Group A BMW M3 E30 - General info and history

[Nivola]

Good to see i wasnt dreaming Group A!!!!!!!

Yes it always makes me smile when I remember Lakeside! Freddy would of been ****ed!

Always love the little beast!

[Adrian B]

A year or two ago I bought an s14 engine and Holinger 6 speed gearbox out of a e36 Listerine car ( Harvey's BTCC car I believe). Gearbox was stamped VLM. I think the car spent some time in Sweden, and possibly SEAsia.

[racer69]

So was there an official reason given by CAMS as to why BMW couldn't run the E36 model cars in Australia in 1993?

[Mark Webber]

no E36 was homlogated to grA that was the E30 domain E36 was the start of ST I think. cause all E36 we 320's using the M42 engine i think

[racer69]

EB Falcon's and VP Commodore's were not homologated under Group A for 1993. The main reason that BMW didn't run the car is obvious (look at the way they were treated by CAMS in 1993), it's just a real shame that the rules weren't written in a way for the new shape to compete and be competitive, especially as BMW supported the "V8s" more than Ford or Holden did in 1993.

[David Towe]

Originally Posted by Mark Webber

no E36 was homlogated to grA that was the E30 domain E36 was the start of ST I think. cause all E36 we 320's using the M42 engine i think

The early BMW Supertourers were badged 318s I thought, then changed to 320 by BMW as a marketing plan. The early 318s ran an S14 in 2 litre trim, (anyone want to buy a crank for these motors?) and some had "H" pattern gearboxes with a sequential adaptor fitted. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Falcadore]

The car that Longhurst drove at Adelaide was canned after that one meeting because it was essentially a fictional creation that failed to conform to any known Touring Car regulation.

A Super Touring car fitted with Group A mechanicals?

At one point the new Group 3A Falcadores were being considered at about 400/450 horsepower instead of 600+ that they became, it was hoped that Super Touring might be able to compete in a form of level playing field, hence the evolution of the 1993 race format which saw the two and five litre cars each getting a points heat with a merged final.

However those behind the technical evolution of the VP Commodore and EB Falcon quickly ensured that Super Touring would not be able to compete and V8Supercar evolved.

Nissan were gone, turbos were officially on the nose, but BMW were still looking for an opportunity or an angle and eventually the E30 M3 Group A cars received a grandfather clause for a single season but after Bathurst '92 M3 Motorsport (Cotter/Doulman) saw the way for small bores and tossed their 2.3 and 2.5 motors in favour of 2.0 litres and were ready for when Colin Bond announced his Caltex team and Toyota would link up and develop the Corolla fastback Seca into a touring car, creating in the end a fascinating show down and an extremely controversial result as Peter Doulman defeated John Smith to win the first Super Touring title in Australia.

The E36 "M3" may have been an attempt to put forward the value of a variation of Group 1 (DTM) to compete against Group 3a (V8Supercar) instead of Group 2 (Supertouring). Essentially the car was built out of wishful thinking.

[Alex E]

I can add a little bit of info. As Adrian B said the Harvey car went to Norway & won their touring car championship once or twice. It then went to Denmark & on to Malaysia. It returned to the UK a few years ago and is now heading off for a new life in New Zealand.
Alex

[Driver TBA]

I know its off topic. but did this B'n'H BM survive?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cwe7tFM3gc

[ian beckett]

Hello guys,time to put your brains to the test!! Having just watched the clip on Youtube from Wellington '91,at about 1minute 30 seconds'ish a black 635 with blue/white logos on the side tours past Longhurst's wreck.Who knows who the drivers were and where they came in the race? I don't but would love to know! Many thanks Ian.

[William Dale Jr]

Auto Action only lists the top 12 along with the odd retirement, so I don't have any record of a 635 at either Wellington or at Pukekohe. I can only tell you that it didn't finish in the top 12 at either race

Perhaps someone that has access to some NZ motorsport mags from that era will have the answer? I've been looking for results for those Nissan-Mobil races for some time now, and none of the Aussie magazines really gave full results.

[David Towe]

Perhaps a PM to Gerry Hodges might reap some reward

[David Towe]

Originally Posted by Driver TBA

I know its off topic. but did this B'n'H BM survive?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cwe7tFM3gc

I'm told it didn't survive. Incidentally car #56 (John Sax) was the sister car to mine (ex JPS Team) and it didn't survive either, although there are rumours it has been reborn, but my info may be wrong.

[ian beckett]

Hello David,surely the John Sax car seen in the clip from the Wellington race is a Group N car? I actually thought it was owned by co-driver Graham Coomes who raced Group N M3's in the British production series.I know Sax had two Group A cars but this does not look like one of them unless it had been 'detuned' for this event? Ian.

[David Towe]

Originally Posted by ian beckett

Hello David,surely the John Sax car seen in the clip from the Wellington race is a Group N car? I actually thought it was owned by co-driver Graham Coomes who raced Group N M3's in the British production series.I know Sax had two Group A cars but this does not look like one of them unless it had been 'detuned' for this event? Ian.

I've sent an email to John Sax to get it from the horses mouth, more news when it comes to hand. The reason I said it was the sister car to mine was that I was always told that one was written off in NZ in the 90s and didn't realise they ran Group N in the Wellington street race. My shortage of knowledge may have been improved again, we'll see.