Video: The 400bhp Hyundai iMax N Drift Bus is what happens when crazy people get hold of a minibus

And this time it’s all for real, unlike Hyundai Germany’s April 1^st photoshopped efforts to portray the eight-seat minibus as destroyer of the Nurburgring – the track that provides the letter N for all Hyundai’s sportiest offerings.

Impressed by the joke, and inspired by unlikely vehicles powered by huge engines of the past – most memorably the Ford Transit Supervan and the Renault Espace F1 – a Hyundai Australia skunkworks team took their European colleagues at their word and actually made the thing.

That required, ahem, a bit of work. Out went the diesel lump and in came a 3.5-litre twin turbo V6 with 400PS and 555Nm of torque. All of that power goes through an eight-speed automatic ‘box to the rear wheels only. But – as the video shows – there is a clever limited slip diff there working overtime to keep all that power from spinning away. The dampers are electronically controlled, the wheels, tyres and brakes all upgraded to N spec and there’s a bespoke aero kit fitted.

The result is that, while it still looks like a bus, it has 50:50 weight distribution and is capable of sub 5.0-second 0-62mph runs. It also delivers enough smoky sideways action to get through set after set of tyres – handy then that the Aussie i800N retains its eight seats and can take its own pit crew along with it, as well as spare tyres, for mid-lap wheel changes.

It’s not about to join Hyundai’s range any time soon. Nor is it road legal, but it most certainly is track ready, something Hyundai Australia was out to prove at the weekend in the 2019 World Time Attack Challenge at Sydney Motor Sport Park.

We hope they are up for bringing it over to Sussex for the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard next July…