Article: BMW M3

[Steve Holmes]

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.

[Steve Holmes]

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.

[TonyG]

Paul Morris - Lakeside 1993

[conrod]

Paul Morris - Lakeside 1993

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


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[Steve Holmes]

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?

[Steve Holmes]

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?

[conrod]

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

[Steve Holmes]

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.

[conrod]

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

[conrod]

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

Conrad

[conrod]

[conrod]

[conrod]

[jimdigris]

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.

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.

[Snoozin]

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

Here's a few of mine:


IMG_3387 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr


IMG_2514 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr


IMG_9714 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr


IMG_0451 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr


NZFMR Sunday 22_053 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr


NZFMR Sunday 22_188 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

[Snoozin]

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.

[david5]

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.

[librules]

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.

[Steve Holmes]

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?

[Steve Holmes]

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