---
title: "Watch This 562-HP M4-Engined BMW M235i Set a ‘Ring Record…in Spite of a Bird Strike"
description: "Obstructed visibility: Less of a problem than you'd think, apparently."
date: "2017-07-11"
modified: "2017-07-11"
authors:
  - name: "Will Sabel Courtney"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/will-sabel-courtney"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/12339/watch-this-562-hp-m4-engined-bmw-m235i-set-a-ring-record-in-spite-of-a-bird-strike"
categories:
  - "BMW News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "AC Schnitzer"
  - "Bird Strike"
  - "BMW"
  - "m235i"
  - "Nurburgring"
---

# Watch This 562-HP M4-Engined BMW M235i Set a ‘Ring Record…in Spite of a Bird Strike

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/07/ac-schnitzer-bmw-m235i.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

German tuning house [AC Schnitzer](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/11433/this-custom-ac-schnitzer-bmw-2002-is-neue-klasse-perfection>) has developed quite the reputation over the years for its impressive work modifying BMWs. The company's latest project, however, has earned the tuner something extra: a new record for the fastest lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife in a street-legal BMW. In the hands of Touring Car racing driver Markus Oestreich, AC Schnitzer's ACL2—a [BMW M235i running a modified M4 engine packing 562 horsepower](<https://www.topgear.com/car-news/geneva-motor-show/meet-ac-schnitzers-562bhp-bmw-m235i#5>), and equipped with a big ol' spoiler and a widebody kit, among other mods—cracked off a 7:25.8 lap of the 'Ring.

[As has become *de rigueur* for reputable record 'Ring runs](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/11764/2018-chevrolet-camaro-zl1-1le-posts-blazing-716-04-nurburgring-lap-time>), the AC Schnitzer crew made sure to release a video documenting the lap in full, complete with the car's telemetry and picture-in-picture to show both the track and the driver. It's an entertaining video, [as most fast Nurburgring laps are](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/8528/watch-the-nio-ep9-supercar-set-a-nurburgring-record-for-electric-cars>); Oestreich's skill is clearly in evidence as he pushes the car through the many twists and turns of the 12.9-mile track.

But it's right around the 3:37 mark that things take something of a macabre turn. As Oestreich is hauling ass down the track at an indicated 127 miles per hour, a bird—it looks vaguely like a pigeon in the fraction of a second we see it in one piece, but it's hard to tell—slams into the windshield. Remarkably, the glass seems to hold up with nary a crack, but the presumably-deceased bird leaves behind a messy smear of feathers, blood, and viscera.

Even more remarkable, however, is Oestrich's lack of reaction. Especially considering his own name is one vowel away from being a type of bird itself.

https://youtube.com/embed/okfT8LlBxeA

https://youtube.com/embed/jrDNpcyxjgc

## Author
Will is the former managing editor of *RIDES Magazine* and the former online editor for *0-60 Magazine*. He has worked for *Time Out New York* and *Rolling Stone*, and was the creator of *College Cars Online*, the first automotive blog specifically targeted at college students and young professionals.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/willsabelcourtney>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/willscourtney>)