MPACT is one of the biggest dates on the US BMW calendar, but for us, MPACT 2026 was about much more than simply attending another show.
This year, we brought a large part of the R44 Performance team out to the East Coast, spent the days before the event fighting to get two customer BMW G87 M2 builds finished in time, and then arrived at Pocono Raceway to find the R44 name represented across the show.
It was busy, slightly chaotic and involved a lot more work than simply flying to America and looking at modified BMWs for the weekend. But that was also exactly why the trip mattered.
For us, growing R44 in the US means being physically involved in the community, meeting customers and partners face-to-face and understanding the scene rather than simply shipping BMW parts across the Atlantic.
MPACT 2026 gave us the perfect opportunity to do exactly that.
Bringing The R44 Team To The East Coast
This year's R44 group included Dylan, Rhys, Dillon and Blair from Sales, and Hez from Sales & Marketing.
One of the biggest reasons for bringing such a large part of the team was to give everyone direct exposure to the US BMW scene. Some of us have spent plenty of time around American builds and events already, while for others, this was their first proper look at the New Jersey and wider East Coast BMW community.
There is only so much you can learn from Instagram, customer orders and conversations across different time zones. Actually being there, seeing the cars, meeting customers and talking to the people behind the brands gives you a completely different understanding of the market.
It also gave the team the chance to spend proper time together away from the normal working environment. There was naturally plenty of team bonding involved, but the trip was also useful from a training perspective. Sales conversations happen differently when you're standing next to the actual car someone is building, and meeting customers who have been buying from R44 for years gives the team much better context for the work we do every day.
Of course, being in America didn't mean the normal work stopped.
Throughout the trip, everyone was still dealing with customers, keeping on top of their normal responsibilities and making sure R44 continued running back home. At the same time, we had two G87 M2s that needed to be ready for one of the biggest BMW events of the year.
That part didn't quite go to plan.
Two Customer BMW G87 M2 Builds For MPACT
Jeremy King and Jacob Diaz are two of our longest-standing customers in the US, and both had recently moved into new BMW G87 M2s.
At the time of MPACT, each of them had only owned their G87 for around two months, which made the event a perfect deadline to start transforming both cars.
The plan was straightforward. We would get a selection of R44 Edition 1 and carbon fibre components sent over in advance, give ourselves roughly a week to install everything properly and have both M2s finished with plenty of time to spare before MPACT.
That was the plan, anyway.
Shipping issues with DHL meant the parcels weren't where they needed to be, and suddenly the comfortable week we had built into the schedule disappeared. At that point, we had two options: accept that the cars weren't going to be finished or find a way to make it happen. Dylan ended up driving roughly two hours to the DHL depot to physically locate the shipments and collect the parts himself.
It was hardly the pre-MPACT preparation we had planned, but once the boxes were finally in our hands, the next job was getting everything onto the cars.
Rhys Gets To Work
With very little time left before the event, Rhys took on the installations himself.
While the rest of the team continued working, dealing with customers and preparing for MPACT, both G87s were stripped down and fitted with their new R44 parts.
That effort made the finished cars feel particularly rewarding.
Jeremy and Jacob were both over the moon with how their M2s turned out, and extremely appreciative of how far the team had gone to make sure they were ready in time.
For us, that was already enough to make the extra effort worthwhile.
Then we got to MPACT.
From DHL Problems To The CSF & BBS Booths
After all the rushing around in the days leading up to the show, there couldn't have been a much better payoff.
Jeremy King's BMW G87 M2 was displayed on the CSF booth.
Meanwhile, Jacob Diaz's G87 M2 was sitting on the BBS booth.
Two long-term R44 customers. Two brand-new M2 builds. Two cars we had been scrambling to get finished only days earlier, now sitting with two major brands at one of the biggest BMW events in the US.
That became one of our favourite parts of the entire weekend.
It also summed up exactly why we've always valued building proper relationships with customers. Jeremy and Jacob aren't simply people who ordered some parts from the R44 website. We've known them for a long time, watched their previous builds develop and now had the chance to be directly involved in the earliest stages of their new G87s.
Seeing both cars positioned so prominently around MPACT made all the effort beforehand feel completely justified.
Inside MPACT 2026
Once the last-minute build drama was out of the way, we could finally focus on MPACT itself.
The standard of cars across the event was seriously high.
MPACT brings together a huge cross-section of BMW culture, and that variety is one of the reasons the event works so well. You'll see everything from highly detailed show builds and aggressively stanced cars through to serious performance builds and cars actually making use of Pocono Raceway.
For us, though, one of the biggest takeaways wasn't a particular car.
It was how many people already knew R44.
Throughout the day, people regularly came over to introduce themselves, talk about products they had bought or simply tell us that they followed what we were doing.
Even more surprising was how many people specifically recognised our own BMW G87 M2 build.
We're used to seeing that car recognised around the UK and online, but having people on the East Coast of America immediately know the build was a great reminder of how far R44's reach has grown.
It made the trip feel considerably more significant than simply attending an overseas event.
Spending Time With CSF, Turn14 & BBS
MPACT also gave us the opportunity to spend proper time with some of the brands and partners we work with throughout the year.
CSF was naturally a big part of the weekend, particularly with Jeremy's G87 M2 sitting on their booth. We've worked closely with CSF across a wide range of BMW platforms and builds, so being able to catch up with the team while one of our customer's cars formed part of their MPACT display was a nice full-circle moment.
We also spent a lot of time with the Turn14 team throughout the event.
When so much of your day-to-day communication happens through emails, calls and orders, events like MPACT become an important chance to actually spend time together in person and talk about what's happening in the market.
Jacob's M2 being displayed with BBS gave us another strong R44 presence within the show as well.
Rather than having a single R44 booth with everything concentrated in one place, this year's trip ended up feeling much more organic. Our customers and parts were spread around the event, and we'd regularly come across people who already had some connection with the brand.
That suited what we wanted from MPACT 2026 perfectly.
The Builds That Stood Out
With the standard of cars at MPACT being so high, picking favourites wasn't easy, but there were definitely a couple that stood out.
One was a stanced Nardo Grey BMW G90 M5.
There wasn't necessarily one individual modification that made it memorable. It was more the overall presence of the car. The colour, fitment and sheer size of the G90 worked together incredibly well and gave it one of the strongest looks at the event.
The other was the IND BMW G87 M2.
The G87 platform was very well represented throughout MPACT, which was particularly interesting for us given how heavily involved R44 has become with the platform. IND's car was another particularly strong example and showed just how many different directions people are already taking the latest-generation M2.
Jeremy and Jacob's cars obviously meant the most to us personally, but walking around the event also gave the entire team plenty of ideas and a much better understanding of where the US BMW scene is heading.
More Than Just Attending A Car Show
It would be easy to summarise the weekend as R44 flying to America for MPACT. In reality, that doesn't really tell the story.
Throughout the trip, the team was still working. Customers still needed replies, orders still needed dealing with and R44 still had to operate as normal. On top of that, we were trying to locate missing shipments, collect parts from DHL, install two full sets of G87 upgrades and make sure both cars were ready for the show.
Then, once MPACT arrived, we spent essentially the entire day and evening meeting people. Customers, existing partners, new contacts, other businesses and people who had simply followed R44 online all became part of the weekend.
It was busy from start to finish, but that's also why trips like this are so valuable.
If R44 is going to continue growing in the United States, we don't want to do it purely as a UK company selling products into America. We want to be involved. That means showing up to the events, spending time with the community, helping customers build their cars and developing relationships with the businesses and people who are already part of the scene.
MPACT 2026 felt like another step towards that.
Looking Ahead To MPACT 2027
After how well this year's trip worked, we wouldn't necessarily want to completely change the formula for MPACT 2027.
Bringing the team out, working directly with customers and having R44-supported cars positioned around the event gave the weekend a much more personal feel than simply arriving with a conventional trade stand. We'd happily do that again.
There are, however, a couple of things we'd like to add next time. The biggest is bringing an R44 car that we can actually drive on Pocono Raceway.
MPACT isn't purely a static show, and next year we'd like to take much more advantage of the motorsport side of the event. Having one of our own builds there and being able to drive it on track would add another dimension to the weekend entirely. There's also the possibility of a proper R44 booth, potentially alongside MHC, which would give us a permanent base at the event and allow us to showcase more of what we're doing in the US. But whatever the exact setup looks like, MPACT is firmly on our radar for 2027.
This year proved that making the journey to the East Coast is about far more than attending another BMW show. It's about supporting the people who support R44, spending time with the brands we work with and becoming a genuine part of the US BMW community.
And if we can avoid another last-minute trip to a DHL depot next year, even better.
