Racing in hill climb events is definitely one of the most dangerous activities you can do behind the wheel of a car. Only rally racing is possibly more dangerous but even then we’d have to have a long discussion about gravel vs asphalt and mountain tops vs rolling hills. Let’s just agree that not everyone has what it takes to keep a car in check going over 100 mph uphill with nothing but a side barrier to keep him/her in check. This is what Sergi Morilla has been doing for a while now in his BMW 1 Series hatch.
I know, I was just as surprised as you are now, when I first saw the car he chose but I had a sneaky feeling this 1er wasn’t exactly stock underneath it all. And while I expected it to have a roll cage and a stripped out interior as well as a completely new suspension setup, I didn’t know what hid under the hood.
As it turns out, Mr. Morilla knows his BMWs and he chose an S54 3.2-liter engine to power his competition car. Furthermore, the stock levels of power were deemed insufficient and the output of the mill was taken up to 370 HP with a redline of 8,200 RPM. Considering the car now weighs just 1,000 kg (2,200 lbs) you can imagine just how fast it is, in basically any given situation.
Before jumping into a hatchback, Sergi was using a BMW E36 M3 in hill climb competitions but, according to him, he decided to move to the 1 Series because of its shorter wheelbase. Considering just how narrow the roads can get during such events, we can totally understand why such a move was necessary. The end result is nothing short of mad and you can check it out in the short footage posted below.
