Homologation specials aren't cheap. For BMW in the early 1980s – then still relatively small compared to its key rivals – motorsport was a painfully expensive, if essential, exercise. The well-heeled enthusiast looking at a £16,685 BMW 325i Sport in 1987 might well have felt a similar sort of pain with the appearance of a £22,750 four-cylinder M3.
The arrival of the £34,500 M3 Sport Evo just two years later, still only available in left-hand drive, could have been a final, insulting blow. Yet the E30 M3's brilliantly successful circuit-racing career established not only a lasting motorsport legacy, but a commercial appeal so strong that it made the price worth paying. The M3 was motoring magic for an audience bored with supercars, offering superlative performance in a package that, rather than being seen as a costly version of a run-of-the-mill saloon car, was a practical, giant-slaying slice of racing pedigree.
The first stirrings within BMW's fledgling Motorsport department for a Class Aracer based on the new E30 3 Series had been generated in 1981, but put on the backburner behind the M1 and Formula One engine projects. Eventually, the small team found the time and, in 1985, the M3 was displayed at the Frankfurt motor show. It made its debut at the inaugural World Touring Car Championship in the Italian round at Monza in 1987, just as it went on sale in the UK (a year after it hit showrooms in its home nation).
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Denne historien er fra June 2022-utgaven av Classic & Sports Car.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring