimate solution for integrating things like flex-fuel and port injection.

As mentioned earlier, the engine did get some upgraded hardware from Tom Wrigley Performance. At 850whp, you don’t have to go crazy and we just stuck with some TWP drop-in forged rods and upgraded ARP head studs. The transmission, however, went stage 2 by Pure Drivetrain Solutions as the stock ZF HP76 does start to slip when pushing over 800 bhp.

In terms of cooling, we’re running the full CSF cooling package with the inlet manifold paint-matched in Mexico Blue. Having a big single turbo means things get HOT under the hood and managing the heat is essential for reliability. One great thing about CSF is they include integrated rock guards on any exposed radiators – something BMW could learn from with their cheap plastic items completely open to road debris.

All software is by Tom Wrigley Performance and Mike Ball – the best of the best for BMW tuning in the UK.

Since the initial build of this car in 2023, so many more aftermarket accessories have come to the market and it was time the G80 got a spruce up. The stock engine bay leaves a lot to be desired with plastic covers and engine caps.

We fitted the long-overdue Goldenwrench Supply BLACKLINE S58 engine cap set in silver. These billet items stick securely over the factory-engineered plastic pieces, taking minutes to install. They just give the engine bay a more quality feel – especially when sitting next to the Eventuri gloss carbon fiber engine cover and CarbonBay gloss carbon ECU cover. Look closely and you’ll also notice the gloss carbon front shroud by MHC LDN – far lighter than the OEM metal version.

The final engine bay mod – unfortunately now discontinued – is the Motech aluminium strut brace. This was a really great-value and high-quality piece and it’s a shame it’s no longer available.

The exterior of the car hasn’t changed drastically since our last build update. The main change being we swapped the SP1 front lip for MHC LDN’s newer SP2 which features more aggressive corners and comes as a 3-piece. This construction has brought the production cost down in comparison to the SP1 so it’s a great alternative if you’re looking to save some cash.

Being the global distributor, we run MHC carbon on all our cars to showcase the quality and durability. We’ve put tens of thousands of miles on these components all over the world and we’ve seen G80 customers with over 60,000 miles on their original MHC SP1 front lip, still looking factory fresh. Most carbon would have yellowed or faded but MHC’s expensive clearcoat just seems to last forever.

We also recently replaced the OEM gloss black side skirts and rear corners with MHC carbon upgrades and then fitted the rest of the G80 low line kit to the bottom of those pieces. The car looks very aggressive, assisted by the GT carbon grille and twin fin ducts – not to mention the yellow DRLs and OLED rear lights. The spoiler, we fitted a carbon version of the OEM spoiler which is a bit more subtle but the DF1 LED diffuser adds a lot of presence.

Suspension wise, we’ve changed nothing. We’re still running a KW H.A.S kit which has been perfect for this car’s intended purpose – a big power street car. Coilovers are a bit of a compromise and when company owner, Rhys, puts his girlfriend in there he doesn’t want her being shaken about too much on London roads…

The H.A.S kit still has great adjustability and allows you to retain the factory electronic damper control for the different drive modes.

For brakes, we’re still rocking the trusty EBC 2-piece floating discs with RPX pads at the front and Bluestuff at the rear + some MOTUL 600 brake fluid which is more heat resistant than OEM. We’d prefer to run RPXs at the rear as well but at the time, EBC didn’t offer this.

Other than the new 2-1 downpipe supplied with the single-turbo kit, the exhaust remains the same – just a single midpipe cat-back system from Grail in Germany. And… no burbles mapped in.

There are plenty of small modifications on the interior including some SHFT carbon pieces, a set of JQ Werks magnetic paddles, a SHFT alcantara wheel and more.

We recently put some Vossens on the car to replace the gold/bronze 827Ms we were running previously. For the full list of modifications, check out this page: https://r44performance.com/collectio…80-m3-mod-list

We’re curious, do you think we made the right decision switching from hybrid twins to a big single? Let us know!