BMW M3

The Complete Story

James Taylor

• Publisher: Crowood
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781847977731
• Topic: Tecnologia e ingegneria
• Subtopic: Trasporti e ingegneria automobilistica

Few cars in recent years have inspired such devotion among enthusiasts as the BMW M3. Now entering its fifth generation, BMW's compact performance car is recognized worldwide as the benchmark of its type. BMW M3 - The Complete Story looks in detail at the first four generations of the M3, which arrived in the mid-1980s as an E30 'homologation special', intended to keep BMW ahead of rivals Mercedes-Benz on the racetracks. But the M3 soon became very much more than that. Before long, buyers latched onto its exclusivity and turned it into a status symbol - and BMW was only too happy to exploit that. For all fans of the BMW M3, this book provides the essential background. It is packed with facts and details that make the M3 legend come alive. With over 250 photographs, the book covers: the original E30 M3 of 1986 - from a 'homologation special' to a status symbol; design and development of the E36 M3, including a new 6-cylinder engine and more body choices; the E46 M3 of 2000, with the developed 6-cylinder S54 engine and gearshift advances; racing success for the E90-series M3s, introduced in 2007 with V8 engines; driving, buying and special editions of all the models.

CHAPTER ONE

ORIGIN AND CONTEXT

BMW was just ten years into its revival when the Motorsport division was established in 1972. Torn asunder by the Second World War, which had left one of its major factories in the Soviet-controlled eastern sector of Germany, the company made a hesitant comeback in the late 1940s and early 1950s. With an incoherent model range split among bombastic ‘Baroque Angel’ saloons, slow-selling ultra-expensive sports and GT cars, and economy models that from 1955 included bubble cars, the company lacked a clear identity. It was also seriously lacking in profits.

By the end of 1959 the problem had become a grave one. That December, the BMW Board discussed a proposal to sell the entire company to Daimler-Benz, who needed extra factory space and at that stage were not in the least concerned about BMW as a potential rival. However, the trade unions, the BMW workforce and many of the company’s shareholders were not happy about the idea. Among the major shareholders was the industrialist Herbert Quandt, and he set about buying more BMW shares – against all the advice from his bankers. Once he had nearly 50 per cent of those shares, he approached the state of Bavaria (where BMW was and still is based) and gained its approval for his purchase of the company.

‘The most powerful letter in the world’ claimed this advertisement, adding that BMW’s Motorsport division was a ‘trend-setter in the high-performance league’. The M brand has exerted a special fascination for car enthusiasts in the four decades and more since it was established.

In the second half of the 1930s, the BMW 328 was the Bavarian marque’s sporting flagship. In the black-andwhite picture, Ernst Loof is seen winning the 1936 Eifelrennen.

The M3 heritage: from left to right are the first-generation E30 model, the E36 of the 1990s, the turn-of-the-century E46 and the E92 coupé.

It was a huge financial risk for Quandt, but it paid off. BMW already had plans for a new medium-sized car that would give the company the volume-seller it so badly needed, and Chief Engineer Alex von Falkenhausen was now able to fund the development of these plans to create a new car. The BMW 1500 appeared in 1961 as a 1962 model, and amply demonstrated what BMW could do when given appropriate financial support. Though the car was a four-door saloon, its distinctive sporting character led to strong sales, and on the profits from those strong sales BMW was able to expand its product range.

The old BMW range of the 1950s gradually disappeared as the 1500 (or ‘Neue Klasse’ – New Class) range expanded with a 1.8-litre derivative of its 1.5-litre engine and then a 2.0-litre as well. The Neue Klasse platform also provided the basis for a new 2.0-litre grand touring coupé in 1965, sold in 2000C and twin-carburettor 2000CS forms. A new 1.6-litre version of the engine provided power for the first models of a shortened, two-door version of the car called the 1600-2 in 1966, and then that car was further developed with the larger versions of the engine. It was the 2002 (2.0-litre, two-door) model of 1968 that really brought BMW to international attention, proving a particular hit in the USA.

THE SPORTING TRADITION

Though BMW lacked the money to become a major force in international motor sport during the 1940s and 1950s, it could look back with some satisfaction on its achievements in the 1930s during which it had developed a highly respected series of sports cars alongside its larger saloons and their convertible equivalents. The key model was the 328, an open two-seater that first appeared in 1936 and used the 2.0-litre engine from the saloon range.

BMW’s 328s took more than 100 class wins in international events in 1937, and in 1938 went on to win their class at Le Mans, in the RAC Tourist Trophy and the Alpine Rally, and in the Mille Miglia. In 1939, a 328 won the RAC Rally, and a 328 repeated its class victory at Le Mans and claimed fifth place overall as well. Then in 1940, which became the last year of international competition as Europe devoted its resources to the war, a special Touring Coupé derivative of the 328 won the Mille Miglia.

It would be 1950 before German drivers were allowed to compete again in international motor sport events, but that did not stop enthusiasts from creating a lively racing scene within the borders of West Germany. Among those enthusiasts was Alex von Falkenhausen, who had been a BMW engineer in the 1930s. For a time, he ran his own small business, constructing racing machines based on pre-war (mostly 328) BMW engines. AFM – Alex von Falkenhausen Motorenbau (engine company) – had ambitions beyond the borders of West Germany, and was quite successful too, but the pre-war BMW engine had a limited life in motor sport as newer designs began to appear. By 1954, AFM was a spent force, and Alex von Falkenhausen returned to BMW to run their racing department.

BMW racing at this stage centred on motorcycles, another element in the BMW product portfolio and one that was important in keeping the company afloat during these difficult years. It was not until the arrival of the new 4-cylinder M10 engine in the Neue Klasse saloons that the company seriously considered taking its cars racing again. As Chris Willows explained in Classic & Sports Car magazine for March 1989:

The 1800 model enabled BMW to re-enter top-line competition. In 1964 Hubert Hahne drove a twincarb 1800Ti to a number of victories in the European Touring Car Championship, followed by a manufacturers’ title in the 2-litre category the following year with an 1800TISA. [The TISA was a ‘homologation special’ – and when a car maker builds one of these it is quite obviously serious about going racing.] This was repeated in 1966, 1968 and an overall championship victory the following year thanks to the efforts of Dieter Quester who used both the 2002ti and the turbocharged 2002ti/K.

The M10 engine that lay at the heart of this new-found success was further developed by BMW’s Ludwig Apfelbeck, who developed a 4-valve cylinder head for the 2.0-litre version that enabled outputs as high as 280PS. This was tried in Formula 1 cars in the mid-1960s and showed promise, and by the end of the decade further-developed BMW 4-cylinder engines were winning races in single-seaters designed by Dornier and driven by the BMW team of Hubert Hahne, Jacky Ickx, Dieter Quester and Jo Siffert. However, BMW top management terminated the Formula 2 programme at the end of the 1970 season, and there would be no more single-seater BMW racers for the rest of the decade. The enthusiasm for motor sport had not been dispersed, however. It simply re-emerged in another, and ultimately more profitable, form.

A CHANGE OF FOCUS

The early 1970s saw BMW growing up fast. The success of the 1960s models had bred a new confidence, and the new medium-sized 5 Series range that was introduced in 1972 was an assured and even ambitious replacement for the old four-door Neue Klasse models. Three years later, it was joined by the smaller 3 Series range that replaced the much-admired two-door ‘02’ derivatives of the Neue Klasse. Meanwhile, the big 2.0-litre coupés had been gradually evolving into 3.0-litre, 6-cylinder types and were making waves in their own prestigious corner of the market.

Right in the middle of this, BMW’s new Chairman, Eberhard von Kuehnheim, persuaded his Board that the company should take competition seriously again. As part of the plan, a new and dedicated competitions department would be set up, and von Kuehnheim chose his recently recruited Sales Director, Robert A. Lutz, to head it. Lutz in turn hired Jochen Neerpasch as Competitions Director in May 1972. Neerpasch was already a big name in motor sport, as he had been running the successful competitions department for Ford in Germany since 1968.

The new department was set up as a self-managed subsidiary of BMW, with the name of BMW Motorsport GmbH (those four initials are the German equivalent of ‘Ltd’, or limited company). From 1973, the Motorsport division started to use its own distinctive corporate livery of blue, violet and red stripes, and those colours remain part of its branding today, usually seen alongside a chromed capital M. To help establish this branding, the 1974-model BMW 2002 Turbo carried decal side-stripes in these colours, indicating to those in the know that it was a product of the Motorsport division.

In these first few years, the Motorsport division’s job was to prepare race engines, race-tuning kits, and special body and chassis parts for both private entrants and for the works team. This latter featured 2002 models and the big coupés, of which the most memorable were undoubtedly the 3.2-litre (and later 3.5-litre) CSL ‘Batmobiles’ with their Motorsport side-stripes and huge aerodynamic spoilers. The Motorsport division itself was meanwhile struggling for space within BMW’s main factory complex in Munich. Not until later would it be granted its own dedicated premises, but in the meantime its remit was gradually extending. It was the Motorsport team who were called upon to construct special-order cars based on mainstream production models. From 1974, for example, customers who knew how to ask the right questions could have their E12 525 or 528 models equipped with the 3.0-litre, 6-cylinder engines otherwise available only in the big 3.0-litre coupés.

Early days: competitionprepared versions of the E9 6-cylinder coupés eventually resulted in the legendary ‘Batmobile’ cars with their distinctive wing spoilers. This example was offered for sale by auctioneers H and H in the UK during 2012.

A works-prepared BMW saloon, wearing the distinctive three-colour striping of the Motorsport division, dominates this early 1970s advertisement for the then newly formed competition arm of BMW.

Successors to the E9 coupés were the E24 6 Series cars. It was not long before one was given the full Motorsport treatment and introduced as a range-topping model. This is the original M 635 CSi, proudly displaying the badge of the Motorsport division on its grille.

The first complete car produced by the Motorsport division was the M1 Coupé, seen here at the back of the photograph. It had no ‘ordinary’ BMW equivalent. In front of it are the E28 and E34 editions of the M5, the Motorsport saloon based on the 5 Series that stood one notch further up the BMW range than the M3.

So it was that when BMW management decided to put substantial money into a project to develop a mid-engined coupé that could beat the Porsche 911s in Group 5 track events, the Motorsport division was given the job of ...