BMW E30 M3
Boxed arches, dogleg gearbox, and the most decorated touring car ever built.
Photograph by FotoSleuth · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Full credits
| Chassis | E30 |
|---|---|
| Years | 1986–1991 |
| Engine | S14B23 2.3 I4 16v |
| Output | 192–238 hp |
| Weight | ≈1,200 kg |
BMW E30 M3
The E30 M3 is the reason every subsequent M car has to explain itself. Built to homologate BMW's Group A touring car, it shared almost no exterior panel with the 3 Series it was based on: boxed arches, a raised bootlid, a steeper rear screen glued in place to help airflow.
The S14 four-cylinder — a 2.3-litre 16-valve derived from BMW's motorsport thinking rather than its saloon range — made between 192 and 238 horsepower across the road-going Evolutions, in a car that weighed around 1,200 kilograms. The record it left is unmatched among touring cars: five Nürburgring 24 Hours victories and four wins at Spa.
Full chassis file in preparation for a future issue.
Sources — BMW M3 (Wikipedia).
| Chassis | E30 |
|---|---|
| Years | 1986–1991 |
| Engine | S14B23 2.3 I4 16v |
| Output | 192–238 hp |
| Weight | ≈1,200 kg |
| Homologation | Group A special; road cars built to qualify the racer |
| Notable races | Nürburgring 24 Hours winner 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1994; Spa 24 Hours winner 1987, 1988, 1990 and 1992 |
Colour studies
E30 M3 — the pilsner-house years
A white shell divided by a low red band and a black skirt — the plainest arrangement on this page and, for a decade, the most feared.
E30 M3 — the orange privateers
One saturated orange field, cut by a hard black diagonal. The loudest colour in German motorsport, used with almost no ornament at all.
E30 M3 — the imported red
A Formula One identity lifted wholesale onto a saloon: red above the beltline, white below it, and almost nothing else.
E30 M3 — black and gold, southern hemisphere
The most famous two colours in motorsport, run by a customer team on the other side of the world, six years after the Formula One cars made them famous.
E30 M3 — the brewery diagonal
One broad white diagonal across a deep blue shell. The livery that opened the two-litre era in Britain.
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