Article: BMW M3

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I still vividly recall the first time I saw an image of how the new upcoming BMW E30 M3 Group A car was to look. It was an artists impression in Australian Auto Action magazine, in late 1986 or early 1987, of the new JPS cars that would attack the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship, to try and regain the ATCC title that Jim Richards had won for the team in 1985.

The image struck me as having undergone a little too much artistic licencing, as I felt there was no way this car, with its huge wheel flares and tall rear wing could possibly look as it did in the sketches. Thankfully, I was wrong.

The BMW M3 was a sensation. It enjoyed an interesting international career, in which it quickly struck in its debut season, 1987, proved hugely successful, then faded as as an outright contender as the more powerful turbocharged Sierra’s began to dominate late ‘80s Group A. But then they were given a new lease of life in the 2.5 litre Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM), and revised ATCC of the early 1990s, and were the weapon of choice in the formative days of the new Super Touring formula in 1991.

M3’s were always to be driven at 10/10ths, 100%, all day long. My recollections are of them being completely thrashed, the little 2.3 (and later 2.5) litre 4-cylinder screaming away up in the high rev range, and on the fast, sweeping, European race tracks, swarms of them all slip-streaming each other in a frantic high speed freight train. Many were lost to racing, the extreme way in which they had to be driven called for casualties for sake of success, but their exotic aura, mixed with the brutal way in which they were driven, simply adds to their appeal. A Sierra RS500 approach, in whistling through the corners, then cautiously waiting for the turbo to kick in to be catapulted down the next straight was not the way to drive an M3; It was hammer down all the way, bang through the curves, and don’t dare lose momentum.

This car became an instant classic. Although I’ve never driven one, as race cars, they strike me as being incredibly rewarding to drive, immensely responsive, tight, direct, and right up there in the ‘grin factor’ rankings.

This is simply one of the all-time great touring cars. This thread is a tribute to these little pocket-rockets.

Great little Aussie video here of the 1987 WTCC Round at Monza, with Mike Raymond doing all the talking. This is the race where the first 6 M3's were all dsq.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZl155k3iaM

Paul Morris - Lakeside 1993
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...s/img065-1.jpg

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Originally Posted by TonyG

Paul Morris - Lakeside 1993
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...s/img065-1.jpg

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Nice pic Tony! I bought that car in 2009, as a rolling shell, less running gear. I managed to track down one of the original engines from this car which was in the UK, a Holinger 6 speed gearbox, and lots of other parts which were not with the car. I also managed to "find" its original logbook, it had been in Germany since 1992, and after parting with a big chunk of change it was sent to me. This revealed it was Emanuelle Pirro's 1992 Bigazzi DTM Touring car. At the end of 1992 it was sold to Frank Gardners team and became Paul Morris' car for 1993, in Diet Coke colours as above. He was partnered by "smokin Jo" Winkelhock at Bathurst that year, and Jo set a qualifying time of 2.15.90, the fastest "official" time ever set by an M3 around the mountain. For 1994 it was converted to a 2.0 litre and run in the Super Touring class, as it did for a few races in 1995 and 1996.

It underwent a full bare metal restoration in 2011, and I drove it for the first time a week before the Hampton Downs Festival of Motor Racing in 2012.

Here is a little video we made of it at its first race in 14 years, excuse my cautious driving, it was all very new and I was being rather careful:) Absolutely amazing car to drive, does everything you ask of it, so much fun!

Conrad


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKXYUv1x9Yg[/QUOTE]

Awesome vid Conrad! That little car really has some snot in a straight line, really impressive. If thats you 'being rather careful', I look forward to when you really get stuck in.

Out of interest, where did you find the car? And did you know much of its European history before you bought it?

Another question; What happened to the Frank Gardner run JPS team following the 1987 season? Did the team disband? I know Peter Brock and Jim Richards raced the M3's in 1998, was this team run by Brock, or was Gardner still involved?

Hi Steve,

my car had been in NZ since about 1998 or so. At this point only the history from 1993> was known, from the time it was Paul Morris's Diet Coke car. About a year or so after I bought the car, a friend of mine emailed to say he had found the original logbook. I already knew the car was a 1992 car to DTM spec. so we were only missing the first year of its life. As it turned out, this was probably the most significant year! I had assumed it was probably a brand new car when Paul Morris bought it, or maybe a test car with no history. The logbook when it arrived revealed it was one of 4x 1992 chassis delivered to the Italian team Bigazzi in January of 1992, to be used in the 1992 DTM. Bigazzi was one of the 3 1992 "works" teams for BMW, with Emanuele Pirro and Steve Soper as their drivers. Chassis 213 was Steve Sopers car, and is now in Luxembourg. Chassis 214 (mine) was Pirro's car for the season. Chassis 212 was used for testing only, and is now owned by the BMW Museum in Munich. Chassis 254 was the "T" car (spare car) and is now in Japan. To say I was very happy to discover its 1992 history would be a bit of an understatement. Pirro was always a hero of mine, from my teenage days when we would make the yearly trek to Wellington and watch the Nissan Mobil street race, that guy was awesome:) So quite a privelege for me to own something he has sat his bum in, even if the car did not enjoy a huge amount of success in that year. I have done a bit of a blog on my website from when I bought the car, and rebuilt it here:

http://www.m3motorsport.co.nz/projects/1992-bigazzi-dtm

I raced the car again this year at Hampton, and knocked about 2-3 seconds off those laps times I was doing in that video, and there is still more to come from the car (although I not sure if the driver has any more talent left though!:)) It has the last evolution 2.5 DTM engine, so thats a 4 cylinder 2.5L and makes 355hp @ 9200 rpm.

That first meeting was very much a bitter-sweet one for me. The car had only just been completed and I was really keen to see how it would go. A good friend of mine Jason Richards was coming over from Australia to drive the car at this meeting, I was really excited about this, I had known Jase since the BMW days in NZ, I was his engineer for about 3 years and we became very good friends. Unfortunately Jase succumbed to cancer about 5 weeks before the event, the T-shirt I am wearing in that clip had a pic of someone giving the finger, with the word "cancer" written below. ("f%$k cancer") This was a T-shirt designed by a friend of Jasons in his last years that he was fighting cancer, and is something Jase often wore himself, he also had the picture painted on the back of his helmet. In his memory I had my signwriter make a tribute on the bonnet of the M3 to JR, which will stay there forever.

In answer to your last question, the Frank Gardner team continued into 1988, but switched to the RS500, as they could see that was the way forward in Australia at least. Most of the team personnel remained as far as I know, And Tony Longhurst and Alan Jones teamed up as the main drivers. I don't know much about the teams that ran the Mobil 1 M3's, a few of the Frank Gardner personnel were involved, but I believe it was essentially a completely different team. Someone else may be able to clarify a bit more here.

Conrad

Thanks Conrad, yes I did notice the Jason Richards image on the bonnet in the video. Such a sad situation with Jason. Many professional racing drivers forget how fortunate they are to be racing cars for a living, and being paid handsomely for it. They make it look like its all just a massive chore. Jason always wore his heart on his sleeve, and made it clear he knew how fortunate he was to be doing what he did. I think that was the thing I appreciated most in him.

I knew Jason long before he became famous. He never let the fame and fortune go to his head, he was always hungry to win, and he did not have to put on his "PR" face when being interviewed, that smiling happy guy on the TV was just the way he was. I feel very fortunate to have known him, he inspired me to do many things that I would otherwise not have had the confidence to do. The M3 above being one of them, live your dreams was his philosophy:)

Conrad

Here are some random pics I have of M3's in action. I must have thousands on my computer and on memory sticks:)

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Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

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I still vividly recall the first time I saw an image of how the new upcoming BMW E30 M3 Group A car was to look. It was an artists impression in Australian Auto Action magazine, in late 1986 or early 1987, of the new JPS cars that would attack the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship, to try and regain the ATCC title that Jim Richards had won for the team in 1985.

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geeze I remember that article like it was yesterday and I thought oh oh, we could have a pocket rocket here. Whilst at a round of the 1986 ATCC, I thnk it was Surfers Paradise, it must have been because P.Brock had a rare win, Longhurst was belting around in a 3 series BMW instead of the second 635, and he was giving everyone else curry through the twisty bits, just losing out down the straights. I asked one of the blokes in the JPS crew what they had done to it, and he replied Frank is just sorting out some suspension components we expect to be running next year in the M3. He added that it wasnt strictly illegal but if no-one protests then it doesnt really matter does it, if it looks like getting anywhere we will bring it in.

Awesome images! Definitely has to be one of the greatest tin tops of all time, surely?

Here's a few of mine:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8358/8...f368583e_b.jpg
IMG_3387 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8514/8...278fc864_b.jpg
IMG_2514 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8467/8...065966bc_b.jpg
IMG_9714 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8234/8...266bc232_b.jpg
IMG_0451 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6...cf5c06e0_b.jpg
NZFMR Sunday 22_053 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/6...86e17e02_b.jpg
NZFMR Sunday 22_188 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/mona...ellington-1990

And this great little mini doco on the 1990 Nissan Mobil 500 focusing on the Schnitzer BMW effort.

I was at Amaroo for the M3s Sydney debut & remeber the amazing noise the JPS cars made as they came towards you. The beauty of Amaroo being you could just walk up to the open carport that they used for pits and look into the cars. Couldn't faults Frank's cars for preperation, rather eat of the floor of them than the foodstalls there.

Re the Brock Mobil M3s, they were basically run by the same Brock team that had run Holdens up to that point. I remember going to a public day at their workshops in Port Melbourne prior to the season and they were very upbeat. One of the crew claimed they were planning to extract some more horsepower as they'd found a tweak which the JPS team hadn't cottoned on to. It struck me as dubious at the time and and proved to be so as the year unfolded. Regardless, the M3 is one of my all-time favourite homologation tourers and I'd love to have a road-goer in my garage. I think they may have had some minor BMW backing but not to the level of Frank's team.

Awesome pics and info guys. I love that Bastos livery. It looked great on everything it was applied to.

Thanks for the info on the JPS team following the 1987 season. I knew Gardner had gone over to run the Longhurst Freeport/B&H RS500s, but had always just assumed it was Longhurst himself who had set up this team, and that he employed Gardner to run it. It never occurred to me Gardner simply switched from BMWs to the Sierra. I wonder why Jim Richards went to the Brock team?

Conrad, the period photo of Paul Morris with the Diet Coke car. Is this your car?

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Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

Conrad, the period photo of Paul Morris with the Diet Coke car. Is this your car?

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yes it is, very "80's" colour scheme huh?

I also like the Bastos livery, so much that I did my first Gp.A car as a replica. Nobody over here cottoned on to the fact it is cigarettes, otherwise I might have been given a hard time:)

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Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

I knew Gardner had gone over to run the Longhurst Freeport/B&H RS500s, but had always just assumed it was Longhurst himself who had set up this team, and that he employed Gardner to run it. It never occurred to me Gardner simply switched from BMWs to the Sierra. I wonder why Jim Richards went to the Brock team?

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Officially a very tired and ill Frank Gardner retired at the end of 87, putting the team up for sale, disalusioned by the politics of Bathurst87 after being made a scapegoat for his name was on the protest against the Texaco team. This left Ol Jum and TL out of a drive. TL took on the Freeport (same parent company as JPS and later B/H) sponsorship as he had secured some stakes in it through his fathers considerable business interests. It was TL's fathers money that paid to get the Freeport team up and running but the Freeport sponsorship was under the provision of being run as a top tier team so Tony talked Frank out of retirement. Brock only wanted the cars and associated spares etc, ol Jum driverless but he and PB had history so a deal was struck. What PB didnt know was FIA was going to clamp down on the M3 and make them run what they should have run in 87, the original intake and injector manifold, and air inlet tract. This "robbed" the little screamer of 20-30HP, making them an also ran on the power circuits. Why FIA never enforced it in 87 is a mystery to this day

oh and for those that dont know how bad the politics were, Ford believed Frank's protest had cost them the WTCC so they black balled him, he could not get any Sierra parts through official channels. Now even the top teams found it hard to get parts but being on the black list made the Freeport venture a non starter, but wiley Frank had an ace up his sleeve. The Ace was a little known driver in Europe that Frank had helped and that driver was recruited to secure the parts the team needed. The driver was rewarded for his work with a drive at Bathurst that year, which he went on to win ;)

Very interesting information jimdigris! I was not aware of the whole Freeport deal. Do you know any more details about what the M3's were running in 87 as far as inlet manifold and airbox etc? I had heard the story about Mezera. I bet the whole 87 Bathurst/Eggenberger protest debacle was a messy one!.....

Wow Jim, that is great info, and something I've been wondering about for 25 years! From the outside, the JPS BMW team always appeared to be Franks team, while the Freeport/B&H team always appeared to be Tonys team, so I always assumed it was Tony who started the Freeport/B&H team, but had never read that this was the case. Thanks for your response.

Here are pics of some of the M3's racing at this years Silverstone Classic. The blue Labatt's car is the one raced by Tim Harvey, whose team mate Will Hoy won the BTCC the first year the championship was run for Super Touring in 1991.

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At the start of the 88 season FISA announced they would be clamping down on what they called "irregularities" (they didnt call it cheating). First up was turbo cars must run the intercooler homologated on the road car, previously this was in the grey area of the rules. Next was fuel inlet system must be what was homologated on the road car, but with Electronic control systems still free, ie the manifold, injectors or carby, and air inlet ducts must be exactly what was fitted to the road cars. Previously the BMWs ran a very modified air inlet cold air inlet box and a slightly different modified manifold. Previously the only time in Europe in the 87 season any top Group A team was picked up for running non standard fuel systems was at round 1 at Monza when the Texaco team (surprise surprise!) was not allowed to race after scrutineering showed the fuel system was radically different, the BMWs at this point were running the road base system but six were disqualified for illegal body work, mainly carbon fibre boot lids. Later in the season (just before the SPA 24 hour race) a BMW factory approved modified air and fuel inlet system was supplied to most teams, which gave them a jump of 20-30 HP, depending on who you believe. FISA did nothing and the BMW runners ran with it for the rest of the year thinking that it was legal. As it turned out, it wasnt. The Mobil team turned up for the first round of the ATCC with the modified system not knowing it was now deemed illegal. Larry Perkins knew and brought it to the officials attention and PB was eventually allowed to run that one round under a special dispension that all teams had to sign off for. LP was the last to sign but just before he signed he said to Peter "why dont you just go down to the local BMW dealer and buy the correct parts, I know I can go to my local Holden dealer and do that", which brought quite a few chuckles and elbowing in the room. The allowance of Peter and Jim to race was that they would be awarded no points no matter where they finished. The following round the Mobil cars fronted with the correct system and were slower than the previous year. The ruling made the cars nearly 2 seconds a lap slow at big tracks like Bathurst

the two pics above are perfect to highlight the difference in the aero package between the M3 EVO2 and the M3 EVO3. I never did like the look of the EVO3's rear spoiler.

thanks for the explanation jimd, thats very interesting! I have owned a couple of "Gp.A" throttle bodies, and they always struck me as being a bit illegal. As you said, the Gp.A intake system (from the throttle butterflies from memory) had to remain standard. The Gp.A throttle bodies were a different casting, with a different part number. They were much thicker in the casting at the point it bolted to the cylinder head, which meant it could be ported out much larger than the road car throttle bodies. The butterflies remained at 46mm, but were knife eded, and the throttle shafts were streamlined as well. I would bet a dollar that this is the item of contention mentioned in your post. This must be why BMW homologated the EVO2 during 1988(?) with 48mm throttle butterflies and the thicker casting. This mod was also included on the Sport Evo (EVO3) in 1990 with the 2.5 engine.

Interesting though, that when Frank Gardner/Tony Longhurst switched back to the M3 in 1991, they ran what was almost a full DTM spec. car, with slide throttles and 8 injectors, as well as the other freedoms allowed in DTM, such as raised innner wheelarches etc. These were a much quicker car than a proper Gp.A car.

Also of interest is what you mention about the intercoolers on turbo cars. I am helping a friend rebuild an Eggenberger XR4Ti, and through our research we have discovered that the race car had a large front mount intercooler. Now the road car did not have an intercooler at all, and there was no intercooler in the homologation docs. ! It appears all of the Xr4Ti runners were doing this too.
I think the argument may have been that the cooling system was essentially free, and that this was part of the cooling system?

Conrad

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Originally Posted by jimdigris

At the start of the 88 season FISA announced they would be clamping down on what they called "irregularities" (they didnt call it cheating). First up was turbo cars must run the intercooler homologated on the road car, previously this was in the grey area of the rules. Next was fuel inlet system must be what was homologated on the road car, but with Electronic control systems still free, ie the manifold, injectors or carby, and air inlet ducts must be exactly what was fitted to the road cars. Previously the BMWs ran a very modified air inlet cold air inlet box and a slightly different modified manifold. Previously the only time in Europe in the 87 season any top Group A team was picked up for running non standard fuel systems was at round 1 at Monza when the Texaco team (surprise surprise!) was not allowed to race after scrutineering showed the fuel system was radically different, the BMWs at this point were running the road base system but six were disqualified for illegal body work, mainly carbon fibre boot lids. Later in the season (just before the SPA 24 hour race) a BMW factory approved modified air and fuel inlet system was supplied to most teams, which gave them a jump of 20-30 HP, depending on who you believe. FISA did nothing and the BMW runners ran with it for the rest of the year thinking that it was legal. As it turned out, it wasnt. The Mobil team turned up for the first round of the ATCC with the modified system not knowing it was now deemed illegal. Larry Perkins knew and brought it to the officials attention and PB was eventually allowed to run that one round under a special dispension that all teams had to sign off for. LP was the last to sign but just before he signed he said to Peter "why dont you just go down to the local BMW dealer and buy the correct parts, I know I can go to my local Holden dealer and do that", which brought quite a few chuckles and elbowing in the room. The allowance of Peter and Jim to race was that they would be awarded no points no matter where they finished. The following round the Mobil cars fronted with the correct system and were slower than the previous year. The ruling made the cars nearly 2 seconds a lap slow at big tracks like Bathurst

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Tis is really great info Jim! Thanks for posting.

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Originally Posted by jimdigris

the two pics above are perfect to highlight the difference in the aero package between the M3 EVO2 and the M3 EVO3. I never did like the look of the EVO3's rear spoiler.

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Its interesting that only the original M3 bodywork appears to have been eligible for Super Touring when it was introduced in 1991, and not the EVO bodywork.

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Originally Posted by conrod

Interesting though, that when Frank Gardner/Tony Longhurst switched back to the M3 in 1991, they ran what was almost a full DTM spec. car, with slide throttles and 8 injectors, as well as the otehr freedoms allowed in DTM, such as raised innner wheelarches etc. These were a much quicker car than a proper Gp.A car.

Conrad

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I have a feeling the ATCC was no longer running to Group A rules by 1991? Wasn't it a sort of CAMS created thing that attempted to produce an even balance between the various manufacturers, rather than the more black and white Group A rules? I recall the Skyline's being heavily weighed down with ballast, while the Sierra's were running much narrower wheels. The Longhurst M3's would often start out mid-pack, then pick their way forward as the more powerful cars ran out of tyres. Or did I just imagine all that?

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Originally Posted by jimdigris

At the start of the 88 season FISA announced they would be clamping down on what they called "irregularities" (they didnt call it cheating). First up was turbo cars must run the intercooler homologated on the road car, previously this was in the grey area of the rules. Next was fuel inlet system must be what was homologated on the road car, but with Electronic control systems still free, ie the manifold, injectors or carby, and air inlet ducts must be exactly what was fitted to the road cars. Previously the BMWs ran a very modified air inlet cold air inlet box and a slightly different modified manifold. Previously the only time in Europe in the 87 season any top Group A team was picked up for running non standard fuel systems was at round 1 at Monza when the Texaco team (surprise surprise!) was not allowed to race after scrutineering showed the fuel system was radically different, the BMWs at this point were running the road base system but six were disqualified for illegal body work, mainly carbon fibre boot lids. Later in the season (just before the SPA 24 hour race) a BMW factory approved modified air and fuel inlet system was supplied to most teams, which gave them a jump of 20-30 HP, depending on who you believe. FISA did nothing and the BMW runners ran with it for the rest of the year thinking that it was legal. As it turned out, it wasnt. The Mobil team turned up for the first round of the ATCC with the modified system not knowing it was now deemed illegal. Larry Perkins knew and brought it to the officials attention and PB was eventually allowed to run that one round under a special dispension that all teams had to sign off for. LP was the last to sign but just before he signed he said to Peter "why dont you just go down to the local BMW dealer and buy the correct parts, I know I can go to my local Holden dealer and do that", which brought quite a few chuckles and elbowing in the room. The allowance of Peter and Jim to race was that they would be awarded no points no matter where they finished. The following round the Mobil cars fronted with the correct system and were slower than the previous year. The ruling made the cars nearly 2 seconds a lap slow at big tracks like Bathurst

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Wasnt Brocks M3 upgraded to EvoII spec before Bathurst? It was running a 6 speed box by that stage wasnt it?
I think he would have done quite well if he hadnt hit a tyre sitting on Conrod.

Also, the coming to grips of other teams running RS500 in 1988 didnt help Brocks effort at all.

Speaking of E30 M3's, here is Tony Longhurst crash with the John Sax M3 at the Nissan Mobil 500 (Wellington round).

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Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

I have a feeling the ATCC was no longer running to Group A rules by 1991? Wasn't it a sort of CAMS created thing that attempted to produce an even balance between the various manufacturers, rather than the more black and white Group A rules? I recall the Skyline's being heavily weighed down with ballast, while the Sierra's were running much narrower wheels. The Longhurst M3's would often start out mid-pack, then pick their way forward as the more powerful cars ran out of tyres. Or did I just imagine all that?

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Hey Steve, at the start of this clip (Round 1 of the 1992 ATCC) shows the new CAMS rules for the 1992. The M3 had weight added but was rev free:

http://youtu.be/7jXLJwxzUSA

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Originally Posted by conrod

Also of interest is what you mention about the intercoolers on turbo cars. I am helping a friend rebuild an Eggenberger XR4Ti, and through our research we have discovered that the race car had a large front mount intercooler. Now the road car did not have an intercooler at all, and there was no intercooler in the homologation docs. ! It appears all of the Xr4Ti runners were doing this too.
I think the argument may have been that the cooling system was essentially free, and that this was part of the cooling system?

Conrad

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Depending on who/what/where really. In Europe the teams saw intercoolers as part of the cooling system as you suggest, and hence ran them, but in Australia it was seen different. Australia saw it as part of the engine system and if the road car didnt have it, then neither could the race car. In 85 at Bathurst the Mitsubishi Starions were presented with intercoolers and a programable engine management and fuel injection system. They were told they could not run the intercoolers because they were not homologated, it was protested but the protest failed. The management system was supposed to have been homologated but due to a paperwork error in Japan it did not happen in time for the September homologation. Despite claims by the Starion teams they couldnt possibly fit the standard system to their race engine they did, but the poor old starions were running like a hairy goat all week. The turbocharger and all its parts were continually the bane of the scrutineers, you could have five sierras lined up from five teams and not one would be the same as the other. Colin Bond actually had the audacity to claim that the turbo was not part of the engine but an accessory and since accessories were "free" he could do anything he liked with the turbo system :D