BMW Motorsport Gmbh is without question one of the most experienced and effective of all competition-orientated research and development units. Its subtle M-motifs have distinguished BMW’s remarkable M5 performance four-door saloon and the mouth-watering-if-very expensive-M635CSi Coupe, and now these respected badges are appearing on what will initially at least be a 5,000-off homologation batch of 3-series two-door saloons intended to legalise the model for International Group A touring car racing from the start of next season. The new model is called, simply, the BMW M3.

Now the good news is that this top-of-the-range 3-series feels very nearly as good as it sounds with its 7,000rpm 16-valve four-cylinder fuel-injected engine delivering 200 horsepower. Such sheer, basic grunt is accompanied by an extremely high standard of refinement, ride and roadholding which is provided by extensive modification to both the basic 3-series bodyshell and the running gear.

But the bad news is that we shall not be seeing the model here in the UK. Now considering that this is one of the most enthusiastic of performance-orientated markets, why won’t we be getting it Essentially the tall 2.3-litre engine is a slant-four, angled to the right to minimise bonnet height, induction on the left, four branch fabricated exhaust manifolding dropping down to the right. Motorsport’s M3 engineering group, headed by ex-Ford and Audi boffin Dr Thomas Ammerschlager, has toyed with ways to insinuate right-hand drive steering beneath that slant-head and clear of a suitably efficient exhaust manifold, but they have concluded that it can’t be done.

“We would have to replace the ‘fan’ manifold with a cast one and that would probably cost us 15 maybe 20 horsepower”. A right-hand drive M3 would therefore be strangled down to around 180bhp, which is only nine more than the sprightly 325i which is already available over here. The price premium on the M3 will be such that a 9bhp advantage over the next model down simply would not make sense, Now that is a pity because the M3 in unstrangulated form really is quite an impressive beast, though in what I consider to be a surprisingly unexciting way . . . Let me explain.

Essentially, Motorsport regard it as the logical successor to the M1 mid-engined Coupe which they struggled so hard to build between 1978 and ’81. They justify this stance by explaining that it is the first BMW since the M1 to be designed and built for competition from square one without compromise, beyond those demanded by the relevant racing regulations.

You see it is not just another hopped up basic 3-series saloon. It is far more fundamentally a new and different model, a mere 3-series lookalike, and a true ‘homologation special’ because, after insisting that they want to bow out of Formula One engine supply. Munich is fiercely determined to achieve real success again in the European Touring Car Championship, as of yore.

In fact the company’s commitment to the new M3 is such that it becomes the first M3 is such that it becomes the first BMW ever to be developed by Motorsport Gmbh for production on BMW AG’s volume lines. Motorsport Gmbh itself in Preussenstrasse has only 315 employees, two-thirds of them design and development engineers rather than production people, and from September this year their new plant in Garching-another suburb of Munich-will be building the M5 in relatively puny numbers while AG’s main plant thunders out 5,000 M3s hopefully in time for Group A homologation (acceptance) in March, next year. In fact Preussentrasse produced 250 M5s in 1985, it and Garching will complete a projected 450 this year, then production is planned to rise to 650 next year and to 1,000 in 1988.

The idea for the M3 was first floated in Summer 1981 just as the 456th and last M1 was being completed.To provide Bee-Emm with the greatest possible startline advantage with the 2.5-litre Group A class, it was necessary for as many circuit-racing tweaks as possible to be designed into the production model as standard.

Consequently the basic 3-series steel sheet was modified to carry widely flared pressed-steel-note, not Tupperware ‘add-on’ –wheel arches as standard, capacious enough to accommodate 10-inch wide wheels as permitted under Group A for cars up to 2,500cc.

Wind tunnel test results indicated an improvement in Cd by raising the standard 3-series’ boot-lid height-Mercedes-Benz of course having come to the same conclusion with their 190E Shells. Rear screen rake was eased three-degrees to provide smoother lead-in to an end-plate mounted rear wing. Plastic composite moulding technology provided the new raised bootlid, rear-screen pillar outer skin and sandwich-construction wing components. Suspension development produced what Amerschlager’s group considered the proper compromise between road and track settings, and ABS braking with enlarged discs and stiffened calipers was adopted as standard with power steering. Neither ABS nor PAS will appear on the finalised Group A racing M3s unless there is some quantum leap in either technology.

Ever since their fiendishly-complex Apfelbeck-headed radial-four-valve competition engine of the mid-‘60s, BMW have been to the fore in the arts of four-valves-per-cylinder head design and once they shook the radial valve format from their minds and adopted a more simple pent-roof layout their power units, developed under the direction most notably of Paul Rosche, became fearsomely effective, and reliable.

They have won six European Formula Two Championship titles, in addition to numerous touring car trophies and in effect the new M3’s four-cylinder 16-valve head represents two-thirds of the M1-originated 24-valve six-cylinder which lives on in the current M5 and M635CSi. The Rosche/Ammerschlager team preferred the four-cylinder to a ‘six’ because its relatively shorter crankshaft is inherently stiffer while the in-line four-cylinder layout avoids the torsional vibration periods inherent with a ‘six’, promising higher revs, hence more gas passed through the engine, hence more power, with greater reliability.

So effective has this choice proved to be that the standard M3 is now red-lined at 7,000rpm-not half bad for a sizeable ‘four’-and if the driver is that way inclined 7,500rpm can be used, though if sustained I feel it would probably invalidate the guarantee . . .

Of infinitely more importance to Motorsport’s engineers is the promise of a sustainable 10,000rpm in Group A racing form, and that I do find impressive. . .

The age-old BMW 1,500-derived cast-iron block provides the basis of the M3’s engine, bored-out now to 93.4mm. This overbore necessitates casting the two centre-cylinder liners in one unit-as is already the case with the six-cylinder engines-and this itself increases unit stiffness. Stroke is 84mm for a 2.302cc displacement, and the forged, eight-balance-weight crankshaft rotates in five main bearings. It’s a wet-sump unit with careful baffling and a separate oil-cooler matrix tucked away behind the car’s aerodynamic chin-dam.

Inside each pent-roof combustion chamber the four valves per cylinder are inclined respectively at 18-degrees (intake) and 20-degrees (exhaust), for an included angle of 38-degrees. The inlet-valve heads are 37mm-nearly an inch and a half-in diameter, exhausts 32mm, just over an inch and a quarter.

There’s a single central spark plug per cylinder, and the valves are actuated by duplex-chain-driven dohc-the Formula. One variants of this block, remember, using gear-driven camshafts instead. Bosch Motronic digital fuel injection is fitted with intake air volume engine-management sensing. There are four separate intake manifolds, each with its own independent throttle butterfly.

Significantly BMW intended to sell the M3 (and also the M653CSi) in the USA, and their development provides a catalysed M3 (as now demanded increasingly in Europe) with only five bhp less than the unconverted version. Its peak 195bhp and the free-flow’s 200bhp are both developed at 6.750rpm, while peak torque is exerted at 4.750rpm. BMW claim 0-100kph (0-62mph) in just 6.7sec for the un-catalysed model, 7.1sec with converter.

Externally the M3 is unmistakable with its lowered suspension, extended wheel arch bays, front and rear air dams, that rear wing with its full-width unsupported span offering an uninterrupted working undersurface, and less steeply raked rear-screen.

In fact glass is a very rigid material, and Ammerschlager has specified bonded-in front and rear screens for the M3 which materially improve the bodyshell’s torsional rigidity, a vital factor in achieving competitive handling for the racing version, which will have a minimum 300bhp and rev to 10,000rpm, and maybe more . . .

Standard moulded composite bumpers match worldwide requirements including the USA’s nutty-Norah standards, the plastic boot-lid is 40mm, 1.6in, higher than the standard 3-series and assists in a 50 per cent aerodynamic lift reduction.

Underneath, front suspension geometry changes have tripled castor to ensure directional stability at 140mph-plus top speeds. Anti-drive is built in and power steering has been carefully weighted to give more feel. Redesigned front stub axles accommodate larger-than-standard racing-orientated wheel bearings. Anti-roll bars appear front and rear, picking-up outboard of the spring struts to exert “almost twice the standard spring effect” Gas-filled dampers have been selected with very firm settings, and different response curves selected during Bee. Emm’s development testing.

While rear suspension is essentially standard 3-sereis, save for uprated damping and spring-rates, the entire M3 brake system is new, using larger, thicker discs clasped by stiffened heavy-duty calipers. Wheels are 15in diameter cast-alloy as standard carrying 205/55 VR 15 tyres.

A new transmission system was necessary, a bonded-lining heavy-duty clutch now driving to a close-ratio five speed gearbox using what used to be known as the “ZF” change pattern, whit first across to the left and back. Ratio spacing is very close with fifth a true fifth, not an economy-style overdrive gear. There’s a 25 per cent locker in the final-drive.

So what’s it like on the road? Let me first declare an interest, or possibly prejudice. My previous experience of BMWs up to the 325i left me with hardly any impression at all, beyond the recognition that they very nicely engineered and well made and I felt generally both over-rated and over-priced. Nice, efficient, crisply dull cars, tending, despite their manufacturer’s laudable sporting activities, towards dull. Arrive at your destination, lock it up, walk away and you couldn’t remember what you had driven there in.

The 325i changed much of that; the M5 woke me up and the M635CSi quite bowled me over, so I regarded the opportunity of being let loose in a new M3 in Tuscany with relish.

Initial reactions were as follows; tight, comfy, sensible sports seat really locates you well. Gear change quite stiff, rather long travel for such a sporting car, soon became accustomed to the odd gate-yes well, it wasn’t the first time I’d used that ZF pattern (this is called over-confidence).

Out onto the autostrada near the spa town of Montecatini Terme it was impossible to try a maximum speed run due to heavy morning traffic but two features instantly impressed. Firstly it’s difficult to believe the M3 has such a sizeable four-cylinder engine beneath its bonnet. It revs so freely and so smoothly it could easily be a six, and almost a turbine. It’s responsive and willing, and Motorsport have achieved that degree of refinement without the complication of Porsche 944-style separate balance shaft to smooth it out.

Yes, Motorsport’s preferred short-stiff block and eight-balance crankshaft really pay off exquisitely well.And then the chassis ride quality is superb. It is firm-damped, level and roll-free (on the road) yet there’s no skipping from crag to crag, nor any apparent penalty in excessive thump-bump road noise. I was very impressed. Overall the M3 is a laudably quiet performance car.

Neither do those low-profile tyres notably grab and white-line on longitudinal joints or runnels, this in marked contrast to the Ford RS Turbo which nearly broke my wrist in a wild runnel-deflection without actually hitting anything. Still hurts me occasionally, so it does.

Traffic clears near Pistoia, let’s try some oomph. Knocking down into fourth, floor the throttle and . . . disappointment.Not very much happens. Below 4,000-4,500rpm there’s apparently nothing at home. The M3 accelerates sure enough, but there’s nothing at all dramatically neck-breaking about it. There’s just a firm, constant thrust as the autostrada streams by, the pressure increases smoothly up around 5,000rpm, and there’s a robust hard edge to the exhaust note higher in the range at peak power. Up around 120-125mph we ran out of clear road, there was obviously far more to come towards BMW’s claimed maximum of 143mph. but like so many of the M-series this M3’s true pace becomes more apparent on paper than on the open road where its character is really so restrained. It is a top-end autobame stormer rather than a traffic-light sprinter, and although it can fight its corner most effectively there too, that is not its forte.

From 50 to 75mph takes only 7.5sec in fourth, and as we would shortly discover, that smooth engine is also quite flexible when pulling from low speeds in the higher gears, short of ‘racing it’ through the “box.Up into the mountains towards Vinci-Leonardo’s home-town-and on towards Scarperia and the Mugello autodrome the M3 proved a most effective point-to-pointer on winding roads, though on one sharp dusty right hander it showed the fierce understeer now built in to all road BMWs for stability in high-speed curves, and to kill their one-time reputation as wicked terminal oversteerers. But you just back off and it tucks in.

Then, selecting reverse during photography, our car’s gear-level snapped off in my hand . . .crystalline fatigue showing in the fracture, down in the tunnel an inch and a half above the bottom joint. “Pre-production!”, Motorsport’s men would roar. It had certainly lived a hard life in several previous days of press-testing.

With Grand Prix heroics in mind we drove on to Mugello. Trying another car on circuit it then became very evident that the understeer dialled in for the road has to be dialled out for the Group A racer, but equally clearly that a couple of days juggling with alternative spring-rates and damper settings would do the trick. Mugello itself is a tricky place, with a succession of varying-severity S-bends, two fast 90-degree rights (which you can link together into one 100mph sweeper) and three long open 180-degree plus curves in which, unless you were prepared to stuff it in tail-out, front-tyre scrub would take over and until you could wind off lock whereupon the tail would kick out at last.

And for all my ‘vast experience’ of that ZF gearchange pattern, I forgot it all in my first two laps learning the circuit, and having had the gear-lever in one car fracture totally, through no fault of my own. I now found myself trying hard to snap another. In scientific terms it’s called Driving Like a Rock-Ape, but mind prevailed over mass, the M3 survived, and so did I.

It proved so stable in faster turns you could really do anything with it. Minimal roll, back-off or sudden turn-in oversteer available at will, magnificently-weighted steering retaining sufficient feel to enable you to catch any slide, very powerful, again-responsive brakes performing without complaint beyond blackening the front wheels with pad-dust.

Eventually, after slithering up the kerbs, quite quick and never on the grass but never as smooth as I would have liked to be, I got it together, the M3 swinging lock-to-lock comfortably through the esses, spending perhaps two-fifths of every lap in long sustained slides, an indicated 124mph, just coming up in fifth before braking at under 150-metres into the hairpin beyond the pits.

It was hot and sunny and after 10 successive laps with bare slippery hands I was plain running out of puff, unlike Bee-Emm’s latest.It impresses as a thoroughly competent car, too refined to feel as neck-breakingly quick as its figures might suggest but oh so effective and efficient as a cross-country charger.

In comparison with its rival Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16 and the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, what d’you find?It is nominally 4bhp down on the albeit-turbocharged Ford but a whopping 15bhp up on the Merc. It has 177lb ft of torque at 4,750rpm, a little more than the hapless Merc but a whopping 26 less than the much less-expensive forced-induction Ford. It is slower flat-out than the Ford but considerably quicker than the Merc, and its 0-62mph time is 0.1sec quicker than the turbo Ford and a full 0.6sec. quicker than the Mercedes.

From this comparison the Mercedes, which is fully 132lb heavier than the M3, is not only the heaviest of this trio but also the least powerful-by a considerable margin-it has the lowest top speed – again by a considerable margin – and is the slowest 0-62mph, yet despite all these minuses it is still the most expensive; in Germany DM58, 140 against DM58,000 for the M3 and a relative-bargain DM-48, 420 for the cheap and cheerful Ford.

On paper the turbo Sierra Cosworth predictably out—performs the new M3 on power, torque and top speed but is 88lb heavier which, together with its turbo wind-up characteristics, explain its acceleration deficit. The significant point must be that the M3 performs without recourse to forced induction and the thermal stress that imposes, so promises greater reliability.
Neither will the Sierra Cosworth and the M3 fall into the same Group A class, by virtue of the Ford being turbocharged.

Motorsport Gmbh having now unleashed their M3, it is up to BMW AG to complete that initial 5,000-off batch in time for their FISA homologation target date next year. If they manage it in time the 2,500cc Group A class will surely become another Bcc-Emm preserve.

But it remains to be seen whether or not the UK will ever win itself a right-hand drive M3. I got the impression that Motorsport’s planners don’t understand the-British attitude to left-hand drive, despite my patient explanation that we drive on that side to keep our sword- hands free. Will demand make dropping another model here to make logical space for the M3 seem sensible? That must be very doubtful.

Irrespective, it‘s a very impressive little beast, but never the wicked fire-breathing projectile some might claim it to be. It’s above and in some ways beyond such undignified behavior. Because it is a BMW after all…

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It was on the second day that the temptation became irresistible. Oh certainly, we’d spent a day tearing up and down Welsh mountainsides for the benefit of lensman Tim Andrew’s pictures. And perhaps there had occasionally been a touch of oversteer here and there on tighter corners to remind me that I was driving a BMW.

But the grip generated by those huge MXX Michelins was becoming disconcerting. No embarrassing tail-slides pulling away from road junctions in a hurry, no red-faces following rushed zig-zags through quiet, backwater intersections. In the end it took a dumped clutch at a secluded country cross-roads near to home. That did it.

A touch with the right foot to pick up the revs, then a sidestep with the left. Two large patches of French rubber on the road or not, the result was wickedly satisfying. The tenor howl rose from beneath the hood, the tail drifted slightly to the right, and those back wheels spun at last.

Well yes, it was uncalled for and, yes, they are expensive tires and, yes, they do belong to somebody other than myself.

You see, it isn’t often that people get away with shoe-horning very big, very powerful engines into small, thoroughbred, sports sedans better suited to high-revving, piccolo power units and get away with it. Usually such experiments are ill-conceived, sometimes poorly executed, and more often than not best quickly forgotten.

And in truth it’s not generally the Alpina way, either. Alpina usually sticks to “sensible” modifications like straightforward engine and chassis tuning. Usually, but not always. The Alpina B63.55 isn’t till-conceived, though. Oh, no, not that.

Sometimes, just occasionally, a car comes along that’s so fundamentally correct, so well thought out, that it can happily withstand quite drastic modifications. Less often can they withstand such changes without allowing the finer points of the originals to be compromised.

M3 Ancestry

The B6 hails from a racing success story, like most good hybrids. It is basically an 3 whose four cylinder engine has been replaced by a tune 3.5 litre six, although that’s nto the whole story. The M3 was the BMW that shook the European high performance scene in 1986 and arrived stateside a year later. There hadn’t been a BMW like it for many years – the company had grown conservative and the idea of using four cylinders to make one of their cars go quickly just wasn’t acceptable.

But the M3 wasn’t designed like the other BMWs, to woo executive customers away from Daimler-Benz. This little fellow was designed to win races. Thomas Ammerschlager, an ex-Ford Motorsport man, was in charge of the team at BMW Motorsport. And he, like the rest of the team at BMW’s highly specialized motorsport department, understands the basic elements of speed.

The first journalists to drive the new racer scarcely knew what to think. With those wide, boxy wheel arches and rear spoiler, the car barely looked like a 3-Series. On the sweeping circuit at Mugello in Italy where the M3 made its summer debut, it didn’t feel like any other 3-Series BMW.

And that engine. The 2.3 litre four cylinder engine Ammerschlager created had a 16-valve head and developed 200bhp at 6750rpm with 176lbs. ft of torque at 4750rpm. Nothing happened below 4500rpm; once over that barrier, however, everything happened. It carried on happening until 7000rpm and made sure everyone knew about it. In Group A racing trim, the little four produces nearer to 300bhp (the rank is strong enough to withstand 10,000rpm). More people now know about the little Motorsports engine that could.

Group A is Europe’s sedan racing category. To be eligible or “homologated” for it, manufacturers have to build at least 5000 cars for public consumption, cars which earn the nickname “homologation special.”

The M3’s success since 1986 has been enormous, with many international championship wins to its credit. But despite its appeal, the power unit is uncompromisingly noisy and needs to be worked very hard indeed to get any satisfaction, either in street or race form.

Enter Alpina

Burkard Bovensiepen knows a bit about racing BMWs, too. He did a lot of it before and after he created Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH in 1965. Alpina is an unusual company. It isn’t owned by BMW, yet BMW gives its blessing to Alpina’s work. It is a curious relationship. One company’s desire for excellence feeds off another’s similar desire.

Alpina is also an autocracy – Bovensiepen is the boss – big enough to turn out 600 cars a year and is recognized by the VDA in Germany as a manufacturer, not merely a tuning firm.

When a small group of journalists went to the Alpina base at Buchloe (say Book-low-ay) in 1988 just outside Munich, they expected to be shown only the new 5-Series based Alpina B10, and the B12, based on the 750i V12. To be honest, the performance levels of the standard cars are so high that the attention of Alpina produces a much lesser margin of improvement than Alpina has achieved with earlier BMW models. But the B6, held out as a surprise for our visit, is different from its stablemates, and it quickly became the center of attention.

B6 Engine

The B6 is equipped not with the standard 3.5 litre six cylinder BMW engine (you’d be forgiven for thinking that would suffice), but the Alpina-tuned version as fitted to the B10 sedan. These engines, like all Alpina engines, are hand-built in Bovensiepen’s engine shops, which are immaculate, the mechanics working in a squeaky clean environment on the shining, lightly oiled steel and alloy that forms the heart of every Alpina.

The modifications are mostly straightforward. The stock camshaft is swapped for an Alpina one, the valves are changed, and cylinder head porting is modified. In the B6, shorter forged Mahle pistons are used in conjuction with longer connecting rods to make the engine smoother. Chips for the Bosch Motronic engine management system are developed and modified by Alpina, too.

The engine is impressive. The non-catalytic converter cars for Europe deliver 260bhp at 6000rpm and 235lbs.ft of torque at 4000rpm. Catalytic converter-equipped cars for the rest of the world develop 254bhp, but Alpina uses EMITEC three-way catalysts rather than the ceramic type, to minimize power loss.

Once the big six is shoe-horned into the M3’s engine bay, there’s little room left fore and aft – millimetres, in fact. The firewall needs surgery to make things fit, and there is a special exhaust manifold and exhaust system fitted. The Getrag 5-speed gearbox is the same, with the same internal ratios.

The rear axle has a limited slip differential set at 25 percent, and the axle ratio is longer, up to 2.79:1 from 3.25:1. That’s enough to push the B6 to 152mph. The taller final drive also means long legged cruising capabilities. First gear catapults you to 45mph, second gear to 70mph, and by 6600rpm on the rev-limiter in third, you’ll hit a cool 93mph. At that speed you’re already in trouble with the law on most public roads throughout the world except some of the unrestricted autobahns in Germany. Fourth gear compounds the problem at a rev-limited 127mph. Officers of the law may not like it, but the chassis swallows up all that power with aplomb.

Suspension Bits

The M3 retains the basic suspension of other 3-Series cars, with MacPherson struts up front and semi-trailing arms out back. But an M3 handles like no other 3-Series. The steering rack is much faster, with a 19:1 ratio, front wheel caster is increased three-fold, semi-trailing arms are set at 15 degrees, and both front and rear anti-roll bars are repositioned. The spring and shock rates are stiffer and the ride heights lower. There are twin-tube gas shocks at the front and single tube at the rear.

The resulting M3 bears little resemblance to its 3-Series brothers. One hundred percent feel replaces the not-quite-sure sensation the 325i gives its driver when entering a corner fast in the wet. And should you push your luck just that little bit too far, the M3 compensates for your enthusiasm. Instead of snapping, ferociously into a power-on broadslide, the M3 will at first understeer – quite a lot, in fact. Like a mid-engined single-seater, more power in a high speed drift will push the tail out, but progressively so. The basic M3 is a beautifully balanced, well mannered car that responds to your touch as only a thoroughbred can.

Replacing that relatively delicate four cylinder racing engine with the massive six out to cause all sorts of problems, but it doesn’t. BMW has tried it, and they too know just how graciously the little M3 bows to the task. They too know that far from destroying the characteristics of the car, the big engine actually improves them. The B6 is so simple, so perfect in its conception, it’s a wonder that BMW doesn’t produce their own version.

The only chassis modification carried out in the creation of the B6 is the addition of front springs taken from the A/C equipped M3. They’re stiffer, and tough enough to handle the extra weight of the engine which, surprisingly, isn’t that great. The final touch is a set of Alpina wheels, which are an inch wider and taller than standard.

Salzburgring

Being part of that first group of journalists to visit Buchloe last year also provided me the opportunity of testing the B6 briefly on the Salzburgring in Austria. There, after miles of frustrating holiday traffic, the B6 could stretch it legs. And rather than plowing off in understeer, the B6 proved sharp as a tack. The merest touch on the thick leather Momo rim would have the B6 diving for the nearest apex. Follow through with the throttle and the nose would tuck-in further, cosily nuzzling the inner red-and-white striped curb of a turn. Ease-on still more power and the oversteer would increase gently, the big tires howling in protest, the lightweight BMW flying out towards the exit point of the bend in a satisfyingly controlled four-wheel drift.

On English and Welsh roads a year later, little had changed. The only difference between the car at Buchloe and the one loaned to us by BMW Great Britain is the full Alpina interior of the British car. This car has the multi-adjustable, Alpina-trimmed front seats in blue and green. The doors are trimmed in the same cloth and the dash now has walnut veneer. The BMW black gearshift knob is replaced by a wooden Alpina one and in front of that is the exclusive Alpina plate, telling the occupants that this is car number -35.

Because of the B6’s low seating position, even folks with long legs can get close behind the wheel with arms comfortably bent, yet still achieve heel-and-toe shifts without catching a knee on the wheel-rim or the steering column. Rear-seat passengers suffer from the usual lack of knee room you get in any of the 3-Series cars.

It’s very smooth, no doubt about it. If you wanted to split hairs, you could argue that there’s too much luxury. Somehow the elegant finish is too great an addition to the attractive but slightly flashy interior of the standard car. You might feel that the lily is glided, or that the sporting nature of this car is compromised by the trappings of wealth.

You might think that, until you strap in and turn the key. The bodyshell kicks nervously. The engine fires, but instead of the four’s raucous whinny, there’s the deep, basso rumble of a six that doesn’t sound quite ordinary. The exhaust note steadies to tickover. It’s uneven and a little rough for a BMW. Blip the throttle and the response is instant. The bodyshell jerks with the torque, like a stallion touched by the whip.

The Getrag gearbox is notchy as always. The clutch is reasonably weighted and at least smooth. Rolling away, the slight transmission whine is familiar, too. But flooring the throttle pedal brings a response that isn’t. The reaction at first is reasonable; then the revs climb and there’s an MX missile under your right foot. The power is immense and linear in it’s delivery, but even with this big engine the real action starts at around 4000rpm and carries on to the rev-limiter at 6600rpm.

Shifting all Getrag-equipped 3.5 litre BMWs, whatever the model, requires the same technique; full-power shifts will always be jerky until you’ve got the rhythm. The shifting is slow, heavy, and a little vague, the inertia of the flywheel in the big engine huge, and the injection cut-off sharp. Clumsy shifting just won’t work; the B6 will frustrate your progress, chew you up, and spit you out. Deliberation, firmly controlled clutch action, and a feathered throttle to prevent the revs dropping right off is what it takes, and lots of practice. With the shifting mastered, that MX under your right foot will take you skywards.

Performance

The standard M3 accelerates from zero to 60 in 6.9seconds and zero to 100 in 20.5seconds. It will cover the fourth gear 60-80mph increment in 7.3seconds and 70-90 in 7.9 seconds – good by most standards.

But at the GM Millbrook test facility, the B6 scorched its way to 60mph in just 6.0seconds (as fast as a Testarossa) and thundered on to 100mph in 15.8 seconds. The increments between 60-80mph in fourth took only 5.7seconds and 70-90mph exactly the same.

On the high speed circuit at Millbrook, the B6’s average of 152mph on a windy day, allowing for scrubbed-off speed on the banked circuit, is consistent with Alpina’s claimed figured of 156mph on the flat.

Round town though, the B6 is a pussycat. Owners can expect to drive around at crawling speed in fifth hear if they really want to. Driving normally, without tapping the enormous reserves of power, requires much less technique at the controls to get a satisfying result. The B6 putters easily about town and won’t show its brute strength unless asked.

Stopping is no problem. Standard M3 four-pot callipers (ABS is standard, too) on the 11.0inch ventilated front discs are designed to slow 300bhp lightweight racing cars. Suffice to say they are up to snuff.

The B6 is no ballet dancer when it comes to weight, but at 2,904 pounds it’s a full 254 pounds lighter than the standard M3. It also has 60bhp more under the hood and more importantly another 60lbs.ft of torque to go with it. Where the M3 has a power-to-weight ratio of 169.5bhp per ton, the B6 has a muscle-bound 200bhp per ton.

On the road you’d never think the B6 was that heavy. The highly geared steering and taught chassis give it nimbleness and the razor-sharp turn-in that the BMW M6 is famous for. The ride is pretty hard, but then that’s what you would expect. It’s not tiresome though, and doesn’t jostle the occupants too badly. On smooth roads, feel through the springs seems quite mellow; at high speed the B6 rides with arrow-like stability.

Overall the sensation is still very luxurious, but tempered with a degree of menace emphasized by the firmness and response of the chassis, which rises to the surface every time the throttle is opened. What makes the B6 such a superlative high performance car is the compatibility of chassis and power unit. There’s nothing clever about over-the-top sedans or sports cars that have masses of power and a lousy temperament. Anybody can put something like that together. The B6 is even fun and safe in the wet, and that’s saying something.

Fine Vintage

Bovensiepen is also a lover of fine wines. In fact, Alpina makes 10 percent of its income from trading in them. The folks in Buchloe like to think that their cars and wines are closely linked: both appeal to people who want the finer things in life and can afford to pay the price.

The B6 isn’t cheap. The expense of the engine transplant alone sees to that. The price in Germany is DM85, 000 which on current exchange rates is about $43,000 (not including US taxes). The B6 is more or less built to order, so you can’t get much more exclusive than that. But like some of the virtually priceless Bordeaux wines lying quietly in Bovensiepen’s cellars, there’s always a premium to pay for the very best.

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When the M3 was announced in 1986 marking BMW’s return to motorsport, few would have guessed just how prolific it would become and just how many variations on the basic theme there would be. Last year, 500 Evolution models, plus 180 of the extra-special Convertibles, joined that standard car (worldwide) and in august this year, BMW announced the Roberto Ravaglia Special Edition model to commemorate the Italian’s efforts in taking his Schnitzer M3 to victory in the 1987 World championship and the European Touring Car Championships of 1987 and 1988.

Only 25 of the Special Edition M3s were offered in the UK in August and they’ve all been sold, at a price of £26,850 each. Bigger front and rear spoilers from the powerful, 220bhp. Evolution M3 adorn the exteriors and there are lightweight rear body panels too, of the sort used on the actual racing cars.

Inside, there’s a special upholstery, with leather edged seats and leather-covered headrests to match, while on the outside, black-painted 7JX16inch cross-spoke alloy wheels carry the same 225/45ZR16 Pirelli P700s used on the Evolution car. Oh, and don’t forget that special plaque fixed to the centre console signed by the boy himself, Roberto Ravaglia.

Under the bonnet is a revised version of the four-cylinder, 16-valve engine but, this time, exhausting through a three-way catalytic converter. Its power output falls between those of the standard 200bhp car and the 220bhp Evolution car with 215bhp at 6750rpm. But to achieve that extra power and satisfy the lead-free demands of the catalytic converter, this version of the M3 engine is comparatively light on torque. Whereas the standard car develops 176lb.ft and the Evolution M3 181lb.ft both at 4750rpm, the Special edition produces less than either of them, with 170lb.ft at 4600rpm.

It’s the premium you pay, if you like, for running the engine on 95 octane unleaded (two-star in other words) instead of 98 octane (four star), something possibly reflected in our test figures. At the Millbrook proving ground, our Special Edition test car managed 0-60mph in 7.1 seconds compared to 6.9 for the standard car and 6.7 for the M3 Evolution we tested in the October 1988 issue. And while the same Evolution model wound its way up to a mean maximum of 144.2mph, the Special Edition was slower, by a whisker, at 143.6.

All this is fairly academic of course. A tenth of a second here or there is undetectable unless you’ve got a few thousand pounds worth of test equipment handy. And the same goes for the top speed.

It’s worth noting, though, because from now on all standard M3s, will be fitted with catalytic converters (and that means unleaded petrol only) matching exactly the engine specification of the Special edition car.

The wider wheels and tyres fitted to both the Evolution and the Special Edition M3s have also become standard on current ‘base’ M3s and it’s that extra grip, first offered on the M3 Evolution, that makes all the difference. In every other sense however, the new, unleaded M3s will remain as they are – no lightweight body panels, no Evolution spoilers, and no special interior trim.

On the road it’s much the same story as it always was, apart from the fantastic grip afforded by those big tyres. The differences between engine types is so subtle that it’s simply impossible to discriminate between the latest specification and those of the previous models.

Perhaps the only noticeable characteristics of this one, which may not have been there before, is the second wind it apparently (and surprisingly) gets at around 6300rpm. When accelerating flat out in either of the first two gears, there’s a fairly distinct urge at that point, almost as if the engine’s coming onto the cam for the second time.

It could have been a quirk of our test car, though that’s unlikely. But what it does emphasise is the smoothness of the M3 power unit at those revs. Nearing the rev-limiter at just over the 7000rpm mark, there’s no indication of an impending asthma attack – that desperate struggle to reach the red line just because it’s there. Rather, the gutsy four-cylinder power unit gives clear notice that, were it not for the restrictions of road tune, it would happily wait away until 9000rpm for so.

In the corners it’s just as much fun as it always was, too. Despite weighing in at 2864lb, the M3 turn-in with delightful nimbleness and responds to hard acceleration in tight corners with neutrality and poise.

Seemingly Unlimited Grip On The Road

The M3 is now one of the new generation of medium-sized, high-performance saloons to be fitted all-round  with the super fat tyres previously found only on cars like Porsche-Carreras and even then only on the back. The result in the M3 is a level of grip bordering on the ludicrous and, frankly, to talk about the car’s limits of adhesion on the road is preposterous; the speeds have to be so high.

But for the sake of argument, you can take it that a 225/45 P700 equipped M3 will react to high power in very tight bends with mild understeer. You just can’t make the back end let go in the dry, even in first gear, unless you build near maximum revs and dump the clutch.

You can also assume too that, at high speeds, it remains much the same as ever – a neutral drift at the limit, with the tail pushed out of line by too much power as you might expect. On the road, though, you would have to be driving dangerously fast to move the car about on its tyres like that – on a dry surface at least.

One characteristic that does linger from driving this latest M3, however, and which has always been a dominant element of M3 personality, is the need for plenty of gearchanging to keep it on the boil. A flexible plugger it is not. That can be tiring but never boring; you’ll always walk away satisfied, and start looking forward to the next time five minutes later.

The cost of all this fun, not surprisingly, has risen. The retail price of a pre-catalyst car was £23,550 and the 25 Roberto Ravaglia Special Edition M3s, as we mentioned, cost £26,850 each. You can expect, meanwhile, that a BMW dealer will want to relieve you of £24,200 for the latest specification catalyst equipped car. But then, if It’s exclusivity that you’re after, the M3 must still come near the top of the list. BMW sold 55 M3s in the UK in 1987, 58 in 1988 end, up until October of this year, a total of 68.

There’s one thing, however, that never changes, and that’s the simple fact that all M3s are still left hand drive…

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Forget appearances, the vast price difference and the chalk and cheese chasm in technical detail: Britain’s belt and braces Morgan +8 and Germany’s computer literate BMW M3 convertible do the same job. And you know it the first time you drop their tops and aim them down a favourite road on a sunny morning. It’s not just that either blasts to 60 in six wind-in-their-hair seconds or less, it’s that both offer an unforgettable drive. But what conclusively different cars they are.

This is indeed a prizefight with a difference: the Morgan, hairy-chested and with the support of the crowd, facing a car trained by science and the racetrack to the peak of physical fitness. The battleground: The Lake District and the Yorkshire Moors….and the sort of roads for which both cars were born.

In the whole of motoring there are surely not two more opposed routes to what is ultimately the same result. The Morgan gets its punch from the old and ubiquitous pushrod Rover 3528cc V8. It produces 190bhp at 5300rpm and 220lb ft of torque at 4000rpm. When this kind of power is dropped into a car weighing a little more than 200lb, shattering performance is guaranteed.

With sliding pillar front suspension and a live rear axle located by leaf springs – ye gods, even lever arm dampers – the Morgan’s suspension is pure pre-war. The car costs £17,703 and you will have to wait up to four years for delivery.

The BMW’s 2302cc four-cylinder engine has twice as many valves per cylinder, operated by two overhead camshafts. The engine is unique to the M3 and was designed primarily as a racing unit. In roadgoing tune it develops 200bhp at 6750rpm and 177lb ft torque at 4750rpm.

Suspension sounds identical to that of any other 3-Series: MacPherson struts up front, semi-trailing arms at the back, coil springs and telescopic dampers all round. But BMW Motorsport has been to work here. With a combination of fine tuning and geometry revisions it has produced a chassis of rare quality.

BMW GB charges a ridiculous £37,250 for the M3 convertible. Only 40 left-hand-drive cars are being imported this year.

Straight-line performance in either car is sensational but the Morgan is the quicker. It can reach 60mph in just 5.6secs and up to 100mph in 16.4secs. Above 120mph the German’s vastly superior aerodynamics mean the BMW can start to regain lost ground and pull away from the Morgan. In the gears, too, the Morgan is quicker. Between 50-70mph in fourth the car accelerates in 5.1secs, and in fifth 7.6secs; the BMW requires 6.4 and 9.5secs. It is only on top speed that the Morgan has to give best. Its 122mph cannot live with the BMW’s 144mph.

Driving the cars on public roads shows this performance gap to be even wider than the figures suggest. For much of our two day jaunt the Morgan was simply held up by BMW, at least on straight roads. One event illustrates the point: overtaking a column of dawdling traffic, I dropped the BMW down from fourth to third and powered past on full throttle. The Morgan came too, but requiring neither a gearchange nor a foot on the floor.

It may seem hard to believe that Rover’s ageing pushrod V8 could be a more effective engine than the multi-valve marvel produced by BMW Motorsport, but in these cars there is not contest. First there is the Morgan’s torque. Even with very high gearing – 27.6mph/1000rpm in top – it will pull cleanly from walking pace in any gear. It will continue to deliver a flood of power to the 5500rpm limit we imposed, with no ‘coming onto the cam’ or fall off the power at high revs – it delivers its performance in one clean, solid shove. Then there is the noise. A classic V8 burble at low revs, rising to a deep-chested roar as it is extended. The effect is inspiring.

Taken in isolation, the BMW four is a great engine. It has a tremendously successful track record and in road trim it combines its power with a quality edge that the V8 lacks. But still there are racing traits: below 4000rpm, for instance, there is not much urge. Above this is unleashes its power and the rev-counter will charge to the limiter at 7400rpm with superb response. So you have to work at the BMW, with frequent gearchanges the key to keeping it on the boil Fail to do this and the power disappears from under your feet.

There is not the engine music either. The engine sounds less distinguished than that of a Golf GTI up to 5000rpm and there’s some roughness too – certainly it’s not as smooth as any BMW six cylinder unit. After 5000rpm it issues a mechanical howl to remind you of its racing aspirations, but still it does not seduce like the Morgan.

The BMW waits until the corners before it seduces you. The M3 has as good a claim as any to having the most competent and entertaining front-engined chassis in production. Remarkably, the convertible has lost none of the saloon’s ability. Turn-in is sharp and the grip from the 225-section Michelin MXX tyres is of the very highest order.

The convertible will understeer or oversteer on demand, but its basic cornering stance is one of strong neutrality. Push on harder and it just feels better and better, neutral cornering balance eventually giving way to mild, benign oversteer. The steering, so full of feel, lest you keep the front wheels pointing in the desired direction, without drastic correction, and the car follows this line faithfully. It has no hidden vices, no ghastly secrets.

Driving the same road in the Morgan induces acute culture shock. Grip is not the problem if the road is smooth. With only 2000lb to persuade a change direction, the 205-section Uniroyals allow the +8 to be hustled through well-surfaced corners at a cracking pace. Put it on the pockmarked B roads of the Lake District and the story is very different. The car hops wholesale across the road as soon as look at a bump. The ride is truly appalling.

And the otherwise dead steering can generate the sort of kickback that wrenches the wheel from your hands. You drive this car from the seat of your pants. Do this, and it is not without its reward. Fight the steering, kill the heavy understeer with a bootful of throttle, be ready to catch the inevitable tail slide and you will have one of the most invigorating rides this side of a rollercoaster. Despite the dead steering, the Morgan can be placed accurately, but it takes practice.

On the practical side, the BMW is streets ahead, and Morgan wouldn’t have it any other way. Hood up in the M3 you could be in a saloon up to about 70mph. Engine noise is prominent, and there is a distant rumble from the fat Michelins, but wind roar, though audible at motorway speeds, is very well suppressed.

The refinement is heightened by heated leather seats which are comfortable and supportive. With comforts like these the worries of left-hand-drive soon disappear.

Driving the Morgan roof-up on the motorway is not recommended. The tall gearing keeps engine noise to a minimum but since the wind drowns any attempt to hear anything, it’s rather academic. The wind causes the hood to billow skywards – creating some much needed headroom – and assaulting you from every hole in the ill-fitting side-screens.

The Morgan does do some practical jobs surprisingly well. The seats are comfortable even if the ride is not. The two-stage heater keeps you warm in freezing conditions. The driving position is not terrible, even if it is short on leg room. However, none of this can make the car anything but fatiguing to drive in less than ideal conditions.

The M3 convertible is the only BMW to come with an electric hood. Raising or lowering it is a simple matter of pulling two levers and pressing a button. The mechanism required to achieve a taut cover that is both water and air tight is not to be underestimated. The hood has to go through a complex range of manoeuvres, all of which are achieved with absolute millimetre-perfect precision.

The Morgan has a typically belt and braces hood. A skeleton frame provides the basic shape. You have to hang the hood over it and clip it to the top of the windscreen and the back of the car, having already screwed on the sidescreens. The job could conceivably be done inside five minutes. Unfortunately our time with the car was spent in freezing conditions with a howling gale, when the job becomes nigh on impossible.

Both cars are beautifully built. Scuttle-shake, which can reduce a sound saloon into a rattling undesirable, is only apparent in the BMW on badly broken surfaces. Paintwork is deep and lustrous, and body panels fit tightly and evenly.

If anything, the Morgan is more impressive. The test car was Morgan’s demonstrator and even after 40,000 miles of the suspension trying to shake the car to pieces is still felt and looked like new, save for the odd stone chip. Drive one and you will know that this is no mean achievement.

The BMW teaches lessons you never forget. It extends the boundaries which the comprised structure of a convertible has previously had to observe. It is fast and flattering, and as practical a drop top as anyone could wish.

Still, there is something not quite right about this car. It’s partly in the price. A 325i convertible costs £17,000 less. A saloon M3 is nearly £14,000 cheaper. This cannot be justified by leather seats and an electric hood. The car seems to have been conceived as a money-making exercise.

The Morgan has no such problems. Apart from straight-line speed, it is not match for the BMW and now, perhaps, would it want to be. What it offers is an unrivalled tactile experience. You can get out of the BMW, unruffled, after a hard blast down a fell road and marvel at the car’s ability. Do the same in the Morgan and you get out with a real sense of achievement.

Then there is the way the car looks. Beside the Morgan the BMW, for all its flared arches and spoilers, looks anonymous. The Morgan looks classically beautifully. It has a hint of fragility that makes you want to look after it. For all the money it costs, the BMW is much less of an individual.

The Morgan has only one real problem. It is pointless driving it in anything other than ideal conditions. The car’s comprehensive inability to transport its occupants for long distances in anything but severe discomfort is something that only the most die-hard nut will discount. But when the roads are dry and the sun shines, you cannot have too much of it. The Morgan ladles out fun like the BMW never could.

The essence of it is that in the BMW you enjoy the car, while in the Morgan you enjoy yourself.

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While red, violet, and blue might not be the sort of combination you’d choose for the May Ball, just a glimpse of those colours is enough to set the pulses of most cars enthusiasts racing.

Because that distinctive tri-colour stripe is what-sets certain BMWs aside from most other BMWs, and usually slaps another 20 per cent on the price into the bargain.

Not without cause, though – because the letter ‘M’ in the famous emblem stands for Motorsport, and on a BMW’s bootlid it generally means business.

Most people have heard of the ‘M’ cars. The mid-engined M1 sportscar of the 1970s is probably the most famous. It, in turn, lent a close derivative of its powerplant, the 24-valve, 300bhp 3.5 litre straight-six to the M635CSi coupe of 1984, the M5 due in the Uk in right-hand drive form early next year.

1987 was also the year of the M3, the four-cylinder, 2.3 litre 3-Series ‘homologated’ car, which took saloon car racing by storm, with wins in the German Championship, the European Championship and the World Championship.

The ‘M-Power’ late starts in 1972, when a certain Bob Lutz thought it might be a good idea to establish a specialist division to look after BMW’s racing interests.

That wasn’t the start of BMW’s racing successes though, far from it. There was, of course, a heavy involvement in motor racing both pre-war and post-war, but it was in the 1960s that BMW started along the saloon car racing path that they’ve stuck to ever since. Following the BMW 1500 in 1961, the 110bhp, 112mph 1800 __ which arrived three years later won 27 out of the 28 races entered in 1964. And following those successes a limited edition car, the BMW 1800 TiSA (Tourismo International Sport-Aushtuhrung) was sold to 200 lucky customers, for Dm13, 500 each.

The First Of Many

In 1966 Hubert Hahne started the ball rolling properly. By winning the European Championship with an 1800 TiSA and Dieter Quester followed that up in 1968 and 1969 with a 2002 and 2002 turbo.

In 1972, Jochen Neerspach was norminated to start the new division at Preussen Strasse in Munich and a string of successes followed.

Other bosses would follow in his footsteps during the next two decades, as BMW Motorsport grew – there was Scheu, Prommesberger, Flohr and finally Kalbfell.

But BMW Motorsport GmbH have changed a lot since their early days. They have evolved from a simple toot designed to win races, into a sophisticated instrument whose function is embroiled with development of some of BMW AG’s major products. While they haven’t lost that innovative capability, and the ability to produce winners on the race tracks, they are also responsible for designing and producing series production cars that reflect, says Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, the very heart of BMW Kalbfell, at 40, hes made it.

He joined BMW AG’s communications department in 1987 and was leading it by 1985. In October 1988 he was made head of Motorsport.

On the wall at the end of his office is a variation of the famous ‘M-Power’ logo – I reads ‘K-Power’, a leaving present from his colleagues at BMW AG. On the window sill behind his desk is an ornamental mask with one eye blacked in; it is another gift, this time from Japanese colleagues.

Setting Out Objectives

When you start a job, explained Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, looking at mask: ‘you paint one eye black when you’ve set your targets. You paint the other eye black when you’ve achieved those targets.’

And he’s got plenty of those to fulfill. Motorsport’s production plant is at Garching, a Munich suburb. That’s where the new M5 is handbuilt, while the M3 is now built at BMW AG, as are all Motorsport-series engines. The engine development division is at Preussen Strasse, together with four engine dynos, and the uual array of exhibits, including the old Formula one engines.

‘We have capacity for 2000 cars at Garching,’ Kalbfell continued, ‘and we’ve just finished the last of the 180 M3 Convertibles. Our sales overall, including the M3s built at the main plant, will be about 4500cars. In total we’ve built 15,000 M3s to date and that would be too many to consider building just at Garching.’

So how much have Motorsport changed? How much time is devoted to racing and how much to the roadgoing specials that the division has become so famous for?

It’s difficult to describe that exactly, because my way of organising this company is to link all the specialists together a little bit, so the engine specialists, for example, are working on both racing engines and series engines. But to give an idea I’d say the split is roughly one-third racing and two-thirds street cars.

The company has one philosophy and that’s all under one roof. We don’t operate like a mini BMW AG. Today Motorsport has two important roles. One is racing, where we prove our engines’ reliability and performance and try and produce the best handling cars. On the other hand we have the direct link with racing by building unusual series cars for a small number of people who don’t reflect the average BMW customer. ‘So BMW Motorsport is not  a racing department, a racing company, or a production company, it’s a high performance company.’

BMW were traditionally a conservative company, and it’s taken two decades to turn them into the creative and progressive body that they are today. But in the early 1970s the turn-around was only half complete and that begs the question as to how such a radical core as the fledgling Motorsport division has dovetailed into the corporate whole over the years – and been tolerated by it.

‘I don’t think ‘tolerate’ is the right word: they need us. People often expect that I’m a racing man, but I’m a sales and marketing man and that’s the way I run this company.’

‘My chief consideration has to be what the need is for BMW AG, to have a company like this one. In the 1970s, the products were very heavily directed towards sportiness only. Now it’s completely different. Today the limits on everyday motoring are increasing and traffic conditions will be moderated. But on the other hand companies must continue to improve the efficiency of their technology, and that’s a good reason to place an even stronger emphasis on racing in the future.’

Another division of BMW is BMW Technik GmbH, the research division responsible for the Z1. So together with the main R5D facility that makes three separate engineering facets of the company contributing to the output of the company as a whole BMW Technik are involved principally with research into new techniques and materials, while Motorsport are concerned with developing what’s already there. But major new projects like the M3 have to start somewhere, and it’s usually as the result of a single good idea. And although Kalbfell points out that he wasn’t around when the M3 project was started, it’s a good example.

‘It’s really up to the strengths of managing directors in getting their ideas across tot eh board on individual projects,’ he says. ‘Motorsport is an independent company owned 100 per cent by BMW AG, we have our own finance and sales departments, but where the resources already exist in the parent company then we use those, it would not make sense, for example, to build a separate distribution system. But we are responsible for fulfilling our own financial targets, and it’s up to us to find the right products.’

Forward Planning

How about their contribution to the main R6D department?

‘I mainly hear what they are planning, because their thinking is in the longer term. We plan from five to ten years ahead, though at ten years our plans are relatively open; at five they’re fixed.’

The M3 will carry on racing for another two years. After that, says Herr Kalbfell, ‘we’ll look at other options to remain competitive. No, there isn’t any likelihood of larger series cars returning to racing, the future is still with the 3-Series.’

There’s also no likelihood, says the Motorsport boss, of any project concerning the Z1. ‘There isn’t any capacity at the moment anyway.’

There are plans, however, to provide a greater service to individuals wanting modifications made to their existing cars. It’s not a service that BMW advertise, but usually happens as a result of customers asking their dealers about it. It’s an area that Kalbfell is anxious to expand.

‘We did 200 last year and at a guess, it might be nice to do, perhaps, 500 this year.’

But the new M5 forms the principal thrusts of Motorsport’s activities at the moment. And it’s that project that is perhaps one of the most impressive, in production terms particularly, to be found inside a major manufacturer anywhere in the world today. Because a few miles away at the Garching plant, on the ironically named Daimier Strasse, M5s are assembled entirely by hand, each on one of 20 individual hoists.

The M5 shops at Garching are breathtaking. Red-tiled floors are scrubbed by machine at the end of every day, leaving a perfume I the air more reminiscent of someoen’s kitchen than of a factory.

Siegfried Schwarz started with BMW in 1965 as a race and rally mechanic and has been at Motorsport since 1973. He is the man charged with making sure that 2000 M5s leave the plant in the next year and he’s got about 82 people to do it with. Same 72 of those are productive mechanics and ten are quality inspectors. There are about 110 people all-told – including engineers, storekeepers and so forth.

He starts with bodyshells which arrive from the Dingolfing plant complete with radiators, plumbing and interior trim. Seats are only installed for convenient transportation, they come straight out again. The shells are cleaned, put on a jig and initial work is done to the underbody, including the fitting of heat reflecting material to protect it from the hot exhaust.

From there, the cars are wheeled into a second shop and are installed on one of the 20 hoists. Next door 35 or so of the 24 valve, 3.5 litre 315bhp engines lie in racks, waiting to be built into complete front axle assemblies, each engine, built at the Munich factory, is the rough Deutschmark equivalent of a complete BMW 316. A few feet away, rear axles get the same treatment.

Next door again, one men assembles each car, unwittingly endowing it with his signature.

‘Every mechanic has his own individual style’, explains Peter Locke, who’s in charge of export sales. ‘The quality inspectors can work out who built each car without being told.’

The mechanics are unusually skilled, and most started in specialised crafts like tool-making. A new routine of quality checking was instigated recently, whereby senior mechanics are charged with checking work in progress, a better solution than having quality inspectors looking over the mechanics’ shoulders.

At the far end of the assembly shop is the upholstery department, where there’s a machine that can shave any of the many hides in stock down to a thickness of 0.3 millimetres. You can have almost anything you want.

‘If you want your trunk finished in leather then we will do it for you’, says Peter Locke, ‘One customer wanted his dash trimmed in water buffalo hide’, he continues, uncovering an incomplete M5 dashboard which had been lying on one of the finished tables.

‘The problem is, water buffalo hide fades in strong sunlight. We put this in writing to him to make sure he understood, but we’ve given him what he wants, nevertheless.’

When the cars leave the hoists they are drivable and go back over the road for the ABS rolling road tests, suspension setting, and finally to the finish line where they are checked, waxed, road tested (every car is tested for 30kilometres) and then sent to the dealer.

Each car is spoken for before it is built, no stocks are held, and a customer can come and see his car being built if he wants to.

The M5 is 100 per cent quality controlled, so every single nut and bolt that goes on it is checked during and after it’s completed.

They’re all left-handed drive and German spec at the moment. British, US and Canadian spec cars will start production in the spring of 1990.

It’s a remarkable feat, and it’s astonishing to see it coming from a major manufacturer. Siegfried Schwarz reckons the principles operated there work well for everyone. Mechanics are often working on different things, since the number of areas varies from day to day. So it’s a flexible system and there’s better motivation for those concerned.

If they product they build there is anything to go by they’re right.

Earlier, Karl-Heinz Kalbfell was understandably cagey when questioned about the forthcoming 850i Coupe, and thought it probably ‘too good’ to need much doing to it. That probably means there are no plans for a more sporting version at present. After all, the new M5 was announced within six months of the introduction of the 5-Series itself.

But the M635CSi ceased production a couple of months ago, and it would e nice to think of another coupe coming from the red-floored workshops and wearing the distinctive ‘M’ badge on its boot.

Meanwhile, we can only sit and watch the progress of what must be one of the all-time crack divisions in the car industry. Its turnover has gone from Dm50 million in 1985 to Dm300 million today.

And that really cannot be at all bad for a company employing just 450 people, can it?

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Owners of E30 M3s, the first model to wear that iconic designation were reacting to the cover that profiled a story about the soon-to-be-released-third-generation M3. “The Real M3 Shows Up In Geneva,” it said. “A real M3 has four cylinders,” they fired back, even if no one was in earshot.

Never mind that the new M3 coupe packs a 333-horsepower jewel of an engine in a package that will crank out sub-five second 0-60mph runs all day and out-corner its predecessor, an automotive masterpiece that Car and Driver magazine called “the best-handling car in America.” That’s not the point. The point is that newer M3s, in the E30 owners’ perspective, lack the gritty character and all-out-racer spirit of their much beloved cars. Lest you think these ardent loyalists are being unduly critical of the newest M3, many of them label the second-generation model, with its decidedly understated styling, the 332is.

What gives these owners such zeal? A lot of it has to do with the reason their car was built. “It was a special car built in a special time for a special purpose,” says Filippo Morelli, a New Jersey Chapter member, “real” M3 owner, and host of the E30 M3 Special Interest Group, an internet spiritual home that claims more than 600 congregants. “Such events occur only a few times in the life of a company.”

A Genuine Race Car For The Street

That special purpose Morelli refers to was preparing the E30 3 Series two-door sedan – but back then this model wasn’t called a coupe – to race in the German and European touring car series, that side of the Atlantic’s moral equivalent of NASCAR, where manufacturers duked it out for technology, image, and sales supremacy. The rules stipulated that a carmaker had to build a minimum of 5,000 examples in twelve months of the exact car it wanted to race and offer them for public sale. That amounted to selling detuned, road-going race cars, minus the roll cage, sponsor decals, and a few other racing pieces. Similar regulations in the 1960s produced some spectacular – not to mention historically significant and highly collectable – cars, such as the Ferrari 250 GTO and 250 LM and the Europe-only BMW 3.0CSL.

The goal was to be ready to race for the 1987 season. BMW’s high-performance subsidiary, then called BMW Motorsport GmbH (German legal shorthand for business with limited liability) went into action in late 1983. Thomas Ammerschlager, formerly of the Zakspeed race team and Audi, assumed command of the project in 1985. Called the M3, the result was nothing short of a complete make-over of a standard 3 Series. Giving the new car instant credibility was the fact that every modification was done with one purpose in mind: racing.

Wider fenders, front air dam, a new roof and rear window, a raised (plastic) trunk lid and large rear wing cleaned-up the E30’s aerodynamics, made room for a proper roll cage, accommodated wider racing wheels and tires, and gave the M3 a decidedly serious look. In fact, the hood is the only body panel the M3 shares with the 3 Series. Major suspension, brake and steering modifications made the M3 a genuine apex-strafer.

A team led by Werner Frowein – under the watchful eye of BMW’s legendary engine designer Paul Rosche – provided power by capping a cast-iron four-cylinder Formula 2 engine block with a sixteen-valve twin-cam aluminum cylinder head – one made from an M1 head by literally chopping off two cylinders. Other tweaks included a competition oil sump, special pistons, and a new version of BMW’s Motronics engine-management system. Large for a four-banger, the 2.3 litre S14 engine produced 200 horsepower in European trim. A later version increased horsepower to 215.

An Instant Hit

The M3 debuted as a prototype at the1985 Frankfurt Auto Show. Despite concern on the part of some BMW executives that its design was too aggressive, Motorsport had firm orders for the initial batch of 5,000 before the show closed ten days later. Those customers had to be patient; M3s were not delivered in Europe until autumn of 1986. Then came the unexpected announcement that, after considerable arm-wrestling between BMW of North America and the powers in Munich, a limited supply of M3s would make their way to the US.

About 5,300 E30 M3s were sold here between 1987 and 1992. Throughout the production run, the mechanical specifications of US cars remained virtually unchanged; our catalyzed and federalized version of the S14 engine produced 192 horsepower and 170 ft-lb of torque, good enough for a top speed of 147 mph and a 0-60mph time of 6.9 seconds. EPA certification red tape denied us the pleasures of the close-ratio five-speed manual gearbox; we had to make do with a competent but less sporty Getrag overdrive five-speed transmission.

Eventually 17,184 E30 M3’s were produced between Sept.1986 and Dec 1990. Six special versions were built, the most desirable being the Sport Evolution with an enlarged 2.5 litre, 238 horsepower engine and trademark adjustable front aerodynamic splitter and rear wing “Gurney flap.” Sadly, none of those limited-edition models – and none of the 786 enticingly gorgeous M3 convertibles – were ever officially imported here.

BMW Motorsport prepared about 100 M3s for factory and private racing and rally teams. Countless other road-going versions have been pressed into competition duty around the world. The E30 M3 more than achieved its primary mission; it became the most successful touring car racer in history, winning the World (driver’s title) and European, German, British, Italian, French, Belgian, and Dutch touring car championships – as well as countless other national and regional racing, rally and hillclimb series.

“Boy Racer” Raises Hackles

US auto journalists raved about the M3, Car and Driver, in its November 1987 issue, observed, “The M3 leaps through the corners like a cat, its feisty engine spinning and splitting until you snatch another gear or the rev limiter grabs it by the tail. Excellent controls help you keep the frenzy in check; the steering is supple and superbly accurate, the shifter has just the right amount of notchiness, and the massive disc brakes – vented in front and equipped with a standard anti-lock system – are always on duty, lap after lap.”

In a February 1988 road test, Road & Track said, “This is what driving is all about. The engine, when revved hard, shoots the car from turn to turn….This is as close most owners will come to participatory motorsports, and this is what this car was designed to do.” And AutoWeek summed it up by saying, “The M3 is a hardball player.”

Most road testers commented on the four-cylinder engine’s buzzy nature, especially when compared to the traditionally silky-smooth BMW in-line sixes they were accustomed to. Then there is the “boy racer” comment, something that really gets M3 owners’ hackles up. Some journalists make this snide observation when they refer to the M3’s bodywork, insinuating that they fenders, spoiler, side skirts and wing are merely “eye candy” add-ons. For those who understand why the car appears the way it does, the comment is not only galling, it conclusively demonstrates the writer’s lack of perspective and grasp of automotive history. Many E30 M3 owners believe it would be more appropriate to apply the “boy racer” tag to the new M5 and M3.

What To Look For When The Urge Strikes

Although it is difficult to determine how many E30 M3s have survived in the US, it’s safe to say that most have found a good home where they are appreciated and looked after. Their sub-$20,000 price makes them a relative bargain for someone looking for a genuine performance car with an interesting history. With that in mind, we contacted Windy City Chapter’s Ben Thongsai, widely regarded as one of the top M3 go-to guys in the country, for guidance on what to look for when the urge to park a piece of BMW racing history in your garage strikes. He should know; he owns two and services several others.

“I love my M3s,” he says. “They’re a lot like my 2002, only much faster! They are very reliable.” Thongsai bought his first example with 19,000 miles. “It ran great,” he says, “and needed very little work.” He advises you to begin your evaluation by looking at the car’s maintenance history. Ask to see repair order. “Regular maintenance on an E30 M3 is important,” he adds. “Preventative maintenance is, too.”

Once you’re satisfied with the paperwork, it’s time for an inspection. Check the condition of the water pump (usually a 60,000 mile item) and the alternator mounting brackets (for cracks) and their bushing (for wear); check the brackets for the power-steering pump and the air-conditioning compressor, too. The original alternator ground strap had a tendency to break. If it is brown, it’s the original and should be replaced; a red strap is the upgraded part. Inspect the motor mounts and the sub-frame they attach to for wear and damage. Don’t be surprised if one or both wires for the electric cooling fan are broken; the good news is that’s a quick fix. Look for leaking or excess play in the steering rack, an M3-specific part.

The time-honored service manager’s retort – “They all do that” – can be applied to M3 intake manifold gaskets: They are prone to crack and cause a vacuum leak. The most noticeable symptom of cracked gaskets is a rough idle. Merely replacing them won’t solve the problem; eventually the new gaskets will crack, too. But fear not: Korman Autoworks offers a solution. Visit their website at www.kormanfast.com and read about their heavy-duty air accumulator support in the E30 M3 “induction” section.

The Timing Chain Issue

There are some trans-Atlantic difference of opinion among M3 experts about the longevity of the S14 engine’s timing chain. The good folks at Munich Legends, the UK’s leading E30 M3 authority, believe that the chain and its two sprockets should be replaced at 100,000 miles, based on failures they’ve seen. It’s a pricey operation – about $1,000 – but if a worn or stretched chain jumps a sprocket tooth, you can multiply that bill almost by six for new valves, cylinder head machining, and at least one piston – if you’re lucky.

The story in the US, however, is somewhat different. For whatever reason, chain failures are rare here. While no one debates the merits of replacing the chain on a 100,000 mile car if the engine is apart for other reasons, Thongsai and others don’t see a need to do it on a healthy car.

Listen and Save

Fortunately, in most cases there is an early warning to such an occurrence. Listen for the timing chain when you start the engine, especially when it’s cold. If the chain makes a racket – trust us, it’s hard not to hear it! – for a second or two and then quiets down, it’s probably good-to-go. A constant noise, the sooner the better. Although it may be folklore, many M3 owners advice against parking the car with its nose uphill; they say it allows oil to drain out of the chain tensioner, which then causes the chain to rattle.

While you’re listening, aim an ear in the direction of the clutch and gearbox at idle. If the chatter you hear goes away when you depress the clutch, “that’s just the normal Getrag transmission sound; don’t worry about it,” Thongsai. But if you hear a noise with the clutch pedal pushed in, it’s probably the throw-out bearing about to surrender.

Oddly enough, for a car designed to race, the original M3 suffers from inadequate front-brake cooling, especially in enthusiastic use like BMW CCA driving schools. That’s why many owners have replaced their crack-prone fog lights with brake-cooling ducts. Check for warped or scarred brake rotors and the calliper condition at all four corners.

On your walk around the car, Thongsai advises you to look for body damage or shoddy repair work. “The only body panel on the M3 that’s the same as the 3 Series is the hood. Replacements are expensive,” he notes. Also check for rust on the cowl at the bottom of the windshield, especially in the corners. Unfortunately, the paint on the upper surface of the rear wing tends to craze, especially on Cinnabar Red cars; bringing it back to life can be a $500 proposition. Also check the wing itself for signs of fatigue or cracking – they actually do generate downforce.

A Stock M3? You Must Be Kidding

Given the nature of the E30 M3 and the enthusiasm of most owners, it should not come as a surprise that there are precious few completely stock examples left. From upgrading the interior panels to the cloth Motorsport-striped variety found in the Cecotto, Ravaglia, and Sport Evolution version to engine-management chips to major engine and chassis modifications, M3 drivers can’t seem to resist the urge to tinker. Thongsay likes the way the Conforti engine management chip makes the engine much less peaky, supplying more power to the mid and low rev ranges. “It gives the M3 some decent pull at 2,500rpm,” he says. Modifications done by competent M3 technicians using parts from reputable sources are usually not a problem, he adds. On the other hand, although it is suitable as a serious BMW CCA driving school car, he cautions against buying an M3 with an overly stiff suspension for your daily driver.” A suspension like that will be hard on you and the chassis, especially if you live in a place with lots of potholes,” he says. Of course, many modifications are as much a matter of taste as engineering.

Other red flags? Avoid cars that have been beaten to death at track events and not well cared for. Steer clear of an M3 modified by someone who selected parts from a catalog using “now-that-looks-cool” engineering. The owner should be able to give you a reasonable strategy for the changes. Of course, you’ll take a pass on cars with either a suspicious or no maintenance history. Roudel technical editor Mike Miller says, “A $15,000 M3 may just be a better buy than an $8,000 car because the more expensive car has been maintained better.”

The September 2000 issue of Classic & Sports Car magazine notes that E30 M3s are not expensive to maintain, but correcting problems caused by neglect care can be costly. “There’s only one way you can go wrong with an M3, and that’s to spend too much money on the wrong car,” the editors said. Speaking of maintenance, Thongsai quotes a price of “around $500″ for a major service including valve adjustment, spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor, coolant flush, new filters, and an oil change. He also recommends that you consult the M3 Special Interest Group website if you’re new to M3s (www.bimmers.com/m3/) to find someone in your area who can help you evaluate your intended purchase.

It’s All About Driving

Technical issues aside, buying an E30 M3 is a very emotional decision. “The best thing about this car is the incredible fun you have driving it; it’s a great feeling,” says Los Angeles Chapter member David Boen. England’s Autosport magazine described that feeling, observing, “an E30 M3 makes a trip to the corner store to buy milk seem like a lap around the Nüburgrin.” And a now-valuable poster distributed to German BMW dealers sums up the essence of the E30 M3 in a simple, but powerful message: 1436 Wins in 1628 Days. M3.

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