What Made the M3 so Great?
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
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The E30 M3 is about as iconic as BMW’s come. Was it the company’s greatest car? It was hugely successful on the track in both national and international championships all over the world, as well as proving to be an enduring enthusiast favourite on the road too. But the enormous success of the first M3 was far from a guarantee, and it was not plain sailing…
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Written by: Fred Knight
Edited by: JD Minny ( @jdminny )
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Sources: drive.google.c...
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We need to get you more Sub's bud. This is great work.
That was a improvement.
I would have added the Australian experience of this vehicle, namely the JPS BMW team that raced the 635 and thee M3 in the 1980's. Of course I dont know your video times and editing limits etc.
I became a BMW customer because of this car. I miss the "win on Sunday, sell on Monday," days.
Same on both counts.
Only recent "affordable" car that was made with this strategy was the GR Yaris, atleast that comes to mind.
Amen to that! cars used to be cool
It was all fields when I was a lad. people these days don’t know their born etc etc MOVE ON :)
I miss the days when a new car was affordable.
That Schumacher kid. Did he ever go one to win anything? The names familiar.
Wit of the highest order!chapeaux😊
I wish Touring Racing Series where as popular and as exciting as the 80s
Or 90s. Nobody makes saloon cars really now though which makes modern touring cars look ugly and small and they don't have that same stiff 2 wheeled cornering look
GT4 is probably as close as you'll get to group A
@@tturi2 I get you, but Group A was the top end and Group N was the class for more limited modifications. And this was the era of manufacturer homologation specials coming out all the time.
A championship decided by Michael Schumacher colliding with someone? I find that VERY hard to believe.
Your German is so much better than mine... Tolles Video, mein Freund!
2:00 As a Volvo guy….
HOW THIS MAKE YOU FEEL DEUTSCHE BOY!?
börk
It makes me feel like your taste in cars are seriously lackluster
@@heinrichvonsolms1097This just proves you don't know Volvo's great history in cars. Shut your mouth if you don't know what you're talking about son😂
True@@WilliamBisukAbraham
fliegender hässlicher Ziegelstein 😅
M stuck to the back of 120d's LOL so true!! Forgot the 116i's as well ;)
Olaf Manthey racing a BMW? Wasn't expecting that! What a neat bit of history. Great video. My personal favourite BMW race car is the Z4 GT3
the very first lap i ever did on the Ring was in a 1986 E30 M3, in white. even as a hardcore VW lover, the E30 remains one of my favorite cars in the world.
The E30 M3 is my most beloved favorite BMW Legendary race car of all time and I love the history of the E30 so much. And also the E30 M3 was the rival of the 190E EVO 2 at the German touring car racing in the 1990s and is one of the most legendary German rivals in Motorsports history.
While living in Germany from 88 to 91 I caught the car bug. Mostly due to a Renault Alpine that was parked close to home that I could never walk past without a long look, but on a dog walk one night that took me through a VW dealership. And coming across a Mercedes 190 EVO1. THEN I SAW THE M3 and the deal was sealed
Greatest race car ever. Period.
It embodies motorsports like no other car ever made, not even prototypes. It looks like race car, there was no livery that didn't suit it. It sounds like a race car, in fact it's the greatest sounding car of all time when revving more than 10k rpm. It performs like a race car, being the most successful touring car of all time. It feels like a race car, when you were lucky enough to sit in one. It's the purest form of racing for all human senses. Every single engineer involved in this car deserves a statue.
I'll be honest and say that while I agree with you on how the E30 is indeed pretty sweet in motorsports guise (especially as a touring car) and an iconic sports coupe, to say that Prototypes don't embody motorsports as much is kind of a stretch. Prototype race cars are very definitive of the manufacturers' efforts in motorsports from chassis tuning and construction to engine building, etc at an elite level.
Not to mention, I personally find prototype race cars have a level of beauty through a "form-meets-function" approach. They look unlike anything out there and I like that (and pretty much the engineering and history in development) about prototype race cars.
E30 M3:
1x World Touring Car Championship(1987)
2x European Touring Car Championships(87,88)
2x DTM Championships(87,89)
2x British Touring Car Championships(88,91)
4x Italia Superturismo Championships(87,89,90,91)
1x Australia Touring Car Championship(Overall)(93)
1x Australia 2.0l Touring Car Championship(Class Champion)(93)
2x Australia Manufacturers Championships(87,88)
2x AMSCAR Series Championships(87,91)
1x Irish Tarmac Rally Championships(90)
7x Japanese Touring Car Championships(87,88,89,90,91,92,93)
5x 24h Nurburgring Winner(89,90,91,92,94)
4x 24h Spa Winner (87,88,90,92)
It's record is amazing considering the garbage rear suspension design.
@@bennyb.1742 it worked because it was balanced buddy, same way Lancia beat Audi and All the others. Same reason why cars like the NSX, Nissan GT-R and Toyota Supra were terrible in international racing. If your package doesn't work it doesn't work. The BMW worked. And it's success is unparalleled.
@@rahulmandala4930 It is okay to have a different opinion on prototypes. To me, no prototype could create all the emotions that the E30 could, nor do I know of any prototype sharing the same amount of successes the E30 had - already due to a lack of possible championships. Maybe the Porsche 962 would be comparable in terms of success but the turbo engine could not compete with the E30 induction noise in terms of acoustics. The McLaren F1 GTR comes pretty close in terms of emotion but wasn't around for long enough to share the E30's successes. So for me it's the ultimate race car, but I accept anyone with a different opinion.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s the greatest car that the human collective has ever created
McLaren F1, Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, Porsche 911 GT1
not as blue collar
@@WilliamBisukAbraham did I stutter?
@@idroid2542the Lancia delta then
@@WilliamBisukAbrahamyou don’t know much about cars obviously
It's one of the all-time goats 🐐 in motorsport racing
5:41 The 635CSi used a 3.4/3.5 litre inline-6 for Group A racing with a 12 valve cylinder head. The ones in those pictures are the 24 valve engine that were never homologated for Group A racing. Here in New Zealand we never heard much about the DTM in the 1980s, as there appeared to be a lot more coverage of the ETCC, and the Australian and British championships.
I love your videos and learn dp much about automotive history.
I wanted to ask if we could get a video on the lancia Stratos
I have owned two. Bought the first in August 1990, but it turned out to have been damaged and then repaired badly before delivery.
They built me a 2nd one which i picked up on 2nd Jan 1991, Brilliant Red with Black Leather. Fabulous car.
Sadly, it got stolen 2 years later.
Still miss it.
Thanks for this amazing video! The M3 also won the Wellington 500 five times and the Pukekohe 500 once. It owned the Macau Guia race and even won the 1995 Australian Sport Sedan Championship! May you please cover the Opel Omega and the Ford Mustang in DTM?
E30 M3 was also a formidable car in Australian TCC.
It had a very very small window.
1987:
Skylines were still blowing turbos
Sierras were still blowing turbos
Brock... Holden was a general horrowshow
By 1988, the M3 was finished as a force.
For the love of God, please tell me your handle means you turbd your camry?! Even better would be a 3sgte swap, but either way that'd be dope lol
Its 325is variant did very well in South African motorsport. It was beloved.
To be honest the E30 M3 is an all-time great in BMW's history.
It's the most successful race car of all time. Never mind all time great in history. It's the greatest race car ever
Few notes:
Despite missing out on driver's championships, BMW managed to get 7 manufacturers' titles in a row between 1984 and 1990.
Interesting thing about the e30 is that while in Europe the M3 came about to tackle the 190e for the most part, here in south Africa we didn't get it and the opel superboss was dominating the circuits, bmw south Africa came up with their own take of the m3, namely the 325is. The opel and the 325is can trade blows all day.
Nice work, young man. Not overproduced, solid pace, information dense, music not too forward mostly. Subscribed.
AWSOM KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
LUV THE VIDS
Just wanted to give a general comment. I digest a lot of automotive content. I look forward to your videos. Straightforward, well researched, great footage with actual sound, stats, etc. You know a channel is enjoyable when you can listen to it, without the video portion (such as while driving, as I did today), or doing general housework, and it’s every bit as good.
Keep it up! I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask for more Audi content :) you do a great job if it already, but more is always better.
Nice job, young fella. Not over produced, not too much mix on the music. Information dense, and well written, paced.
Making me want to go and watch Adrenalin - The BMW Touring Car Movie again! Great insights 🤩
Subscribed. Very well put together videos so far and your channel complilation looks very intriguing!
Off to binge watching. 😁👍
I like how you say, double victory, which is a direct translation of German. This was often the headline of German language racing publication headlines. I’m a lifelong fan of BMW I have a silver 1973 3.0 CSL and a 1989 M3 alpine white with black interior perfect condition. Unmodified except black racing dynamics wheels . Great video thanks.
A quick note: I noticed this minor mistake in your videos about 80/90s DTM. The race format was two short races, but they were both on sunday with just a small repair break between them and Race 1's result being the Grid for race 2. The format you describe is actually the format DTM uses nowadays.
Thanks. That was some great information. Hans Stuck also helped BMW get started racing here in the US.
It would be so cool if you did a video/videos looking at each of this cars descendants. I know you mainly focus on older cars but I've got my fingers and toes crossed!
"Ugly, overweight, finance fodder" 😂😂😂 this killed me! Too right!
Foxbody spotted 20:53 would love to hear about that
22:00 solution: sell that crankshaft in road cars
I'm looking forward to the E36 M3 story.
I can remember the swansong of the M3, winning the Willhire 24 hours again and again in the early 90s. The new M3, the first one with the faired in headlights and 3.0l engine, came in utterly brand new and clearly had the legs of the old M3s though and would have run away with things if it had been sorted out. And then the final year of the race saw so many Escort Cosworths entered that the one still running was guaranteed to win.
Such a great era of group A - Sierra and Sapphire Cosworths, a stray Merc 180, lots of Astras and then the giant killing Honda Civic v-tec.
great video as usual!!
Enjoyed that but it's a shame you didn't show Patrick Snijers in the Bastos M3 on the Isle of Man - a masterclass.
2:45 most based BMW take I've ever heard
Sorry, I usually only hear "based" or "that's based" after the most braindead statements.
What about this statement do you take objection to?
Still winning though, doesn't matter if it's in F1 or the WEC or DTM. Unlike companies like Toyota who spent $7 billion in F1 and couldn't even get a win, BMW left F1 came back with Sauber, won and left again all before Toyota eve won a single race. Which would never materialise
@@tim3172 To be based is a good thing... it's not a statement indicating taking objection.
22:37 this Mercedes has a bit of an identity crisis
Group A really was something special
This is definitely Bmw greatest car by far!!
Where do you get your posters for your office room? I have been looking for the NSX Takata Dome one everywhere! Keep up the epic content man
The NSX one I made myself! They were for sale briefly when I launched my NSX video a few months ago, but the printing service I was using refused to fulfill orders without me having a licensing agreement with Honda.
If you know anyone in Honda's marketing department let me know!
16:28 I could tell you were getting tired of saying that name at that point
You should talk about the Rover SD1
Alright, now we need a video on the Sierra after hearing it so much. I might be biased tho 😅
could you make a video about the m3 gtr please, its one of my favourite BMW race cars and has some interesting history
I had 323i, my cousin had 190E-2.6, those where the times.
Now when i am "old" i want late Z240. Some would understand.
I loved all of the E24 footage, but I have a question about it - to clarify, they used the 635 CSI, not the M635 CSI right? As in, they used the M30 car and not the M88 car? The vanilla 635 CSI shown in the video has the M30 engine, but then the engine shown later is the M88, hence me asking which was used.
Yes, in Group A racing they used the 12 valve engine. The M635 CSi was never homologated for Group A racing, although the 635 CSi did race with the 24 valve engine in other series, such as Australian Touring Car championship prior to 1985.
@@alexjenner1108 wow so cool that you know that! Do you happen to know if any non-M version of the E30 were raced?I am in a group of friends and we all have different E30s, but I don't think anyone knows the actual race background.
@@Nightwalker86 There must be quite a lot of info on E30s racing, so I might spread this out over a couple of posts. In ETTC the E30 BMW 323i was homologated for Group A in 1983. Take a look at the FIA Historic database site Homogation Number 5138. The Linder team was one team that ran the 323i in 1983. Also, check the French Touring Car championship where they had different rules, some 323i racing there too. In the 1986 ETCC some BMW teams ran the E30 BMW 325i with 6 cylinder in line 12 valve engine. FIA Historic database site Homogation Number 5292. The BMW 325i was also raced in the Australian Touring Car championship in the Frank Gardner JPS racing team painted in their black and gold pinstripe colours. Most of these teams switched to the M3 when it became available.
@@Nightwalker86 Both the E30 323i and 325i were run in rallies, Please check some of the WRC sites with records of past championships, you should find results in the Group A class at rallies like Monte Carlo. Plus, there was the 525i X (4WD) homologated in Group A in 1988, sixth overall in the 1988 Monte Carlo rally.
@@Nightwalker86 In 1990 BTTC, the E30 M3 and the E30 318iS were run in Class B restricted to a 2.0L engine limit. In the 1991 BTCC, they still raced the E30 M3 with 2.0L engine, and many teams moved to the E36 BMW 318iS coupe in 1992.
Could you make a video on the amazing bmw e21 m1
I love these videos❤
I’d like to hear about the rovers in the DPM era…
I want an E30 with an AWD eco boost swap from a Taurus sho. Only way it’d be practical or cheap enough to maintain for me. I doubt it’s possible but it’d be cool
Why would you want to do that, it would ruin the character of the car. The E30 has a rear end that is very lively, you want it to be RWD only so you can work with the rear and the pedals when going through corners.
@@justincase9471 it would definitely completely change the character of the car, and it’d be made of cheaper possibly more durable parts. Likely better in snow. Just would be super hard to build and pricey prob. Don’t worry tho I don’t plan on tearing any e30s up
@@murican1889 Oh you are free to hack some up, I have a couple left 😅 I drive an E30 on the track and I really like the way that you can work with the rear of the car in corners, I would not change it.
If you ever would hack one up, use a 325ix as base and send me the engine please 😁
BMW South Africa homologated a shoehorned a BMW 6 cylinder into that chassis. A rocket that would have eaten the DTM alive. "Do you want aircon or power steering?" There was no room for both
Because it's not really a BMW. True OGs know it as the Top Ten Bentley Coupe!
My first car was an 87 325is i got for 2200 in 2004. I was going to get an m3 but didn't want to have to borrow 3k from my dad to get the 7500 the seller was asking. One of my bigger car regrets. 😂
wow. great channel, +1 sub
Luminiferous
Definatelly bmw's pinnacle. Alongside the Z3M and the Z8😊
E30 M3:
1x World Touring Car Championship(1987)
2x European Touring Car Championships(87,88)
2x DTM Championships(87,89)
2x British Touring Car Championships(88,91)
4x Italia Superturismo Championships(87,89,90,91)
1x Australia Touring Car Championship(Overall)(93)
1x Australia 2.0l Touring Car Championship(Class Champion)(93)
2x Australia Manufacturers Championships(87,88)
2x AMSCAR Series Championships(87,91)
1x Irish Tarmac Rally Championships(90)
7x Japanese Touring Car Championships(87,88,89,90,91,92,93)
5x 24h Nurburgring Winner(89,90,91,92,94)
4x 24h Spa Winner (87,88,90,92)
It won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1987 too.
0:03 what did he SAY?!
For being so great it sure seemed to spend a lot of time playing bridesmaid to Ford and Audi
BMW M3 (E30) is the G.O.A.T.
nowadays gt3 races most of all cars are with force induction. few manufacturers only still remain NA 😢
You know the old saying "there's no replacement for displacement"? Well, turns out forced induction is a pretty good replacement for it.
It's perfect
that my favoreted bmw M3 E30 USED 4CYLINDER ENGINE EASY TO DRIVE THIS BMW M3 E30 SO EASY TO DRIVE
Anybody knows where I could find some DTM archives ? I would like to watch those races…
DTM appears to have their own English language channel on this site with archival uploads of past events.
Is it weird that, as an American, I prefer Fords European cars over their American ones?
Same. Different customer base. General Americans like big engines and long wheelbase. Europeans and Japanese likes more agile cars. The Sierra is closer to the M3 than the Mustang
No it's not wierd at all!! American Fords are big, heavy and outside of a few outliers in the Mustang line.. don't handle all that well
Euro Fords are quick, light and a whole different animal
As an American who deeply loves rally cars and driving rally cars for real.. I daily and autocross a STI.. I wish we could have had the euro Fords here.. especially the Escorts 😓
I daily either an STi or a MK3 RS so I’m right there with ya. 😊
@@RS_Dad absolutely!! What gen STI?
I loved muscle cars as a kid, but discovered rally/rally cars when I was around 13.. as a car guy that's when I really grew to form 😁
@@Strelok762 it’s a 2015. EVO-eye I think it’s called. I actually sold a really nice ‘72 Mach 1 Mustang to get the RS because the Mustang sucked as an actual car. Everyone except me loved it but I couldn’t stand to drive it after the initial excitement wore off. I made enough profit to make it a no brainer and never looked back.
I'm wondering why BMW was keep using the 4 cylinder M3? Why not the M5 E34 with the s38? S38 using m88/2 specs can reach about 500 hp NA so it would have obliterated all the competition...
The closest thing to the original M3 is the new M2. It’s heavy but feels light and with 460 HP, it’s plenty fast. And relatively cheap.
Look up a brz specs and this csr.
'All bmw's will have broke turn signal as standard equiment 😂😂😂'.
I respectfully disagree it’s the isetta bubble car because without this all the bmws you like won’t exist
Losing to Rover
Ouch
It's a great car to look at, but not to own and daily drive. Valve jobs at ~2k, at 10k miles? No thanks, parts are hard to find now.
Check specs of a brz and this car, they completely modelled most of it after this. Cheaply tho.
'Overweight finance fodder' sooo, like 85% of new vehicles these days?
Yes
2002 tii? Argument could be made id say.
die frage versteh ich schon nicht!!!!!!
seriously... this bmw in the jhonny cecotto liverage is the wet dream of 6 year old me xD
7:20 Steve Soper was driving Fords in 1987 and 1988, not BMWs. The Group 635 was a 3.5 litre car, not a 3 litre car. It is also disappointing that you did not mention the Australian Touring Car Championship of 1987 which was also won by an M3 against very stiff outright class competition. It went right down the wire - the very last race being won in an incredible battle - probably one of the best touring car races in history. And the first round of that championship was actually the very first championship race in the world where the E30 M3 competed. You also did not mention the biggest changes to the EVO version - the engine grew in size from 2.3 to 2.5 litres and the much larger adjustable spoilers.
I don't say that Steve Soper was driving BMWs in 1987 and 1988? In fact I don't mention him at all until I get to DTM 1989, so I'm not sure what you're talking about on that one.
You're right I said 3L instead of 3.5 when referring to the 635, the script is correct so I must've mis-spoken while recording and unfortunately missed it in the edit. My bad.
I didn't go into detail about all the national championships because this video is part 3 of a series focused on DTM specifically, and going down the rabbit hole of every impressive win the E30 got anywhere in the world would have made for a very long and un-focused story. You can disagree with that of course. I may even revisit the subject in future.
I did mention the change in displacement ( 16:55 ) and directly afterwards I also mention the new "extreme aero parts".
"against very stiff outright class competition"
Not really:
1987:
Skylines were still blowing turbos
Sierras were still blowing turbos
Brock... Holden was a general horrowshow
By 1988, the M3 was finished as a force.
@jonathanparle8429 You should really pay more attention before posting drivel like this
Man that dogleg transmission go hard tho 💯
The E30 M3 only really become an "icon" in the 2010s, before that nobody wanted them and you could pick one up for 10K€. Many were swapped with L6 engines during that era.
Perhaps it depends on where you lived, but some of those 1980s Group A cars like the Sierra Cosworth, the E30 M3 and the Lancia Delta Integrale were always very highly rated iconic cars. But many of the kids who saw those cars win races in the 1980s and early 1990s are only now are in a position where they can afford to buy one. I remember passing on a chance to purchase an Integrale maybe 20 years ago. I could have just parked it in a shed and watched it go up in value, but I had other expenses at the time.
@@alexjenner1108 Anywhere in Europe and North America, they were cheap. I believe the Delta or Sierra(with the Escort) were always seen as cooler during those days as nothing came after those cars, unlike the M3.
00:01:07 DAT BOY IS THICCC
If rule 34 doesn't hold up there's rule 35 as a contingent
First
😂😂😂 bmw 🤣🤣🤣 Motorsport 🥱😴😴😴
Early af boi
BMW borrowed this design off the 1982 Toyota Corolla
Which particular aspect do you think was borrowed off the 1982 Toyota Corolla?
The E60 M5 is the best M experience when it's set up right and running. It's also the ugliest.
please make future videos without your face in them. The rest is great!