Wait, What? BMW M3 Touring Spotted Drag Racing An M5 On Closed NYC Roads

Street takeovers are unpredictable by design but New York street race fans got an unexpected treat recently when a BMW M3 Touring dropped by to smoke an F90-generation M5 on a blockaded section of the city’s roads.

BMW doesn’t even sell the M3 wagon in the U.S. so your chances of seeing one in North America at any point in the next 25 years are next to zero, and what made this one’s appearance even stranger is that it was right-hand drive and wearing British license plates.

A video uploaded to roc-nyc’s TikTok and YouTube accounts shows the encounter between the M3 and M5, which Road & Track identifies as taking place on the NY-878, close to JFK Airport. Judging from the semi trucks visible in the background at the start of the face-off the race fans have blocked off the road to create their makeshift drag strips, and there are enough of them there that the truckers can’t do anything about it.

Related: A Swiss Tuner Is Bringing The BMW M3 Touring To The U.S.

Both the F90 M5 and the M3 wagon are equipped with all-wheel drive (that can be switched to rear-drive from the driver’s seat) but the M5 gets a much better start when the flag drops, pulling out a solid half-a-car lead on the wagon. But the M3 quickly reels it in and the second camera that lets us see the pair crossing the finish line reveals that the wagon has put considerable clean air between itself and its sedan big brother.

The alien M3 belongs to UK-based R44 Performance, and according to the company’s website was collected in Miami in totally standard form before a full round of modifications were performed to get it ready for its appearance at tuning shows in the U.S.

The Brooklyn Grey paint was covered with a Khaki Green wrap, various bits of carbon trim were added – including a carbon roof panel, something BMW only fits to the M3 sedan – the suspension was swapped out for an air-ride kit and a set of S21-01 forged alloys from Vossen finished off the look. You can check out the full build in the video below.